Before growing your Human Resources Career, get a full picture.
The Human Resources career ladder is important to know when planning to start or grow your career as a Human Resources professional and it gives a full picture.
Like any other career field, there are several levels as a Human Resources professional. You can easily create a plan to strategically grow your career from an entry-level or mid-level position into a senior-level or leadership role.
I went through each level of the Human Resources Career ladder in this video. Use this as a starting point to not only identify which positions are available in the human resources career field, but also to get an idea of the compensation for each.
Use it to get an idea of where you can position yourself to start your career, pivot into Human Resources or get a better idea of where you are currently positioned as a Human Resources professional.
Entry-Level Human Resources Career
The most common entry-level Human Resources career positions are:
- Human Resources Assistant
- Human Resources Administrative Assistant
- Human Resources Coordinator
- Human Resources Specialist
Unfortunately, entry-level positions are not typically high paying positions, but they definitely help you to create and build confidence in your Human Resources career. They build authority in your knowledge base and to create a foundation for Human Resources strategies that you will create later in your career.
Let’s not forget, they really help you to build the storyline for your negotiating strategy.
Human Resources Assistant
One of the most entry-level Human Resources career positions is the Human Resources Assistant position. If you have ever worked as an Administrative Assistant or Office Coordinator in any industry, then you have tons of transferable skills to easily start your Human Resources career.
If you have an Associate’s Degree from a technical college or community college, then you have learned skills that have made your learning curve easier when starting your Human Resources career.
If this is not where you want your career to end, then prepare to learn as much as you can. Pay attention to the tools you use, connect the reasons for different actions that you are being asked to complete and keep an open mind when assisting in unique projects and meetings that are not particularly your job. In those instances, they can let you see what you will be involved in later in your career.
Being a Human Resources Specialist
The pictures on the right are full of memories of going into my first 4 years of my Human Resources career. At top, I had just started going to actual conferences for work, sitting in presentations from senior HR professionals and listening to questions that seasoned Human Resource professionals had about work.
It gave me confidence!
I realized that if they had these questions so far in their career, then not only will I be a continuous learner, but I’m sure I can find ways to absorb the information better and make an impact for every organization that adds me to their team as their Human Resources point of contact.
The picture below is my desk as a Human Resources Specialist where I literally sat in the “lobby” area. No privacy. No secluded office with a door. No large windows in a top floor, corner office.
It humbled me.
It made me realize that my environment doesn’t depict the levels I would reach in my career. I left my job as a Human Resource Specialist making $20/hour to take my career to the next level as a Human Resources Generalist where my pay increased to over $25/hour in low cost living, South Carolina.
Human Resources Tips You Can Use
In ADP’s blog, “New to HR? This Checklist Can Help”, provides a great checklist that the includes role of Human Resources in:
- Hiring
- Policies
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
- Compensation
- Performance Management
- Recordkeeping and Documentation
It can be a lot to absorb, but starting in an entry-level Human Resources position will give you practice in taking it in one piece at a time. Overtime, it will become natural to you.
The first step to start your career, you must position your resume to look like a successful Human Resources professional. You can definitely do that with the Ultimate Resume Guide.
