7 answers
Kathryn
Student
Gorham, Maine
1
Question
Asked
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Which human resources job in Maine will be the best option for me to join right after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and a Minor in Communication and Media Studies?
I just don't know what field in hr I should take, I want to work at the highest paying option, but I also want to find joy in my career, and I don't know where to start looking. I also want to become a therapist one day, but this is my first goal. Is it possible my hr job can help create the steps to my career as a therapist?
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7 answers
Mary Ann Faue
Communications, Training, and People Development
59
Answers
Hayward, California
Updated
Mary Ann’s Answer
Hi Kathryn,
You have several questions in your question. I'm going do my best to address them.
First, what job do you go after our of school. As your long term goal is to be a therapist, I would recommend exploring roles in Employee Relations or Employee Experience. Usually, what people in these roles do is related to working one on one with managers or employees to resolve employment challenges. For example, an employee may report to HR that they are being treated unfairly by their manager. The Employee Relations person would meet with the individual to learn more about the situation and then suggest a path forward to resolve the issue. If the employee wants to work on that path forward, then the Employee Relations person would act as a facilitator at each step of the resolution. I don't know that this is a job you would be able to get right out of college. You would likely need to have some work experience before taking on this type of role. Truthfully, once you get a role in HR, any role, it can be pretty easy to move around to different teams within HR.
Second, you want a job that pays the most. While it is understandable that you are interested in how much you will get paid and you want the highest possible salary (I think we all want that), the way salaries are determined are usually a combination of level of the organization, experience, and salary range paid by a company. In every company, jobs have a classification of some kind and that is based on the skills required to do the job and experience. So, let's assume that a company has classifications that go from 1-5. 1 is someone without much experience and didn't go to college. 2 is someone with a college degree and little or no work experience and 5 is the CEO of the company. This job classification or grading as it's called, is based on information provided on a national level. The next thing that determines a salary is where you live. People who live in a more expensive place, like New York City, have a higher salary level than Enid, Oklahoma, because it costs more to live in New York City. Meaning, someone who graduated from college but has little experience (grade 2) might make $65,000 a year in New York City but only make $35,000 in Enid, Oklahoma (I'm making up these numbers). The next part about salary is that there is a salary range for any given job. Maybe the Grade 2 position in New York City has a salary range of $60,000 - $85,000 per year. The reason the range is so large is that there are probably 100 different jobs that would be a grade 2 position and some of those jobs might require more education or expertise than another. Having this range allows a company to pay an individual based on their education, experience and the requirements of the job. Meaning an engineer that needs very specific skills might get paid more than someone in HR. You can check salary.com to see salary expectations for your level of experience, where you live, for the kind of work you want to do. Also remember that salary is not just the dollar amount in your paycheck. Your company may also be giving you paid vacation, paid sick days, medical-dental-vision benefits and some other things. It's important to think about the total compensation package, not just the base salary when considering a job.
Last topic. Can you go from an HR position to a therapist role? Yes. As I'm sure you already know, you will need additional education to make this transition. And, some companies can help with that through tuition reimbursement (this would be part of the total compensation I talked about). If you apply yourself, you can likely combine your work experience in HR and your additional education to become a fantastic therapist.
Hope this helps.
You have several questions in your question. I'm going do my best to address them.
First, what job do you go after our of school. As your long term goal is to be a therapist, I would recommend exploring roles in Employee Relations or Employee Experience. Usually, what people in these roles do is related to working one on one with managers or employees to resolve employment challenges. For example, an employee may report to HR that they are being treated unfairly by their manager. The Employee Relations person would meet with the individual to learn more about the situation and then suggest a path forward to resolve the issue. If the employee wants to work on that path forward, then the Employee Relations person would act as a facilitator at each step of the resolution. I don't know that this is a job you would be able to get right out of college. You would likely need to have some work experience before taking on this type of role. Truthfully, once you get a role in HR, any role, it can be pretty easy to move around to different teams within HR.
Second, you want a job that pays the most. While it is understandable that you are interested in how much you will get paid and you want the highest possible salary (I think we all want that), the way salaries are determined are usually a combination of level of the organization, experience, and salary range paid by a company. In every company, jobs have a classification of some kind and that is based on the skills required to do the job and experience. So, let's assume that a company has classifications that go from 1-5. 1 is someone without much experience and didn't go to college. 2 is someone with a college degree and little or no work experience and 5 is the CEO of the company. This job classification or grading as it's called, is based on information provided on a national level. The next thing that determines a salary is where you live. People who live in a more expensive place, like New York City, have a higher salary level than Enid, Oklahoma, because it costs more to live in New York City. Meaning, someone who graduated from college but has little experience (grade 2) might make $65,000 a year in New York City but only make $35,000 in Enid, Oklahoma (I'm making up these numbers). The next part about salary is that there is a salary range for any given job. Maybe the Grade 2 position in New York City has a salary range of $60,000 - $85,000 per year. The reason the range is so large is that there are probably 100 different jobs that would be a grade 2 position and some of those jobs might require more education or expertise than another. Having this range allows a company to pay an individual based on their education, experience and the requirements of the job. Meaning an engineer that needs very specific skills might get paid more than someone in HR. You can check salary.com to see salary expectations for your level of experience, where you live, for the kind of work you want to do. Also remember that salary is not just the dollar amount in your paycheck. Your company may also be giving you paid vacation, paid sick days, medical-dental-vision benefits and some other things. It's important to think about the total compensation package, not just the base salary when considering a job.
