I was thinking about going to graduate school to get a degree/certificate in Human Resources (not just your basic business degree). My question is, does anyone out there work (or have worked) in human resources? And if you have how did you like it?

The only person I know in HR is Toby from The Office. And he's not a very reliable source

3/20/2007 4:05:55 PM

First question: Why take this path? What about HR interests you?

Second question: What aspect of HR do you think you'd want to focus on? Don't have to have a concentration, but especially at the graduate level, should have an idea of what interests you most.

Third question: How much experience/knowledge do you presently have of the subject? Starting with a blank slate isn't a bad, thing, but could end up costing you if you decide you don't like it later.

[Edited on March 20, 2007 at 5:15 PM. Reason : .]

3/20/2007 5:15:43 PM

The work might be okay, but the classes sound like slow death. This is the curriculum for the program at Duke:

Module 1: Essentials of Human Resource Management
Module 2: Employment Law in Your Workplace
Module 3: Effective Recruitment and Selection Techniques
Module 4: Basics of Compensation
Module 5: Orienting and Training Your Employees
Module 6: Ensuring Quality Performance

Personally, I would look at industrial psychology instead

3/21/2007 3:54:41 AM

that's what my degree is in, and sort of my job.

good: many many job opportunities....any decently sized company is likely to have at least a few HR people. Suprisingly, a pretty wide array of types of jobs.....anywhere from payroll to benefits to retirement to labor union relations, to recruiting, to gov regs and programs. Pretty good starting pay.....after graduation and a yearlong internship (during last year of school), I started @ around $32,000 with excellent benefits. Very female heavy profession.....I've always been around "nice surroundings" from school to work.

bad: very female heavy profession.....goes both ways , can be very boring sometimes...both school and work. experience is a must to get a decent job....an internship is very beneficial to getting a good after school first job. Deal with "customers" (usually people within your company) who hate your department and inherently you too.

3/21/2007 8:11:32 AM

^^ you can get all of that in a basic business degree which will grant you more flexibility, in my opinion.

i took staffing, training, and negotiation as my main electives in grad school, which covered module 1-3 and 4. compensation was a different, but available, elective. i just think it is better not to limit yourself in case you dont end up liking HR or cant find a suitable job.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 8:24 AM. Reason : ^ see i dont think 32k starting is that good, particularly if you have a grad degree]

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 8:25 AM. Reason : note: im in training, not HR, but i did talk to some companies about HR positions]

3/21/2007 8:23:12 AM

Quote :

"i just think it is better not to limit yourself in case you dont end up liking HR or cant find a suitable job."

I also took multiple classes in operations, supply chain management, accounting, marketing and finance. @ state there are only 4 classes that differ from a HR concentration to a marketing, operations, or finance degree. and if he is getting a graduate degree, concentrating in one area is the name of the game.

Quote :

"see i dont think 32k starting is that good, particularly if you have a grad degree"

supposedly, it's right at the schools overall graduating salary (maybe a bit above)....not to mention that I got 6 weeks paid vacation off the bat, and the best part....i leave work at work, very, very low overall stress level.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 8:39 AM. Reason : .]

3/21/2007 8:38:13 AM

shrug, i guess i got a specialized masters in management and we didnt really have concentration options. probably gonna differ widely between programs (i realize that most mba programs and whatnot will have concentrations though). a general masters isnt as bad as a general bus undergrad though.

6 weeks is quite impressive, but 32k is still relatively low overall for graduate students (as a whole) if i had to guess. i only have 2 weeks vacation, but make a considerable amount more doing training with 0 internships or exp (though i did have a bs in comp sci)



[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 9:45 AM. Reason : .]

3/21/2007 9:36:51 AM

^we're on a slightly differnt page.....I just have a bachelors degree. the ^^ course work was for an undergraduate degree, but the concentration classes were basically ^x5....I'm not sure if he was refering to undergrad or grad courses. I would imagine the grad coursework @ state would be more along the lines of examining/ interviewing current company systems and best practices, as even the undergrad courses were heavy in that.

3/21/2007 10:07:15 AM

I've worked in a HR setting in a large corporation... and I did not like it. Too much of a "corporate" environment where the people were afraid of their every move because things were so political. I was grossly overworked, though the pay was not horrible.

The thing was I like HR work, I continue to do it now... but in a MUCH smaller setting. The pay is not much different and even though I work my ass off, it beats the hell out of working for a large HR corporate division. There was no flexibility there, and it was not fun/upbeat.

Keep in mind not all experiences are like mine, but the larger the company is, the more HR work will pile on. One thing I will add is that I do wish I had gotten an HR degree, but they weren't as common when I was coming through college. Lots of HR positions these days really want to see that type of degree.

