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Prominent Roles for Certified HR professionals in 2020 & Beyond

HR Generalists and HR specialists are the two prominent positions for contemporary HR professionals in the coming decade.


The typical role of an HR professional revolves around administrative planning, directing, and coordinating with top management along with employees. Responsibilities could range from recruitment and hiring, compensation & benefits in addition to the training and development of the employees.

However, over the years, with technological evolution, there has been a dynamic shift in HR functions especially recruitment and hiring and training and development. With recruitment and hiring becoming automated and the training & development gaining significant importance for both employees and employers equally.

HR in 2020 & Beyond

There’s a lot going in the field of HR and the year 2020 promises to be the year of huge changes in the world of HR. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there would be overall growth in the HR careers with HR Generalists and HR Specialists gaining popularity with a projected growth rate of about 5% by 2024.

Interestingly, both Generalists and Specialists have an overlapping of roles and responsibilities, so deciding which career path to take could be a little daunting as well as confusing. This is where upskilling and upgrading skills could come to your aid.

Upscaling the Learning Curve

As HR Generalist and HR Specialist roles gain prominence in the field of HR, it would be a good idea to keep yourself abreast of all the latest tools and practices of the HR world. And what best way to do so… then Certifications in HR. As a certified HR professional you would definitely be able to decide whether you would want to continue with the role of an HR Generalist or would you like to go for specialization and then work as an HR Specialist in an organization.

Before we go further into how HR certification would help you in shaping your career, let’s understand what exactly is being talked here when we discuss the role of an HR Generalist and an HR Specialist.

HR Generalist: Roles, Responsibilities & Best HR Certifications

The career path could be for you if you think that you have an expertise in more than area yet have enough experience in each of the areas to offer dependable advice and counsel to both employees and managers. Understand that as a certified HR professional in the Generalist role you would work directly with employees, which means that you would have a variety of duties to be performed. However, broadly your duties would entail the following:

  • You would be responsible for both staffing and recruitment
  • Compensation and benefits of employees and managers would also be under your supervision
  • You would also have to develop personnel policies and procedures
  • You would have to ensure that employee relations are cordial enough
  • Last but definitely not least you would be responsible for workplace safety and security

 In a nutshell, if workplace variety and diversity stimulates your senses then you should go for the role of an HR Generalist. You would revel in the new challenges of every day and at times even hours. You would also be called upon to offer guidance and even mediation on various staffing and management related issues.

Certified HR Professionals in the Generalist roles would be able to do justice to the role as best HR certifications prepare the HR professionals to face the real-world challenges in an adept manner.

Now let’s take a look at the HR Specialist’s role and understand what their daily routine entails.

HR Specialists: Roles, Responsibilities & Best HR Certifications

As the name suggests, HR specialists would have a specialization in one or two specific HR functions, rather than being an expert in various disciplines of HR career. Understand, an HR Specialist has a thorough knowledge of one subject and some of those subjects might include:

  • You could take up the role of an HR development specialist in an organization
  • Or you could be a Risk Management Specialist
  • Another role could be an HR Information System Specialist
  • You could also specialize in Employee and Labor Relations
  • Organizational Development Specialist could be a prominent role for you

 If you love your daily routines, well-defined goals, and time frames then the role of HR specialists is the role for you. Certifications would only help you ease the process of getting there.

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