HR Career Path: Everything You Need to Know

Whether you’re just starting out in HR or have had years of experience under your belt, planning out your HR career path plays an essential role in helping you achieve your personal and professional goals. You have many possibilities to grow and shape your career based on your competencies and interests. By mapping out your HR career path, you will be able to determine the direction in which you want to progress in the future based on your HR career goals and capabilities.

With your career pathing plan, you will get valuable insights into:

• Your skills and competencies; 
• The potential vertical and horizontal development opportunities within and outside of your organization; 
• Existing skills gaps that you need to address in order to progress in your career;
• The resources you can use to fill in your skills gaps.

Human Resources covers multiple functions besides general HR, and the value that HR professionals add to the business reaches far and wide. You can provide general advice to your business, support the implementation of technology or other digital initiatives, build and maintain a healthy organizational culture, or strategically integrate the HR value chain into business activities.

In this article, we’ll discuss what the modern career path looks like, the various HR career paths that you can take based on four HR profiles that we’ve developed, and three HR career progression examples to help inspire you.

Don’t hesitate to explore our HR Career Path tool to find out what your own career path in HR could look like!

Contents
The modern career path for HR
HR career progression: What makes it possible
How to map your HR career progression
HR career path options
1. HR careers within the Service Provider profile
2. HR careers within the Solutions provider profile
2. HR careers within the Advisory profile
3. HR careers within the Strategist profile
4. Moving across profiles
HR career path examples
1. From HR Assistant to CHRO
2. From HR Consultant to CHRO
3. From OD Assistant to OD Head

The modern career path for HR

Not so long ago, a career was traditionally viewed as a series of steps leading up to the highest point of success — a leadership position. The typical progression of a worker’s career path went from an employee to a manager overseeing a team, to a director of a function, to a Vice President of a department, to a senior Vice President, and so on. In other words, your career usually followed the hierarchical structure of your organization. Each role you took up was simply a stepping stone to support you in your path to a higher position.

However, these days, thinking of a career in terms of organizational hierarchy is no longer the norm. The modern career path is now treated as a series of experiences, each providing you with opportunities to develop your knowledge and skills. Your career might follow an upward trend, and you might still eventually end up in the Senior Vice President position. However, the roles you had before are not just stepping stones to the highest point of your career. 

This idea represents the shift from careers as a hierarchy to careers as experiences. According to research from Deloitte, 84% of workers consider this shift to be important or very important. The reason for this change can be partly attributed to the fact that to succeed in today’s disruptive business environment (with the COVID-19 pandemic being a prime example of that), you need a diverse set of skills and competencies that cannot be achieved by simply following the traditional hierarchical career progression. 

A successful HR professional needs more than just in-depth knowledge of compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, or learning and development. You also need to understand the operations of the business, including how its products are made, how it delivers its services, how it makes a profit, and so on. This is why it is now very common to find HR professionals who have previously worked in Marketing, Sales, or Product Development.

HR career progression: What makes it possible

HR jobs are projected to grow by 10% by 2030. What’s more, HR job postings in the US have grown by 87% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the rise of new roles and responsibilities in HR related to wellbeing, digital transformation, and sustainability, we’re seeing more non-traditional HR career paths and opportunities arise. 

Not only are HR careers no longer linear, but you’re now also expected to have more diversity in your career path. These days, professionals switch between roles and companies more often than in the past decades. It is also normal for workers to take on different roles and still achieve the same end goal. 

This means that you don’t necessarily need to follow the traditional path of starting out as an HR Assistant, moving on to HR Specialist, to HR Manager, and then to HR Director, if your end goal is becoming a CHRO. It is also possible to begin your career as, for example, an HRIS Analyst, then an HR Ops Manager, then a Shared Services Manager, and finally ending up as a CHRO.

Your career path can also look like this:

Your career progression in HR is essentially a collection of meaningful experiences. With each role you take on, you gain a new set of skills and competencies that add to your personal and professional growth. They will also make it possible for you to advance further in your career. Keep in mind that different companies — depending on their sizes, structures, and industries — might require different skills, competencies, and portfolios for the same job. This means that the possibilities you have are endless.

