Human resources (HR) officers are responsible for hiring, developing and looking after employees. This involves functions such as training and monitoring performance.
Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills
HR officers can be generalists who perform a broad range of duties, or specialists who focus on a particular area. Specialisms include employee relations, careers coaching, health and safety and headhunting. If you want to find out about all of the specialisms on offer, head to the main HR advice page.
Typical responsibilities include:
recruiting, training and developing staff
making sure that staff get paid correctly and on time
pensions and benefits administration
approving job descriptions and advertisements
looking after the health, safety and welfare of all employees
organising staff training sessions and activities
monitoring staff performance and attendance
advising line managers and other employees on employment law and the employer's own employment policies and procedures
ensuring candidates have the right to work at the organisation
negotiating salaries, contracts, working conditions or redundancy packages with staff and representatives.
While a general HR officer will take on a mixture of these responsibilities, larger organisations often recruit specialist staff to take on one of these responsibilities as their entire role.
Read our article on whether a career in HR is right for you to find out more about what this career involves.

Keyskills: performance management project management onboarding scheduling employee relations customer service compensation teamwork collaboration human resources information software s worker