What Can You Do With an HR Associate Degree?
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Do you enjoy working with people? Would you like the opportunity to help guide your current and prospective co-workers along the path to a long and successful career? If so, human resources (HR for short) could be the right fit for your skill set.
When you work in HR, you’ll form strong relationships with your fellow co-workers. Whether your primary tasks involve payroll and benefits administration or routine onboarding activities, there will always be something to keep you engaged and focused.
What Can You Do With an HR Associate Degree?
Once you’ve received your Associate Degree in human resources, you’ll be qualified to fill many meaningful roles within any organization. If you’re not sure what exactly an HR professional does on a daily basis, here are the most common tasks.
Recruiting
Recruiters are responsible for seeking out quality candidates for any given position. Since you are looking for someone who’s a perfect fit for the job, this can be a long process.
There are several ways to recruit potential candidates. One popular option involves posting the position on a job website, such as Indeed or Glassdoor. You might also spend time at job fairs, or simply make use of your company’s social media accounts.
In addition to seeking out candidates, recruiting might involve contacting references and performing background checks. Some preliminary interviewing might also be in order. If the candidate is interested, the recruiter may be tasked with negotiating the terms of employment.
Since the success of an organization hinges largely on employee performance, recruiting is a critical tool in the HR department’s arsenal. If you’re a skilled recruiter, you’ll be highly valued at your organization.
Hiring
The term hiring is a broad one, as it can cover everything from identifying the need for a new employee all the way through the onboarding process. For these purposes, let’s pick up where the recruiting phase left off.
As soon as you have a suitable number of qualified applicants, it’s time to start communicating with them. You’ll schedule interviews and answer any questions the applicants might have about the position. Often, more than one interview is required to narrow down the field.
After you’ve selected the best candidate, the next step is to offer them the position and hope that they accept. This might require a bit of negotiation, but with any luck, you’ll arrive at a solution that will benefit both the company and the new hire.
Onboarding
When the new employee comes on board, they’ll need a brief orientation period to introduce them to the company culture. There should be a packet or a handbook that fills them in on any benefits and policies. In fact, developing and maintaining this handbook might be another one of your duties.
There’s no need to wait until the employee’s first day to begin the orientation. You can send the paperwork along with the welcome email as soon as they accept the job offer. If you have any company videos that might help, now would be the time to introduce those as well.
Training
When you train an employee, you’re giving them the tools they need to perform their daily tasks. Although they might have performed similar jobs in the past, your company might use different software applications or techniques to get things done. Your job is to make sure they’re aware of, and comfortable with, how things are run at your organization.
Employee Development
The initial orientation period is important, but employee development will ensure that the learning process is an ongoing one. When you implement an employee development program, you’ll provide training opportunities for all the workers, even the ones who have been with the company for years.
Regardless of how skilled and loyal an employee might be, there’s always room for improvement. Employee development can help to plug any gaps in their skill set, thereby allowing them to progress and become more useful to the organization as a whole.
Payroll Administration
Tracking hours and running payroll are major responsibilities. Since they generally require access to confidential salary and banking information, you’ll need to be discreet.
However, there’s more to payroll administration than just logging hours. You’ll also track vacation pay, sick time, and any other PTO that’s offered. Some smaller organizations might ask you to take on any bookkeeping and banking duties that relate to payroll as well.
Benefits Administration
All the members of the HR team should be familiar with the benefits package. At what point does an employee become eligible for benefits, and what exactly is offered? Are there any paid holidays on the calendar, and if so, which ones? If the employees are responsible for paying a portion of their insurance premiums, are those amounts being deducted through payroll? It’s up to you to find out and correct any issues that might arise.
What Job Roles Come With an HR Associate Degree?
There are many job roles available to you after completing an HR Associate Degree. Let’s break down the basics for each role, so you’ll understand more about what might be required.
HR Specialist
The term “specialist” infers a degree of skill in a certain area, and that certainly applies in the HR field. Unlike HR generalists, who are responsible for many different tasks, HR specialists are typically responsible for a particular job.
Large corporations are more likely to have these positions available, as they have several departments that focus on specific services. Smaller companies might assign all the HR tasks to a generalist or manager instead.
As an HR specialist, you might spend your days processing paperwork, maintaining employee records, and ensuring compliance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You may also make sure your company’s policies align with local, state, and federal regulations.
HR Assistant
If your company employs an HR manager, there’s a good chance that there will be at least one HR assistant role to help with the basic day-to-day tasks. These could include recruitment, payroll and benefits administration, and record maintenance.
It can be difficult for a single person to maintain personnel records, especially for a larger corporation. That’s where the HR assistant comes in. Although the HR manager will be responsible for the big decisions, the assistant is there to ensure that the plans are implemented properly.
HR Manager
In addition to carrying out basic HR-related tasks such as recruitment, interviewing, onboarding, and training, the HR manager serves as the crucial link between the employees and the C-level executives.
Some organizations might ask their HR managers to handle performance reviews and promotions, as well as disciplinary action and termination of employment when necessary. In most cases, they’ll also be tasked with ensuring compliance with federal and local regulations, though they might be able to delegate these tasks.
How Do You Become an HR Manager or Specialist?
If you want to become an HR specialist or manager within a reasonable time frame, you can accomplish this by attending a technical school program. If you enroll in a technical school, you can get your HR Associate degree in as little as one to two years. That will put you on the fast track to a rewarding and enriching career in human resources.
Unlike four-year programs, which take twice as long, an HR Associate degree from a technical school will start paying for itself in no time. Interactive College of Technology offers an HR Associate degree program in Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas.
As a bonus, after the hands-on training, you’ll be better equipped to deal with people. Since that’s what the HR field is all about, you’ll have an advantage before you even start your first job.
Final Thoughts
What can you do with an HR Associate degree? In short, just about anything that’s required of an HR professional. Whether you find a position as an HR specialist that focuses on just one task, or a generalist who wears several different hats, an HR Associate degree from Interactive College of Technology can prepare you for a life-long career in human resources.
Want to Learn More?
Now that you know what you can do with an HR Associate degree, it is time to learn more about the Interactive College of Technology. At the Interactive College of Technology, we offer Human Resources Management training that can help you get started in a new career or advance your current one. You’ll get hands-on training, industry recognized certifications, and real-world experience prior to graduation! We also offer continuing education courses to refresh and build on your current skills.
Let’s take the first step together! Contact us now to learn more.