However, it also means that you need to go beyond your HR specialization and develop additional, more general HR competencies which are transferable between roles. These competencies will not only allow you to collaborate and innovate across the board but also adapt to changing work environment and future-proof your career in the face of global disruption.

HR core competencies: The T-shaped HR professional

As we look deeper into the competencies you need to perform different roles on the HR spectrum, four stand out as core competencies. We noticed that a typical HR professional will need to develop a set of both functional and general skills throughout their career, which makes them a T-shaped HR professional.

To be T-shaped, you need to develop a certain level of proficiency in four core competencies, namely Business Acumen, Data Literacy, Digital Dexterity, and People Advocacy. Each of these competencies has different dimensions, which consist of specific behaviors. These are the general skills mentioned above and the ones that are transferable between different HR roles. Aside from these, you will also need to specialize in at least one area of HR. It can be recruitment, DEIB, HR analytics, or organizational development.

How to map your HR career progression

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to determining the right HR career path for you. The path that you take will depend on your ambitions, interest, and skills — which means that what is right for you can look very different from what is right for another HR professional, even if you have the same starting point and experience. 

That said, there are still guidelines that you can follow to identify the right path for you. Your starting point is your dream position. Ask yourself: “What is my ideal job?”. If you already know what you want, then all you have to do next is identify the skills, competencies, and experiences you’ll need to gain to get there. After that, it’s a matter of mapping your progression. 

If you don’t yet know your end goal, the best thing to do is focus primarily on the skills and experiences you would like to have and start looking for roles that would help you acquire them. A quick and simple way to do this is to use AIHR’s HR Career Path tool.

With the number of HR roles available and the different competencies required for each, this can be a daunting task. That’s why we’ve created a framework to help you identify what skills you need to acquire and which roles will help you get to where you want to be.  

This framework provides you with a clear understanding of the different combinations of behaviors and skills needed to succeed in different HR roles grouped into:

1. Skills and behaviors pertaining to the four core competencies listed above (business acumen, digital dexterity, data literacy, and people advocacy)
2. Functional competencies — Specific to the area of HR that you specialize in like Learning and Development or Comp & Ben — and role-related skills like project management and networking and communication

There are dozens of HR specializations out there, which means that there must be hundreds of functional competencies and role-related skills you need to master. Luckily, most HR positions can be grouped into four key profiles based on the main function they perform within the business: Advisory, Strategic, Service Providers, and Solution Providers. This means that positions that perform the same key function share a set of core behaviors and skills.

• The Advisory profile includes roles such as the local HR Business Partners, Consultants, and Global HRBPs. 
• The Solution Provider profile includes the Global Centers of Excellence roles, as well as roles in the local Learning & Development teams. 
• The Service Provider profile covers roles within the Shared Services centers as a junior and middle management level. 
• The Strategic profile comprises roles that operate across multiple functions or lines of business, such as the local HR Executives and the global CoE leadership teams.

To be able to transition between different roles, be it within a profile or across different profiles, you will need to know exactly what behaviors and skills you need to develop. In the next section, we’ll describe each functional profile and give examples of several roles that require the defined behaviors of that profile.

HR career path options

To help you map your own career progression, we have listed several HR career path examples that you can take to progress either vertically or horizontally. A vertical move refers to a career progression where you go up a level. Meanwhile, a horizontal move refers to when you’re going towards a different position (or a functional profile) on a similar level as your current role. To find out your career options, it’s best to start from the functional profile of your current position.

HR careers within the Service Provider profile

These are roles within the Shared Services centers, typically more junior and middle-management level. They can include positions such as HR Administrator, Payroll Administrator or Manager, Benefits Manager, or HR Scrum Manager.

