Human Resources

HR jobs

There are wide range of jobs within HR, below are some examples:

• Generalist HR assistants, officers, managers, directors or consultants – work across the whole employee lifecycle from recruitment into, to exit from, and organisation. They will be involved in the design and delivery of people strategies, creating or updating subsequent policies and procedures, and will work across many of the more specialist fields detailed below. HR Consultants (either within a consultancy company or on a freelance basis) offer HR advice to multiple clients.
• Learning and development (L&D) officers, managers or directors – ensure all employees have the capabilities they need to work at their best and meet the needs of the organisation as a whole. They will design and deliver learning initiatives that address key capability gaps and monitor their effectiveness.  
• Employee relations specialists - manage employer-employee relations through transparent and legally compliant practices and processes. Roles in this field require expertise in employment law, the ability to work with employee bodies such as trades unions or employee representative groups and outstanding communication skills required to deal with complex disciplinary grievances cases, negotiations and mediations.
• Organisational design and development (OD or OD&D) officers, managers, directors or consultants – look at the organisational ‘system’ as a whole – both structural (including roles, policies, processes and metrics) and cultural (including values, behaviours and relationships) aspects – to help improve performance through specific interventions.
• Reward specialists – experts in pay and broader employee benefits (such as pension, health benefits etc). Their work involves developing pay and benefits frameworks, involving researching and benchmarking the market, that are both attractive to potential employees and align with an organisation’s budgets.
• People analytics specialists – increasingly important field in the sector as data becomes ever more prevalent and important to decision-making within HR. Roles in this field require expertise in data, data systems and how to use data science to create models and conduct complex data analysis.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) specialists – focus on creating inclusive environments and practices that value individuals and difference and where all employees are supported to work at their best – benefiting individuals and organisations as a whole. This includes both legislative and compliance requirements and embedding EDI in organisational culture.
• Recruitment – fast-moving field, riding high or low depending on labour market conditions, that requires very strong interpersonal skills. Roles in this field can be found within organisations (often either focusing on graduate or experienced hire recruitment, and managing the recruitment process from application through to the assessment process and making offers) or as recruitment consultant or headhunter for a recruitment agency (where the aim is to make as much commission as possible from clients by successfully placing individuals who register with them).

Many organisations actively recruit to fill their HR vacancies.  Starting positions can either be on a formal graduate training schemes or a direct entry-level position. A broad range of organisations, including banks, professional services firms, FMCG companies (Fast Moving Consumer Goods), other corporates and the NHS run specialised HR Graduate Schemes.

If you are not joining a graduate training programme, some organisations prefer to take entrants who have achieved the CIPD practitioner-level qualification. Study can be undertaken on a full or part-time basis; more information can be found on the CIPD website. Many organisations who hire graduates onto HR graduate programmes may provide support to take this qualification whilst working. So before enrolling on a course make sure you check whether qualification is necessary for the roles you are applying for and/or if your employer can support/sponsor your studies.

Large national/international recruitment consultancies also sometimes recruit new graduates,  onto their own training schemes. Headhunters sometimes hire recent graduates researchers to assist more senior staff. Alternatively another good place to start is as an administrator in an HR department or in a personnel assistant position. The CIPD qualification is less commonly requested for entry level positions in recruitment.

Whichever route you take, you can expect to be given as much responsibility as you can handle fairly quickly.

Skills needed

A wide range of skills are required for these roles. Most roles don't require a specific degree, although psychology, law or business related studies can be useful. The competencies for HR programmes within large organisations are likely to reflect the general graduate competencies at that organisation, however some key skills that may be required include:

• Resilience, with an ability to handle pressure
• An analytical, often procedural, approach
• An ability to form good working relationships and apply effective interpersonal skills when dealing with people of differing levels of seniority
• A good level of business/commercial awareness
• Well-organised, flexible and numerate
• Ability to persuade and negotiate, influence, listen and question
• Excellent oral communication skills and have the ability to switch from one type of situation to another rapidly, adapting communication styles as necessary
• Integrity and approachability, as managers and staff must feel able to discuss sensitive and confidential issues with you

Getting experience

HR experience is not always essential but is often an advantage. Large multi-national organisations in a broad range of sectors usually offer HR internships. In previous years firms such as P&G, J.P.Morgan and Goldman Sachs have offered internships. Some work placement opportunities are also advertised on on our website. Having a sales, marketing or customer service experience may be useful for entry into recruitment, but isn't always essential.

