Human Resources Consultant

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 Human Resources Consultant earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $76,892

*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 $77,493

*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?

Advises a business or organization on human resources policies and procedures, and assists with communicating policies to employees. Analyzes policies related to hiring and staffing. May assist with a process for recruiting employees or with reviewing human resources practices within a company or organization.

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 Carolina749+6.5%
Nationwide21189+5.3%

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 Human Resources Consultant 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.
  • Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
  • Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
  • 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.
  • Talent Management: Talent management refers to the anticipation of required human capital for an organization and the planning to meet those needs.
  • Change Management: Experience working with an organized, systematic application of the knowledge, tools, and resources of change that provides organizations with a key process to achieve their business strategy
  • Employee Engagement: Employee engagement is a property of the relationship between an organization and its employees.

Distinguishing Skills

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

  • Stakeholder Management: Working experience of Stakeholder Management, which is a critical component to the successful delivery of any project, programme or activity. A stakeholder is any individual, group or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a programme. Stakeholder management creates positive relationships with stakeholders through the appropriate management of their expectations and agreed objectives.
  • New Hire Orientation: Working experience of New Hire Orientation. New employee orientation is the process you use for welcoming a new employee into your organization. The goal of new employee orientation is to help the new employee feel welcomed, integrated into the organization, and performing the new job successfully as quickly as possible.
  • Applicant Tracking System: An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs.
  • 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.
  • HR Metrics: Human Resource (HR) metrics are measurements used to determine the value and effectiveness of HR initiatives, typically including such areas as turnover, training, return on human capital, costs of labor, and expenses per employee.

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 years12%
3 to 5 years56%
6 to 8 years20%

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 Business Partner
  • Human Resources Consultant
  • Senior Human Resources Business Partner
  • Talent Advisor
  • Human Resources Advisor

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles: