Human Resources as a Career Field - Research Paper Example

 Abstract Human Resource is the interface between employees and employers within an organizational setup. In recent years, this field has attained significant importance throughout the world, as the human resourcing jobs are detrimental in performance evaluation of any organization. Human resourcing as the name suggests, adds a human or people approach to the ways the organizations develop and function in daily life. This profession has gone through substantial changes in recent years and now holds the credit for being one of the best career choices in terms of career growth and progression, salary and benefits, and career outlook. The types of job include both the internal and external to the organization job, as well as the specialist and the generalist human resource practitioners. Many organizations enjoy human resource services by the external service providers or the outsourced human resource professionals whereas; other organizations prefer the internal human resource department to carry out the HR jobs and tasks. Generalists usually have knowledge and expertise on every aspect and perspective of business however, the specialists professional have advanced expertise and greater knowledge on a few aspects of the HR environment. The HR professionals usually hold degree or certification in Human Resource Management however; degrees in related fields of study are beneficial and productive in this regard as well. The HR field offers steady jobs throughout the career ladder of a human resource professional and bears substantial fruit in every phase or point in one's career. The steady supply of human resource practitioners has caused HR field undergo slight saturation and thus, it requires greater competency levels to excel productively in this environment. HR Field The paper deals with description of human resource as a career field. Moreover, it throws light on the jobs included in this field and the careers one can have within the field of human resource field. It depicts the degree and educational requirements for this particular field of study. The paper also accounts average salary of professionals within human resource job description and within particular jobs. The discussion also involves career progression and industry outlook that human resource professionals experience throughout their career ladder. Human resources professional can follow the career ladder of any specialist HR practitioner or the career path of a generalist (Strayer, 2005) human resource professional. In smaller organizational setups, a human resource generalist usually deals with all perspectives of human resource work present within an organization and plays a very significant role in best interests of organization (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). This requires great knowledge, comprehensive understanding of the field, non-challengeable expertise, and utmost dedication from the practitioners' side. However, the responsibilities or job nature of any hr specialist or generalist can fluctuate as per the needs and requirements of client or the organization within a human resource setup. Greater skills and higher capabilities are mandatory for more sensitive and significant job positions such as that of managers, arbitrators, and mediators. Moving up the hierarchy of human resource professionals, two types of job classifications are present: Corporate jobs and field jobs. The efficient career ladder of human resource field renders many job positions in between the entry-level HR professionals and the director or specialist consultant in any human resource setup. Particular human resource jobs count on size of an organization and the nature of an organization. Mostly, human resource professionals are internal to employees within an organization that attend various other departments in any organizational setup. Nevertheless, these days it is a usual practice to do outsourcing of specific human resource tasks for instance, job recruitment and selection. The careers one can have in this field are as follows: Small scale organizational setups mostly take services of an HR generalist to take care of all perspectives of organizational management that involves appealing and holding employees' interests, formatting and predicting training programs, making design of compensational strategies, choosing and dealing employees' benefits programs, and counseling management on organizational employment laws. HR generalists usually are highly knowledgeable people. HR management is the career choice at the apex of human resource departments belonging to large organizational setups. The HR Manager is a well-established manager whose responsibilities include development and implementation of staff conclusions throughout the organization. The HR manager has its working experience with managers if employment and placement within a company who supervise departments or handle particular matters such as compensation and benefit programs (Noe, 2008), or outsourcing issues. Another offshoot of careers in human resource field is that of the compensation manager. A compensation manager (Mondy, 2001) establishes and sets the remuneration and plans pay rates as per performance within an organizational setup. The job includes conducting of surveys as to make a comparison of current remuneration plans of similar industries. The compensation manager ensures that the remuneration plans comply with varying organizational rules and legislature. This requires great understanding of financial planning and design, and estimating. Employee benefit manager (Tracey, 2004) is another significant career option in this regard. Organizations have their reliance on benefit plan that includes insurance and pension programs as well, in order to appeal and make them stay in an organizational setup. However, at times, the unfortunate circumstances give exponential rise to the cost of such benefit plans and programs that can affect organizations in a real disastrous manner. The employee benefit