Job Descriptions: Human Resources, Training, and Labor Relations Managers and Specialists

Job Outlook*

<Back to Prior Page>     <FAQ Index>

Related Resources • Nature of the Work   • Working Conditions   • Employment   • Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement   • Job Outlook   • Earnings   • Additional Resources: From Topic-related Associations

Join the Discussion DEOMIGRAD says, “If you have management telling you, as HR, to go out there and create some dedication and commitment, then you are going to also be considered as the scapegoat if it doesn't happen as they expect. You become an easy 'fall guy' for management to go to their boards and blame for the high turnover or poor morale.” Employee Commitment

Related Resources • The New Role of the Human Resource Professional   • Human Resources Management Career Center   • HR as Product: Be the Brand of Choice

Related Products • Top 10 Human Resources Books for Human Resources Staff   • Predictors and Promises for Your HR Future   • Top 10 Books for Job Seekers and Career Changers

Free HR Newsletter Email Address Get the latest updates, news and information every week from About HR Past Issues

The abundant supply of qualified college graduates and experienced workers should create keen competition for jobs. Overall employment of human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2010. In addition to openings due to growth, many job openings will arise from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force.

Legislation and court rulings setting standards in various areas-occupational safety and health, equal employment opportunity, wages, health, pension, and family leave, among others-will increase demand for human resources, training, and labor relations experts. Rising health care costs should continue to spur demand for specialists to develop creative compensation and benefits packages that firms can offer prospective employees. Employment of labor relations staff, including arbitrators and mediators, should grow as firms become more involved in labor relations, and attempt to resolve potentially costly labor-management disputes out of court. Additional job growth may stem from increasing demand for specialists in international human resources management and human resources information systems.

Expected job growth varies by specialty. Many new jobs will stem from increasing efforts throughout industry to recruit and retain quality employees. As a result, employment, recruitment, and placement specialists are projected to grow as fast as average. Furthermore, employers are expected to devote greater resources to job-specific training programs in response to the increasing complexity of many jobs, the aging of the work force, and technological advances that can leave employees with obsolete skills. This should result in particularly strong demand for training and development specialists across all industries.

Demand should continue to be strong among firms involved in management, consulting, and personnel supply, as businesses increasingly contract out personnel functions or hire personnel specialists on a temporary basis to meet the increasing cost and complexity of training and development programs. Demand also should increase in firms that develop and administer complex employee benefits and compensation packages for other organizations.

Demand for human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists also is governed by the staffing needs of the firms for which they work. A rapidly expanding business is likely to hire additional human resources workers-either as permanent employees or consultants-while a business that has experienced a merger or a reduction in its work force will require fewer human resources workers. Also, as human resources management becomes increasingly important to the success of an organization, some small and medium-size businesses that do not have a human resources department may assign employees various human resources duties together with other unrelated responsibilities. In any particular firm, the size and the job duties of the human resources staff are determined by the firm's organizational philosophy and goals, skills of its work force, pace of technological change, government regulations, collective bargaining agreements, standards of professional practice, and labor market conditions.

Job growth could be limited by the widespread use of computerized human resources information systems that make workers more productive. Similar to other workers, employment of human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists, particularly in larger firms, may be adversely affected by corporate downsizing, restructuring, and mergers.