Human Resource Specialists

A Day in the Life

As an HR specialist, your day begins when the office where you work opens. Depending on where you work, you may be known as a specialist, supervisor or HR coordinator. When you get to work, you check in with your boss to see if there are any issues that need your immediate attention. There are no pressing employee questions to address, so you head to your cubicle to review your emails and listen to your phone messages.

You've received an email from your company's insurance provider alerting you to a problem with an employee enrollment form. You review the form and identify the issue. It's your job to ensure that benefits administration tasks are taken care of in a timely fashion, so you head to that employee's office to sort out the paperwork and ensure that she will be enrolled in the insurance plan for the upcoming quarter.

Your company is looking for a new receptionist, so when you return to your desk you begin reviewing resumes and helping the hiring manager set up interviews with promising candidates. When the new receptionist starts, you'll be responsible for having him fill out all necessary paperwork and will establish an employee file.

Throughout the day, you file paperwork that you've received in employee files. Right after lunch, the company's vice president wants to review an employee's file to determine if she is eligible for a pay raise. You take the file out for him and remind him that it will need to be returned to you before the end of the day. Keeping the files in a secure location is one of your most important administrative duties.

During the afternoon, you work on updating your company's employee handbook to ensure that it is in line with new labor laws. When the update is done, you'll be responsible for making sure that every employee receives a copy of any policies that have changed. You also take calls throughout the afternoon and direct them to the appropriate person in your department. You screen calls for the director of HR, who simply doesn't have time to speak with every vendor who calls your office. At the end of the day, you check in with your boss and lock up your filing cabinets before heading home.