manager has an ample understanding and knowledge of various changing trends in organizational laws and legislature when it comes to options related to benefit programs and reward plans. The manager is also capable of analyzing reward packages prevailing in other industries and designs the one that serves the organization in best possible way (Lambert, 2002). Recruiters exist both internal and external to the organization. External or outsourced recruiters are usually more efficient as they have experience in different specialized areas such as technical or/and executive recruiting skills. Recruiters work with hiring specialists as to best satisfy the needs of employment department of an organization. Recruiters are nest aware of manners to grab attraction of potential and competitive employees as placing ads, make use of internet, participating in job fairs, and holding interviews at different institutions. Most of large organizational setups employ skilled personnel to monitor their training programs established for employees. The trainers are responsible for orientation of new comers, provision on-job training programs, enhancing professional abilities and skills, and preparation of less skilled personalities to rise and grab management positions. Many trainers also aim at development of social skills of executives. HR consultants (Armstrong, 2003) basically are the contracting authorities that has the responsibility includes providing experts' advice on rewards, compensation, and benefit management group, smoothing relations between employees and employers, training programs, and information system related to human resource field. HR consultants are good at making analysis and designing reports from these analyses in order to give extended and efficient support to their clients. Outplacement specialists have their responsibilities in providing advice and solutions to employees who have undergone a termination from their respective jobs or services. They render sponsored help usually provided by company, in order to recognize career movements, marketing, and job interview preparation. These job positions can be internal or external to companies. Salary or remuneration within this field varies greatly with size of organization, work experience of HR professional, occupation, and certain other parameters. However, the average salaries of human resource professionals are comparatively high. HR has a very significant role in performance of an organization, this is one of the major reasons that HR professional usually enjoys higher salaries (Kaponya, 1991). HR generalists usually make $37,000- 70,000, HR managers $52,000–92,000, compensation managers make $40,000–100,000, training managers enjoy remuneration of $52,000–100,000, and recruiters usually have the salaries ranging from: $40,000–90,000 (Wetfeet, 2010). The career outlook and working circumstances for HR professional varies greatly with the global and national economic situations, competency and skills of practitioners, and the type and size of organization the professionals have their association with. Careers in HR manager have worldwide acceptance and regard. This also leads to the ultimate workloads that result due to the greater need arisen for human resource practitioners. Many specialized and skilled HR professional have their work 30-45 hours a week. Dedicated time is a part of human resource jobs when dealing with labor relations, HR specialists, and consultants especially when signing of contracts is in progress. Human resource practitioners usually have degree (US Dept of Labor, 2004), certificate, or diploma in human resource management or a section closed to it as business management, finance, commerce, industrial, organizational, and labor relations, studies related to organization ethics, office politics, organizational psychology, sociology, etc (Solomon, 1994). Usually, the professionals start their career after bachelors or masters in human resource management. Many excellent and widely recognized certifications have also played an important role in efficient dealing of the human resource matters. These certifications are equally good, beneficial, and fruitful for students of human resource management, fresh graduates, and experienced professionals. Career progression in the field of human resources offers an inclined slope when plotted with respect to time the professional give to their jobs. This field rewards practitioners with endless possibilities and unlimited opportunities to excel every passing day. However, due to steady supply of students and graduates related to this field, competitiveness has taken hold of market situation. The more skills one has, the more rewards one gets when it comes to the career progression in human resource field. The fresh graduates can work with HR department of any organization for a significant period, and after getting enough experience and exposure, they can continue to make identities of their own by starting consultancy firms. References Armstrong, M. (2003). A handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Kaponya, P. G. (1991). The human resource professional: tactics and strategies for career success. Praeger Publisher. Lambert, S. E. (2002). Great jobs for sociology majors. McGraw-Hill Professional. Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2007). Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning. Mondy. (2001). Human Resource Management. Pearson Hall. Noe, R. A. (2008). Fundamentals of human resource management. Mc-Graw Hill. Solomon, C. M. (1994). Careers: Human Resources. Black Enterprise , 132. Strayer, S. (2005). Vault Guide to Human Resources Careers. Vault Career Library. Tracey, W. R. (2004). The human resources glossary: the complete desk reference for HR executives, managers and practitioners. CRC Press. US Dept of Labor, B. O. (2004). Occupational Outlook Handbook. Claitor's Law Books and Publishing. Wetfeet. (2010). Human Resources. Retrieved on April 08, 2010: http://www.wetfeet.com/Careers-and-Industries/Careers/Human-Resources.aspx Read More