HR career with Management Degree?

[Regards]

So currently i'm working at a decent paying job with AMAZING benefits. However, it's not exactly a job that is "career" worthy. For instance if i lost this job, I don't think I could find many other positions like it out there hiring. This is pushing me to think of a more broad career field to get into after I finish my Bachelors in Business Management. The first thing I can think of is Human Resources, I feel as though I would love this field, and I think I would thrive in it. With that being said, I have no background or experience in it, but I will have a management degree soon. Will this be a field I can somehow get into after i graduate? Like I mentioned, I don't have HR experience, but I do have a solid 2 years full time work history in a professional environment (i'm fairly young so the 2 years is the longest I've held a full time position). I feel like I would like a technical recruiter position or some HR management position. Also, I feel if i were to relocate or move around, I would have no problem finding a HR job if I had the experience back it up, also the industry seems vast. Input is welcome.

Regards,

Regards

[bjcheung77]

I think you should be fine unless you want to get the CHRP for being a certified HR pro.
Otherwise, I would recommend at least taking a course or two in human resource management...

[RANSOMSOUL]

There are several strong members with an excellent input connected to HR; I anticipate there being some strong shares pointing you in the right direction. One of them can confirm the true value but an option, if you are currently attending TESU with your BA would be to pick up their Human Resource in Management: 15 of the 18 credits can be done through outside resources like Penn Foster. I would wager a Graduate certificate would be significantly more valuable at the end of the day.

Again, just sharing some resources, I am confident some others will join in to help.

[dfrecore]

To get a decent job in HR (you'll probably start towards the bottom/mid and work your way up), a degree in Business w/some HR courses is fine. If you want to get a certification, you should actually look at jobs in your area and see what's asked for; there are 2 major ones, but it depends on where you live as to which is more requested (PHR from HCRI or SHRM).

I've never even heard of a CHRP, so I probably wouldn't recommend that.

There are also certs within some of the specializations. If you're working in compensation, a CCP is sometimes required (Certified Compensation Professional). If you're in Benefits, a CBP might be required (Certified Benefits Professional). These are more expensive but more comprehensive than a Graduate Certificate, so I would save your money - find out what you want to work as, and see what you need to get after you're done with your BSBA.

[bjcheung77]

Oops, typo... was typing too quickly and typed CHRP when I was thinking of "Certified HR Pro"...
This is what I actually meant: SHRM, there are two types - SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP

SHRM Certified Professional SHRM-CP
SHRM Senior Certified Professional SHRM-SCP

I find many take these over CBP and CCP, it all depends on what you need.
I would review all three - CBP/CCP and SHRM to see which suits you more.

[dfrecore]

Oops, typo... was typing too quickly and typed CHRP when I was thinking of "Certified HR Pro"...
This is what I actually meant: SHRM, there are two types - SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP

SHRM Certified Professional SHRM-CP
SHRM Senior Certified Professional SHRM-SCP

I find many take these over CBP and CCP, it all depends on what you need.
I would review all three - CBP/CCP and SHRM to see which suits you more.

SHRM and PHR are both general and sort of interchangeable, CCP/CBP are very specialized, and quite different than SHRM/PHR.

PHR is a 3-hr exam and costs $500.  SHRM is a 4-hr exam which costs $300.  You take them at a Prometric center.  With both, you can get a "senior" level, but you have to have 4/5 years of experience in HR and a Bachelor's degree to do so.  The PHRca is specific to CA, and so it is the more requested here.  SHRM doesn't have a specialized CA cert.

For the PHR/SHRM exams, that's kind of expected that you get it on your own if you want to get into HR.  Lots of HR degrees prepare you for one or the other in the coursework (WGU is aligned with both certs).


CCP/CBP will take you quite a long time to get through.  Each exam one will cost you $1300 for the self-study materials and exam (or $800 for the exam only), and then last I knew, you had to schedule a time to take the exam where they were holding seminars across the country (no online tests available).  So it could take you 2-3 years to study and take all 10 exams in the discipline (either Comp or Benefits).

For the CCP/CBP, the companies I've dealt with will pay for them - and pay to send you to 1 or 2 day seminars to learn the material and take the exam (that's what I did at one time and got a smaller cert within the CCP, which no longer exists).

So $300-$500 for a single exam, or $8,000 for 10 exams - quite a difference.

[bjcheung77]

Thanks for this update, that WGU HR program seems very good. Especially if it's aligned with those two certificates.