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How To Hire HR Staff

How To Hire HR Staff
Post Series: How to Hire

The HR department is responsible for many HR tasks that require expertise, tact, and often qualifications and HR training. Hire the wrong candidate, and your business could find itself in all kinds of trouble, falling foul of employment law and legal compliance. Leading many business initiatives, such as employee training, recruitment, performance management, and employee engagement, the wrong staff in your HR department might contribute to never reaching your company’s potential. Therefore, hiring excellent Human Resources managers or a dedicated HR person is crucial for any business owner.

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You will need to implement effective recruitment solutions appropriate to your business and industry to attract the correct number and quality of applicants for your job opening. In this HR Staff Hiring Guide, we lay out the steps to find and hire a Human Resources specialist, including:

  • Preparing To Recruit HR Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page
  • Writing A HR Professional Job Description & Job Advert
  • How To Hire All HR Staff
  • Advertising Your HR Department Positions: Referral Schemes, Social Media, & Job Boards
  • Reducing HR Staff Hiring Costs And Time: Recruitment Companies & ATS
  • Screening Job Seekers & Conducting Interviews
  • Presenting A Job Offer & Onboarding Human Resources Professionals

Preparing To Recruit HR Staff: Your Employer Brand & Company Careers Page

How To Recruit HR Staff

Before you begin to advertise externally for a HR manager or HR professional, you should review all your existing candidate touchpoints to ensure you are promoting a positive employer brand. You will ultimately only secure the right candidates if you show that you are a highly desirable employer where HR professionals will want to work.

It would help if you considered how you portray your company culture, company values, and your business success, along with other elements such as supporting further training and career development. In our Guide On How To Hire, we explore deeper the topics of Why Should SMEs Build An Employer Brand and What Should Be On A Company Careers Page.

Writing A HR Professional Job Description & Job Advert

How To Write HR Employee Job Profile

You can only write an accurate job description and job advert for your Human Resources department if you speak to key decision makers in the hiring process, including the position’s line manager:

HR Job Descriptions

Writing a job’s description for a HR function will help you or your hiring manager speed up the recruitment process. The best practice is to have one on file for all company positions, which can be quickly updated and used to create the job posting whenever recruitment needs arise.

Download Job Advert Template

For Search Engine Optimisation, it is a good practice to integrate keywords and key phrases that potential candidates might search for in a search engine. The job profile should have a clear message to attract the most suitable candidates. It also helps to refrain from using excessive punctuation and too much industry jargon.

When writing a role’s description for HR staff, consider:

  1. Identifying and outlining typical company-wide requirements
  2. Collating today’s minimum HR specialist skills, qualifications, and experience
  3. Reviewing what your competitors are saying in their role descriptions
  4. What your new hires should look like
  5. How you want your brand to be perceived

Our Job Description Templates can help you get started; we appreciate writing this content can be a challenge. You can discover the most popular HR Job Descriptions here.

Further useful resources include How To Define What People Do In Their Jobs, Preparing Job Descriptions, and Key Roles And Responsibilities In HR.

HR Job Adverts

Your HR staff job descriptions form the basis of your new job ad. There are extra things to add to attract a good HR manager or Human Resources specialist with appropriate skills, so ensure your job ad includes:

  1. An accurate job title – HR manager, HR director, Human Resources specialist, HR administrator, etc
  2. An opening statement – saying why a HR specialists will want to work for your business
  3. The job’s description
  4. A list of job responsibilities – managing employees and employee relations, implementing company policies, updating employee records, performing administrative tasks, making hiring decisions, people management, processing and amending payroll, ensuring compliance with UK law, etc
  5. Qualifications, personality traits, experience, and required hard and soft skills
  6. Job location – office-based or work from home for a remote HR team
  7. Salary range and employee benefits – check the average salary here for roles such as HR manager, Human Resources assistant, etc
  8. Next steps – potential candidates should email xxx or apply via your careers page

We recommend that large, medium, and small businesses use a job advert template to get down the basics and then fill in more detail on the unique aspects of your company, team, jobs, and ideal candidate.

How To Hire All HR Staff

HOW TO HIRE AN HR MANAGER

To hire an HR Manager, describe your company, business sector, and team. It can be helpful to include links to your company’s website so that candidates can discover more. To ensure qualified applicants apply, state if you desire someone with a master’s or bachelor’s Human Resources degree.

To entice a Human Resources Manager to apply, highlight vital responsibilities, such as hiring employees and HR Professionals, determining training needs, liaising with senior management, and creating employee acquisition strategies. 

HR Manager Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Manager Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR ASSISTANT

To hire an HR Assistant, promote employee benefits, average salary, and the company’s vision and values. To engage a good fit, create a person specification including skills such as excellent communication and knowledge of employment law and best practices.

Responsibilities that might encourage applications include organising training and employee inductions, maintaining accurate employee records, responding to employee questions, and handling employee relations.

