As a human resource specialist, you'll be responsible for all aspects of hiring for the company that you work for. And when we say all aspects, we mean all aspects. Recruiting, screening, interviewing and hiring.
But that won't be your only responsibilities. You'll also handle employee relations, training and even compensation and benefits. The only thing you'll need to be able to handle this job is a bachelor degree. Of course, if you really want to impress your future employer, you might even go for a master's degree.
The best part about this career is that you can go into almost any industry as an HR specialist. Everyone needs you. That's got to make you feel special. But really, the opportunity that goes along with this career is off the hook.
Human Resource Specialist Overview
Human Resource Specialist Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a human resource specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.48 an hour? That's $53,000 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 33,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Human Resource Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many human resource specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, communication skills and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a human resource specialist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 17.1% of human resource specialists included procedures, while 7.0% of resumes included data entry, and 6.8% of resumes included personnel files. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the human resource specialist job title. But what industry to start with? Most human resource specialists actually find jobs in the technology and retail industries.
How To Become a Human Resource Specialist
If you're interested in becoming a human resource specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 44.3% of human resource specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.2% of human resource specialists have master's degrees. Even though most human resource specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a human resource specialist. When we researched the most common majors for a human resource specialist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on human resource specialist resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a human resource specialist. In fact, many human resource specialist jobs require experience in a role such as human resources coordinator. Meanwhile, many human resource specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as human resources assistant or administrative assistant.
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Human Resource Specialist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of human resources coordinator you might progress to a role such as human resources generalist eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title senior human resources generalist.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Human Resource Specialist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Palm Springs Unified School District Promotional Opportunity-Human Resources Specialist Promotional Opportunity-Human Resources Specialist | Palm Springs Unified School District Palm Springs Unified School District | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $50,88101/30/2021 $50,881 |
Target Human Resource Expert Human Resource Expert | Target Target | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $31,30501/30/2021 $31,305 |
Office of Human Resources Management Human Resources Specialist (Recruitment and Placement) Human Resources Specialist (Recruitment and Placement) | Office of Human Resources Management Office of Human Resources Management | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $49,15701/30/2021 $49,157 |
Adecco Staffing Human Resource Specialist Human Resource Specialist | Adecco Staffing Adecco Staffing | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $35,47901/29/2021 $35,479 |
Georgia Department of Revenue Dhs/Ohs-Human Resources Specialist Dhs/Ohs-Human Resources Specialist | Georgia Department of Revenue Georgia Department of Revenue | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $40,98201/29/2021 $40,982 |
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Human Resource Specialist Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Human Resource Specialist. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Human Resource Specialist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Human Resource Specialist resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Human Resource Specialists
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
5. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
6. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Public
7. New York University
New York, NY • Private
8. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
9. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
10. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL • Public
Top Skills For a Human Resource Specialist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 17.1% of human resource specialists listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and communication skills are important as well.
- Procedures, 17.1%
- Data Entry, 7.0%
- Personnel Files, 6.8%
- Oversight, 6.2%
- Life Insurance, 6.0%
- Other Skills, 56.9% See All Human Resource Specialist Skills
Best States For a Human Resource Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a human resource specialist. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. Human resource specialists make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $66,351. Whereas in Maryland and New Jersey, they would average $60,088 and $60,028, respectively. While human resource specialists would only make an average of $59,968 in Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$76,186
Avg. Salary
2. Hawaii
$66,351
Avg. Salary
3. Delaware
$56,657
Avg. Salary
How Do Human Resource Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Human Resource Specialist Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ human resource specialists and discovered their number of human resource specialist opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that United States Army was the best, especially with an average salary of $59,109. Wells Fargo follows up with an average salary of $69,033, and then comes United States Navy with an average of $57,236. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a human resource specialist. The employers include Fairway Independent Mortgage, The University of Kansas Health System, and Emory University
Human Resource Specialist Videos
