How to get a HR job

Finding your way into a HR position can be a difficult thing to do. The area is fiercely competitive, and due to the nature of the job, applicants tend to be very well organised meaning that it is hard to rise above the sea of other candidates. Have a read through our tips here to enable you to make yourself heard and considered for the jobs in HR

1. Make sure you are suitably qualified. There is nothing to say that you cannot work your way up into a HR role, but the fact of the matter is that if you are applying for a HR job from scratch you are going to need to be suitably qualified. The strong likelihood is that you are going to be applying for this position alongside qualified people, and without the qualifications you will not even make interview. Ideally you will have a degree in Human Resources and a good understanding of all the normal word processing programs.

2. Gain some work experience. There is no substitute for experience, so if you don’t have any, try to land some work experience at a well known company with a decent HR department. This will do two things – vastly improve your resume, and it might even lead to a job if you really impress the company.

3. Investigate sideways moves into the industry. If you think that it might be difficult to find your way directly into a HR department, try to think of some creative ways in which you can gain the necessary experience required. A lot of people find their way in through administrative positions in companies which tend to work closely alongside the HR team. Another possibility is to find a job with a recruitment agency or staffing agency. These positions tend to be a bit easier to land, and they are classed as HR positions, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to build up enough experience in one of these places before going for a proper HR position.

4. Find areas of growth. Because of the height of competition in finding H R jobs, you should look at areas of HR which are growing, which in turn means there will be more opportunities. One such position at the moment is payroll and benefits administration. If you have great mathematic skills and you are a good communicator then this could be the position for you.

Make sure you fully understand whatever HR position you go for to give yourself the best chance of success in landing the role.