What’s it all about then?

You’ll be responsible for co-ordinating, leading and managing your company’s HR operations.

You’ll also develop all of the personnel policies and procedures for your company and make sure that these are implemented consistently across the organisation.

As HR Manager you’ll also have to keep yourself on top of legislation and how it could affect your company, and advise senior management accordingly.

What might I be doing?

The exact job will vary depending largely on the size of the company but will include the following core responsibilities:

• Recruiting new staff according to what’s needed
• Leading your department of HR, training and payroll specialists
• Developing policies and effective reporting mechanisms
• Supporting line managers in the delivery of their HR responsibilities
• Ensuring compliance with all regulations and policies
• Leading employee relations
• Leading the company’s corporate social responsibility functions
• Ensuring employee welfare through provision of services and counselling as needed
• Liaising with senior management regarding HR issues
• Planning for future employment needs in conjunction with other colleagues

What will be expected of me?

You’ll need to be a good “people” person for a job like this because of the supportive nature of the role.

Although you’re an HR specialist you will need to know the ins and outs of everything that your company does so that you can make an effective contribution an ensure that your department offers a supportive role.

What can I expect?

No two days will ever fall into exactly the same pattern and you will have to be prepared to be able to deal with issues that arise suddenly in a consistent and fair manner; at the same time you can be expect to be contributing to the planning of the HR side of the business for the future in collaboration with colleagues.

Your hours will tend to be an 830-5pm though you may have some out of hours work to do occasionally.

Even though you’ll be office based you’ll have to spend a lot of time visiting other departments, and attending meetings and external events.

You’ll learn a lot about your company and its functions in the HR role and this will prove very beneficial when seeking promotion or a move into training and development, business improvement etc.

What about the pay?

The financial rewards for an HR Manager are good with average salaries ranging from £30,000 to more than £50,000.

This is dependent on the size of the company and the range of responsibilities you have.

What qualifications do I need to get in?

As a Human Resource Manager you’ll need to have proven experience; these days qualifications through, and membership of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development is normally seen as the very least you’ll need to get this job so make sure that you have them!

The very least you should have is a degree either in Human Resource Management or a similar qualification that has HRM as a major component part.

It’s entirely likely that you have worked in the HR field for a number of years 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

What about further training?

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

Anything else I might need to know?

Yes, in order to succeed in the role of HR Manager you’ll need to have a tenacious personality and not react personally to criticism.

You’ll have to be able to take tough decisions and communicate these to people as and when required – this means tact and the ability to deal with emotionally stressful situations at times.