What Is Human Resources Management?

With a projected growth rate of nine percent by 2024, human resources management is a rapidly growing field that offers candidates a variety of career opportunities from recruiting to people operations. If you’re considering becoming a human resources professional, you might be wondering about the various day-to-day tasks associated with this career path.

Here are some of the key things you need to know about working in human resources management.

What is human resources management?

Human resources management (often abbreviated as HR management or HR) is a broad term that covers a range of functions associated with hiring, training and managing employees. Focusing on everything from recruitment to payroll, HR departments ensure that companies follow federal laws and best practices when managing their employees, a practice that not only benefits the employees but also the company’s ability to operate efficiently.

What do human resources professionals do?

Because human resources management is a broad field, the day-to-day tasks of HR professionals can vary greatly depending on their roles. For example, while recruiters focus mostly on identifying talent and interviewing candidates, HR generalists are responsible for creating and streamlining processes to handle things like payroll, benefits and training. Despite the different responsibilities of these roles, one thing remains constant: a strong focus on effective employer-employee relations.

What are the challenges of a human resources management career?

A fast-paced field, HR management definitely has its share of challenges. These include contending with unpredictable schedules when organizing interviews and handling sensitive issues such as layoffs and problems between managers and employees. The key to overcoming these challenges is understanding that HR management is a service-oriented role and keeping the company’s best interests in mind while being sensitive to the needs of employees.

What are the benefits of a human resources management career?

Although there are definitely some challenges involved in being an HR professional, there are a lot of benefits too. These include working with managers to build a strong workforce, fostering a great team culture and developing programs designed to ensure that employees are satisfied and supported in their roles.

What is a typical salary for a human resources professional?

Salaries for human resources professionals vary slightly depending on the specific role but entry-level HR coordinators and recruiters typically earn around $42,000 while HR managers can earn upwards of $90,000.

An important field with plenty of growth and stability, human resources management offers many opportunities for recent grads. The best way to find out if being an HR professional is right for you is to get a hands-on feel for the role by doing an internship.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look For In a Company and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

What Does a Recruiter Do?

From understanding a company’s hiring goals to finding great candidates to fill those positions, recruiters play an important role in a company’s growth. If you’re considering becoming a recruiter, you might be wondering what you can expect from the position. For example, what are the best ways to identify the right candidates and ensure that the interview process goes smoothly?

To give you a better understanding of recruitment, we’ve outlined the key components of the role. Here’s a breakdown of what recruiters do.

1. Understand a company’s recruitment needs

Being able to match a candidate with a position begins with understanding a company’s hiring needs. Depending on the company, these needs can be either broad (hiring for a range of different roles across the company) or specific (building out one particular team). The best way to understand those needs is by having a sense of the company’s mission and its projected growth. This helps recruiters prioritize the roles that need to be filled and work with management to create hiring goals for the company.

2. Identify talented candidates to fill open positions

Once a recruiter has a solid understanding of the positions that need to be filled, it’s time to look for candidates to fill those positions. This involves posting job opportunities on platforms such as WayUp, researching candidates through these platforms and tapping into a network of existing contacts who may have additional leads. After talented candidates have been identified, recruiters will reach out to them to find out more about the skills, experience and career goals in order to determine if they’re a good match for the positions. If they are, they will be brought in for an interview to meet with members of the team.

3. Coordinate the interview process

Since hiring decisions often involve several key players (including the potential employee’s manager and other members of their team), setting up interviews usually involves a lot of planning. This includes finding interview times that work for everyone, coordinating logistical details such as interview locations and ensuring that both interviewers and candidates are prepared for the interviews. In addition to setting up interviews, recruiters need to also set up systems for collecting and processing feedback so that they know where candidates stand following their interviews.

4. Follow up with candidates

The final and most important component of a recruiter’s role is following up with candidates to let them know the outcome of their interviews and the status of their application. This includes letting unsuccessful candidates know that the company has decided not to proceed with the hiring process, selling top candidates on the role and extending job offers.

Whether it’s setting a hiring goal or finding a great person to fill a position, recruiters are responsible for helping companies figure out their employment needs and then filling those roles with talented people. If helping people get hired sounds like something you’d like to do, then being a recruiter might be a good fit for you.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look for in an Internship and find answers to common interview questions such as What Are You Passionate About?