HR Consultant | How to become an HR consultant and 10 best career options for self employed

Are you passionate about HR consulting? Here is a comprehensive guide if you aspire to become an HR consultant. Read on!

HR Consulting

HR consulting or HR advisory services refer to controlling and managing the human capital of an organization and its related functions. HR management consulting serves as the supporting framework for a company, entrusted upon an HR consultant.

How to become an HR consultant or how to start an HR consulting business. In this article, we will discuss in detail what does an HR consultant does, what is HR consulting, the types of human resources consulting services, and details on human resource consultant salary.

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What is HR consulting?

HR consulting comprises of mainly 8 disciplines,

1. Hiring and Onboarding
2. Benefits and Compensation
3. Organisational Change Management
4. Payroll Management
5. Talent Management
6. Learning & Development
7. Absence Management
8. HR Analytics

The other important functions of an HR consultant include,

1. Creating an organizational design
2. Defining a Corporate culture
3. Designing the HR-related strategies
4. Retaining and developing the talented workforce
5. Coaching and mentoring employees
6. Assist in driving the changes in the organization
7. Control the bonus schemes and payroll benefits
8. Define the ways of working of an organization

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HR consultant job description

What is a human resource consultant job duties and responsibilities? An HR consultant job description includes,

1. Leading and managing human capital management programs and projects
2. Collect data and conduct surveys for better employee management
3. Advise the HR personnel of a company on smooth conduct of daily issues
4. Help in formulating HR strategies, plans, and techniques
5. Aid in hiring and recruiting of freshers and experienced personnel
6. Create plans and training guides for organization change management and training
7. Introduce innovative and trending methodologies and techniques in HR management and execution
8. Create learning and development plans and strategies for competency management and up-gradation of employees
9. Ensure compliance with the HR standards and policies
10. Assists in percolation of the HR rules and norms within the organization
11. Analyze and select the HR technologies and systems that are efficient and effective for the organization

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Top 15 HR consulting services suited for you

In this section, we will discuss the top HR consulting services for your reference and quick guidance. The services are the core activities of an HR consultant and earn a good amount of salary and recognition. You need to possess the desired qualifications and experience to pursue them.

1. Performance management human resources consulting job

Performance management human resources consulting job revolves around HR consulting services related to performance evaluation, scoring, and rating. A set of goals are assigned to the employees of an organization and weightage is assigned to each. The human resources management consultant determines the list of goals and their applicability.

2. HR consultants for employee engagement

HR consultants for employee engagement are entrusted with the work of creating an employee handbook containing the company policies and regulations. They ensure the right information is percolated among the employees and answer queries. The human resource management consultants connect with the employees for their feedback and suggestions.

3. HR consultancy for audit and compliance

Conducting audits both internal and external to ensure adherence to the compliance mandates is one of the HR consultancy services. Companies outsource the work to HR consulting companies specializing in executing audit functions. They aid companies in complying with the mandatory HR regulations.

4. Human resources consultant for compensation strategy and planning

Compensation Strategy and planning is one of the key HR consulting services of a human resources consultant. There are specialized human resource consulting firms that help in designing the compensation structure of a company. The simple meaning is to create the different heads in a pay structure and assign the different pay components to it.

5. Human resource management consultant for leave management

Human resources management consultant or human resource firms specializing in leave management, either utilize a tool, software or record manually in an excel sheet. They maintain the list of leaves in a company, the employees planned, sick, casual, and unplanned leaves.

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6. Learning and Development HR consultancy services

Learning and development are some of the vital HR consultancy services, often outsourced to human resource consulting companies. Creating training programs, listing learning courses, and arranging training sessions form a part of the duties of such an HR consultant. Certifications and assessments are also arranged by the HR consulting company.

7. Human resource firm for employee grievances management

Employee grievances management is a niche task of a human resource firm. Analyzing and sorting the grievances according to the priority and ensuring resolution are the essential duties undertaken by the human resource consulting company.

8. Talent hunt human capital consulting firms

Talent hunt is a key activity of many human capital consulting firms. Collecting the requirements from different companies and matching the skills to the potential job seekers form the core activity of such human resources consulting group.

9. Recruitment HR firm

Hiring and recruitment potential employees for a company is a common role performed by an HR firm or a human resources consulting company. The company often lists the jobs in their external job portals, sends emails, or connects job seekers individually. In such a way, they match the candidates with the job roles.

10. Payroll management HR consulting firms

Payroll management is one of the crucial duties outsourced to HR consulting firms. Such employee consulting firms prepare the payroll, considering the different pay elements. They calculate the basic, permanent, and variable elements of a pay structure and run the payroll tasks.

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How to become an HR consultant?

Now let’s learn about the steps on how to become an HR consultant. In the next subsections, we will focus on the academic and interpersonal skills that help in starting an HR consulting business or join any human resource consultancy group; a ready reckoner for an HR consultant.

1. Academic qualifications required for a human resource consultant

A human resource consultant must mandatorily obtain the following educational degrees,

1. Bachelor’s in Business Administration, specializing in Human Resources
2. Master’s in Business Administration, specializing in Human Resources. Not mandatory but you can set yourself ahead in the hiring market

2. Search for human resource consulting jobs

Search for human resources consulting jobs in the various job portals and recruitment sites. If you want to work from home in a remote mode or desire to stay nearby to your residence, then you can search for HR Consulting Firms near me in the portals and apply accordingly.

3. Obtain certifications related to human resource consulting

Several universities offer certifications in human resource consulting services. Enroll in the courses and obtain them for acquiring more knowledge and experience. The learning courses are focused on specific HR topics and hence are relevant while joining a human resource consulting group.

4. Understand the human resources consultant salary

You should be aware of the human resources consultant salary in different cities of the US. It will help you to negotiate while being recruited and hired in hr consulting firms NYC, Chicago, Houston, and other cities. The salary may vary depending on the city’s economic status.

5. Gain experience as human resource management consultants

Join in an internship program or a small human resources consultants inc to gain hands-on experience and practical knowledge on the job. Human resource management consultants with an initial mention of experience in their CV stand at a better chance for recruitment.

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Human resources coaching and certification

The best online human resources coaching and certification programs designed for an HR consultant are,

1. Introduction to Human Resources for US Small Business Administration – a 30-minute duration course for learning the basics of HR and the HR functions in a small business
2. Oxford Home Study College courses on Human Resources – 20-hour course on HR management, fundamentals of recruiting and hiring, and staff development and training
3. Villanova University – conducts an 18-month long study curriculum and grants certificate on HR Management
4. The University of Virginia – offers 5 core classes on HR management and 2 elective classes from where you need to choose one of them
5. Golden Gate University – provides 15 units of hybrid courses on HR management.

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Human resources consultant fees

The human resources consultant fees per hour vary between USD 33 and USD 42 with the average being USD 37 per hour. The variation may depend on several factors – experience, certification, educational qualification, and skills.

1. In New York, the average salary of an HR consultant is almost USD 93K per annum
2. In Chicago, the average salary of human resource consultants is almost USD 81K per annum
3. In San Francisco, the average salary of HR contractors is almost USD 83K per annum
4. In Phoenix, the average salary of a freelance HR consultant is almost USD 59K per annum
5. In Houston, the average salary of human resources management consultants is almost USD 80K per annum

Kuntala Banerjee

Kuntala is a versatile writer with a focus on diverse areas around work, productivity, collaboration at work, hiring, management, HR, and training. Her background of past experience in technology and consulting helps in molding razor-sharp insights into the research and user-focused content she creates. Professionally she is an IT consultant in a sales role and also a writer of short stories and poems, travel blogger, and fashion influencer.