Example Career: Human Resources Specialists

Career Description

Perform activities in the human resource area. Includes employment specialists who screen, recruit, interview, and place workers.

What Job Titles Human Resources Specialists Might Have

• Employment Representative
• Human Resources HR Generalist
• Human Resources Specialist (HR Specialist)
• Recruiter

What Human Resources Specialists Do

• Prepare or maintain employment records related to events, such as hiring, termination, leaves, transfers, or promotions, using human resources management system software.
• Interpret and explain human resources policies, procedures, laws, standards, or regulations.
• Hire employees and process hiring-related paperwork.
• Inform job applicants of details such as duties and responsibilities, compensation, benefits, schedules, working conditions, or promotion opportunities.
• Address employee relations issues, such as harassment allegations, work complaints, or other employee concerns.
• Maintain current knowledge of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action guidelines and laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• Schedule or conduct new employee orientations.
• Maintain and update human resources documents, such as organizational charts, employee handbooks or directories, or performance evaluation forms.
• Confer with management to develop or implement personnel policies or procedures.
• Select qualified job applicants or refer them to managers, making hiring recommendations when appropriate.
• Review employment applications and job orders to match applicants with job requirements.
• Conduct reference or background checks on job applicants.
• Conduct exit interviews and ensure that necessary employment termination paperwork is completed.
• Perform searches for qualified job candidates, using sources such as computer databases, networking, Internet recruiting resources, media advertisements, job fairs, recruiting firms, or employee referrals.
• Provide management with information or training related to interviewing, performance appraisals, counseling techniques, or documentation of performance issues.
• Contact job applicants to inform them of the status of their applications.
• Interview job applicants to obtain information on work history, training, education, or job skills.
• Develop or implement recruiting strategies to meet current or anticipated staffing needs.
• Analyze employment-related data and prepare required reports.
• Advise management on organizing, preparing, or implementing recruiting or retention programs.
• Schedule or administer skill, intelligence, psychological, or drug tests for current or prospective employees.
• Evaluate recruitment or selection criteria to ensure conformance to professional, statistical, or testing standards, recommending revisions, as needed.
• Review and evaluate applicant qualifications or eligibility for specified licensing, according to established guidelines and designated licensing codes.
• Evaluate selection or testing techniques by conducting research or follow-up activities and conferring with management or supervisory personnel.

What Human Resources Specialists Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Human Resources Specialists Should Be Interested In

• Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
• Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

What Human Resources Specialists Need to Learn

• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.