What do they do?

Plan, direct, or coordinate human resources activities and staff of an organization.

Also known as:

Employee Relations Manager, HR Administration Director (Human Resources Administration Director), Human Resources Director (HR Director), Human Resources Manager (HR Manager), Human Resources Operations Manager

Typical Wages

Projected Growth Rate

Employment of Human Resources Managers is projected to grow 5 percent from 2022 to 2032, about as fast as average compared to all occupations.

Projected Employment For All United States

No Data Available
  • 5.2%

    Change

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    15,500

    Job Openings

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Education Level

Percent of workers in this field with these degrees:

  • Bachelor's degree  (44%)
  • Master's degree  (25%)
  • Some college, no degree  (13%)
  • Associate's degree  (7%)
  • High school diploma equivalent  (6%)
  • Doctorate or Professional Degree  (3%)
  • Less than high school diploma  (1%)

Typical College Majors

Most Popular Majors that prepare Human Resources Managers

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People in this career often have these skills:

  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  • Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
  • Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
  • Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

People in this career often know a lot about:

  • Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  • Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
  • Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

People in this career often have talent in:

  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

People in this career often do these activities:

  • Liaise between departments or other groups to improve function or communication.
  • Recommend organizational process or policy changes.
  • Advise others on legal or regulatory compliance matters.
  • Analyze data to inform operational decisions or activities.
  • Administer compensation or benefits programs.
  • Manage human resources activities.
  • Hire personnel.
  • Represent the organization in external relations.
  • Negotiate labor disputes.
  • Interview employees, customers, or others to collect information.
  • Recruit personnel.
  • Supervise employees.
  • Estimate labor requirements.
  • Communicate organizational policies and procedures.
  • Investigate industrial or transportation accidents.
  • Prepare reports related to compliance matters.
  • Analyze data to inform personnel decisions.
  • Conduct employee training programs.
  • Maintain knowledge of current developments in area of expertise.
  • Compile operational data.
  • Maintain personnel records.
  • Prepare operational budgets.
  • Perform human resources activities.
  • Administer standardized physical or psychological tests.
  • Coordinate special events or programs.
  • Negotiate sales or lease agreements for products or services.
  • Advise others on career or personal development.

This page includes data from:

O*NET OnLine Career data: O*NET 28.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Logo Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics

careeronestop logo Videos: CareerOneStop, USDOL/ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development

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