HR Assistant Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources Assistant Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR PROFESSIONAL

To hire a Human Resources Professional, your job advertisement should request an individual possessing excellent English and maths skills, with an HR or similar degree. Links to company pages and social media will help interested individuals discover more.

Tasks that will entice applicants include raising awareness of business policies, arranging employee training, updating holiday and sickness records, and authorising leave.

Human Resources Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR ADVISOR

To hire an HR Advisor, you can post your job ad across HR and general job boards, highlighting your brand and company culture. Create a person profile to ensure an excellent employer-employee match, including desired qualifications, HR software proficiency, and good research and reporting skills.

Job duties attracting HR candidates include overseeing employment policies, answering employee questions by email and phone, recruiting staff, updating records, and ensuring worksite safety.

HR Advisor Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Advisor Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR ADMINISTRATOR

To hire an HR Administrator, write a job description that includes a company summary, your values, and the size of your team. Training and career development opportunities will attract committed people looking for long-term employment.

Top skills include communication, Microsoft Office proficiency, and organisation. Duties that draw attention include managing employee contracts, creating reports, updating staff records, managing payroll, and recording sickness and annual leave.

HR Administrator Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Administrator Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR OFFICER

You can include your company story, business sector, and mission to hire an HR Officer. Excellent interpersonal skills and a Human Resources degree are advantageous and should form part of your text.

Responsibilities that intrigue job hunters include onboarding new hires, mediating staff grievances, performance management, planning training, and updating sickness and absence records.

HR Officer Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Officer Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR BUSINESS PARTNER

To hire an HR Business Partner, describe the challenges your company needs to overcome and the business and HR objectives. Your job ad might request a business partner with a bachelor’s or master’s HR degree.

Job duties that entice applicants include creating successful staffing strategies in conjunction with senior management, aligning strategy with company goals, identifying training opportunities, resolving employee-employer disputes, and providing policy guidance.

HR Business Partner Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Business Partner Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR DIRECTOR

To hire an HR Director, give an accurate picture of your team, industry, and organisation. Links to social media profiles and the company website will help candidates research the company and role.

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A master’s or bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or HR systems is a typical requirement. Enticing job duties include leading the HR strategy for training, recruitment, performance management, remuneration, grievance processes, and resolution.

HR Director Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Director Job

HOW TO HIRE AN HR GENERALIST

To hire an HR Generalist, you should create and share an employer profile and the goals of your HR team. Attracting the right individual is achievable by listing your requirements, which might include an HR degree or proficiency with HR applications and software.

Responsibilities that will encourage generalists to apply include records maintenance, work policy updates, maintaining legal compliance, HR initiatives promotion, and nurturing a positive work environment and culture.

HR Generalist Job Description Example

Post An Human Resources (HR) Generalist Job

Advertising Your HR Department Positions: Referral Schemes, Social Media, & Job Boards

Advertising Your Job Online

With your job ad in hand, you are ready to find your new HR employees or HR managers. Your recruitment strategy might include posting your advert:

Internally (Employee Referral Schemes)

A non-incentivised or incentivised employee referral scheme is extremely valuable when you want to hire a HR staff. You will turn your current employees into motivated recruiters, sharing that you are hiring new employees across their social and professional networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter).

Employee referral schemes often bring in promising candidates, with your team’s connections including like-minded professionals and HR industry contacts. To engage this business hiring strategy, share your job ads with your team and reward referrals from employees.

You can discover tips on employee referral schemes by reading Introducing An Employee Referral Scheme.

On Social Media

Hiring Human Resources managers or HR professionals through social media is effective, with paid and free advertising options. The best tips for success include ensuring your social media messaging is consistent with your employer brand and conveys a positive image. An active social media channel is helpful if you want to build a community of professionals just waiting for an opportunity to join your team as your company grows. Recommended activity includes posting news, expert opinions, updates, and industry insights.

Our tips and advice for implementing a successful social media hiring strategy include:

  • Marketing yourself first
  • Joining industry networks and groups
  • Engaging with respondents and nurturing discussions
  • Using advanced search tools and Recruiter Lite on LinkedIn
  • Using Twitter’s advanced search tool and direct messaging
  • Building activity on your company’s Facebook page and encouraging engagement from existing employees, turning them into business advocates

We explore finding qualified employees through social media further in our articles Social Media Hiring Strategies For SMEs and Job Advertising On Social Media.

On Job Boards

Whether your new hire is your first full time HR Professional or your hundredth, advertising on job boards is essential if you want to be hire a Human Resources worker in an acceptable timeframe. You can post a Human Resources manager or advisor job on one job board, or many using an Applicant Tracking System. Job board resellers help you advertise your HR job across multiple general, niche, and geographical job boards using their integrated ATS software, minimising the hassle and time of developing leads and hiring good HR professionals.

Download Job Advert Template

Leading General Job Boards:

Niche HR Job Posting Sites:

Aggregator Job Sites:

Geographical Job Sites:

You can advertise your job on these job boards today.

