As I have noticed a large interest in my article “Again…What Does HR Do Every Day?”, this also raising some controversial comments from readers who had had unpleasant experiences with unprofessional HR people, I have decided to prepare for you a series of 4 articles with more detailed information concerning HR jobs.
This article presents main HR entry level jobs (up to 2 years of experience) – position name and main responsibilities as they appear on large recruitment websites and as they have been posted by large companies seeking for HR professionals.
The list of responsibilities includes only those responsibilities valid for most open positions – I have tried to delete those that are specific to only one company. The idea is for you to understand that HR people actually are not all spies (as it has been suggested by some readers) and that compenies pay them to do real HR duties for their staff.
Junior Recruiter (area of expertise: recruitment and selection of new hires, either on new openings or back fills):
- Build strong relationships with hiring managers, understanding recruitment needs;
- Gather information on candidates, industry and market trends;
- Select appropriate recruitment channels for optimum results to make sure that positions are covered within deadlines;
- Recruit, screen, interview candidates and present the best to the hiring managers for final decision;
- Prepare recruitment reports;
- Plan and organize recruitment events (job fairs, presentations, workshops);
- Create and negotiate candidate offers;
- Administrative tasks: schedule candidates for interview, archive applications and tests, update recruitment database (candidates, feedback);
- Provide background checks of candidates;
- Offer feedback to all candidates that have been contacted;
- Adhere to the recruitment policies and procedures at all stages of recruiting and hiring;
- Proactive recruitment plan implementation – having candidates ready to be hired in advance;
HR Generalist (area of expertise: most HR areas, responsible for recruitment partially, administration of paperwork, legal aspects, payroll, training, a bit of everything; the HR Generalist is present mostly in smaller companies where one HR person does most of the HR duties):
- Post job openings, review and interview candidates, offer support to hiring managers;
- Present job offers to selected candidates;
- Manage employee hiring paperwork (contract and other items requested by legal authorities);
- Manage employee personal files;
- Coordination of performance evaluations;
- Set up training classes and workshops for employees;
- Enter payroll information;
- Conduct new employee orientation;
- Administer corporate policies and procedures as well as local ones;
- Administer employee benefit plans;
- Prepare requested reporting;
- Conduct off-boarding process for employees that are leaving the company;
- Prepare employee communication campaigns;
- Serve as primary contact and resource for employees and managers to address HR issues;
Compensation & Benefits Assistant(area of expertise: compensation and benefits, administration of main benefits that are offered to employees mandatory by law or optional; assist with the creation of benefits plans, suggesting additional benefits to engage employees to the Comp & Ben Manager):
- Administration of employee benefits programs, such as medical, vision and dental, life, accident, disability, investments and savings, meal tickets, fitness subscriptions, movie subscriptions, glasses, company cars, other;
- Maintain benefit plan eligibility systems and records and check them for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with administrative guidelines and company policies;
- Serve as the initial contact for basic benefit questions from employees;
- Comp & Ben reporting;
- Prepare Comp & Ben communications for employees;
Payroll Administrator (area of expertise: payroll and all activities connected to paying salaries to the employees; sometimes responsible for only part of the employees, not having access to all salaries especially those of managers due to confidentiality reasons):
- Data entry of all employee changes into payroll system – new hires, leavers, salary and position changes, type of contract (part or full time), other;
- Files and maintains personnel and I-9 records to ensure all records are complete, accurate, and compliant to company, local, state, and federal regulations;
- New hire and payroll related reports;
- Reviews Audit reports to ensure changes were made and payroll is accurate before it is final;
- Records sick, personal, and vacation time on payroll records;
- Receives and processes child support deductions and garnishments;
- Records night shift and week-end shift bonuses, cash advances, any other detail impacting salaries;
- Communicates with employees to explain payroll details, replies to employee queries related to payroll;
Junior Trainer / Training Assistant (area of expertise: employee trainings, seminars, workshops):
- Assists in tracking staff attendance at training;
- Serves as back up to Training Specialist by assisting in identifying staff in need of training; scheduling of training and creation of class rosters; tracking training cancellations and reporting rosters to HR;
- Assists department supervisors with questions related to scheduling staff/training;
- Creates newsletters for employees related to training news;
- Assists in maintaining training library (books, visual materials);
- Manages training feedback from participants;
- Assists with maintaining training room equipment/supplies;
- Assists with development/revision of training handouts/materials and Power Point presentations, internal and external monthly training calendars;
- Assists with revision of training curricula;
- Assists with scheduling, greeting and preparing equipment for external trainers;
I hope you are starting to get a clear idea of what HR is really about. I will be back next week with the second part (out of 4) of the series – experienced (non-manager) jobs.
Take care,
Geo