The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor tells us that the future job prospects of the field of Human Resources has an optimist outlook. Human resource jobs are expected to grow by more than 17% from the year 2008 to year 2016. This growth compares favorably with the average rate of growth for the workforce. The report also tells us that the median wages for HR assistants for the year 2006 was $33,740. More senior human resource professionals had much higher wages. For comparison, an average compensations and benefits manager had a median income of $74,750 in the year 2006. For training and development manager, the median income was $80,250. The median income for other human resources managers ranged from $51,810 to $145,600.
As a human resource professional, it will be your job to help your organization attract, recruit and retain the best talent, and to make sure that they work at their highest efficiency. The last is done by providing training to employees, as well by giving them development opportunities by promoting and transferring them when and where appropriate. In a small organization, a single HR generalist may provide all these services as part of their job. However, in any large organization, a director of HR will oversee several different departments, each of which will handle tasks such as training, compensation and benefits, labor relations, and employment and placement. The following section describes these different jobs in more detail:
- Employment and Placement Manager As a manager supervising the employment and recruitment of your company you will formulate policies and tests used in the process. Most of all, you will be supervising other professionals, including recruitment and placement specialists.
- Recruitment Specialists As a recruitment specialist you will have to search for job applicants, mostly at college campuses and job fairs. You will have to screen and interview applicants to make sure that they have the minimum required qualifications for the next stage of recruitment process.
- Compensation and Benefits Analysts These professionals manage the compensation and benefits programs of the organization. Another job related to this is that of Job Analysts, who are responsible for preparation of job descriptions that explain the duties and responsibilities of the newly created jobs.
- Training and Development Usually, this is one of the largest Human Resources department of an organization. Every organization wants that its employees are well-trained, and up to date with the latest techniques in their domain. As a training and development professional, you will make sure that the employees receive the required training from time to time.
- Labor Relation Managers, Mediators and Arbitrators Labor relations managers help the management of the company interact with the employees and unions in a positive and fruitful manner. Mediators are helpful when the management needs to talk to the labor unions. Arbitrators decide the disputes between the management and union in an impartial manner. These jobs are found in rather large organizations and settings – for example, in an automobile factory.
Other specialist jobs for human resources professionals include that of international human resources managers, human resources information system specialists and EEO officers. Job opportunities after a HR degree are almost as diverse as the types of companies and employee requirements that we have in the industry.
