Human Resources Graduate Jobs and Graduate Programs

What You Need to Know as a Human Resources Graduate for Graduate Jobs

The importance of the human resources management (HRM) in all industrial sectors has lead to the significant growth of the human resources (HR) industry in Australia, utilising HR as the key in reaching the maximum of a business’ success.  This causes organisations to be dependent on those in the HR industry to make their organisation operate successfully. 

Those in HRM carry out activities that help the organisation meet their objectives by providing a workforce that is motivated and well trained that understand the business. HRM covers a diverse range of areas that include¹:

• Equal employment opportunity
• Human resources information systems (HRIS)
• Industrial relations
• International human resources management
• Occupational health and safety/risk management
• Organisational change
• Performance management
• Selection and induction
• Training and development
• Workforce planning and recruitment etc. 

The HR industry is always changing and responding to the business environment, from the recent economic changes, government and media interest to new technologies and ongoing changes in industrial relations (IR). HR is increasingly becoming the core of success of organisations around Australia.

Requirements

To be in the HR industry, it is required to have a background bachelor’s degree of HR or business, however, degrees in arts, finance, marketing, psychology and science are also widely accepted. Also, for graduates with a non-HR background and are seeking to move into the industry, there are postgraduate courses in HR management that are high recommended.  

Aside from the academic requirements, a few personal skills are also required including:

• Ability to understand and analyse detailed information
• Business awareness and management skills
• Organisational skills
• IT and numeracy skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Influencing and negotiating skills
• Potential leadership role etc.

For a career in HRM, it is required for graduates to take a major in HR or IR in a specialised HR or business degree and also have experience in a base-level HR position, which could involve in activities such as payroll administration and working with HRIS.

Training and Typical Duties

Ideally, a recent graduate with an HR degree would work as an HR trainee, who would most likely progress into an HR officer, also known as personnel officers. Most of the training you could expect as an HR trainee would be on-the-job. As a trainee, a few duties you could expect to be appointed would include:

• Meeting with department representatives to discuss HR issues
• Participating in collecting market salary information for annual review
• Assisting departments with recruitment needs through agencies/advertisers
• Inputting into the monthly payroll etc. 

Although being an HR staff works behind the scenes of an organisation, there are many duties to perform to keep the company moving. HR specialists would tend to focus in their area, such as recruiting or training while HR generalists would multitask and handle a number of areas.  Some of the typical duties an HR officer would most likely include:

• Determining staffing numbers, skills and needs to meet the objectives on an organisation
• Working with various departments and staff to discuss
• Analysing the skills and qualities required for each particular job
• Creating job descriptions and specifications for each job
• Compiling data from personnel records and preparing reports etc. 

Working as a personnel officer, there are ranges of responsibilities and areas you could work in. You would be responsible for establishing policies and procedures that relate to the employed staff among other responsibilities and would mainly base you in an office.

Employment

HR can be found in a variety of organisations that include banks, local governments, health services, airlines, hotels, retail organisations and manufacturing industries. The main employing industry for a personnel officer is the industry of Administrative and Support Services with 45% of employment. The remaining percentages of employment go to industries of Public Administration and Safety, Health Care and Social Assistance, and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services². 

If you were working in a larger organisation or a multinational company, you would also have the opportunity to travel to other branches and visit training providers. NSW, VIC and QLD are the top three regions for HR officer employment with 33%, 24.4% and 19.5% respectively. 84.3% of HR officers are working full time with an average of 38.1 hours and starting salary of $46,000. Over five years, there has been a 12.3% recent job growth and it is estimated to grow moderately in the future³. 

¹ Graduate Careers Australia, Human Resources. 2015
² Job Outlook, Human Resource Professionals. 2015
³ Graduate Opportunities, Human Resources. 2015