A professional in a Service-championing role is responsible for providing fast, responsive, and quality service. This professional needs to be committed to the client and ensure a consistent, repeatable, and scalable experience. To succeed in the HR Service career path, you need to have:

1. Skills and behaviors pertaining to the four core competencies:

• Focus on the customer (Business Acumen)
• Be able to translate data and analytics into value for the business (Data Literacy)
• Possess extensive insight into different HR platforms and technologies (Digital Dexterity)

2. Functional competencies and role-related skills include knowledge of: 

• Compensation & benefits, payroll 
• HR operations
• Project management skills
• Agile methodology

In general, the functional competencies and role-related will be highly dependent on the actual role you perform. So what are some possible career paths you can take within the HR Service Provider profile? Here are some examples:

Benefits Administrator

Let’s take a closer look at the HR career path of the Benefits Administrator. The Benefits Administrator is responsible for designing quality benefits plans for the organization, as well as investigating new benefits programs, improving existing programs, and supervising and monitoring benefits administration. 

Key responsibilities of this role include: 

• Executing the day-to-day operations of group benefits programs to maintain the excellence of benefits service delivery; 
• Providing support to employees on benefits-related queries and giving guidance in terms of how employees can optimize the benefits received from the organization; 
• Helping maintain and improve employee engagement and satisfaction with well-crafted benefits programs. 

Benefits Manager

In the short term, the Benefits Administrator can become a Benefits Manager, who develops, executes, and maintains benefits programs, policies, and procedures for an organization. The Benefits Manager ensures that benefits programs address the needs of the employees, comply with legal requirements, and are cost-effective. 

Key responsibilities of this role include: 

• Providing counsel to employees on benefits-related issues to ensure they are equipped with the necessary knowledge; 
• Designing new and improving existing benefits programs to ensure the organization can compete with its competitors in recruiting and retaining talent;
• Ensuring the benefits programs meet the organization’s needs and maintain compliance with state/national laws and regulations. 

HR Ops Manager

Over time, the Benefits Manager can move into the role of the HR Ops Manager. This role is responsible for overseeing the successful execution of HR processes and technologies to drive an optimal employee experience. Key responsibilities of this role include: 

• Overseeing the day-to-day activities of the HR Operations Department; 
• Reporting and tracking HR service delivery to ensure an optimal employee experience and cost-efficient service delivery;
• Responsibility for the design, monitoring, and improvement of HR processes, policies, and technologies over time.

HR careers within the Solution Provider profile

These include roles within the Global Centers of Excellence or the Learning & Development teams. Positions that you can take on can be L&D specialist, Employee Relation Specialist, Data Administrator, or Facilitator.

A professional in a Solution Provider role is responsible for designing HR practices that address the needs of the business in a sound, well-considered, and practical way. They should be able to enable others to drive HR solutions across the business at scale. To succeed in a Solution Providers role, you need to have:

1. Skills and behaviors pertaining to the four core competencies:

• Place relevant HR trends in the business context  (Business Acumen);
• Optimize technology design and build a digital culture  (Digital Dexterity);
• Apply knowledge to HR in a meaningful way to drive business impact  (Business Acumen).

2. Functional competencies and role-related skills include knowledge of: 

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging 
• Learning & Development 
• Talent acquisition 
• Data collection and preparation
• Change management

Potential careers for HR practitioners with the Solution Provider profile can be:

Organizational Development (OD) Specialist

As an Organizational Development (OD) specialist, you can develop to become an OD Manager and eventually an OD Head. The OD specialist ensures continuous organizational improvements for all departments. Their key responsibilities include:

• Developing and implementing OD programs to align the workforce with key business strategies and goals; 
• Optimizing organizational effectiveness through timely and appropriate interventions; 
• Coaching and consulting teams and individuals on solving organizational challenges. 

Organizational Development (OD) Manager

In the short term, an OD specialist can become an OD Manager, who is responsible for building and implementing training and development programs for company employees. They also council business leaders on OD-related matters and facilitate interventions across the organization. 

Key responsibilities of the OD Manager are: 

• Designing development programs based on the needs of the employees to optimize employee performance; 
• Advising business leaders on matters related to performance, organizational development, and leadership development; 
• Ensuring continuous improvement of development programs based on feedback, evaluations, and up-to-date best practices.

