Mihaylo Career Services
SGMH 1409 • mihaylocareers@fullerton.edu • (657) 278-8738 • business.fullerton.edu/careerservices
Career Resource Guide: Management - HR Management
A career in human resources involves helping an organization manage its people.
This includes hiring and firing, training, compensation, administering benefits and
handling the informational side of people management. Human resource managers
are frequently in top management roles and are critical to the success of any
company. To excel in this role you have to be sensitive to the needs of the other
departments and see their perspective. You need to be able to see the big picture
to help sell ideas to the other functional managers and to serve them as internal
clients. You have to be able to sell HR throughout the organization to come up with
solutions that will be most effective.
For current list of career
path advisors please visit:
business.fullerton.edu/stude
ntservices/careerpath.html
This is an exciting career area that attracts people who are sensitive, big picture-oriented, team-oriented, extroverted and honest.
On the other hand, because human resources jobs support more
visible functions in the company, they are not for people with huge
egos and a strong need to be center stage.
The human resources field is changing rapidly with increasing use of
technology, training and outsourcing. A career in HR promises to
keep you busy, engaged and deeply involved in making things
happen in your company.
Source: http://careers-in-business.com/hr.htm
Sample Job Titles:
Entry-Level
� Recruiter
� Human Resources:
Assistant
Specialist
Coordinator
Mid-Level
� Human Resources Generalist
� Senior Recruiter
� Payroll Specialist
� Training & Development Specialist
� Employee Relations Manager
Skills/Experiences Required:
� People Skills
� Work Ethic
� Problem Solving
� Technical Skills
Pinnacle
� Director of Human Resources
� Human Resources Manager
� Director of Talent Management
/Organization Development
� Oral and Written Communication Skills
� Organizational Skills
� Project Management
Professional Associations/Certifications:
� Sales and Marketing Executives International
� Professional Researcher Certification (PRC)
� Council of American Survey Research Associations
� ESOMAR—World Association for Market,
Social, and Opinion Research
� American Marketing Association
Mihaylo Career Services
SGMH 1409 • mihaylocareers@fullerton.edu • (657) 278-8738 • business.fullerton.edu/careerservices
Career Resource Guide: Management - HR Management
Starting Salaries/Trajectory*:
NACE 2012 average starting salary: $36,500
BLS 2011 average salary: $54,310 (HR Specialist)
$99,130 (HR Manager)
Job
� Compensation Specialist
� Benefits Specialist
� Professional Recruiter
� HR Generalist
� Training Specialist
� HR Manager
Typical Salary
$60,000 - $90,000
$50,000 - $75,000
$55,000 - $85,000
$45,000 - $65,000
$45,000 - $65,000
$70,000 - $100,000
� HR Vice-President
$65,000 - $300,000
Source: http://careers-in-business.com/hr.htm
Supplemental Data:
Salaries in human resources vary radically according to
the area of specialty and the level attained. Generally, a
college degree is expected to advance beyond lower level
positions. While entry level jobs appear to have lower
salaries than other areas of management, such as operations and planning, salaries for mid-level and managerial
jobs are excellent and at the same level as other top
executives. HR is an area where you need to get your foot
in the door and pay your dues the first few years. So focus
on building credibility early on. After that salaries dramatically increase as young hires gain experience. Colleges
graduates can expect to start jobs in the mid-fifties, a
senior specialist can easily earn more than $100,000,
while top HR executives may earn over $300,000.
*Note: Salaries are highly dependent on location, company type, and candidate experience/education. For the purposes of this guide, we are
providing average starting salaries as determined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), overall average salaries as
determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as well as supplemental information found from various industry-specific sources.
Industry Research and Tools:
Job and Internship Search Sites:
� www.hr.com/
� www.hrcrossing.com/
� humanresources.about.com/od/hrbasicsfaq/tp/careers_in_hr.htm
� www.hrjobs.org/
� www.mybusinesscareers.com/human-resource-management
� www.hr.com/
� www.shrm.org/Communities/StudentPrograms/Pages/careersinHRM.aspx
� www.humanresourcesjobs.com/
� www.wantedanalytics.com/insight/tag/human-resources/
� www.hrpa.ca/Pages/Default.aspx
� www.humanresources.org/website/c/
Employers Hiring Our Graduates:
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2012/industry/human-resources/x/company
About this guide: This resource guide is intended to provide an introduction to the industry and relay a sampling of the resources
available to candidates. It is by no means comprehensive, nor intended to replace individual research based on specific job targets
and/or recommendations from an advisor.