Is a Career in Human Resources Right for You?

If you are thinking about the kind of career you would like to get into after school or college or are looking for a career change later in life, there can be a massive amount of choice – and this can be somewhat overwhelming.

The best way to approach the issue is to first think about what sort of working lifestyle you would like. If you decide office work suits you best, and you like the idea of working for a medium to a large company, then one possibility could be human resources.

This is a vital role for all companies above a certain size with staff to take care of. So it is something that can allow you to work in all kinds of different sectors, including IT and finance, without necessarily having to study for the technical skills needed for other roles in those businesses.

Of course, HR has an entire skill set all of its own. Here are some of the things a good HR person will need to help you determine if it could be a good option for you:


Good People Skills

HR is all about people, so you will need to be someone who likes talking to lots of different staff every day and is comfortable having some of the more difficult conversations that can come up in a company. HR people are often included in processes like disciplinaries and appraisals, which naturally make staff nervous. They can also be the ones who have to break it to people when redundancies are happening in the business.

This means you need to be good at the positive stuff like offering new hires jobs and getting them settled in and sometimes the less pleasant parts of employment. It would be best if you were someone who could put people at ease and handle tough conversations. Many HR people in big companies have an HR glossary list that they refer to make sure they are using the right terms when they are communicating so that there isn’t any confusion or mistakes made accidentally.


Good Computer Literacy

These days, most HR processes are managed using online HR software systems, which can streamline things and keep records safe in the cloud. This makes HR work a lot more efficient but means that you’ll need to be comfortable using business software packages and other IT tools in your everyday work.


Strong Organisation Skills

Much HR work is about admin and ensuring things get done on time. When staff is waiting to be repaid for their business expenses, or new starters need to be set up on systems before they can do things like time reporting, people lose motivation and become less productive. HR teams, therefore, need to be on the ball and help support the rest of the personnel in the company in doing their jobs effectively.

HR can give you a good career path up to senior management and is a vital function in most medium to large businesses – plus, there are HR consultancies you can also work for. If you think you have the right traits and skills for this job area, why not start looking into your own human resources career today?

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