MightyRecruiterHR generalists play a unique role in human resource departments because their skillset enables them to perform a variety of duties. Often, their primary responsibility is to facilitate communication between employees and management to ensure understanding and satisfaction. This overarching task is accomplished through hiring and recruiting qualified candidates, enforcing policies and procedures, setting payroll requirements, forming succession plans, distributing benefits programs and training employees.
In articulating desirable skills and characteristics in your HR generalist job description, your focus should be on such competencies as communication, listening and interpersonal skills. Additionally, the primary candidate will demonstrate sound decision-making abilities and attention to detail.
Because presentations are a frequent part of an HR generalist’s responsibilities, you should also be looking for someone who is a confident public speaker. This HR generalist job description will give you additional insight into the type of information to include.
HR Generalist Job Summary
As an HR generalist at our headquarters, you will function in a variety of capacities throughout our human resources department. You will have the opportunity to participate in recruiting events to identify and select potential candidates for open positions. As part of a panel of professionals, you will be able to interview applicants and train new hires in collaboration with departmental managers. You will be able to experience a variety of responsibilities, from payroll planning to developing benefits packages, maintaining succession plans and enforcing company-wide policies. With the ability to strengthen valuable skills like communication, public speaking and decision-making, you will have unprecedented opportunities for growth and advancement.
Job Responsibilities
- Collaborate with departmental managers to assess employment needs, and participate in recruiting efforts to identify, interview, hire and train qualified candidates
- Analyze industry-wide publications for benchmarking statistics to develop competitive compensation packages that accurately reflect each employee’s skillset, experience and day-to-day responsibilities
- Develop payroll processes that adhere to organizational needs in ways that are efficient, dependable, consistent and confidential
- Consult with colleagues to create and modify benefits packages to incentivize, encourage and support employees; educate employees about what their benefits include and are limited to
- Conduct research to identify promising leaders within the company to build a succession plan that will effectively support organizational goals and the company mission in emergency situations
- Oversee auditing processes in multiple departments to ensure policies and procedures are being followed and to provide clarification on subjects that may be misunderstood
- Educate and train all employees on organizational behaviors, policies and procedures to guarantee that understanding is affirmed and resources are not underutilized
- Assess employee performance and issue evaluations to help individuals identify strengths and weaknesses and to help departments maintain a team of professional, motivated and efficient workers
Job Skills & Qualifications
Reqiured:
- Bachelor’s degree in human resource management or applicable field
- 3+ years in a management or leadership position
- Confident presentation, communication and interpersonal skills
Preferred:
- Master’s degree in organizational behavior or related field
HR Generalist Job Responsibilities
Are you writing a HR generalist job description? To start, make sure you focus on the responsibilities section. This is one of the most important sections because it details the daily tasks of whichever candidate you hire, which in turn allows readers to decide whether or not the position is right for them. If this section is too long, it will be intimidating to read. However, if it is too short, potential candidates will not have enough information. We recommend that you include at least six, but not more than eight bullet points. Additionally, it is best to use a strong action verb for the first word of every point in the HR generalist job responsibilities section. Check the examples below to see good verb choices.
Remember that this section is usually the longest in your HR generalist job description. Include the best information you can to allow readers to fully understand what the position will be like.
- Oversee the entire office’s operations, ensuring all employees follow policies and procedures exactly and making adjustments or suggestions for change where necessary
- Manage the employee benefit program to best accommodate all workers
- Interact with office workers, managers and other human resource personnel, gathering information and delegating tasks
- Resolve office issues, implementing negotiation and interpersonal communications techniques
HR Generalist Job Specifications
The job qualifications and skills section should be split into two lists of bullet points. One should detail mandatory qualifications and the other should list preferences. This allows those who read your HR generalist job description to understand exactly what you are looking for. Preferences may be things like professional attributes, behavioral traits or degrees higher than the bare minimum. Mandatory requirements, on the other hand, usually include degrees, working experiences or essential skills. Strong examples of HR generalist job specifications are below.
Do not make the mistake of assuming the qualifications and skills section is unimportant because it is short. Even though it is usually the shortest section in the HR generalist job description, it is one of the most important. This section has the most direct influence over the kind of candidates who apply. If the requirements are too lenient, you will have to sort through many unqualified applicants. If they are too strict, not enough talent will apply to find a capable worker.
- Must hold a bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration or another related field
- Four years working in the human resource department required, two years in a position of management preferred
- Strong interpersonal, written and professional communication abilities
- Excellent critical thinking, evaluation and analytical skills
