An Exploratory Study on the Experience Requirements of Key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka

It has been generally observed that there is a gap in the empirical knowledge with regard to the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents of experiences in the field of HRM in Sri Lanka. The research questions of this exploratory study are: What are the experiences needed or expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka for key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents? and Is it possible to develop a sort of illustration to understand experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka? Objectives of this study are to explore the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents; and to develop an illustration of experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, an exploratory study was conducted by using eight key HRM job related employment advertisements appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper for the period of 5 years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). This study was longitudinal in time horizon. The unit of analysis of this study was HRM related job advertisement. The extent of the researchers’ interference in this study was minimal as there had not been any manipulation and control of variables. This study was carried out in a natural (non-contrived) environment where events occurred normally. Mainly by using comprehensive and systematic content analysis along with descriptive statistics, results and findings were generated. The results of the study revealed that the experience requirement is one of the very important requirements in selecting people for key HRM jobs. At the same time it varies from job to job. When considering the experience requirements for the selected key HRM jobs, the findings revealed that mostly a minimum of Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management An Explorary Study on the Experience..... 2 5-10 years experience at senior level (as a HR Manager/Head of HR Department) is needed experience for the post of HR Director. A minimum of 5 years experience is needed for the post of Head of HRM, Group HR Manager, HR Manager and Training Manager mostly. For HR Executive, HR Officer and Recruitment Manager a minimum of 2-3 years experience is expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka. With regard to the contents (quality) of experiences, eight (08) key dimensions of experience were identified in addition to the number of years (quantity) such as general experience in HRM field, special experience in specific HRM area/function, scope of experience in HRM field (local or international), sector related experience, management level/position related experience, industry related experience, workforce/organisation size based experience and time preference based experience. Based on identified key dimensions of experiences, a model was developed from this exploratory study in order to provide an understanding about the experience requirements of selected key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka. The implications of these findings are useful to all stakeholders of HRM especially current and potential job seekers, organizations and HRM workforce developers in Sri Lanka.


Abstract
It has been generally observed that there is a gap in the empirical knowledge with regard to the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents of experiences in the field of HRM in Sri Lanka.The research questions of this exploratory study are: What are the experiences needed or expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka for key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents?and Is it possible to develop a sort of illustration to understand experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka?Objectives of this study are to explore the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents; and to develop an illustration of experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka.In order to achieve the objectives of this research, an exploratory study was conducted by using eight key HRM job related employment advertisements appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper for the period of 5 years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010).This study was longitudinal in time horizon.The unit of analysis of this study was HRM related job advertisement.The extent of the researchers' interference in this study was minimal as there had not been any manipulation and control of variables.This study was carried out in a natural (non-contrived) environment where events occurred normally.
Mainly by using comprehensive and systematic content analysis along with descriptive statistics, results and findings were generated.The results of the study revealed that the experience requirement is one of the very important requirements in selecting people for key HRM jobs.At the same time it varies from job to job.When considering the experience requirements for the selected key HRM jobs, the findings revealed that mostly a minimum of

Introduction
The job experience is one of the very important requirements in selecting a candidate for a job in an organisation.Experience is one of the key human qualifications needed to perform a job efficiently and effectively.At the same time, job experience is a specific requirement to each field in order to perform specific jobs in the respective field such as marketing, accounting, finance, and human resource management etc.

The Research Problem
Organisations which are operating in Sri Lanka expect experienced people in order to manage their HRM activities and functions efficiently and effectively.But there is a gap in the empirical knowledge with regard to requirements of HRM job experience in Sri Lanka.There is no or little research based evidence in Sri Lanka regarding this phenomenon.No clear cut specifications (number of year [quantity], density and timing [quality] for HRM jobs in Sri Lanka seem to be in existence because various organisations state different levels (in years) and contents of experience in their HRM job advertisements.By studying their experience requirements carefully only it is possible to develop a sort of good framework to specify the Sri Lankan organizations' HRM jobs experience patterns and contents.
Therefore to explore the experience requirements of the HRM jobs which are expected by the organizations in Sri Lanka is an important research task in the field of HRM in Sri Lanka.With a view of filling this empirical knowledge gap to a certain significant extent, this research was carried out.

The Research Questions
The research questions of this exploratory study are: 1. What are the experiences needed or expected by the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka for key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents?and 2. Is it possible to develop a sort of illustration to understand experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka?

