Certificate IV in Human Resource Management can start you off
If you’re the person colleagues come to when they need help navigating a tricky conversation, understanding a workplace process or figuring out how to get the best from a team, you may already have some qualities that suit human resource management.
But human resource management is more than just being a people person. It brings together communication, organisation, problem-solving and an understanding of how workplaces operate.
So, how do you know whether it could be the right career for you?
Human resources management can cover everything from recruitment and onboarding to performance development, employee relations, workplace learning, wellbeing, safety and organisational policies.
Jobs and Skills Australia describe human resource professionals as working across recruitment, workplace relations, employee records, staff induction, performance matters, employment conditions and dispute resolution. Around 84,700 Australians are employed in this occupational subset.
Of course, no qualification can guarantee a job, but a qualification such as Certificate IV in Human Resource Management offers a broad range of functions and potential career directions.
Here are 5 ways to tell if you’d be a good fit for a career in human resources.
1. You’re interested in people and how workplaces work
Enjoying working with people helps, but human resources is also about understanding the workplace around them.
You might find yourself interested in why one team works brilliantly while another struggles, how new employees are introduced to a business, what helps people perform well or how workplace processes affect day-to-day operations.
That kind of curiosity can be a very useful foundation.
2. You’re a clear communicator
HR professionals communicate with employees, managers, candidates and other stakeholders, sometimes about straightforward matters and sometimes about sensitive ones.
That means listening, explaining information clearly and adjusting your communication depending on who you’re speaking with.
‘Effective communication is essential in building employee morale, engagement and job satisfaction.
It can help create a positive team atmosphere, improve psychological safety and enhance performance.’
Time Education & Training’s Certificate IV in Human Resource Management includes learning around business relationships, emotional intelligence and leading difficult conversations, alongside core HR functions such as recruitment and employee relations.
3. You can see more than one side
Workplace issues are rarely completely black and white. An employee may have one perspective and their manager another, while the organisation also has policies, legal obligations and operational requirements to consider.
Human resources management roles can involve listening carefully, gathering the relevant information and helping people navigate a practical way forward, whilst adhering to industry and organisational compliance.
If you tend to stay measured and look at the bigger picture, that can be a useful quality.
4. You like solving problems
A lot of human resources work involves figuring things out.
Why is recruitment proving difficult? Does an employee need further development? How could onboarding be improved? What processes might need to change?
You don’t need to have every answer immediately. But being curious, asking good questions and knowing how to work through a problem can matter just as much.
Additionally, being a good problem solver makes you a highly desirable employee or potential employee across the board because ‘…more than 60 percent of employers seek evidence of problem-solving skills when evaluating candidates. Another study indicated that a further 69.6 percent of employers consider critical thinking to be a huge indicator of success on the job.’
5. You enjoy helping people develop
Human resources might involve a lot of addressing workplace problems but can also involve helping people grow and expand in their current roles or moving into more senior positions.
Learning and development, performance development, mentoring and onboarding can all form part of this role, team or department.
If you get satisfaction from helping someone build their skills, confidence or capability at work, this could be another sign that human resources might appeal to you.
How can you start a career in HR?
There isn’t necessarily one strict pathway into human resources.
People may move into it from administration, customer service, recruitment, payroll, management, training or other roles involving people and organisational processes.
The Certificate IV in Human Resource Management has no formal entry requirements and is suited to people already working in human resources, as well as those aspiring to enter the field who have experience working within an established organisation.
The qualification includes 12 units covering areas such as recruitment and onboarding, employee and industrial relations, performance development, learning and development, WHS, wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and HR processes.
Possible career choices relevant to the qualification include:
- human resources officer
- human resources coordinator and
- human resources administrator.
You don’t need to fit a particular personality type to work in human resources. But if you’re interested in people, curious about how organisations work, comfortable communicating, organised and willing to tackle workplace problems thoughtfully, it may be a career worth exploring.