Last topic. Can you go from an HR position to a therapist role? Yes. As I'm sure you already know, you will need additional education to make this transition. And, some companies can help with that through tuition reimbursement (this would be part of the total compensation I talked about). If you apply yourself, you can likely combine your work experience in HR and your additional education to become a fantastic therapist.
Hope this helps.
Sophie Leyh
Talent and Learning Program Planner
4
Answers
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Updated
Sophie’s Answer
I work in HR in the Learning and Development department, and I highly recommend this field given your background and future goals of becoming a therapist. When searching for jobs, use a variety of search terms since job titles can vary between companies. Consider looking for positions like Talent Development Specialist, Learning and Development Specialist, Employee Engagement Specialist, Learning and Development Coordinator, Training Coordinator, HR Development Assistant, or Talent Program Coordinator. Also, make use of AI tools to help find job titles that fit your interests.
Kristen Van Damm, SPHR
Human Resources Director
3
Answers
Boston, Massachusetts
Updated
Kristen’s Answer
Hi Kathryn -- In addition to the recommendations above, I would suggest looking for a larger company that has plenty of opportunity for growth, development, and exploration within their HR team. Professional Services (e.g. law firms, consulting firms, accounting firms, etc) can be a great option for someone with your interests. Any organization where you have an opportunity to learn coaching skills and understand how feedback is given/received would help you gain stills that would translate to your longer-term goals.
Jim Hebb
Consulting (Human Capital)
2
Answers
Atlanta, Georgia
Updated
Jim’s Answer
Hi Kathryn! You've gotten some great answers already ... ER and L&D are good places for someone with your interests, though you might find that there aren't a lot of entry-level roles in ER (given the sensitivity, many companies prefer someone with a few years of experience for that kind of role). As someone who has a B.S. in psychology as well (double-majored with business), I have a few other thoughts:
- If you're having trouble finding a company willing to hire in HR at an entry level, try HR Operations/HR Services (particularly in an HR contact center position, often referred to as a "tier 1" role). The work won't be aligned to your majors, per se, but it's a great role to learn about a wide variety of HR topics and interact directly with people in the organization looking for help. From there, it's an easy step into a "tier 2" role more focused on a topic area like L&D, talent acquisition (recruiting), or even ER. From there you can move into a more specialized "tier 3" role if you want to continue your career in an HR field.
- Another career path in HR you might consider, given your minor, is change management and/or HR communications. There are a variety of roles here, from helping professionals manage organizational change (e.g., restructuring, adapting to new technologies) to writing, designing, and publishing organizational communications (e.g., web pages, announcements).
- Finally, a future educational step that can move you forward both toward an HR or therapeutic field is to consider an advanced degree in organizational psychology. I kind of wish I'd done this myself (I pursued a master's in HR instead, which was great, but moved me away from psychology). It's an interesting field ... look it up. :-)
Hope this is helpful!
- If you're having trouble finding a company willing to hire in HR at an entry level, try HR Operations/HR Services (particularly in an HR contact center position, often referred to as a "tier 1" role). The work won't be aligned to your majors, per se, but it's a great role to learn about a wide variety of HR topics and interact directly with people in the organization looking for help. From there, it's an easy step into a "tier 2" role more focused on a topic area like L&D, talent acquisition (recruiting), or even ER. From there you can move into a more specialized "tier 3" role if you want to continue your career in an HR field.
- Another career path in HR you might consider, given your minor, is change management and/or HR communications. There are a variety of roles here, from helping professionals manage organizational change (e.g., restructuring, adapting to new technologies) to writing, designing, and publishing organizational communications (e.g., web pages, announcements).
- Finally, a future educational step that can move you forward both toward an HR or therapeutic field is to consider an advanced degree in organizational psychology. I kind of wish I'd done this myself (I pursued a master's in HR instead, which was great, but moved me away from psychology). It's an interesting field ... look it up. :-)
Hope this is helpful!
Stefanie Baker
Human Resources
1
Answer
Boston, Massachusetts
Updated
Stefanie’s Answer
You can start as an HR Assistant with any organization, but if you think you want to be a therapist, you might want to focus your entry-level HR job search within the healthcare industry. HR Assistant can help with employee relations matters, compensation, learning & development, recruiting, etc. They usually pay pretty well coming out of college, but the overall HR experience, working with people, multi-tasking, confidential information, etc. will be beneficial toward your long-term goal of becoming a therapist.
María Fernanda Vargas
HR Advisor
3
Answers
San José, Costa Rica
Updated
María Fernanda’s Answer
Hi Kathryn,
Hope you're doing well.
I suggest checking out LinkedIn for jobs close to you. Take your time reading the job descriptions. It's quite common to see psychologists in HR roles. Sometimes, it's better to choose a job that makes you happy rather than just going for a high salary. Working with people every day might help you decide if you prefer working in HR or as an advisor/therapist.
Hope you're doing well.
I suggest checking out LinkedIn for jobs close to you. Take your time reading the job descriptions. It's quite common to see psychologists in HR roles. Sometimes, it's better to choose a job that makes you happy rather than just going for a high salary. Working with people every day might help you decide if you prefer working in HR or as an advisor/therapist.
Savannah Krause
Consultant
2
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Savannah’s Answer
Hi Kathryn, You've already received some great suggestions, but I wanted to add one more for consideration. More often, I am seeing well-being programs sitting in HR departments. More companies and institutions are offering well-being programs, which requires team members to administer programs, answer questions, etc. This may be another space to look into as you will get exposure to an HR organization, but it would also be a great interim step to becoming a therapist.