Objectives of the Study
Objectives of this study are: 1.To explore the experience requirements of key HRM jobs in terms of number of years and contents; and 2. To develop an illustration of experience requirements of key HRM jobs in Sri Lanka.

Literature Review
According to Opatha (2007, p.75), experience in the field of HRM is very important for HR managers.It was defined as number of years of working in HRM related job/s.Regarding experience requirements for HRM jobs in Sri Lanka, Opatha (2009) has expressed his views in the following way: "HRM is an academic discipline as well as a practice, and therefore experience becomes indispensable.Experience refers to knowledge and skills in HRM one has gained owing to his/her working in HRM for a considerable period of time.Experience of a job is what a person gains by doing that job.Observations reveal that a minimum of 10 years experience in a recognised establishment at Senior Executive Level (as a HR Manager/Head of HR Department) is needed as the right experience for the post of HR Director/Assistant GM-HR/Deputy GM-HR/Group HR Manager/Group Director-HR (job is in the top management of the organisation).A minimum of 5 years experience is needed for the post of HR manager (job is in middle management of the organization).A large organization usually requires hands-on experience in HRM of not less than 10 years in a leading company".
Research on the impact of job experience on job performance should be viewed cautiously, however, because most studies have measured job experience as the number of years in an organisation or job.Quinones, Ford, and Techout (1995) pointed out that job experience can be viewed not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality.Year of working is a quantitative measure of experience.If job experience is viewed qualitatively, this has to be with the job tasks performed and the relevance to situations one has been exposed to on the job.For instance, if an individual has several years of experience as an accountant, but has conducted few field audits, that person will not necessarily perform better in an auditing position than an individual who has less general accounting experience.
Building on the work of Quinones et al. (1995), Tesluk and Jacobs (1998) proposed that job experience can also be viewed in terms of both the density and timing of job-related experiences.When experience has high density, the employee is exposed to many "developmental experiences" in a relative short period of time.These may include increased responsibilities, and perhaps even being required to perform under very difficult conditions.The timing dimension has to be with the fact that certain experiences might have more or less, developmental value, depending on whether they occur at the beginning, middle, or latter stage of one's career.For most employees, mistakes have a greater developmental impact when they occur at the early (as opposed to latter) stages of one's career.The more important point from the work of Quinones et al. (1995) and Tesluk and Jacobs (1998) is that job experience is a complex variable, and much theoretical and empirical work needs to be done before fully understanding and appreciating it.
Job Experience is a variable that is used so frequently in organisational psychology that it is easy to forget about it.Typically, most researchers do not pay too much attention to it because they measure it either for descriptive purposes or to use as a control variable in statistical analyses.In the vast majority of studies, experience is measured simply as the number of months or years that a person has been employed on a particular job or in a particular organization.
In a review, Tesluk and Jacobs (1998) pointed out that organisational or job tenure is not likely to capture the complexity of job experience.They pointed out, for example, that the same length of tenure may be very different in terms of both the density and time of jobrelated experiences.A good example of the density dimension is a surgeon who performs in a war zone.This individual would typically do surgeries for many hours per day, and would thus acquire more surgical experience in three months than a surgeon at a regular civilian hospital would acquire in three months or even in six months.A good example of timing is a manager who has to take over a poorly performing department immediately after completing his or her training.Such an experience would undoubtedly have a greater impact on this individual now than it would later in his or her career.
Many organisations recognize complexity of experience and attempt to structure the assignment of high-potential managers in a way that maximizes their developmental value.For the most part, however, researchers have treated experience in a very simplistic fashion.In the future, this is likely to be a very fruitful area of research in organizational psychology (Tesluk and Jacobs, 1998).
Regarding job experience also, there is no or little research based evidence in Sri Lanka.No clear cut ranges or specifications (number of year [quantity], density and timing [quality] for HRM jobs are in existence in Sri Lanka.Different levels (in years) and contents of experience in HRM job advertisements are stated by various organisations.There is a need of exploring these differences and reaching towards a framework that specifies general features of the experience requirements.

Methodology
An exploratory study was conducted by using eight key HRM job related employment advertisements appeared in the Sunday Observer newspaper for the period of 5 years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010) in order to achieve the objectives of the research.Time horizon of the study was longitudinal and the unit of analysis of the study was HRM related job advertisement.Because of the reason that any manipulation and control of variables had not been done, the extent of the researchers' interference in this study was minimal.In a natural environment where events occurred normally this study was carried out.