Head of Organizational Development

Over time, the OD Manager can move into the position of the Head of Organizational Development. They manage and support the assessment of organizational needs. They also design, implement and evaluate interventions that optimize the workforce effectiveness. 

Key responsibilities of this role include: 

• Overseeing the functioning of the Organizational Development department, including performance management and hiring of employees; 
• Lending their expertise on workforce design, culture, behaviors, and working practices and processes to assist in building a future-proof strategy; 
• Designing and executing OD interventions that bridge the gap between the current state of the organization and its desired state.

HR Manager

Aside from vertical moves, an OD specialist can also switch to a different path to become an HR Manager. This person plans, directs, and coordinates the administration of the HR department. This includes recruitment, employee training, compensation and benefits, and more. 

Key responsibilities of this role are: 

• Managing the end to end execution of the HR Value Chain, which includes activities such as recruitment, learning, labor relations, and compensation; 
• Collaborating with other department heads to address staffing needs and develop and implement suitable training programs; 
• Supporting the leadership team when it comes to developing and executing HR and talent strategies.

HR careers within the Advisory profile

These include roles such as the local HR Business Partners, Consultants, HR Manager, and Global HRBPs. 

A professional in an Advisor role acts as the trusted and credible HR expert to the organization. They deliver solid, sound, and well-considered advice that is relevant to the context and needs of the organization. To succeed in an advisor role, you need to have: 

1. Skills and behaviors pertaining to the four core competencies:

• Have commercial awareness, and understand business and commercial realities (Business Acumen)
• Use data to drive evidence-based HR (Data Literacy)
• Be able to align the needs of external and internal stakeholders (Business Acumen)

2. Functional competencies and role-related skills include knowledge of: 

• HR Consulting 
• HR Management 
• Business management
• Networking and communication
• Story telling and presentation skills

Here are several roles and career paths within the Advisory profile:

HR Officer

The HR Officer, for example, is either an entry to mid-level HR generalist responsible for a broad range of duties or focusing on one area of HR. They hire, train, and support an organization’s most important asset, namely its people, to further the organization’s culture and mission. 

Key responsibilities of this role include: 

• Guiding the management team on the creation and implementation of HR policies and procedures; 
• Actively participating in the recruitment and retention of employees to ensure the organization has the talent it needs to thrive; 
• Maintaining workplace standards and looking after the health, safety, and satisfaction of employees at work;
• Taking end-to-end accountability of HR administrative processes.

HR Business Partner

The next step in the career path of an HR Officer would be the HR Business Partner (HRBP). This person acts as the strategic liaison between HR and the business. Key responsibilities of this role are: 

• Enabling line managers to deal with organizational, people, and change-related issues;
• Optimizing organizational effectiveness through the application of HR processes such as org design and strategic planning;
• Guiding and advising the business on the implementation of HR policies, practices, and processes.

Senior HR Business Partner

Over time, the HRBP can advance to become the Senior HRBP. Also known as the VP of HR or HR Manager at a large organization, they council the executive team and use their business knowledge to ensure that HR helps the organization achieve its goals. 

Key responsibilities include: 

• Acting as a strategic business partner to align HR focus with business strategy and priorities; 
• Optimizing organizational effectiveness through the application of HR processes such as organizational design and strategic planning;
• Guiding and advising the business on the implementation of HR policies, practices, and processes.

Going further up the HR career ladder is the Global HRBP. The key responsibilities of this role are largely similar to those of the Senior HRBP. However, the Global HRBP now operates at an international level. 

HR careers within the Strategic profile

These are roles that operate across multiple functions or lines of business, such as the local HR Executives and the global CoE leadership teams. The positions you can take up within this profile include Head Talent, Shared Services Manager, Employee Relation Executive, or Chief Human Resources Officer.

