Moving from Training to HR Generalist
bailetat
1 Post
What are some key experiences/skills one would need to be more marketable in a HR Generalist role. I am currently a training professional with 10 years experience (4 in mgmt), but want to move into more of a generalist role. Your insight is appreciated.
Comments
I would get more education on Benefits and Compensation since they tend to be a very large part of most HR departments. CEBS has a good certification for these...tends to be weak on training/recruiting, safety and union issues but great on the rest on giving an overall view of B&C.
I would probably also look more into job performance analysis, both as it affects compensation and stand alone. There is a bit of this in the CEBS certification as it relates to compensation, but not enough.
From a training side, I bet you already have the communication skills needed. And possibly some of the employment law issues if you were doing training on those (ADA, FMLA, sexual harassment, etc). If not, some employment law training courses would be beneficial. There used to be one course in the CEBS certification that talked about current employment laws, but I don't think it exists any more. The other course do hit on laws such as COBRA, ERISA, etc. as they affect comp and benefits.
My path went from an actuarial path -> 401k recordkeeping for one of the large HR consulting firms to executive benefits (while taking the CEBS exams)-> HR generalist for a smaller company. I will say the CEBS has served me well for the basic knowledge of overall HR.
I find that the PHR/SPHR material and exams tend to be more strategic HR and less about the detailed knowledge needed to run an everyday HR department. More for the overall seasoned HR professional who has many years experience (I think they recommend 7 years before taking it).