What is a Human Resources Role?
Human Resources (HR) roles within the food and drink industry are not typically a first thought for many people considering a career in this field, but they are certainly rewarding. Day-to-day responsibilities include ensuring that administrative services are provided to the wider team. Ensuring things run smoothly is vital in an HR role, freeing up time for everyone to focus on their role.
Keeping up to date with what is happening within the wider company and helping to form strategies that will improve business performance. An HR role can also include matching internal resources to the overall business strategy, which also falls in line with recruitment and training.
Routes Into An HR Role;
You can get into this job through:
- A college course
- High-level / higher-level apprenticeship
- Applying directly
- University degree
- Training with a professional body such as MDS
Skills and Knowledge
Within HR (human resources) departments, the skills you will need can be broken down into soft and hard skills. Soft skills are more transferable skills, whereas hard skills focus more on technical ability. There are many kinds of soft and hard skills but we will break down the most common ones.
HR Soft Skills
- Organisation
- Problem-Solving
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication: Liaising with all levels of the organisation, including senior management
HR Hard Skills:
- Knowledge of implementing an HR strategy
- Measuring performance
- Recruitment/ training support
What Will You Do?
Within an HR role, every day will be different. The nature of an HR career is ‘people’ focused, so you will be responsible for supporting, advising, training or recruiting within a business.
An HR role requires you to make some tough decisions that are in the best interest of the business and not approach them personally. You will also be required to handle difficult conversations. Issues may arise quickly and without warning, so be prepared for a number of different situations are key, approaching them with consistency to ensure that all business members are treated fairly no matter the outcome.
You will likely spend most of your time in or arranging meetings and keeping up to date with the various departments within the business that will require your guidance or support.
Career Path and Progression
There are a lot of career prospects in HR and you can be employed across a variety of areas. These include but are not limited to:
- HR Administrator
- HR Business Partner
- HR Manager
- Learning & Development Co-ordinator
- Learning & Development Manager
- Trainer / Site trainer
- Training Manager
