Business Administration: Human Resources Management Degree Program

A Day in the Life of a Human Resource Manager

Variety keeps work-life interesting for some human resource personnel. A typical day at work may find a human resource employee handling a range of tasks related to recruitment, employee development, administration, or issue resolution.

The Many Faces of a Human Resource Career

Human resource personnel are responsible for managing an organization's connections to their employees. In the daily quest to ensure a happy and productive workforce, you may find yourself tackling the following tasks:

• Creating and coordinating a job training session
• Interviewing a prospective employee
• Soliciting bids and negotiating with benefits providers
• Explaining benefits or compensation to new employees
• Meeting with workers to resolve a complaint
• Managing the human resources information system (HRIS) to ensure access to employee data
• Developing an employee handbook

The breadth of your responsibilities as a human resource manager may depend on the size of your employer's organization. Smaller businesses sometimes employ human resource generalists, who handle all the tasks related to managing the workforce. At a large company, you might be a specialist in one area of human resources.

Putting Your Online Human Resource Training to Work

 To be successful in the human resource field, it helps to have strong interpersonal skills and excellent verbal and written communication skills. Human resource employees often deal with private employee matters, so they should be able to practice a high level of discretion as well.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some HR employees may enjoy a comfortable work environment with 40-hour work weeks, some travel, and advancement prospects. Some managers begin as assistants and gradually assume more responsibility.