Here's What a Job in Human Resources Look Like

A vast majority of human resource professionals are women — and women are attracted to the field for good reason. A career in human resources can be a lucrative one, and it's also a career in which women can use their communication, people and leadership skills.

Specifically,  in 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that 72 percent of human resource managers were women; and, in 2017, PayScale reported that 86 percent of human resource generalists were women. The gender ratio of human resources is so skewed toward women, in fact, that John Sumser, a principal analyst for the blog HRExaminer, has famously said: "HR is a 47-year-old white woman. She’s married with kids and has pets that probably aren’t cats. She has either an advanced degree or a nationally recognized certificate."

So what's so great about HR that's appealing to so many women? Here's what the field human resources exactly is, what human resources professionals do and how you, too, can land a job in human resources.

Let's dive in...

What Is Human Resources?

What is HR and its functions, and what does a person in human resources do? To sum it up, human resource professionals are responsible for recruiting, screening, interviewing, placing and sometimes onboarding employees. They often also handle all employee relations, which includes but is not limited to payroll, benefits and training.

Human resource specialists usually focus on a single area, like recruitment or training, while generalists usually take on a number of different tasks. Most companies will have at least one or two HR generalists on staff, though larger companies may have several HR specialists who work in particular areas and handle specific services for the company.

What Are the 7 Functions of HR?

Despite the varying responsibilities that a human resource professional might be tasked with handling, there are seven general functions of HR across the board:

1. Job Design and Analysis

2. Recruitment of Employees

3. Employee Training and Development

4. Performance Management

5. Compensation and Benefits

6. Labor Relations

7. Managerial Relations

What Are the Duties and Responsibilities of HR?

• Meet with employers to identify needs and come up with hiring strategies
• Recruit and interview applicants about their prior work experiences, education and skills
• Contact the references of those applicants, as well as perform background checks on them
• Hire or refer qualified candidates, and inform them about job details like benefits
• Allocate and process new employees' paperwork
• Conduct orientations for new employees

• Resolve issues that employees might face
• Advise managers on policies regarding equal employment opportunity, sexual harassment and more
• Direct disciplinary procedures when necessary

What Are Some Different Jobs within HR?

1. A human resource manager is the head manager of the human resources department.
2. Compensation managers are human resource workers who come up with the compensation and benefits packages for workers across departments.
3. Training managers are human resource workers who create the organizational standards for all new hires.
4. Human resources specialists are those who interview potential employees for the organization.

1. Talent Aquisition

2. Employee Relations

3. Employee Engagement

How Can I Land a Human Resources Job?

According to the BLS, human resources jobs do require a bachelor’s degree, which is typically in business administration with human resources concentrations or classes. A master's degree may even be preferred, with a master's program in business administration or human resources.

On top of education, many companies often call for several years of experience and some even ask for certifications. For example, Fairygodboss is hiring for a director of recruiting, and calling for the following requirements:

•  Preferably five to eight years of relevant recruiting experience, ideally in a high-growth company during a phase of growth and rapid scaling
•  Understand the marketplace for talent, including competitive compensation levels and benefits packages
•  Desire and experience managing a recruiting team of your own. While this position initially requires you to be an individual contributor, we would love to hire someone who can grow to be a team leader
•  Familiar with applicable employment laws and compliance requirements
•  Exceptional communication skills (written and verbal) across different personality types and employee departments/functions
•  Demonstrable emotional intelligence and ability to handle complex, social dynamics among multi-disciplinary employees
•  Ability to see the “big picture” of how people and culture fit into the company’s overall business strategy and goals
•  Understands and prioritizes the business value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace

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