Guest post: Neomi Farkash, HR Manager at Taboola

Last week I attended a Jobinfo sponsored lecture by Mr. Ariel Halevi, Co-Founder & C.E.O. of Debate Company Ltd. The topic was why so few HR executives move up to a CEO position. Finance, Sales & Marketing and R&D execs have a much better chance of moving to the CEO chair at the height of their careers. But HR, whether VP or otherwise, aren’t likely to make the move.

The talk was fascinating. It helps that you’re a great debater, as Halevi has to be. But a lot of what he said resonated with me – “HR needs to be connected to the business aspect on all levels”. The HR work has to be quantified, measurable in money – even if it’s “soft” and immeasurable on other scales. Halevi’s perspective on that was unique and it’s one I intended to try.

The essence of management is making the most with what you’ve got and HR is an important tool for that. In Internet companies – salaries are the biggest expense the company has – wouldn’t it make sense to make sure you got the most bang for your buck?

The trick is finding a way to put a dollar value on HR metrics. How much is a coherent, functioning management team worth to the CEO? How much is he willing to pay to increase the amount of (voluntary) work hours? A smart, motivated, business-oriented HR manager needs to identify what the company needs, what it’s worth and what’s needed to make it happen. For that HR needs to speak the CEO’s language, to know what matters to him (or her). HR needs to think like a CEO. Then he can hope to become one.