I had the pleasure of attending the IHRIM HRM Strategies conference yesterday and attended a great session on the Lifecycle of an HRIS Career. The speakers, Kevin Murphy, HRIP, Director SAID, NIH and Tim Newman, HRIP, Associate Director, HR Systems and Business Transformation, US Navy, offered great insight on what skill set and backgrounds translate in to a successful HRIS professional.
How to Start Your HRIS Career:
- Get a degree in HRIS. There are currently not a lot of degree programs that focus solely on HRIS but many HR programs offer a sub set of HRIS related courses.
- Knowledge of HR from a government and private sector perspective
- Project and Program Management expert
- IT experience and Systems Development
- Business Process Development
Kevin and Tim discussed the benefits of having a well rounded knowledge base of HR functions is a plus when pursuing a career track. While there are not a lot of under grad./graduate programs dedicated solely to HRIS it is important to find the HR program that has a solid HRIS track.
HRIS Career Paths:
- HR Web based functions
- HR Database functions
- Functional HR Specs
- HR Business Analyst
- HR Program Manager
- HR Help Desk
- Change Management
- Training and Development
Work backgrounds of Successful HRIS Professionals:
- HR Practitioner
- IT Pro
- Actuary
- Policy/Compliance
- Benefits Administrator
- Payroll Administrator
HRIS Core Competencies:
- Program/project management
- Technology
- Negotiating – internal and external
- Listening and Facilitation
- Interpreter – the need to be able to speak to tech team as well as non tech teams to keep programs moving
Key Development and Networking Resources:
- Certifications – HRIP, PMP, FAC-P/PM, COTR
- Organizations – IHRIM, SHRM, IPMA, ASTD
- Social Media – GovLoop, LinkedIn, IHRIM CORE, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
A career in HRIS can be a rewarding path to pursue. Based on Kevin and Tim’s presentation, you can see there are many paths to pursue and with the potential to switch functions within a HRIS career offers flexibility and more new opportunities.