The function of the human resource department has undergone many changes over the past few years. The transitions in the economic and business outlook brought about modifications in the role of HR in the organisations and the outlook of the management towards the HR department. HR department has to be competent to survive and succeed in the fast moving business scenario.

Kochanski is said to have defined competencies as the success factors that enable the assessment, feedback, development and reward processes for individuals to take place. HR competence aims to understand how far the processes in HR have succeeded in meeting the futuristic demands of the company. Before the exploration of the HR competence the transition the HR underwent during the recent years have to be taken into consideration. The success stories of outsourcing certain functions of the business induced many companies to transfer many functions like staffing and recruitment, remuneration, etc to other companies. Some companies handed over the day-to-day tasks to the line managers. Before outlining the key competencies expected from the HR, the management must define the best way to do it after taking into account the priority of tasks performed by the HR. The input from the senior management (subjective approach) or classification on the basis of functions, etc (objective approach) can be one way of identifying the core competencies. The responsibilities of the HR have moved into areas that have a long term impact like cost reduction, staff forecasting, etc over the recent years. The role played by the HR in the company has a major voice in determining the HR competence.

The influence of the external factors on the functioning of the business can have an impact in defining the role of the HR. The Government policies on the labour force, economic and the cultural environment, rules and regulations, etc, draft laws that are to be abided to safeguard the interest of the employees. A flaw in complying with these regulations might result in a huge financial loss to the business. Therefore the skills for the job required by the HR must be defined on the basis of the impact of these external factors on the business decisions.

The core competencies that the HR requires to perform its job include the personal skill, technical skill, leadership and the organizational skill, etc. The individual traits like the ability to take decisions during the times of stress, the skill to maintain one’s composure during high pressure of work, interpersonal skills, etc can be identified as the core skills required to perform the job well. Technical knowledge on the changes in the environment, skills to perform the routine tasks is another area where key competencies can be laid. The HR should create an environment which is open to the positive changes in the external world, drive the organization to its goals, and create an environment favorable to learn and adopt newer technologies into the system.

Defining the HR competencies helps to bridge the gap in the existing talents and provide solutions for meeting the futuristic needs. A proper assessment system lays down the foundation to analyse how the HR fares in the business. With the business changes occurring on a rapid basis, the need to create competency areas for the HR is inevitable to guide the company to its long term objective.