STEP 1: What’s People Operations all about?
LinkedIn's Recruiter platform
AKA: PeopleOps, Human Resources, HR
Overview: HR is responsible for hiring and retaining talent, so they cover everything from recruiting to managing benefits.
Example project: Hire five Java programmers.
What you do all day: Find talent, develop great programs/benefits for existing talent
Roles: Sourcer (finds candidates), Recruiter (leads candidates through hiring process), Learning and Development/Training (trains existing hires), HR Business Partner (liaises with specific teams to handle all HR needs from recruiting to exit interviews), Operations (handles all of the HR systems)
What they look for: People with strong social skills (to represent the company well) and organizational abilities (to manage complex HR processes)
Example job: Technical Recruiter, Facebook
STEP 2: Would you be a good fit for People Operations?
Ask yourself if you'd love doing these kinds of things all day:
Finding and attracting top talent
Interviewing candidates
Negotiating with and persuading candidates to join your organization
Training people
Working with managers to support their HR needs
If your answer is "Yes" to the majority of activities, you'd likely be a good fit for PeopleOps/HR.
STEP 3: What skills do you need for People Operations?
For each major activity, I've listed the most common keywords from across dozens of job descriptions, as well as a sample resume bullet:
· Finding and attracting the top talent
o Keywords: talent pipeline, sourcing channels, online research, networking, talent search, identify talent
o Sample Bullet: Increased pipeline of top candidates 125% by adding Twitter and Pinterest to our sourcing channels
· Interviewing candidates
o Keywords: evaluate candidates, candidate assessment, hiring process, hiring discussions, hiring committee, interview training, partnering with hiring managers
o Sample Bullet: Implemented standardized assessment process across the organization, leading to a 25% increase in hiring committee agreement
· Negotiating with and persuading candidates to join your organization
o Keywords: offer, negotiation, compensation, close candidates, selling offers
o Sample Bullet: Closed 80% of candidates with competitive offers, 15 points higher than any other recruiter
· Training people
o Keywords: learning and development, training, curricula, classroom instruction, e-learning, learning solutions, people development, learning design, performance management
o Sample Bullet: Developed new manager training curricula that led to a 15% uptick in staff retention
· Working with managers to support their HR needs
o Keywords: trusted advisor, partner with hiring managers, HR strategy, program design, HR business partner, HR generalist, employee relations, change management, coaching, conflict management, thought leadership
o Sample Bullet: Provided thought leadership to seven C-level executives, helping oversee a 75% increase in headcount over four years
STEP 4: What People Operations training do you need?
If you want to brush up on any of these skills, check out Josh Bersin's World-Class HR course on Udemy. I like two things about this course in particular:
It's taught by one of the foremost leaders in the entire HR field - Josh Bersin, who led Deloitte’s HR practice.
It covers the whole gamut of things that matter in HR - from recruiting to training to building an amazing employee culture.
Disclosure: I’m an affiliate for some of the 3rd party courses listed on the site, which means I may earn a small fee if you choose to enroll (which I use to keep Break into Tech running).
STEP 5: How do you actually get a People Operations job?
To help you convert your passion and skills into an actual job, I've put together a step-by-step course that covers how to:
Design a resume that will mark you as an insider to tech recruiters
Make sure you find every single great tech job across multiple sites
Get a referral at just about any tech company - even if you don't know anyone directly
Prepare for every kind of tech interview question with point-by-point formulas