HR job description

I am working on my own job description. What should my title be? I work for a manufacturer of 80 and growing employees. I am the only person in HR. I feel as if I am being treated (and paid) as only an HR clerk. It is a strong male leadership team, which I am not part of (team or male) Yet, I do it all when it comes to this dept. Should I renegotiate? What background (education and experience) should I have to be more than a clerk? I have a BA in business. I am working on my PHR.

Comments

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  • How about some more information.

    When they hired you, what was the title given to you? Who do you report to? How much experience in HR do you have? How long are you with the company?



  • No title. I report to the President. One year expereince now. formally none then. I have been with the company two and half years now. I did have experience hiring as a board member and president on community boards.
  • I guess I'm looking for a bit more information. Please clarify -- you were hired, but no one told you what your position was? Although you report directly to the president (which is usually a plus in determining pay, etc), did he hire you as his "right hand person", assistant? Are you salaried, hourly, exempt, non-exempt?

    Unfortunately, your title is often dependent on the company culture, regardless of what you do or your level of knowledge -- usually because there is a limited knowledge of what HR accomplishes by those at the "top".

    I would suggest that you define what you do, from the smallest item to the bigger things. Make your list-- it may take you a couple of weeks to complete it so it truly shows all you do. Are you expected to define your goals and objectives each year, as they relate to the company's goals/objectives? Are you responsible for handling disciplinary action? Investigations? Employee relations? Do you supervise anyone, ie, receptionist? What is your success rate with new hires? How is turnover?

    Once you have your "job desciption", you are in a much better place to talk to your boss about your title, pay level, etc.

    Good luck and keep us posted!




  • I was originally his right hand secretary. After the last person left, he offered me the opportunity to take over the HR duties. Since I am the only one handling these issues I consider myself clerk, manager, and director. The President has a personal interest in HR (except for the "warm fuzzy" issues) and considers it one of his stregnths. He does not do any of the actual duties just shares in the ideas and planning. I share some clerical help with another department for light duties. I am paid hourly.
    My goals and objectives for the year are directly related to the strategic plan of the company. Yes, I handle investigations, employee relations, disciplinary action, I do not supervise anyone directly. I do search and organize training for 80 employees, manage the reviews. I hire based on cluture and train each person to do their job. I have hired 21 new employees in the last year. I have retained 86%. The three that we did not keep were released by their 60day review.

    Thank you for your input. You certainly have given me alot to consider. At the bare minimum I will post my duties.
  • To me it almost sounds as though you're more of an office administrator, with duties in multiple areas...but as other posters have said, more information regarding your job description would be helpful. Be sure to also list what duties you have for other areas not related to HR.
  • Sorry I wasn't clear. I no longer perform his secretarial duties. I am only in HR for the past year.
  • I would suggest the job titles of HR Administrator or HR Representative at a non-exempt (hourly) pay grade. In my opinion you are not at the manager or director level although you may field some of the questions/issues that rise to that level due to your working relationship with the president.
  • I think it is itime to be proactive, write a job description as has been sugested and carve out a niche in the company, call it the HR "department", put yourself as head and post your phone number on the company bulletin board as "HR Director". This as part of a Sexual Harrassmente Policy announcement or Worker Comp Policy Statement. Act like an HR chief and before too long I'll bet you can negotiate as one.
    The Colonel
  • I personally went through the same process. I started with a company of 6 employees. We grew to 165 employees than we downsized to 50 employees.

    I started as Payroll and Accounts Payable clerk, Went to Payroll clerk, went to Payroll Administrator, then Payroll Manager. I went back to the University and got my HR certification. Then I started as HR/PR Administrator, evolved to HR Administrator, Passed the PHR and became HR Manager, took over the benefit duties , became the pension trustee, started working with the board on forcasting and planning and became HR Director in the last 2 years.

    I have been with the company for 25 years so it didn't happen overnight, but it took a lot of work and a lot of learning. It also takes a long time for a male management to realize what potential you have and the only way they will is if you slowly show them. Go the extra mile, give them great (not good) but great reports. I don't think I have worked less than 50 hour weeks for the past 10 years. Avoid strife, work continually on people skills, negotiate, hire the best people you can, work on incentive programs to retain the best people after you hire them, be compassionate in your work, Loyal to the Company, and when you go home at the end of the week make sure your list is accomplished. Over the weekend write up your list for the next week.

    You will need a good laptop so you can work at home or on the road if you travel to seminars and if you advance you will need to attend some good seminars, especially in the areas of ERISA< HIPPA, FMLA, FLSA , Internal Investigations and HR Law. I don't know if you are also in charge of Payroll, but if you are than you will need to also obtain your CPP.

    I think you should start with HR Administrator, then when you pass your PHR ask to be raised to HR Manager. As you work at it and take on new duties and responsibilities and enter into more of the managment part of HR you will see your postion change and than is when you raise yourself up to Director.

    If you like I have the job descriptions of HR Administrator, HR Manager and also HR Director. From those you could get somewhat of an idea how the job evolves. I think I still have the HR specialist job which it sounds like you might be doing at the present time.

    Let me know where to send them...my email is [email]smcallister@aimintl.com[/email].

    Shirley
  • Thank you, these are the words I've been waiting to hear. I'm headed in the right direction.
    Great advise. If someone reading these postings disagree, they will need to make a strong argument to convince me otherwise.

    Thank you for your time and sharing your wisdom.


  • I agree with some of what Wildsporty said and I worked my way up in my Company. I have worked my fair share of Overtime in the last twenty years for this same company. However, I totally disagree with Wildsporty statements that you have to work 50 hrs a week every week for the last twenty five years and make lists over the weekend for the next workweek.

    To the person who originally posted, go forward and get the training and work hard. Give an honest days work and you will be rewarded. Make sure you and the president get on the same page for your goals. If not , you are wasting your time at that company. You can go the extra mile without the sacrifice of your life. Go after the position you want. However, Do not sacrifice your personal life to this company. I have seen it far too many times and doing occasional work at home is not bad as long as you don't let your job consume you.

    My two cents........

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