In the case of smaller organisations, you may need to adopt a ‘speculative’ approach, sending your CV and cover letter to potential employers. Don’t wait for advertisements to appear, think about your network of contacts and how they could help you. Any form of business experience is useful, so think laterally.

There is often confusion about whether you should be paid to do an internship or work experience. It will depend on your arrangement with the employer and also the status of the employer. To find out if you are entitled to be paid when undertaking work experience or an internship, visit the Government’s webpages on the National Minimum Wage.

Vacancies are advertised on the individual organisation websites, as well as in journals and newspapers. Larger organisations often hire for their HR Graduate programmes during the typical graduate recruitment cycle (from September to December each year), so check the websites of the firms you are interested in early, to confirm the dates and deadlines. These schemes will be competitive with usually just a small number of places available.  Vacancies may appear under other sectors as well as HR, e.g. Human Capital Management, General Management, Administration, or the sector of the organisations main business, for example an HR vacancy at a bank may well come under the finance sector. Recruitment consultancies often advertise vacancies throughout the year.

Try to speak to HR professionals at recruitment fairs and employer presentations and build your network of useful contacts. Look for vacancies at more junior levels within HR that will allow you to work your way up. Be prepared to start at the bottom of the ladder and build your experience and qualifications as you go. You may even need to start with another office based role, such as administration before moving to an HR role. Target HR consultancies that regularly advertise. Look also in the main professional journals Personnel Today and People Management.

Internships & Work Experience

Some larger organisations such as Banks and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies have dedicated HR internship programmes. However other organisations may also be willing to offer work experience, be proactive and contact them to find out if there are any opportunities to work shadow or get some work experience. A temporary role/job during the vacation is also a great way to get experience in HR.

Will I get Paid?

Internships and summer jobs are governed in the UK by National Minimum Wage law, which means that if you are carrying out activities that class you as a “worker” by the employer, then you should be paid. Full details of Employment Rights and Pay for Interns are published by the government.

If you are undertaking a learning and development opportunity such as a micro-internship, or volunteering for a charity or statutory body, or shadowing or observing, then you may not be eligible for the National Minimum Wage. The organisation may reimburse you for your travel and/or lunch expenses, but they aren’t obliged to do so.

Using AI in applications   

While employers look for tech-literate graduates, they also expect you to use AI ethically and appropriately. AI is used widely in a wide variety of organisations to speed up processes and improve efficiency according to professionals we’ve heard from at Careers Service's events. But before you are tempted to do the same during an application process, we advise that you:  

• Check the stance of companies you are targeting. Many have published their policies on AI on their websites.
• Keep in mind that recruitment teams want you to be honest and authentic in your applications and it is difficult to achieve that if you use AI to draft your answers. In using generative AI, you risk sounding generic and uninteresting.  
• The view on AI varies hugely between employers. In the Careers Service Annual Employer Survey conducted in May 2025, we asked recruiters: ‘Do you allow or encourage the use of AI tools in the application or assessment process?’. Only 15% answered “Yes”: half of employers replied “No”, they do not want you to use AI in your applications. 
• People hire people who demonstrate and articulate the skills outlined in their job descriptions – have faith in your own skills and be authentic. 

You can read more from the Careers Service on this topic here. We also recommend that you read the University’s position on the use of generative AI Tools to support learning

Industry specific

• Personnel Today – An excellent source of information on HR careers
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
• People Management – Online magazine 

General

• Prospects
• TARGETjobs
• Guardian: Jobs
• Telegraph: Jobs 
• LinkedIn Jobs
• The Times: Jobs

Recruiters are keen to have a diverse workforce, and many will have policies and processes that are proactive in recruiting students and graduates from diverse backgrounds. An increasing number of recruiters are offering traineeships, internships and insight events that are aimed at specific groups and many are being recognised for their approach to being inclusive employers.

Try the following to discover more about the policies and attitudes of the recruiters that you are interested in:

• Read their equality, diversity and inclusion policy.
• Search their website to see if they have any specific staff networks.
• Look for external accreditation such as whether they are a Disability Confident employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion or part of the Mindful Employer charter promoting mental health at work.
• Check to see if they are partnering with organisations such as Rare Recruitment, SEO London, MyPlus Students' Club, EmployAbility or one of the many other organisations that are working for specific communities.
• Explore what they do to celebrate diversity on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

The UK Equality Act 2010 has a number of protected characteristics to prevent discrimination due to your age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation. For further information visit the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s webpage on the Equality Act and the Government’s webpages on discrimination.