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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
HR
Is any one on here a Human Resource generalist? How do you like it? What do you do in a day (how much time do you spend behind a desk)? Is there anything you don't like about it? How did you get into this type of work?
I just graduated and am struggling in finding direction, I'm interested in maybe doing something in human resources, but am having trouble finding the information I want and am struggling with the idea of being stuck behind a desk all day. Any information you could give me would be appreciated. Thank you 
Re: HR
Hi - I'm not a HR generalist yet, but I am a HR Coordinator. Here at the distribution center that I work at, there are only 2 people in HR. Myself, and then my boss, who is the HR Manager. We do have more people on the HR team located at the corporate office though. What are you wanting to know?
I do quite a bit that a generalist would do, but not everything. I phone screen applicants and set up interviews. I do the new hire orientation. I help out with the leaves. I do some employee relation items.
Yes, I do sit at a desk quite a bit. However, I interact with potential applicants on the phone. I also walk around the warehouse as well too.
What questions do you have, and I can answer them :-)
TTC since June 2012
Thank you for your response. What do you like about your job? Anything you dislike or wish you could change? How did you get into the company, such as starting as an assistant and working your way up or did you go in as the HR coordinator? How much room for growth is their in this career? What kind of experience did you have before getting into this position? Education, etc. I've been looking around but feel like you have to have at least 2 years of experience to get into any kind of position and I'm not sure how to go about getting this experience.
Thank you
Hi - to answer your questions:
What do you like about your job? I like that I am able interact with people. I'm able to help people with things (whatever they may be). I am able to give people jobs. That's always rewarding when you have someone that is super excited that you just offered them a position. I work in a warehouse, so we have people that are job hoppers, don't really want to work, are thrilled to work, etc that apply for the positions here. We are just finishing up the busy season. From the beginning to September through the middle of November, we hired about 150-200 seasonal employees.
Anything you dislike or wish you could change? It's not that I dislike it or wish I could change because there's nothing you can do about it, because that's part of the job. Telling someone they don't have a job anymore is hard. Even if they know they pointed out and know they don't have a job anymore, that is hard to tell someone that you no longer have a job. Employee issues that are sad...just make you want to try. I've had several of those phone calls this year unfortunately. Just yesterday, I've had to deal with that. We found our yesterday that on Wednesday night one of our supervisors passed away unexpectedly. With my manager at the Corporate office, it fell on me. I just walked around the warehouse to see how people were doing and if anyone wanted to talk, I was there for them. I hope I never have to experience that again.
How did you get into the company, such as starting as an assistant and working your way up or did you go in as the HR coordinator? I started at this company as the HR Coordinator. I was interning in HR at another company when this position was posted, so I applied. At the time, this position only required a high school diploma. However, since I have the experience and such, if I was to quit and this job got reposted, they would require HR experience most likely.I have put so much into this role that they didn't imagine when they posted it. It was a new position, so they weren't sure what direction they wanted to go with the job.
How much room for growth is their in this career? In Human Resources, I feel there is a ton of growth...it just depends on which company you're working for on if there's growth within that company. The HR Field has tons of positions. There's HR Assistants where people can start out at. With HR Coordinators, it depends on the company on how they define that role. Some companies (like mine) HR Coordinators are a little more than an assistant, but not quite a generalist. In other companies, HR Coordinators coordinate the department. I've found that out when I would search for HR Coordinator openings. There's the HR Generalists, as well as the HR Specialists. You can specialize in tons of areas as well. Bigger companies may have a benefits specialists or a leave of absence specialist or a work comp specialists. Bigger companies may have someone that deals only with employee relations. You also have the recruiters. Then of course you also have the managers, directors, vice presidents of HR as well. So, I really think there is a ton of growth in the field...it just depends on the company you're working for. Being a HR Generalist in a small company and then moving to a big company as an HR generalist would definitely be growth as well.
What kind of experience did you have before getting into this position? I worked in a restaurant for 7 years throughout high school and college. While working in the restaurant, I was an assistant manager for the last couple of years, so I got to interview people and look over applications and complete the new hire paperwork. I also had a 3 month internship with a company. I also have a Bachelors of Science in Business with a Double major in Human Resource Management and Management. I took the PHR (Professional of Human Resource) exam as a college student, but I am not PHR certified yet because I do not have my 2 years of exempt experience.
I'm not sure how old you are, but based off of your screen name, I'm guessing you just graduated this past May? What's your degree in? If possible, I would start out looking for an internship. The only thing with internship is they don't usually have benefits. But most business internships are paid. You could also start out applying for HR Assistant positions to get your experience.
Hope that helps!
TTC since June 2012
TTC since June 2012