Everything You Need To Know About A Career In HR

Answering FAQ’s about a career in HR.

WHAT IS HR AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Those in HR (Human Resources), People & Culture are often seen as ‘heart of the business’ as they work hard to make sure people are happy, being paid and looked after.

They are great at nurturing employees to keep them motivated with wellbeing and company culture an important pillar of the role.

WHAT DOES A CAREER IN HR INVOLVE?

Attracting, retaining and maintaining happy people is often driven by exceptional HR, People & Culture specialists. Traditionally, HR careers focused around recruiting the right people and building teams, managing payroll, conducting disciplinary actions, creating policies and ensuring the company has the best benefits package.

Although this is still true for HR professionals, People & Culture specialists are more focused on a progressive approach to managing people. This means improving employee well-being and job satisfaction to reduce turnover and keep morale high.

HR, People & Culture professionals all focus on recruiting and retaining the best talent to enable the company to achieve its goals. HR departments tend to work on things such as job role requirements, job postings, salaries, interviewing and offers. They aim to recruit the right people and build effective teams.

People & Culture roles lean toward employee well-being issues, making sure the company culture is felt by its employees and the relationship between them is healthy. It’s all about cresting a positive environment where people can thrive.

Expected tasks for a career in HR, People & Culture may include:

  • Internal Recruitment and staffing

  • Talent attraction

  • Training and development

  • New hire onboarding

  • Managing benefits

  • Employee wellbeing

  • Performance reviews and promotions

  • Building a strong corporate culture

  • Workplace safety

  • Developing and implementing policies

  • Workplace safety

  • Working on the corporate image

WHAT ARE THE PERKS OF A CAREER IN HR?

A career in HR can be incredibly rewarding. Not only can you be responsible for supporting the business in their growth plans by recruiting and onboarding, you have the opportunity to change a company for the better and ensure it’s employees are valued, engaged, and provided with all the tools they need to progress.

This means that HR is the opposite of a ‘boring career’. No day is the same and there will always be new projects to work.

Not to mention, it’s an incredibly stable career with lots of progression and earning potential. There’s a constant demand for HR professionals so you’ll find that there’s a range of opportunities available in a range of exciting industries and workplaces.

WHAT ARE THE TYPICAL HR, PEOPLE & CULTURE JOB TITLES?

The great thing is that HR has so many different career paths within it so you can find something you truly thrive in. We’ve broken them up into the main subsections.

GENERAL HR JOB TITLES

  • HR Administrator

  • HR Assistant

  • HR Coordinator

  • HR Officer

  • HR Advisor

  • HR Manager

  • Head Of Human Resources

  • HR Director

  • VP Of Human Resources

  • Chief HR Officer (CHRO)

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT JOB TITLES

Learning and development (L&D) is vital for a workplace that values training and constant development.

Whilst many companies task managers to develop and conduct training programs and progression independently, many also hire specific L&D specialists to come in and oversee these things and ensure their effectiveness. Their goal would be to ensure they’re engaging, relevant, and providing all the tools employees need to progress in their careers.

  • L&D Administrator

  • L&D Lead

  • Head Of Learning And Development

HR BENEFITS JOB TITLES

A Benefits Specialist would go about finding the best perks to keep employees happy and healthy, but they’d constantly review how much employees are enjoying them.

  • HR Benefits Coordinator

  • HR Benefits Analyst

  • HR Benefits Manager

TALENT ACQUISITION JOB TITLES

Recruitment and talent professionals would focus solely on supporting the company with growth plans.

They would search for candidates, conduct interviews, and lead the onboarding process to keep employees engaged and in the loop ahead of their start date.

  • Head Of Talent

  • Talent Operations

  • Recruitment Coordinator

  • Talent Coordinator

PEOPLE AND CULTURE JOB TITLES

HR professionals who choose the path of people and culture do exactly what’s on the tin — they support employees and ensure the culture is an engaging, supportive, and motivating environment to be in.

They would work to ensure wellbeing is a top priority and may even provide regular catchups and support to team members and managers. They would also ensure diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policies and practices are implemented by managers.

  • People Manager

  • Head Of People

  • People Director

  • People and Culture Lead

  • DE&I Manager

WHAT COULD I EARN AS A HR PROFESSIONAL? AND WHAT ARE THE BENCHMARKS?

The following salary benchmarks are based on internal data and will vary based on factors such as location, industry and personal experience.

Based on what we are currently seeing in the market, the average HR salary in the UK tends to be around £37,000 per year.

SALARIES CAN BE BANDED INTO 4 LEVELS:

  • Entry Level: average salary of £21,000

  • Mid Level: average salary of £30,000

  • Senior Level: average salary of £40,000

  • Director Level: average salary of £60,000

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS WOULD YOU WOULD NEED FOR A CAREER IN HR?

There are many different qualifications one could take to help enhance their knowledge in Human Resources, as well as support them in getting better pay and opportunities. But the following should give you a generic answer of what may be required/ beneficial and at what level.

Entry Level HR QUALIFICATIONS

There is usually no specific qualifications although most companies would ask for at least four GCSE’s.

At this level, HR Assistants can begin studying their CIPD Level 3 Diploma which would teach you the core topics of HR such as business, culture, and people practice.

MID LEVEL HR QUALIFICATIONS

To progress further into a HR Officer or Coordinator position, no specific qualification would be necessary since experience holds a lot of weight.

However, many professionals at this level will get a degree in Business or Human Resource Management to help them progress to a leadership position.

SENIOR LEVEL HR QUALIFICATIONS

At this level, most people would have studied a CIPD Level 5 Diploma which is aimed at those who are looking to develop to management level.

People may also look to acquiring a Master’s Degree (MSc) in Human Resource Management which is also CIPD approved.

DIRECTOR LEVEL HR QUALIFICATIONS

Reaching the top level of HR is a huge achievement and professionals would have usually have up to Level 7 of CIPD.

Is a career in HR, PEOPLE AND CULTURE for me?

If you have an interest in people, can relate to them on a personal and understand the importance of company culture and employee wellbeing, then a career in HR, People & Culture might be something you’d enjoy.

Many roles will require you to have excellent interpersonal and communication skills as you will be required to interact with employees regularly, deal with conflict be a go-between and sometimes mediate between management and employee.

You will be expected to be an approachable person and as the de-facto face of the company, you will often be the first point of contact for a new starter. Being able to effectively and confidently communicate the company culture and have it feel tangible is a skill in itself.

A career in HR, People & culture is hugely varied and is about taking care of employees, ensuring their work life is made better and creating a nurturing and supportive environment.