YOUR CAREER IN HUMAN RESOURCES

Human Resources (HR) is the department of an organisation or group of professionals that look after the organisation’s employees in hiring, training, wellbeing, workplace functioning and operations, termination and more. The HR department is the backbone of any organisation and is incredibly important in ensuring the stability of the company through effective people management.

Without HR, a business is not likely to perform as successfully as it could with the right HR professionals and processes in place to guide the organisation in many areas. For employees, human resources is a crucial support structure, to voice thoughts, suggestions and concerns about anything within the workplace. HR is involved in each employee’s hiring or termination decision made by the business, as well as managing any training for employees.

Being a manager means having responsibility for a team of HR professionals within a larger organisation. Alternatively, you may be working alongside other departments and managers within a smaller organisation to ensure all employees are being looked after from a legal and well-being perspective. Being a very people-oriented role, a human resources manager might have several meetings in a day with different employees, departments or managers to discuss conflict issues, hiring professionals, inducting new employees, conducting interviews with job interview candidates or performance evaluation interviews with employees.

HR managers will also often work on documentation and processes surrounding workplace processes, including work health and safety, fire drills, reporting harassment and other workplace issues to ensure the best processes are in place for employees to understand and follow. You might find an HR manager spending time developing training seminars or software programs for employees to make sure all employees have the right training and knowledge for their respective roles.

Organisational development is the change management, culture creation, and workforce development to set a business up to meet its strategic goals. Managers within these roles create and enforce change management strategies that improve and enhance employees’ work and the overall business itself.

In this role, you can expect to focus on wider business goals, identifying opportunities for employee growth to enhance business operations. While Human Resources often work more closely on policies and the hiring and managing of employees, organisational development works with both the company and employees to boost employee engagement and productivity, and in turn, increase profits.

Organisational development managers can still work within, or closely with human resources to create a positive work environment by ensuring effective management of employees and creating a well-balanced and engaging culture within a company.

If you’re looking to utilise your interpersonal and leadership management skills to develop the people and culture of a business, an organisational development diploma can fast-track you into this rewarding role.

Having the right qualification and skillsets are the keys to a successful career in human resources. To begin a career in HR, having the right qualification is the key to success. Ensuring you are up to date with the latest HR trends both within HR as a whole and your respective industry is crucial, and aligning yourself with industry bodies is highly beneficial.

Undertaking the Certificate IV in Human Resource Management (BSB40420) is the ideal qualification for teaching all of the essential skills and knowledge needed to land on your feet in an HR role. This qualification will allow you to begin any entry-level or mid-level HR role with confidence. For those looking to progress in their existing HR career, the Diploma of Human Resource Management (BSB50320) is the perfect qualification to develop HR management-level skills whilst building on current experience and knowledge.

If organisational development or change management are your preferred career paths, a Diploma of Business (Organisational Development) (BSB50120) will teach you the skills you need to excel in these roles. Learn how to develop better people management skills and how to work with a company and it’s employees to improve the organisation. Organisational development and change management have their own unique set of skills separate to HR managers, but work closely with them to achieve results.

Job growth and stability are strong in HR, with a 15.5% projected job growth in the next five years for human resources managers. Studying human resources management will allow you to be qualified with the latest industry-relevant skills and knowledge, allowing you to land a rewarding HR role and progress in your HR career. HR Managers and higher-level HR professionals have a significant amount of responsibility and can expect to be rewarded for their work. Annual salaries can range from anywhere between $90,000 to upwards of $200,000.

Ask most HR professionals and they will tell you that they love their role because they have a chance to make a difference within an organisation. This includes improving the working lives of every employee, and improve workplace relations. Working in HR also opens opportunities to travel around the world, particularly if you work for international organisations. By studying a qualification in human resources management, you can develop these essential skills in people performance and management, managing recruitment, hiring, termination and mediation processes, leading and managing organisational change, project management and much more.