Start Your Career in Human Resources

Interview Process

When preparing for an interview, the questions will most likely be designed to find out about your interpersonal and team skills, be prepared to give examples to back up your claims. You may be required to have one or more interviews, however formal assessments are usually uncommon. A career in HR is highly competitive, so be prepared to start at the bottom of the ladder in an entry level role.

Experience

When applying for an HR role, you will need to highlight how you differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition. It is highly common to gain experience from another office role, such as administration or a secretary role before you can progress to a position in human resources. Lateral moves into the sector are quite common. You can improve your chances in the industry you need to keep up to date with the current trends and practices in the sector.

Sectors

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Many human resources professionals work across many different sectors while others specialise in certain areas. A small company may only require one personnel manager who is able to oversee all areas. Although, if you work for a large organisation with a large HR department your expected areas of work may include:

• Employee Relations:
  Designing and implementing policies to balance the needs of employees and management in terms of working conditions, equal opportunities and grievance procedures etc. The main idea is to make employees happy so they will work hard, therefore increasing productivity, efficiency and profitability.
• Recruitment:
  Working in recruitment will require the overseeing of the entire recruitment process, from finding potential candidates to recruiting new employees. Duties can include writing job descriptions, advertising for staff, analysing applications, holding interviews and assessments, helping select candidates and issuing contracts.
• Training and Development:
  Coordinating external training and delivering and organising internal training sessions, as well as running induction schemes for new employees.
• Employment Law:
  Understanding the laws relating to employment and providing advice and guidance to employees and the business. Ensuring equal opportunities legislation is followed during recruitment processes, understanding the laws around unfair dismissal and providing advice to employees regarding harassment, maternity leave and work-related benefits.
• Health and Safety:
  Looking after the physical and mental health of employees. This role requires providing support during illness or time of stress and preventing injury by implementing rules for heavy lifting and providing other advice to maintain a safe, risk free workplace.
• Pay and Benefits:
  Developing a businesses salary structure, including superannuation, bonuses, managing payroll and negotiating salary increases. This also includes the arranging, overseeing and giving guidance and advice on a range of benefits including annual leave, pensions, health insurance and loans.

Progression

It is important to remember that the responsibility for progress rests largely with you to take ownership of your career. If you ensure you are extremely proactive when it comes to networking, sharing experiences and knowledge, others will notice this. It is highly important for HR professionals to gain as much experience as possible outside the restrictions of their field and make a strong effort to understand the wider business implications.