Human Resources
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Human resources (HR) is the department within a company or organization that oversees the management and development of employees. This often includes:
- The employee hiring process (such as recruiting, interviewing, hiring and onboarding/training).
- Managing the culture of the company (making sure employees are happy, healthy, and treated appropriately)
- Dealing with people-related problems, including conflict resolution, fair labor practices, workplace diversity, inappropriate behavior, etc.
- Acting as a point of contact for business-related questions for employees (things such as pay checks, vacation days, etc.) 1https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/types-of-human-resources-jobs/
What do HR Professionals do?
The responsibility of HR is to handle the complex relationship between employer and employee. This includes everything from recruiting and onboarding, to the day the employee leaves the firm, and everything in between. The overall goal of HR is to ensure that employees are comfortable and happy every step of the way during their time at the company. However, this is accomplished in different ways depending on the specific company. 2https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/blog/working-in-human-resources/
While the tasks may vary, they often include some of the following:
- Meet senior-level employees to identify needs and come up with hiring strategies
- Recruit and interview applicants to get a sense of their experiences and qualifications
- Contact an applicant’s references and perform necessary background checks on them
- Hire and/or refer qualified candidates, and educate them on job details (like benefits)
- Distribute, collect, and process new employees’ paperwork
- Conduct orientation/onboarding processes for new employees
- Resolve issues that employees face
- Advise managers on policies like equal employment opportunity, sexual harassment, etc.
- Deal with disciplinary procedures
- Organize events that aim to strengthen and build a strong company culture3https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/human-resources-job-description
Who does what within the HR department?
Human resource specialists tend to focus on a single area, like recruitment or employee training, while generalists usually have many responsibilities. Most companies will have at least a couple HR generalists and several HR specialists who work in particular areas and handle specific services for the company. 4https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/human-resources-job-description
What types of Human Resources Jobs are out there?
Recent college graduates usually begin their HR career working in a general HR role. Many enjoy the vast exposure of this position and choose to remain in this role (and ultimately get promoted as a generalist). However, if you wish to become an HR specialist, below are some common titles/areas of work:
- Compensation and Benefits
- Employee Relations
- Equal Opportunities
- Recruitment
- Learning and Development (Training) 5https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/human-resources-officer
Typical HR hierarchy:
Below is a typical HR structure, however this varies greatly depending on where you work:
What types of skills are necessary to be successful in HR?
- Business acumen
- People management skills
- Organized
- Attention to detail
- Interpersonal skills to build strong relationships with people of all seniority levels
- Integrity and approachability, because employees need to be comfortably discussing sensitive and confidential issues with you
- Awareness of company culture’s pros and cons
- In some larger organizations you could also be working with overseas staff, so cultural awareness and having some understanding of work issues in other countries can be valuable
What are some challenges of working in HR?
- During busy times, can be a lot of work (like job recruiting season)
- Often act as a middle man between two parties who may or may not be getting along
- In managing company culture you are automatically swept into company politics (which can be difficult to navigate)
- Companies often compete with each other for talent, and your job is to recruit well for the company. This can be difficult to pull off if competition for talent is fierce. 6https://www.managerskills.org/hr/hr-pros-and-cons/
What are some benefits of working in HR?
- Interact and work with people
- Significant impact on the company’s well-being
- Work on different problems and tasks regularly
- Paid pretty well
- Good work life balance (hours are not long)7https://www.managerskills.org/hr/hr-pros-and-cons/
Typical Salary?
The average HR specialist earns ~$63k in the USA. 8https://www.humanresourcesedu.org/hr-specialist/ And, according to ZipRecruiter, the average entry-level HR salary is around $44k.
Should I go into Human Resources?
If you enjoy working with people, and helping a company grow through recruitment and other personnel-related measures, you should look into HR. It is a great way to work with exciting companies and help them deal with problems that are very important for their growth and success. A company’s culture is often one of the most important features for long term success, and as a member of the HR department you are largely responsible for creating and managing a positive company culture. Additionally, having a background in HR gives you a lot of career opportunities since all industries, and most companies, have an HR department.
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