Career Profile: Human Resources
 Over the past decade, Human Resources (HR) has gained greater influence over the strategic direction of companies. Acceptance as a legitimate business partner in the C-suite has not been easy for HR as other senior management leaders did not view their functionality as contributing to the bottom line. However, companies such as Southwest Airlines and Intel have proved that incorporating the HR practices into a company can contribute to a strong corporate culture and lead to improved profits for shareholders.
In the simplest sense, HR deals with people. From benefits administration, recruiting, to conflict resolution and discipline, Human Resources is in charge of managing the people side of a business. In years past, HR was basically exiled from the boardroom in favor of those departments that could clearly quantify their contributions to the company; thereby work to develop company strategy. However as more companies have begun to adopt the notion that their employees are their greatest asset, HR has become a fundamental resource for C-level executives to rely upon.
As a field, Human Resources is not for everyone. It is a heavily people-focused position that requires patience, creativity, business savvy, and the ability to quickly adopt to changing environments. Depending on the size of the company, HR does allow for specialties. For instance, some HR professionals specialize in benefits administration, where others may prefer recruiting. Overall, successful HR professionals, in particular those who are at the senior level, possess general knowledge of all of the above and more.
Career tracks depend widely on where you work and how big your organization is. Larger companies may have extensive HR departments with Human Resource specialists, whereas smaller companies may have only one or two HR people who carry a general knowledge of the discipline. Common career paths include working as an HR assistant, supporting the Sr. Human Resources manager of director. From there many HR professionals move into VP level HR roles after they have assumed many years of experience and have a successful track record.
In the next two to five years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not anticipate any significant changes in growth to the field as a whole; however greater HR career opportunities will exist in health care and HR outsourcing services since smaller companies are relying more on outside HR firms to direct their HR company responsibilities.
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