Director of Human Resources

Career Area: Human Resources

Occupation Group: Human Resources Specialists

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Director of Human Resources earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $89,427

*The salaries depicted here are representative of the range of salaries posted in job listings over the past year. Living wage in North Carolina is $30,000.

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $92,275

*The salaries depicted here are representative of the range of salaries posted in job listings over the past year. Living wage in North Carolina is $30,000.

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Manages human resources functions for a company or organization, including the recruiting, hiring and training of employees. Works with executive management to develop and implement staffing and compensation plans, and works to attract and retain qualified employees. Oversees training and development initiatives. Manages compensation and benefits structure and provides information to employees. Monitors compliance with employment-related regulations. Implements company policies and deals with staffing or disciplinary issues as needed.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

LocationGrowth
North Carolina724+9.4%
Nationwide23279+7.1%

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Director of Human Resources is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

  • Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
  • Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
  • Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
  • Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
  • Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

  • Employee Relations: Industrial relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship.
  • Performance Management: Performance management (PM) includes activities which ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner.
  • Budgeting: Experience planning how the financial resources of a business or department are to be allocated during the next business period.
  • Onboarding: Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders.
  • Talent Management: Talent management refers to the anticipation of required human capital for an organization and the planning to meet those needs.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Director of Human Resources that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

  • Policy Implementation: Policy Implementation is the stage of policy-making between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people whom it affects. Implementation involves translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an operating, on going program.
  • HR Strategy: Human resource planning is a process that identifies current and future human resources needs for an organization to achieve its goals.
  • Employee Training: Employee Training is to improve current or future employee performance by increasing an employee's ability to perform through learning, usually by changing the employee's attitude or increasing his or her skills and knowledge.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.
  • Human Resource Management Industry Knowledge: Human resource management is the management of human resources designed to maximize employee performance in service of an employer's strategic objectives. HR is primarily concerned with the management of people within organizations, focusing on policies and on systems.

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Experience Required%
0 to 2 years6%
3 to 5 years38%
6 to 8 years24%

Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.

Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

  • Human Resources Director
  • Director Of Human Resources
  • Director, Human Resources
  • Vice President Of Human Resources
  • Director Human Resources

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