Findings and Discussion
During the study period, a total of 3374 HRM job advertisements were collected from the organizations which are operating in Sri Lanka in all the sectors and out of which 1429 were related to the selected key HRM jobs which included Director-HR, Group Human Resource Manager, Head-HRM, Manager-HRM, HR Executive, HR Officer, Training Manager and Recruitment Manager.Results and findings were generated by exploring all the data in the light of research objectives.
Table 1 gives number of job advertisements and number of job vacancies relating to the advertisements for the selected 08 key jobs under study.According to the Table 1, the key job that had the highest number of job advertisements and vacancies is HR Manager.HR Executive is the key job that had the next highest number of advertisements and vacancies.These two jobs are critical for a person who wants to excel in the HRM profession.Generally the job of HR Manager becomes a long term career goal and the job of HR Executive becomes a short term career goal for a person who wishes to have an excellent career in the field of HRM.Tables from 2 to 17 provide experience requirements for the eight key HRM jobs in terms of years and contents.

Discussion
Regarding the concept of HRM job experience there are two main ideas emerged from this study such as years of experience and contents of experience.In this discussion, first researchers discuss about years of experience expected by the organizations and then focus on contents of experience.
The following Table shows the summary of high frequencies of years of experience for each job from the earlier presentation.According to this study, as the accumulated experience to become a Director-HR/HRM or similar senior position, a minimum of 10 years experience in a well reputed or recognized organisation (private/public) is needed in Sri Lanka.In addition, he pointed out that a minimum of 5 years experience is needed for the post of HR Manager (job is in middle management of the organization).That is also true, because evidence from this research confirmed that as well.
Other important aspect in experience is contents of experience in addition to the years of experience (number of years of experience).According to this study, under the data analysis of each selected job, the expected contents of experience were presented.After careful investigation of those contents, certain key factors/elements have been identified regarding generalized HRM jobs.In connection with selected HRM jobs, organizations have expressed in their job advertisements in respect of contents of job experience in the following ways (see Exhibit 1).Findings of this study lead to accept view points of Quinones et al (1995) relating to quantity and quality of job experience.As far as quality or content of experience in HRM jobs is concerned, this study has gone beyond one step further from their views and confirmed that HRM job experience is not only a complex variable but also a multidimensional and broader concept framing eight (08) dimensions which were emphasized by the organizations in assessing quality of HRM job experience in Sri Lanka (see Figure 1).Career progress/advancement in the HRM field can be earned by gaining experience in different levels.The content of HRM job experience is a multidimensional and broader concept for HRM jobs.In connection with contents of HRM job experience, eight dimensions have been identified from this study including general experience in HRM field, specialized experience in specific HRM area/function, scope of experience in HRM field, sector related experience, management level/position related experience, industry related experience, workforce/organisation size based experience and time preference based experience.In respect of experience contents for specialized HRM jobs such as Training Manager or Recruitment Manager etc, experience in his/her respective area is very important in terms of scope as well as depth.
HRM job experience is one of the essential human qualifications for HRM jobs, and therefore current HRM job holders and potential HRM job seekers should know about these requirements to progress in their HRM career in a successful manner.At the same time, regarding experience contents of generalized HRM jobs, to understand the dimensions required by the organizations in Sri Lanka, and to plan based on that understanding in order to acquire or gain expected experience contents are of very importance to the current HRM job holders and potential HRM job seekers in Sri Lanka.Findings of the study will be useful for career planning and development of persons who choose HRM field as their career field.

Figure
Figure 1 Dimensions of HRM Job Experience

Table : 18 Key HRM Jobs and Most Frequently Required Years of Experience
With regard to experience requirements for HRM jobs in Sri Lanka, whatOpatha (2009,  p.51)has expressed based on his observations is confirmed by the findings of this study.He stated that a minimum of 10 years experience in a recognised establishment at Senior Executive Level (as a HR Manager/Head of HR Department) is needed as the right experience for the post of HR Director/Assistant GM-HR/Deputy GM-HR/Group HR Manager/Group Director-HR (job is in the top management of the organisation).

Exhibit 1 Contents and Emerging Dimensions of HRM Job Experience # Real world requirements of HRM job experience Emerging Perspectives/Dimensions
From the above real requirements of the organizations, after conducting content analysis it was possible for researchers to formulate a model of HRM job experience contents in the Sri Lankan context.The Figure1shows the emerging model of HRM job experience contents developed from this exploratory study.Even though organizations use number of years in a particular job or organization as a common measurement, really the HRM job experiences contain multiple dimensions and perspectives.Experience contents for specialized HRM jobs such as Training Manager or Recruitment Manager etc include experience in respective area as very important in terms of scope as well as depth.