What are Some Good Entry Level Jobs in Human Resources?

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Everyone has to start somewhere, but finding entry level jobs in human resources may seem like a daunting challenge for fresh graduates. Employers often ask for some experience in the field or in a related position, and it is up to you to leverage past experience from summer jobs, internships and volunteer positions. Various positions in human resources are customer service-oriented, so you could identify front-line positions in HR where these skills can be useful. If you have worked as a temp in clerical positions, consider using these experiences to find back-office HR positions, of which there should be many as much of HR is an administrative support function in many offices.

Administrative Assistant

In small to medium-sized businesses, HR functions are folded into general office support positions. As an administrative assistant, you will be performing many clerical tasks that will provide exposure to various aspects of the business, which is good training for an HR-focused job later on. You may even be asked to serve as receptionist and customer support representative, which are positions that will build your people skills toward a career as an HR generalist. Entry-level administrative positions will provide opportunities for you to prove that you have the right attitude, the organizational skills and the gift for relationship building to thrive in HR.

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Payroll Clerk

HR is a very broad field, and payroll processing is one of the critical recurring tasks that you can master from the ground up. As payroll clerk, your tasks will involve ensuring that daily time records are updated, generating reports from these records and payroll processing from these reports. This position used to be tedious and time consuming, but most of the processes have been automated, including time record maintenance, payroll preparation and disbursement. Your job will involve learning to work with the payroll software and data entry for fields that do not update automatically.

Clerical Support for the Benefits and Compensation Section

The benefits and compensation division of HR is charged with a complex set of tasks that require compliance with labor laws and legislative initiatives. These requirements are complicated by nature, and they also change constantly. Benefits and compensation assistants provide the clerical support to make sure that the company complies with applicable regulations. In this position, you may be asked to perform data entry functions, records audit and maintenance and filing and retrieval of paper records. You may also be tasked with scheduling and assisting with employee learning sessions to explain new initiatives in benefits and compensation.

Training Assistant

No matter how large and diverse the operations of a company are, human resources will always be called upon to assist in setting up training sessions for various departments. This department oversees training resources, logistics and access to support personnel. A training assistant is among the most interesting entry level jobs in human resources because you may be asked to work with different departments as they define their training needs, set up schedules and find appropriate venues. You may be asked to assist in the preparation of training materials, including printing, copying and collating.

When it comes to entry level jobs in human resources, you need to examine your inventory of skills and interests. More than likely, you have already gained some experience in paid or volunteer positions that will get you to an entry-level position that you can build on for a productive and meaningful career in human resources.

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