Human resources employment opportunities include doing the work of a human resources generalist, who manages all aspects of a company's human resources department, specialized human resources jobs, as well as working as a human resources assistant. Depending on the size of the organization or company, human resources employment opportunities and tasks can vary between basic management of benefits and hiring to extremely specialized roles within the department. In some cases, administrative staff is needed to assist human resources professionals by taking care of day-to-day filing and record keeping. The qualifications for working in human resources also varies widely, with some individuals obtaining advanced degrees in human resources in addition to various professional certifications.
The composition of a human resources department depends on a company's size, resources, and culture. In some cases, businesses will rely on outside recruiters to investigate and hire new employees, leaving most human resources tasks to individual supervisors or even the company owner. Other companies, however, may rely on their human resources department to take a significant role in managing employee hiring, performance, and concerns. The size of the human resources department will typically vary by the size of the company, and in some cases the bulk of human resources work will be completed by one person, or one person and an assistant, within small- to medium-sized companies. Larger companies, however, may boast very large human resources departments.
A human resources manager, or director, is typically someone who has a great deal of experience in human resources and who may have an advanced degree or professional certification in human resources. The director may delegate some of his responsibilities to other employees, such as interviewing candidates for jobs or counseling employees about job benefits. In some cases, however, the director may be more intimately involved with the hiring of high-level executives and may also the involved with employee termination. In some jurisdictions, terminating employment is a complicated legal issue which may require the skills and knowledge of someone at a high level of human resources employment.
Other types of human resources employment include specialized jobs such as managing benefits, running background checks on potential employees or performing investigations to profitable employee wrongdoing. Other roles may also include that of training manager, as many human resources departments are responsible for establishing company training policies and standards. Some individuals assume these jobs after completing a bachelor's degree in business or human resources or may move into them if they've been working as a human resources administrative assistant for several years.