What does a human resource officer do?
A human resources officer is typically in charge of managing and handling the employment operations in the company, including the payroll and training systems. Their responsibilities revolve around participating in advertising job openings, interviewing applicants, training and managing new employees, and devising programs that will help them learn about the policies and regulations of the company. Furthermore, a human resources officer is also responsible for managing employee data, such as personal information and work attendance, processing payroll, and handling any issues or concerns.
Human resource officer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real human resource officer resumes:
- Develop FMLA policy, create curricula and training for supervisory staff, and lead stand up instruction for the leadership team.
- Recruit, negotiate new benefit contracts, manage compensation budget with department managers, process and oversee payroll.
- Assist employees with benefit selections, FMLA, payroll deductions, EEO, and personnel information.
- Prepare government reports relate to EEO compliance, ensure all plans are in compliance with federal and state regulations.
- Provide consultation on disciplinary and grievance issues, ADA, OEO, FMLA issues and facilitate labor-management committee meetings.
- Coordinate delivery of statewide HRIS training for banking center managers.
- Supervise the payroll and benefits administration functions; ensuring compliance with applicable laws, timeliness and accuracy of processing.
- Advise management on employee relations, employment law, employee performance, recruiting, and FLSA regulations.
- Create and evaluate company job descriptions for appropriate format, language, salary ranges, and FLSA status.
- Provide customer service support for numerous DoD organizations and service members both active and reserve.
- Study legislation, arbitration decisions, and collective bargaining agreements to assess industry trends.
- Represent Americas and corporate in creating annual succession plan for board of directors, resulting in several high-level internal promotions.
Human resource officer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Human Resource Officers are proficient in Human Resources Functions, Performance Management, and Personnel Actions. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Leadership skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Human Resource Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Human Resources Functions, 16%
Managed human resources function for County agency: Provided safety training and managed Work Safe program, significantly reducing workplace accidents.
- Performance Management, 7%
Created and implemented Human Resources training programs to include performance management, compensation, performance appraisal, and new manager orientation.
- Personnel Actions, 6%
Served as an authoritative source of information on procedural and regulatory requirements for submitting and processing all types of personnel actions.
- EEO, 5%
Served as the Overtime Manager, Time and Attendance, SEAP, ADA, EEO Sick Leave and Labor Relations Coordinator.
- HRIS, 4%
Coordinated delivery of statewide HRIS training for banking center managers.
- Employee Development, 4%
Led and coached all levels of management to effectively optimize organizational talent and employee development.
Common skills that a human resource officer uses to do their job include "human resources functions," "performance management," and "personnel actions." You can find details on the most important human resource officer responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a human resource officer to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "human resources managers regularly interact with people, such as to collaborate on teams, and must develop working relationships with their colleagues." Human resource officers often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "mentored junior staff of the section and built a team of good spirited staff with excellent interpersonal relationships. "
Leadership skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling human resource officer duties is leadership skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "human resources managers must coordinate work activities and ensure that staff complete the duties and responsibilities of their department." According to a human resource officer resume, here's how human resource officers can utilize leadership skills in their job responsibilities: "designed and implemented leadership and management development training programs to drive alignment on strategic direction and values-driven member service. "
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of human resource officers is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday human resource officer duties, as "human resources managers must be able to prioritize tasks and manage several projects at once." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "develop and maintain company-wide and departmental organizational charts, conduct hris maintenance and report generation for senior management. "
The three companies that hire the most human resource officers are:
- Genuent
8 human resource officers jobs
- Tenet Healthcare3 human resource officers jobs
- Reno, NV3 human resource officers jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable human resource officer resume templates
Build a professional human resource officer resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your human resource officer resume.
Compare different human resource officers
Human resource officer vs. Personnel manager
A talent acquisition manager is in-charged in the selection, recruitment, and retention of talented candidates. The core skills that a talent acquisition manager should possess to accomplish his/her or her job responsibilities include excellent interpersonal and communication skills, the ability to multi-task, and knowledge of human resource laws. Other requirements to qualify for the position include a passion for working with others and a degree in human resources management, business administration, or a related field.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a human resource officer are more likely to require skills like "human resources functions," "employee development," "succession planning," and "organizational development." On the other hand, a job as a personnel manager requires skills like "human resource functions," "unemployment claims," "i-9," and "personnel functions." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Personnel managers really shine in the retail industry with an average salary of $57,140. Comparatively, human resource officers tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $77,057.personnel managers tend to reach lower levels of education than human resource officers. In fact, personnel managers are 9.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Human resource officer vs. Talent acquisition manager
An employee relations manager's responsibilities revolve around maintaining a strong professional relationship between employees and a company's management. They are also in charge of resolving conflicts and issues within the workplace, providing technical support on all employee programs, developing orientation and workshop activities among trainees and new members of the workforce, and addressing their concerns promptly and professionally. Furthermore, there are instances when an employee relations manager must conduct investigations, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real human resource officer resumes. While human resource officer responsibilities can utilize skills like "human resources functions," "personnel actions," "labor relations," and "organizational development," talent acquisition managers use skills like "applicant tracking systems," "human resources," "ta," and "recruitment strategies."
Talent acquisition managers earn a higher average salary than human resource officers. But talent acquisition managers earn the highest pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $92,282. Additionally, human resource officers earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $77,057 annually.In general, talent acquisition managers achieve lower levels of education than human resource officers. They're 6.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for human resource officers in the next 3-5 years?
Karen Sharp-Price
Instructor/Career Consultant, Daemen College
Just over the past year, video conferencing and video chat has become mainstream for most companies. Learning how to maneuver and use the many different forms of video conferencing has become an everyday occurrence now for companies. Companies that said they could never go fully remote have done so and found not only that it can be done but done well with all this technology. But in the near future, you will see many new features added to all of these mediums to enhance the experience for employees and companies to communicate with co-workers, near and far. This technology has been around for a long time but is not used to its fullest extent. Due to the pandemic, it is heavily used, and I don't see us reverting back to our old ways but only improving upon how to better utilize technology in our businesses going forward.
Human resource officer vs. Employee relations manager
A senior human resources consultant specializes in recommending solutions to optimize a company's human resource operations. Their responsibilities typically revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing procedures, devising strategies to attain the best employment practices, and developing programs for the benefit of employees. They may also implement the company's policies and regulations, creating new ones as needed. Furthermore, as a senior human resources consultant, it is essential to lead and encourage junior consultants and managers to accomplish goals in adherence to the vision and mission of the company.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, human resource officers are more likely to have skills like "personnel actions," "eeo," "employee development," and "disciplinary procedures." But a employee relations manager is more likely to have skills like "employee engagement," "corrective action," "ethics," and "payroll."
Employee relations managers make a very good living in the retail industry with an average annual salary of $87,349. On the other hand, human resource officers are paid the highest salary in the government industry, with average annual pay of $77,057.Most employee relations managers achieve a similar degree level compared to human resource officers. For example, they're 3.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Human resource officer vs. Senior human resources consultant
Types of human resource officer
Updated January 8, 2025
