What’s it all about then?

The HR Administrator has a role combining the roles of HR and Administration and is responsible for delivering a complete administrative service to the rest of the team.

You’ll be responsible for all of the information relevant to HR including record keeping and reporting and making sure that everything you do is carried out to a consistently high standard.

This means that you will provide a supporting role to a team of specialists and freeing them up to spend as much time as possible on high value activities; so, the role of HR Administrator is therefore extremely important.

What might I be doing?

The functions of the job will depend on your entry point to the company and any previous experience you may have gained. These will include:

• Providing clerical support for your departmental colleagues
• Organising electronic and paper files
• Ensuring company HR databases are up to date
• Dealing with correspondence
• Maintaining HR calendars
• Liaising with internal and external customers
• Working collaboratively with payroll and training staff
• Ensuring that company procedures are kept up to date
• Communicating with other employees
• Working as an effective support for the HR team
• Dealing with queries and helping to resolve issues

What will be expected of me?

To be effective in your job you’ll need to be someone who enjoys paying attention to detail as much of what you do will need a high degree of accuracy.

You’ll be skilled at using computers but also able to communicate both orally and also via your writing expertise.

You’ll need to be an outgoing sort of person who enjoys working and dealing with people and has a strong sense of tact and diplomacy.

You should be able to demonstrate that you can work to tight deadlines and that you’re not the type to wilt under pressure; you’ll have to be able to learn fast and prioritise your workload properly.

As someone who will support a team you will be expected to be a team builder and be able to work effectively with people who have a variety of personalities.

What can I expect?

The job of HR administrator will entail working a typical 40 hour week although extra hours may be required at busy times.

If part of your job means dealing with external suppliers you may have to travel to meet them and larger companies tend to have more than one site so again some travelling and overnight stopovers may arise occasionally.

What about the pay?

Typically the HR Administrator can earn between £15,000 and £18,000 per year although this varies from location to location and also the size of your employer.

What qualifications do I need to get in?

These days it is very likely that you would be starting as an HR Administrator with a degree in your pocket already, probably in a discipline that readily fits the job, which might include HR, management, psychology or any other business-related discipline.

Some companies may take you on as a trainee with NVQ type qualifications or A levels, or as an Administration Apprentice so look out for these qualifications as well.

Remember that the better the qualification you have at entry, the faster your career is likely to develop.

What about further training?

You may have worked in the HR field for a period of time and you may have studied for a number of CIPD qualifications previously.

These include:

• CIPD Level 3 Foundation Certificate in HR Practice
• CIPD Level 3 course in Learning and Development Practice

There is a wide variety of CIPD specialist qualifications available on a part time basis and these are delivered in the local FE Colleges.

You could also consider the MSc in Human Resource Management available through the CIPD.

Membership of the CIPD is also well thought of by many employers in the field of Human Resource Management.

Anything else I might need to know?

Yes, remember that working in HR is a great career foundation and you will learn loads about the different departments in your company.

If you demonstrate that you’ve got the will to succeed the chances are you’ll go far in HR!