Capella University - School of Business
Capella University offers students the opportunity to earn their degrees from an accredited university delivering the challenge of a traditional classroom with the flexibility to fit education into real life.
Human Resources Career Guide
Find the information you need to get a human resources degree and start your human resources career.
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Workers are as crucial an asset to a company's success as capital or material holdings. Modern human resources strategies realize this, and human resources professionals strive to create the conditions that enhance employee performance. Human resources managers—in all of their specialized capacities—are critical, therefore, to the overall operations and performance of organizations striving to succeed in the business world.
An effective human resources department finds the employees who are the best fit for a given position, which ultimately gives the company a competitive advantage. Proper management of human resources keeps employees performing at optimal levels. Although job placement and benefits management are perhaps the best known specialties within human resources, labor relations and training and development are also popular human resources occupations. As the pace of technology accelerates, training and development will become even more important to the company that wishes to maintain a personnel edge.
Human Resources: A History
When Michael R. Losey, former CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, outlined the development of human resources as a field in a 1998 article for HR Magazine, he traced the beginnings of human resources as a school of thought to the industrial revolution. When business owners unsuccessfully attempted to make their employees as reliable as machines, they discovered the hard way that modern commerce required more than a merely obedient workforce.
Early human resources management departments concerned themselves with staffing and payroll issues, but the economic changes of the 20th century soon opened new areas of expertise. The rise of the labor unions created a need for skilled contract negotiators. As competition and consumer demand required higher performance from companies, the human resources department took a more active role in employee retention and retraining.
Human Resource Management Job Outlook
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests that competition for jobs within the human resources field will be intense. Human resource management positions tend to be well-paying and rewarding with reasonable opportunities for career advancement, so available positions are in high demand. The BLS also predicts, however, that the field will grow faster than average in the coming years, creating new jobs that may serve to counter the high job competition. Taking advantage of advanced training will help potential human resources managers better distinguish themselves in this fast-paced, high-pressure job market.
Human Resources Links and Resources
- American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration
- American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)
- Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement
- HR.com
- International Association for Human Resource Information Management
- International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
- Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA)
- National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR)
- National Human Resources Association
- Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
- Society for Human Resource Management
- WorldatWork, The Total Rewards Association
Strayer University
Strayer University is dedicated to helping busy, working adults achieve their educational goals with a valuable, real world education in a fast, convenient format offered online or at one of many campus locations.
Walden University - School of Management
Walden University has unique and flexible online delivery models, world-class faculty and customizable programs which are all geared to help adult learners achieve their career goals.
