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SHRM reports HR generalist is most in-demand HR position

July 16, 2015

Human resource generalists are the most sought-after HR professionals, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s summer 2015 HR Jobs Pulse Survey Report. The survey found 55% who are hiring HR talent said they were hiring for the position.

Almost one-quarter, 24%, of hiring companies are seeking HR professionals with employment/recruitment skills, followed by people with benefits experience at 16%. Employee relations skills and training/development skills were next, both at 13%.

However, only 27% of respondents said their organizations were hiring for HR positions, unchanged from December 2014 and up from 20% in January 2014.

“Hiring for HR positions depends greatly on the size of the company,” said Jen Schramm, SHRM’s manager of workforce trends. “Larger companies employ more HR professionals so it makes sense that they are more likely to report that they are trying to fill HR positions, especially during a jobs recovery. Improvements in the job market are also making HR professionals more confident about seeking out new opportunities for themselves.”

According to the report, only 1% of companies with 99 or fewer employees are hiring, while nearly two-thirds of employers with 25,000 or more workers are hiring for HR jobs.

Other findings from the report include:

  • 37% of respondents who said they were looking or planning to look for a new job cited “more compensation/pay” as the reason; 33% pointed to “better career advancement opportunities” as the reason for seeking a new job.
  • 27% of HR professionals had some degree of concern about their job security. However, fewer respondents in the summer 2015 survey said they were worried about the stability of their jobs compared with previous surveys.
  • 88% of HR professionals surveyed had some level of confidence that they could land a new position, if needed.

SHRM surveyed 378 respondents from a randomly selected sample of its members throughout the United States.