3/21/2007 10:32:54 AM

Quote :

"The work might be okay, but the classes sound like slow death. "

i can't imagine working in HR. I took some HR classes in b-shcool - "HR and OB (Organizational Behavior)" - and they were painful. From an engineer's (biased) perspective, HR is everything that is wrong with most big companies. They are usually woefully out of touch with the rest of the company and way too self-important. HR is a support job, i.e. it generates no revenue and adds no value to a company. That's not to say it's not necessary - someone has to to the work they do. But seeing as engineering and manufacturing is what actually creates product and revenue at most companies, HRs primary function should be to make life easier for functional positions. Instead, they seem to spend a lot of time creating elementary incentive plans and giving each other awards.

but hey, if that floats your boat.....

3/21/2007 10:56:51 AM

i came from engineering, being in CS, and really enjoyed OB and staffing (though I had a "fun" professor). also, a support job it may be, but without quality hiring processes, incentives, and turnover prevention you can't get the talent you need to make said products.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 11:08 AM. Reason : ang wg, he was talking about grad schools so i was giving him my input on that front]

3/21/2007 11:07:47 AM

Quote :

"From an engineer's (biased) perspective, HR is everything that is wrong with most big companies. They are usually woefully out of touch with the rest of the company and way too self-important."

yeah, everyone hates HR.....they only have to deal with them when something is wrong.

In my experience, higher up hr managers have little or no tangible hr experience, they make some things wayyyy more complicated than they have to be, and have no idea of the real world effect it will have. Pay is great once you get higher up tho.

And while they may not make money for the company directly, an efficient hr department can save a bunch in gov fines, vendor fines, efficient practices ect.... Plus you can work in almost any industry.

and as^^^ said, smaller companies are worlds different from big corps.

[Edited on March 21, 2007 at 11:11 AM. Reason : ^yeah, we were talking about slightly different things.]

3/21/2007 11:10:05 AM

I still barely know what our HR department does, besides having me fill out a few non-competes when I was hired. I'll tell you one thing, I'd rather work in a Kwik E Mart for the rest of my life than sit through one more class in Nelson 3400 about COBRA and the FMLA.

3/21/2007 11:36:53 AM

FMLA is hell. I will hate it always, and having to deal with the shit that come with it. Definitely one of the down sides to what I do.

3/21/2007 2:10:31 PM

Thanks for all the posts. after reading all of em i think HR might not be the best career for me

3/21/2007 6:54:35 PM

Quote :

"HR is a support job, i.e. it generates no revenue and adds no value to a company."

That's a common mistake and misperception. If HR is not adding any value to the company, the whole of it can be outsourced for cheap ... and can probably higher quality at a company who specializes in that. If HR exists simply to process paperwork, then that's the company's mistake. However, HR does generate revenue (indirectly) if their roles are primarily focused on recruitment and retention.

In short, it REALLY depends on the company for how well, or how poorly, HR functions. Don't blame HR, blame the company.

3/21/2007 7:21:16 PM

i want to work in HR but it's hard to get into because most people seem to be looking for HR Managers with 3 years of experience which is something I won't have coming right out of school.

3/21/2007 9:02:55 PM

3/21/2007 10:23:35 PM

Recruitment and retention make or break companies. Too bad most HR people aren't the brightest bulbs.

3/21/2007 10:43:18 PM

Quote :

"i want to work in HR but it's hard to get into because most people seem to be looking for HR Managers with 3 years of experience which is something I won't have coming right out of school."

welcome to the world.

3/22/2007 12:41:42 AM

Human resources is becoming more and more all-encompassing. HR managers now wear TONS of hats within a business. Be prepared...

3/22/2007 1:06:06 AM

Are you interested specifically in policy, benefits, classification/compensation, pensions, risk management, all of the above?

There are some components (and particular organizations) of HR that could certainly be interesting, but much of it seems mundane. In my experience the better HR departments focus more on goals, while the more stiff ones focus entirely on process.

3/22/2007 7:47:48 AM

Quote :

"That's a common mistake and misperception. If HR is not adding any value to the company, the whole of it can be outsourced for cheap ... and can probably higher quality at a company who specializes in that. If HR exists simply to process paperwork, then that's the company's mistake. However, HR does generate revenue (indirectly) if their roles are primarily focused on recruitment and retention. In short, it REALLY depends on the company for how well, or how poorly, HR functions. Don't blame HR, blame the company."

Yep

Quote :

"Too bad most HR people aren't the brightest bulbs."

Speak for yourself.

3/22/2007 11:48:27 AM