Doctors heal people, teacher’s teach, and well engineers, we build stuff – right? Yes and no! Engineering graduates possess a wide set of transferable skills that equip us for many roles. One field which I believe engineers are especially suited for is Human Capital Management (HCM) consulting.
As a graduate from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.), Major in Chemical Engineering I knew I wanted a career built on problem-solving, moving the dial, and getting results – no matter what the task. Enter Human Capital Management consulting. As a Human Capital Management Consultant at Covalence Consulting Inc. I use my technical know-how to make impactful decisions everyday, ones which really matter to the Fortune 500 companies that make up our client-base.
But firstly if you’re thinking to yourself, “what is Human Capital Management?” then here’s a quick definition!
The term HCM refers to methods, processes, and practices regarding the management of your organization’s most valuable asset: your workforce. Your employees are an asset (human capital) whose value and potential can be maximized via investment in them and the deployment of proper management techniques, methodologies and practices. Understanding and approaching your workforce from a financial and operational lens relates to HCM.
HCM encompasses workforce management, payroll/benefits and time and attendance, but also includes processes connected to expense management, employee leave management and the general administrative elements of managing people. Increasingly the term Human Capital Management is used to encapsulate the software and practices used to manage employee records and talent management.
More specifically cloud-based SaaS HCM software empowers organizations to better manage training, payroll, talent management, recruitment etc. while gaining significant insight into operational analytics and patterns. As it is cloud-based, such software eliminates the need for costly upgrades and updates, while remaining secure. In addition, tasks are centralized and features can be accessed on desktop and mobile.
Now onto why engineers are great HCM Consultants! Below I outline a few reasons that I believe engineers of all levels, whether recent graduates or mid to senior level in their careers, are ideally suited to work in Human Capital Management:
Engineers are inherent risk managers:
Engineers go beyond simply focusing on the end-goal of the project they are working on. Instead they are always thinking of the risks associated with every task they complete, constantly aware of the positives and negatives of each decision they make towards the triple bottom line. I believe this stems from the fact that a lot of work done by engineers is open-ended in the route they take to reach their desired goal. Factors such as final cost, reliability, and timeliness are all impacted by an engineer’s ability to weight and measure the risk of each of their decisions.
Because of this, engineers are always thinking about the most ‘appropriate’ way to proceed forward from the perspective of business, performance, and project timeline. This aptitude for pushing towards the project’s end goal – while still assessing all risks associated with each decision is ideal for Human Capital Management consulting. HCM consultants are expected to find the best solution for their clients and are called on to assess all risks associated with their implementation project continually. Beyond monitoring and identifying risk factors HCM consultants are expected to control those risks to mitigate the possibility of negative impact on timelines, project scope, deliverables etc. The configuration and activation of key HCM software features are dependent on an HCM consultant moving their implementation project from start to finish with the direction of resources towards any risks to the project’s eventual success.
Engineers have a structured mindset.
Human Capital Management projects aren’t only about Human Capital Management! They are also about team building, technical know-how, software configuration, rule building, time management, project management, change management, relationship building and so much more. There are multiple moving parts, often evolving in a time-sensitive environment. Those with an engineering background have the ability to thrive in this context. This is as, more often than not, engineers are trained to have an incredibly structured thought-process. This type of mindset comes with the ability to be highly organized. In projects which tend to be multifaceted – as HCM projects always are – staying organized and maintaining structure is key. Constantly keeping track – whether in SmartSheets or in one’s head – of which project milestones depend on which deliverables is, in my opinion, the lifeblood of any HCM project. Through keeping track of key elements of an HCM implementation project engineers often keep project timelines from going awry.
Engineers are detail-oriented.
Cloud HCM software implementations are made or broken in the details. It is through the careful attention to each specific part of the project stage that ensure a high-quality implementation. Whether it is in the information gathering stage or in the final review of each rule or more, paying close attention to each element ensure that last minute hold-ups don’t appear.
Now let me give you an example of why engineers develop an aptitude for being detail oriented early on in their training. During my education at Queen’s University every engineer had to take a drafting class where we would draw and model blueprints for certain objects, designs, structures on paper and on AutoCAD. Since they are blueprints, if a corner was made a millimetre too long or a rod a millimetre too big, things wouldn’t fit together. As a result, not only would the blueprint not work but we would get marked down for that. The same goes for software engineers who, if they didn’t delimit a line of code with a single ‘;’, would get an infinite loop in their program or would risk the program not compiling at all.
Consequently when you have an engineer on your HCM project you have a detail-oriented team member who won’t let anything slip. An engineer will be tracking every little thing that catches their eye, whether through a spreadsheet or scribbled onto a sticky note.
Engineering is multidisciplinary.
On almost all engineering projects, there’s people from different professional backgrounds involved. In the design for a water treatment plant for example, there’s a project manager, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, system engineers, environmental scientists, legal compliance officers, government officials – the list goes on.
Engineers have to work with and keep these stakeholders content to get the project done. From designing aircraft jet engines to Zea mays (corn) genetic engineering, engineers will work with many team members in diverse fields that are internal or external.
This kind of exposure to the client-facing and the knowledge transfer to members that aren’t necessarily of the same (or aren’t even technical) background is a great boon to any Human Capital Management consultant. HCM consultants are called upon to foster positive working relationships with a variety of professionals in their client’s organization. Whether it is finance, HR, payroll, IT, or other HCM professionals need to not only interact, but gather information from and share expertise with those who don’t have a technical or HCM background. Often the end-user isn’t familiar with the intended solution at all – it’s up to the HCM consultant to bridge the knowledge gap. Engineers who are already equipped to work with a diverse range of team members, clients, and stakeholders are primed for success in the HCM field.
Engineers are used to learning new things on the job
Us engineers are trained to become subject matter experts on many different topics, in a short amount of time, continually. We quickly learn things to further our understanding of a project and enhance our expertise in the industry we are working in at that time.
For example, while one day a mechanical engineer could be instrumenting a new commercial HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) system meant for a new skyrise development, in a few months this engineer might be in a supporting role for the heating and cooling systems in a new Porsche model. While a software engineer may have learnt some fundamental coding structures in University, advancements in the field may have made those obsolete or a new standard is making its way into the market. With this focus on continually updating skill sets Engineers develop the ability to learn on the job and become experts on any given topic – and fast. This skill is highly transferable to Human Capital Management consulting. While one client may be an enterprise manufacturer another will be in the healthcare industry and yet another in retail. HCM consultants are expected to learn about these various industries their clients are in and I am very sure that engineers would be reading up on the client’s background and industry right away: afterall engineers are used to it.
If you’re curious about what kind of role is available for you in HCM then check out our Careers Page! We are on the lookout for talented graduates who are ready to make their mark in the world of Human Capital Management.