A professional in a Strategist role is a key contributor to the business strategy and a partner in shaping the future of the organization. They craft the HR strategy and ensure that the business has the human capital needed to thrive now and in the future. These are typically professionals who have already gained significant experience across a variety of HR roles.

To succeed in a Strategist role, you need:

1. Skills and behaviors pertaining to the four core competencies:

• Shape HR strategies with data-driven and impactful insights (Data Literacy)
• Embody the vision and mission of the business (People Advocacy)
• Champion and protect the values, ethics, and sustainable practices of the organization (People Advocacy)

2. Functional competencies and role-related skills include knowledge of: 

• HR Management 
• HR Strategy 
• Leadership skills 
• Lean management 

Potential HR career path options for professionals within the Strategic functional profile can be:

Chief Learning Officer

Someone operating within the Strategist profile can start out as the Chief Learning Officer as their first leadership role. This is a C-suite executive accountable for learning management in an organization. They create and drive an organization’s learning strategy based on the needs of the workforce and the business.

Key responsibilities of this role include:

• Managing and directing the L&D department in their operational and strategic activities;
• Ensuring that employees are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their jobs; 
• Addressing the developmental needs of the organization by identifying skills gaps and training requirements, aligning L&D activities with organizational strategy, drafting the L&D strategy, and ensuring budget to execute this strategy.

HR Director

In the short term, the Chief Learning Officer can become the HR Director, who manages the policies, activities, and staff of the HR department. They contribute to the overall company strategy by advising the board on the HR implications of its decisions.

Key responsibilities of the HR Director are:

• Ensuring legal compliance and successful implementation of the organization’s mission and talent strategy; 
• Aligning the HR strategy with the overall strategy to ensure that people policies and decisions serve the organization’s best interests; 
• Counseling senior business leaders on HR developments and the effects of strategy, policies, and processes on the employees and organizational culture.

Chief Human Resources Officer

The next step for an HR Director is the role of the CHRO. This is the HR and culture leader of an organization. They are known by many names, such as Chief People Officer, Chief of Talent, or VP of HR. Key responsibilities of this role are: 

• Overseeing the strategic and cohesive function of the HR department as a team; 
• Acting as a key strategic partner to the organization to ensure the HR strategy is aligned with the business strategy; 
• Championing an organizational culture that is inclusive and diverse to create a workplace where every employee feels welcomed, valued, and respected.

Moving across profiles 

In many organizations, particularly within small and growing companies, HR professionals wear many hats. This means that their roles can stretch across various profiles.

HR Generalist

The most notable role is the HR Generalist. This is a mid-level professional whose responsibilities include hiring, compensation and benefits, HR administration, and other tasks. They are usually the first HR hire of an organization or work as part of a team servicing different areas of the business. 

Key responsibilities of the HR Generalist are: 

• Taking charge of hiring, onboarding, training, and managing employees to ensure the organization has and retains the talent it needs to succeed;
• Managing various administration processes, including compensation and benefits, legal applications, or leave and absences;
• Guiding and advising the business on the implementation of HR policies, practices, and processes.

HR Assistant

Another role that often combines different profiles is the HR Assistant. The HR Assistant oversees the daily administration and HR activities of an organization. Key responsibilities of this role include: 

• Supporting the day-to-day operations of the HR department; 
• Updating and maintaining accurate HR files, records, and documentation; 
• Providing clerical and administrative support to HR executives, employees, and applicants related to standard HR policies, benefits, hiring processes, and so on.

HR Specialist

A third example is the role of the HR Specialist. This is an HR professional whose expertise is in a specific area of HR like recruiting, labor and employee relations, or compensation and benefits. HR Specialists are typically part of larger HR teams. Key responsibilities of this position include: 

• Designing effective processes and policies in their area of expertise;
• Engaging in employee communications around their line of work;
• Analyzing and evaluating activities within their field to devise improvements.

HR career path examples

Now that you’ve had a good idea of how to move across all the HR functional profiles, let’s take a look at some examples to see how an HR professional can progress in real life. The following three stories are taken with permission from Andrea, Michael, and Lucy. All names have been changed for privacy reasons.

