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Q&A: Human Resources

Posted by in Careers: Questions & Answers
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Question: What are the various specialties within the Human Resources field?
Answer:

Benton

Specialties in HR depend on the size of the company and the size of the job. Smaller companies either don't require much specialization or require that the one or two HR professionals have a broad level of experience in a number of specialties. Larger companies tend to break some or all of the specialties into separate jobs.

The specializations are:

Generalists: sometimes referred to as HR Business Partners: Responsible for deploying and monitoring HR Programs, with emphasis on employee relations.

Compensation: Responsible for designing and administering pay programs - performance review/merit pay, job evaluation and grading, incentive compensation, executive compensation, deferred compensation.

Benefits: Sometimes rolled into the Compensation organization, for example, compensation and benefits. Responsible for various company-sponsored insurance, retirement and 401K programs. It may also include health and wellness programs using company nurses and workers compensation programs.

Staffing: Responsible for external and internal recruiting, college relations, co-op/intern programs. In very large companies, college relations and co-op/intern programs may be a specialty. May include oversight of contract labor programs, usually in coordination with Purchasing.

Diversity: Some larger companies have a diversity program administration/manager. Responsible for designing, overseeing diversity and EEO/OFCCP compliance and AAP programs.

Training and Development: Often goes by the name Employee Learning, Organizational Development, Employee Education. Responsible for designing and delivering employee training programs. May have responsibility for technical training although this is often managed by one of the technical departments.

International HR: In multinational companies, responsible for designing and administering the international assignments.

Immigration Administration: Responsible for administering visa and green card programs for company employees - Similar to an immigration paralegal. The actual legal work is usually outsourced to an immigration law firm retained by the company. This person is the company interface to that firm.

Human Resources Information Technology (HRIT): Responsible for the administration of HR information technology systems like Peoplesoft HR, SAP HR, Recruiting Management Systems, HR Web Page design and maintenance. Sometimes these functions are delivered by the company's IT department, although in larger companies they tend to be in the HR department.

Human Resources Data Management: Responsible for entering all employee-related data into the Human Resources Information System (HRIS). This data drives payroll, benefits, and reporting.

Labor Relations: In unionized companies, responsible for union contract negotiation and administration.

Most top HR professionals have rotated through many of these programs during their careers. Smaller companies do not demand the depth of experience in these specialties, but may rely on the HR Manager to obtain consultants or outsource these functions. In smaller companies, the HR Manager is also responsible for payroll. In larger companies, the payroll department is part of accounting and finance.

 

Question (Carol): Do you think there is a field within HR that is "hotter" than the others right now? Do you think it depends on the company and what they are going through at the time - like if they are staffing like crazy, be a recruiter...etc.?
Answer:

Benton:

HR is an ever-evolving field. HR is also an overhead department, by that I mean it is a cost vs. a revenue generating department. For some time, HR has been trying to reposition itself as a key business element thus, the name change of an “HR generalist” to “HR Business Partner” in large companies.

US businesses are under intense pressure to become more cost competitive. US regulations and controls (OSHA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Taxes, AAP, workers compensation, environmental controls, etc.) add a huge amount of cost to US goods and services. In an attempt to shed cost, many US companies have begun to outsource all or part of their support organizations and HR is among them. So, HR opportunities are shrinking, at least in operating companies. One could make a case that opportunities are shifting to the outsourced companies. However, since these companies are trying to deliver the services AND make a profit, the compensation is often less than paid by operating companies.

Now, to the original question: You have to look at the HR field differently for small and large companies and maybe medium sized companies as well. The demand for small company HR is pretty constant, although the jobs are often rolled under the CFO and, while they require a lot of hard work, they are not as well compensated or professionally demanding as those in larger companies. You would never find a dedicated compensation position in a small company.

The demand in larger companies has diminished over the last few years as services have been outsourced. That does not mean there are not plenty of jobs. It does mean that the jobs tend to be higher level and in addition to direct experience in the field, may also require project management experience overseeing the outsourced service delivery.

There seems to always be a demand for experienced compensation professionals. My guess is that this demand is driven by the focus on cost control. In most companies the largest cost element is labor. Thus finding a way to deliver this labor in the most cost efficient manner is critical to cost control like the demand for experienced compensation professionals. These jobs are almost always at the corporate level and are usually not present at the plant or division level unless the division is large enough to warrant them and even then, they are usually program delivery vs. program development positions.

Good, experienced recruiters are also in demand, both in companies and in outsourced providers. However, there has been a shift away from company recruiters to either contract recruiters or staffing companies.

Experienced HR Generalists (HR Business Partners) are also in demand. However, the highest paying positions are still in larger companies.

There is some demand for experienced training professionals, but this not a large employment area.

And, with the weakening of organized labor in the US, the demand for labor relations HR professionals has declined over the years.

It is obvious that the most and highest paying HR jobs are in the larger companies. And, since HR makes up a relatively small portion of company employment, the demand is not huge. HR professionals should be prepared to relocate to obtain a good job, especially if they live in an area that does not have a significant base of large companies.

It's still a good field, but it is an evolving field. The demand is for "experienced" HR professionals. Getting the qualifying experience is the hard part, especially for older workers. It is much easier for those still in college, since co-ops and internships are a natural "gateway" to a good job.

Carol:

A good way to find out what HR jobs are in demand is to just do a job search in a particular geographic area and see what companies are advertising. Dig a little into the types of companies who are running the ads to find out their size/product lines, etc. I see a lot of ads for recruiters - many of the companies are staffing firms as Benton suggests. But there are many other specialties being sought after too.

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