Human resource teams are critical to the growth of a company since employees typically represent both the biggest operating expense and largest off-balance sheet asset for most businesses.
In this article, I will break down a few functionalities of Human Resource teams, and a couple of ways to get started in Human Resource Management.
Within HR management, there are three main functions to be aware of.
1. Talent Acquisition
The responsibility of most talent acquisition teams is to understand job requirements, scout talent, and walk them through an assessment process. If you are early in your career, you may be engaging a lot with recruiters. Especially if you join a class structure, such as an “analyst class”, the recruiting team may also be responsible for onboarding and training. Executive recruiters take this responsibility to the next level when searching for new executives to join a firm, for example as a partner or managing director. They look for several details such as education, previous experience, and goals for the new role in extensive interview processes.
2. Compensation
The goal of compensation teams is to develop competitive compensation packages to recruit and retain strong talent. Compensation teams must consider salary, benefits, equity, and other factors. One-way employees may be organized for compensation purposes is through their role. For example, in many technology companies software engineers are organized in a leveling structure. If you have 1 year of experience, then this may place you at level 1, which positions you within a specific compensation range. However, if you have multiple years of experience and have managed multiple teams, you could be at level 5 and enjoy a corresponding amount of compensation.
3. Learning and Development
Companies benefit significantly when employees acquire knowledge and skills that they can directly apply to their jobs. Learning and development teams organize company onboarding and continuous education programs with this in mind.
Companies like to retain employees because the process of searching for new talent can be expensive and lengthy. Learning and development programs can motivate and retain employees by offering them opportunities to challenge themselves, access promotions, gain increased compensation, and reach their personal and professional potential.
Rather than leaving to pursue different opportunities, firms also prefer employees to find and train for new opportunities that interest them within the company. Check to see if your organization has an internal education program that can offer free courses and certifications. Many companies have organized internal transfer opportunities that allow employees to follow their interests and switch departments within the same group. This keeps employees at the company while simultaneously enabling them to gain new skills and experience. Some organizations may also sponsor employees to attend learning programs outside the company such as through off-site trainings, industry conferences, or even MBA programs.
Breaking into Human Resources Management
If you are a student looking to break into Human Resource Management, there are many ways to begin your career.
Below I spotlight two types of programs within many leading consulting firms and banks.
1. People Advisory Type Consulting
There are a few firms that specialize in employee related consulting. In these types of roles you would be helping your clients, including its HR leadership, through employee related challenges. This could include compensation strategy, change of leadership, employee concerns, and a plethora of other projects. Starting your career in this space can be incredibly helpful because of the type of projects you will gain exposure to. This can help you to pivot easily into other employee related roles.
2. Human Resource Rotational Programs
As you begin your career, you may not know what segment of human resources you are most passionate about. That is where rotational programs come in. Many bulge bracket banks offer rotational programs within human resources. This means you would be an analyst and rotate between a couple of different human resource functions. Through these transitions you can gain unique exposure in multiple areas. Depending on the program, you may be able to select a function after completing the program.
Final thoughts
Human resource management is an incredible yet often overlooked segment of the business world. Whether you hope to work in HR management or just more smoothly navigate your own career path, it is a valuable sector to learn more about. I hope that through this article you have been able to learn a bit more about the space!
Zuhair Imaduddin is a Senior Product Manager at Wells Fargo. He previously worked at JPMorgan Chase and graduated from Cornell University.
Image: Pexels
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