From HR Assistant to CHRO

Andrea has held various HR roles over the past 20 years after acquiring her Generalist HR degree. She started as an HR Administrator supporting the HRBP team in one of her country’s biggest mining operations. Andrea was involved in the end-to-end HR value chain. This role was a valuable learning experience for Andrea. It helped prepare her to step into her first HR Generalist role two years later when she moved to a financial services organization.

In this role, she led a number of HR initiatives before moving into a Senior HRBP role, this time in the telecommunications sector. As a Senior HRBP, she had the opportunity to work with the business on more strategic initiatives, collaborate with other HR specialists, and lead long-term projects.
After four years, Andrea moved on to her first HR executive role. She worked as the Head of HR of another telecommunications business that was going through a merger and acquisition process at the time. She was responsible for one of their largest enterprise service lines.

This experience helped her gain the skills she needed to become a CHRO of a public sector organization three and a half years later. Currently, Andrea is working as a more senior CHRO at one of the biggest multinational banks in her country, where she is responsible for the strategic HR agenda and solutions for her 30,000+ workforce.

From HR Consultant to CHRO

Michael started his career as an HR consultant in the insurance sector. In his first role, he focused on supporting the HR group services team in implementing various interventions across the business. After realizing that his true passion was engaging with the business, he moved into an HRBP role, where he was responsible for aligning HR priorities to the needs of his business.

Due to his success with recruitment, Michael had the opportunity to move into the center of excellence. He was responsible for the end-to-end talent management portfolio of the business in the role of Head of Talent. Over time, he also took on the Learning and Development portfolio, which allowed him to become the Manager for OD and Learning.

After 14 years, Michael wanted to apply his experience and HR expertise in a different industry. He became the Group Executive for Organizational Development for a company in the logistics industry. He had the opportunity to work with various stakeholders to drive specialist HR functions and gained exposure to the strategic HR domain. That prepared him for his next role as the Vice President of Shared Services. In this role, he was in charge of designing, building, implementing, and optimizing HR technology solutions for all regions of his business. Currently, Michael is working as the CHRO of a global manufacturing business.

From OD Assistant to OD Head

Lucy is an HR professional with 12 years of experience in various roles within a multinational organization. She started her HR career path as an OD Assistant in the financial services industry. In this role, Lucy supported the business in implementing various interventions. She gained a good understanding of what the role of a specialist entailed.

Lucy later moved into an HRBP role, which allowed her to learn how HR engaged with and can add value to the business. She particularly enjoyed the broad focus of her role, which allowed her to gain an understanding of all the stages of the employee lifecycle.

After four years, she moved into the center of excellence as part of the Organizational Development team as an OD Specialist. Eventually, Lucy took up the role of OD Head and was responsible for the organizational development portfolio.

Over to you

From growing skills gaps to looming automation of various jobs, we’re living in a world marred by uncertainty and disruptions. As an HR professional, you need to have a well-rounded set of skills to ensure that you are able to turn existing and future challenges into opportunities for yourself.

In this article, we’ve introduced the HR functional profiles and the different HR career path options you have within each functional profile. Each type of role requires a specific combination of core and functional competencies, divided into skills and behaviors. You can explore different HR roles in our HR Career Path tool.

However, understanding which skills and behaviors you’d need is only the first step in your journey to becoming a future-proof HR professional. The next step should be to determine your current skills level and identify your own personal skills gap. Head over to our T-shaped assessment to measure your current competencies level and identify the learning path you need to take to advance your HR career. 

Dieter Veldsman

Chief HR Scientist

Dr. Dieter Veldsman is an Organizational Psychologist with 15+ years of experience across the HR value chain and lifecycle, having worked for and consulted with various organizations in EMEA, APAC, and LATAM. He has held the positions of Group Chief People Officer, Organizational Effectiveness Executive, Director of Consulting Solutions, and Chief Research Scientist. He is a regular speaker on the topics of Strategic HR, Future of Work, Employee Experience, and Organizational Development.

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