Someone recently asked me how I ended up in human resources and why I like it. I’ll save that story for another time but its no secret that HR choose me, not the other way around. It really gave me pause this week to think about why HR keeps me excited and engaged. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to come up with the top 10 reasons I love HR.

10. Variety

There are a lot of different things to do and see when HR is your profession. My career has allowed me to see different parts of the world, meet a ton of new people, and explore different cultures. Along the way, I’ve been exposed to various areas of HR.

9. Novelty

I love the “x” factor of not knowing exactly what my day will bring. All the surprises that come my way can be good and bad, but they’re mostly good. I thrive in that ambiguity, and I know that many of you do too! 🙂

8. Continuous Improvement

The spirit of HR professionals is always about improvement and how to make things better whether we’re talking about training, recruiting talent, developing benefit plans, looking at new HR tech tools or making HR processes more efficient. We are always looking at raising the bar and taking people or processes to the next level.

7. Fluidity

Our profession is not static: we’re dealing largely with people or systems/programs that will impact people, and people are dynamic. Whether we’re talking about new legislation, change in corporate direction, a company reorganization, taking on new HR vendors, or expanding into new regions or locations, there is a element of taking what we know and applying it to another situation or scenario.

6. Technology

HR tech: Need I say more? I love this stuff! I could evaluate and implement new tools and systems all day (and sometimes I get to)! It’s a bit of the science geek in me. 🙂

5. Learning

It’s a cliche, but I truly learn something new every day. I reflected on the last 2-3 weeks and I do think this saying holds true, even for a seasoned HR practitioner like myself. I am always doing things that help me learn, whether that means gaining self-understanding, investigating a new facet of HR, discovering something that is unique to my company, working on a project, working through something with an employee or co-worker, or working with my local SHRM chapter. Two of my Strengths Finder qualities are “learner” and “input,” and I find that working in HR always keeps these engaged.

4. Impact

I’m a person who needs to understand how what I’m doing fits into the bigger picture. Its one of the things I find rewarding in my work. I may not be making or closing sales calls, but I can see how the work we do as HR professionals enables employees and the overall organization to reach company objectives.

3. Helping Others

It kind of goes without saying, but I love helping others — we all get this one right? In HR, there are tons of ways of doing it too! 🙂

2. Innovation

Some of you may wonder why this is on the list and why it is number two. Innovation isn’t something that many people connect with HR, but I do. Innovation to me is like “out of the box thinking,” but kicked up a bit. So much of the HR strategy that we put in place for people, process, and tools is not only innovative, but also creative. When working on a project or initiative, think about all the requirements, stakeholders, budget/time constraints, etc., that you need to consider to have a successful implementation. I can’t speak for you, but in my work I’ve had to come up with some solutions that will meet all those needs and requirements. I generally can’t use solutions that are “off the shelf,” and that’s where the innovation comes in. I love coming up with new solutions to problems.

1. Connection

I heard something once years ago: HR people like to hang out with other HR people. There is probably some ring of truth to that because many of my friends, at least ones I met after college, work in HR. Aside from the friendships I’ve formed, I find that I am constantly inspired by other people in the space, whether they are thought leaders or colleagues.

What do you think of my top 10? Why do you love working in HR?