How to become a HR manager

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As a human resources (HR) manager, you’ll be cultivating workplace culture, looking after employees, and managing things such as recruitment, professional development and monitoring employees’ progress.

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What does a HR manager do?

In your day-to-day role, you can expect to be carrying out some of the following responsibilities:

Assisting with recruitment
Planning training and development for existing employees
Dealing with complaints or disciplinary procedures
Ensuring employees are paid appropriately and have the correct benefits
Negotiating contracts and checking references for new starters
Arranging employee support such as wellbeing services and healthcare
Ensuring the working conditions of your employees meet current health and safety and employment laws
Advising on employment laws, redundancy and pay negotiations
Developing HR policies and handbooks
Keeping employee records up-to-date and ensuring confidentiality is maintained
Providing references for employees who have moved to a different company

What’s it like to work as a HR manager?

It’s a highly rewarding role as you’re able to work closely with employees across the organisation and ensure that their wellbeing and professional development are taken care of in the workplace. It can also be a challenging role if you’re dealing with issues such as redundancy or complaints from employees. You have to be sensitive, compassionate and tactful, and always speak with care to ensure you don’t provide false information.

You could be working in almost any industry, though it’s mainly larger organisations which have HR departments, so it’s likely you’ll be working for a larger company or business. You’ll often be office-based, though some HR roles may be hybrid or work from home. Your typical working hours will be Monday to Friday, and you can expect to work from roughly 9am until 5pm.

What skills do you need to be a HR manager?

It goes without saying that to succeed in this role you’ll need to have good people skills and enjoy working with people, but some of the other skills you’ll need are:

Business awareness
Understanding of employment and health and safety laws
Administrative skills
IT and numeracy skills
Excellent communication skills
Leadership skills
Calm under pressure
Cultural awareness and sensitivity
Inclusive attitude
Negotiation skills
Teamwork

How much does a HR manager earn?

An entry level salary for a HR officer is around £23,000, with average salaries for those in HR rising to around £35,000. If you work as the head of HR for a larger firm, you could expect to receive a salary of around £50,000. Also, your salary may depend on your location. Typically, you can expect a higher salary if you’re based in London, due to the higher cost of living.

How to become a HR manager

Study a human resources management degree

A degree in HR management isn’t necessary to secure a role in HR, but it’ll help your application stand out and will teach you a lot of the required skills. Typically, you’ll need at least 80 UCAS points to get onto one of these courses, and some courses may have higher or lower entry requirements. Undergraduate courses usually take three years to complete, though you may be able to extend this to four years if you add a foundation year or a year in industry.

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Study a related degree subject

HR management isn’t the only subject you can study that will be useful in this career path. Other subject areas which will develop the skills needed to succeed in this career path include business management, economics and psychology. Entry requirements for these courses vary, but you’ll typically need three A-levels or equivalent. The average duration of these courses is again three years, but a year in industry or foundation year would extend it to a four-year course.

Degree apprenticeships

As a degree apprentice, you would work for an employer while studying part-time for your degree. It means you’ll be gaining loads of hands-on experience while you study, and you’ll also be paid a salary while you do it. As well as receiving a salary, your employer will cover your tuition costs, so this route is a great way to get a degree without student loans. A Level 6 apprenticeship is equivalent to an undergraduate degree and typically takes three years to complete.

Study a postgraduate degree

If your undergraduate degree was in an unrelated subject or if you want to further specialise, a postgraduate degree offers you the opportunity to either retrain or to focus on a specific area of HR management. Postgraduate degrees aren’t essential to this career path, but they can definitely help your application to stand out and may help you with career progression.