How To Become A Personnel Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a personnel analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Joel Stevenson

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a personnel analyst. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.08 an hour? That's $52,176 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 6,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a personnel analyst?

Joel Stevenson

Founding Director USC Columbia Technology Incubator, Associate Director Faber Entrepreneurship Center, Senior Lecturer Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management, University of South Carolina

I would not enter the job market at this time. I would apply to the Masters of Human Resources Program at U of SC. If I could not get into the program, I would take an HR job and apply again to the Master's Program. Reason...with a Master's in HR, the starting salary is right at $85,000 per year. Cost and amount of time it takes to get your Master's, $25,000, and 15 months.

ScorePersonnel AnalystUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,176

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.52%

Asian 7.31%

Black or African American 11.71%

Hispanic or Latino 15.44%

Unknown 3.97%

White 61.06%

Gender

female 65.26%

male 34.74%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

6.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a personnel analyst

Explore personnel analyst education requirements

Most common personnel analyst degrees

Bachelor's

72.1 %

Master's

16.4 %

Associate

7.2 %

Start to develop specific personnel analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Payroll	19.65%
Personnel Policies	7.26%
Personnel Actions	5.84%
Selection Procedures	5.76%
Labor Relations	5.74%

Complete relevant personnel analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New personnel analysts 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 a personnel analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real personnel analyst resumes.

Research personnel analyst duties and responsibilities

Work with Kronos time keeping software and manage personnel files.
Lead team development on new HRIS recruitment and selection system.
Enter employees in HRIS, insurance and other benefit programs.
Complete appropriate personnel and payroll documents to initiate pay status, change pay status, or change personal information.

Prepare your personnel analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your personnel analyst 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 a personnel analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable personnel analyst resume templates

Build a professional personnel analyst 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 personnel analyst resume.