How To Become An Industrial Relations Representative: What It Is and Career Path

What is an industrial relations representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an industrial relations representative. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.31 an hour? That's $65,115 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -1,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreIndustrial Relations RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

5.1

Avg. Salary $65,115

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.53%

Asian 8.62%

Black or African American 9.51%

Hispanic or Latino 17.19%

Unknown 4.75%

White 59.39%

Gender

female 33.53%

male 66.47%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an industrial relations representative

Explore industrial relations representative education requirements

Most common industrial relations representative degrees

Bachelor's

78.3 %

Master's

13.0 %

Associate

5.2 %

Start to develop specific industrial relations representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Collective Bargaining	18.37%
Product Line	17.54%
Trade Shows	15.48%
Industrial Relations	15.18%
Competitive Situations	14.83%

Complete relevant industrial relations representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New industrial relations representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an industrial relations representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real industrial relations representative resumes.

Research industrial relations representative duties and responsibilities

Manage the grievance and arbitration process.
Manage all unemployment claims and appeals resulting in a reduction of the maximum experience rate to the minimum contribution rate.
Negotiate with union representatives at various levels of the grievance procedure and prepare cases for arbitration.
Key participant in successful defense of union organizing campaigns, acquisitions, plant closures and administrative agency litigation.

Prepare your industrial relations representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your industrial relations representative resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an industrial relations representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable industrial relations representative resume templates

Build a professional industrial relations representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your industrial relations representative resume.