Reducing HR Staff Hiring Costs And Time: Recruitment Companies & ATS

Reducing Hiring Costs Of A Human Resources Manager

Budgets, deadlines, and administration require careful consideration whenever you instigate the recruitment process to hire a Human Resources manager or assistant. To get the best results, you may decide to work with a recruiting firm with a UK wide focus, a global recruitment partner, or a niche recruitment company.

We discuss agency fees and recruiters in these two articles; How To Avoid High Recruitment Agency Fees and The Pros And Cons Of Having A Recruiter On Retainer.

Fixed Cost Recruitment

Fixed-cost recruitment allows you to hire at a flat fee governed by the level of service and functionality you desire.

The success of fixed-cost recruitment depends on the company offering the service, the methodologies they deploy, and their expertise and knowledge of your industry or business sector. You will need to determine which actions you need assistance with to use flat-fee recruitment successfully.

Four steps to leveraging fixed cost recruitment to hire Human Resources managers or HR staff:

  1. Place ads across leading job boards
  2. Search CV databases and social media channels
  3. Headhunt and shortlist new employee candidates
  4. Receive interviewed and qualified candidates

Useful resources:

Applicant Tracking Systems

Automatic Tracking Systems can significantly reduce the costs to recruit HR staff by creating efficiency. Candidate, vacancy, and advert management fall within the software’s parameters.

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Team access creates a unified place to work, helping you build a seamless hiring process and candidate experience.

Five steps to centralising recruitment with ATS:

  1. Find HR staff online
  2. Review candidate scores
  3. Distribute personalised messages to a large candidate pool
  4. Automate responses using the software’s artificial intelligence
  5. Direct candidates to application forms

To explore all the features and benefits of Automatic Tracking Systems, read Centralising Recruitment With ATS.

Screening Job Seekers & Conducting Interviews

Screening And Interviewing A Human Resources Manager

Before your interview process commences, you need to shortlist applicants by reviewing their CVs or resumes. Indications that you have a Human Resources manager or HR candidates worth interviewing include:

  • Quantifiable evidence of past achievements and skills
  • The individual has steady career progression
  • The candidate is not job-hopping
  • The CV is free from spelling and grammatical errors
  • The candidate has the relevant business acumen, experience managing employee relations, and the skills to meet the job’s requirements

Business leaders and hiring managers need to be prepared to deliver a consistent interview experience. It helps to ask the same interview questions to each prospective Human Resources manager or HR candidate, to aid applicant scoring. Ensure anyone who has candidate contact is on the same page and understands the brand’s vision, values and opportunities. Interviews should be challenging, supportive, positive, and engaging.

Video interviews are an increasingly popular recruitment solution, saving on resources and speeding up the recruitment process. Video sharing, shortlisting, and feedback from hiring and line managers ultimately generate more successful outcomes. If your firm has not conducted a video interview before, read How To Conduct A Remote Interview.

Our article Defining Your Interview Process, discusses interview questions, avoiding unconscious bias, and interviewing tips.

Presenting A Job Offer & Onboarding Human Resources Professionals

Presenting A Job Offer To HR Staff Or A Human Resources Manager

When you have finished interviewing candidates and believe you have the right person for your HR role, you will need to present a job offer and onboard the part or full time employee:

Making A Job Offer

The process of presenting the offer to a Human Resources manager or HR professional varies depending on what has occurred before. If you don’t already understand the individual’s current earnings, expectations are better managed over the phone. Phone offers should be confident but be prepared to make changes if the individual’s circumstances have changed. Reaffirm that the candidate is happy with the offer, clarify their acceptance, and proceed to a formal written offer, in the same way you would for any business employee.

A formal offer letter from your firm can be conditional (dependent on a background check, etc) or unconditional and should include:

  • Job title – Human Resources manager, HR advisor, etc
  • Candidate name
  • Your conditions – i.e., this offer is made subject to…
  • Official start date, time, and location
  • Probationary period
  • Offer terms
  • Candidate actions and acceptance instructions – i.e., signed copy of job offer
  • Terms and conditions of employment (issued within two months of the start date)

You can read further on Presenting A Job Offer here.

Onboarding HR Staff Or A Human Resources Manager

The onboarding process should support the employee as they become part of your team.

Actions for onboarding HR staff might include:

  • Creating an employer identification number
  • Presenting the individual with an employee handbook
  • An office tour, introducing the person to their manager, team, and business leaders
  • Informing the person of the communication methods and the software to use in the new role
  • Presenting clear responsibilities and duties
  • Defining new role expectations, standards, and performance indicators
  • Gathering feedback from new hires

Hiring Processes FAQs

Here we answer your accounting and accountant hiring questions.

What are the job titles of HR staff?

Job titles for staff handling Human Resources include:

1. HR manager
2. HR professional
3. HR advisor
4. HR director
5. Benefits Coordinator 
6. Job Coach
7. Recruitment consultant
8. Talent Director
9. Training Coordinator 
10. Agency Manager

How To Hire Staff In Different Sectors

Find our recruitment guides for different sectors below:

All HR Job Descriptions

Post All HR Jobs

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