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Personnel technician vs human resource specialist

The differences between personnel technicians and human resource specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a personnel technician and a human resource specialist. Additionally, a human resource specialist has an average salary of $53,143, which is higher than the $39,836 average annual salary of a personnel technician.

The top three skills for a personnel technician include human resources, payroll processing and personnel actions. The most important skills for a human resource specialist are data entry, oversight, and life insurance.

Personnel technician vs human resource specialist overview

Personnel TechnicianHuman Resource Specialist
Yearly salary$39,836$53,143
Hourly rate$19.15$25.55
Growth rate8%8%
Number of jobs15,65150,511
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 49%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4141
Years of experience66

Personnel technician vs human resource specialist salary

Personnel technicians and human resource specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Personnel TechnicianHuman Resource Specialist
Average salary$39,836$53,143
Salary rangeBetween $28,000 And $55,000Between $36,000 And $77,000
Highest paying CityMartinez, CAWashington, DC
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew Jersey
Best paying companyRowland Unified School DistrictMeta
Best paying industryManufacturingGovernment

Differences between personnel technician and human resource specialist education

There are a few differences between a personnel technician and a human resource specialist in terms of educational background:

Personnel TechnicianHuman Resource Specialist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 49%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Personnel technician vs human resource specialist demographics

Here are the differences between personnel technicians' and human resource specialists' demographics:

Personnel TechnicianHuman Resource Specialist
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 30.5% Female, 69.5%Male, 26.9% Female, 73.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 13.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 7.5% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 7.6% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage9%9%

Differences between personnel technician and human resource specialist duties and responsibilities

Personnel technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage wage and salary administration and supervise payroll function.
  • Enter and process all employment, absences, FMLA and other miscellaneous transactions into PeopleSoft.
  • Design and facilitate training sessions for campus HRIS users.
  • Create training material for say policies (i.e., books, handouts and PowerPoint presentations).
  • Process employee s time punches by generating time and attendance reports from both the PeopleSoft and TimeTrak systems.
  • Audit data on the HRIS and FMCS to ensure accurate and timely download of data from HRIS into FMCS.
  • Show more

Human resource specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage site KRONOS payroll, time and attendance, and vacation tracking for hourly.
  • Manage new hire and current employee paperwork that includes status change forms, W-4s, I-9s, etc.
  • Lead a compliance initiative to ensure successful transition to the e-Verify employment verification process.
  • Integrate efforts on actions and programs where joint OPM functional effort are necessary to accomplish recruitment and enhance organizational effectiveness.
  • Advise, coach, and counsele managers and Sr.
  • Assist with affirmative action reporting, VETS100 and EEO-1 submission.
  • Show more

Personnel technician vs human resource specialist skills

Common personnel technician skills
  • Human Resources, 15%
  • Payroll Processing, 10%
  • Personnel Actions, 5%
  • Personnel Transactions, 4%
  • Workers Compensation, 4%
  • FMLA, 4%
Common human resource specialist skills
  • Data Entry, 10%
  • Oversight, 9%
  • Life Insurance, 9%
  • Human Resources Policies, 8%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Timekeeping, 5%

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