Four in five applicants for junior human resources roles in North America cannot show that they have advised on a disciplinary action or formal employee complaint, according to specialist search firm, HR Recruit. Jo Thompson, Regional Director at the firm, draws the figure from applications to its live searches over the past 18 months, and says this is where the skills shortage employers describe actually sits, at coordinator level rather than in the C-suite.
Employers expect even a Human Resources Coordinator to advise managers on disciplinary matters and workplace complaints, beyond the attendance and routine queries that come with the role. However, a candidate who has spent a year processing paperwork and updating records has rarely had the chance to build that expertise.
Thompson traces that gap to tenure rather than talent, since junior human resources professionals typically move on within about 12 months for promotion or a raise. Employers are left reading resumes that show frequent changes and little accumulated depth, often with only 12 to 18 months in the profession in total.
Her conversations with peers and with the boards she advises point to two reasons the pool stays shallow. Most organizations still have no defined entry route into human resources, so people arrive from administrative work and learn the job by doing whatever lands on their desk. Fixed-term contracts, including parental leave coverage, also make up a larger share of seats at this level than at any other, so many junior professionals move on before an employee relations case they started has reached its outcome.
Nothing in the wider labor market suggests that the pressure on that pipeline will ease. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an average of 73,700 annual openings for human resources specialists between 2025 and 2035, with employment in the field growing 6%.
Due to so few junior candidates holding that experience, the ones who do can choose where they go. Thompson estimates that only one in ten junior temporary contracts gets filled. A permanent coordinator role without a competitive salary fills about half the time at best. The same six-month contract at HR Manager level presents no difficulty, because the salary is high enough to move an experienced professional.
Thompson said, “Clients assume a six-month coordinator contract at equivalent pay to a permanent employee will be the easiest hire of the year to fill, but it is the one we fill least often. The candidates who have the experience already have a job, and they will not trade it for six months unless the rate covers what they are giving up.”
She reiterates that certification does not close the gap on its own. The Society for Human Resource Management states that its SHRM Certified Professional credential requires no degree and no previous human resources experience, though it recommends a basic working knowledge of the field. The HR Certification Institute similarly requires no HR experience for its entry-level Associate Professional in Human Resources credential.
“A credential proves somebody has studied the material. It cannot prove they can advise a manager on a corrective action or an investigation, and that is what clients are hiring for,” Thompson said. She advises employers to test for experience rather than qualifications by asking candidates to describe one corrective action or investigation they advised on and where they disagreed with the manager.
According to Thompson, employers who accept that reading of the problem take one of two routes. Some pay a premium over the permanent rate to secure an experienced candidate for a temporary junior role, since a seat can be filled easily with any candidate but filling it with someone competent is hard. Others cover the work through interim or fractional human resources to support while they hire properly for the permanent role. “The employers who will not pay the premium and will not bring in interim cover are the ones who call us six months later with the seat still empty, and they file it under skills shortage,” Thompson said.
About HR Recruit
HR Recruit is a division of Exec Recruit Group, placing top-tier HR talent across North America. Experienced recruiters connect organizations across the US and Canada with elite HR professionals, including C-suite leaders and specialists in talent acquisition, DEI and compensation. Years of industry expertise and a vast network enable HR Recruit to deliver quality hires. For more details, visit https://hr-recruit.com/about-us/.
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