Job description template
HR Generalist Job Description
HR generalist job description: HR duties and responsibilities across hiring, onboarding, employee relations and compliance, plus skills and certifications.
The role in brief
If you need a general HR job description, the HR generalist is the role most people mean: one person who carries the core HR duties and responsibilities. An HR generalist handles every part of human resources work for a team or site rather than specialising in one area. In a single week they might screen applicants and schedule interviews, run new-hire paperwork and orientation, answer questions about leave and benefits, help a manager document a performance concern, update employee records and check that a policy still matches federal, state and local rules. In smaller organisations the HR generalist is often the whole HR function; in larger ones they act as the first point of contact for a business unit and pull in specialists in payroll, benefits or employee relations when a case needs depth. Most employers ask for a bachelor's degree in HR, business or a related field, and some prefer a certification such as the SHRM-CP or PHR.
- Own the hiring workflow for assigned roles: write and post job descriptions, screen applicants, coordinate interviews with hiring managers and prepare offer paperwork
- Run onboarding: complete new-hire paperwork (in the US, Form I-9 Section 2 within three business days of the first day of paid work), set up records and lead orientation
- Answer employee questions about policies, leave, benefits enrolment and payroll changes, and route complex cases to the right specialist or provider
- Advise managers on performance conversations, attendance issues and documentation, and sit in on disciplinary or grievance meetings when needed
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Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →Responsibilities
- Own the hiring workflow for assigned roles: write and post job descriptions, screen applicants, coordinate interviews with hiring managers and prepare offer paperwork
- Run onboarding: complete new-hire paperwork (in the US, Form I-9 Section 2 within three business days of the first day of paid work), set up records and lead orientation
- Answer employee questions about policies, leave, benefits enrolment and payroll changes, and route complex cases to the right specialist or provider
- Advise managers on performance conversations, attendance issues and documentation, and sit in on disciplinary or grievance meetings when needed
- Take employee complaints seriously, run or support fair, documented investigations and recommend outcomes in line with policy
- Maintain accurate employee records in the HRIS and keep personnel files, leave records and right-to-work documents confidential and audit-ready
- Keep the handbook and HR policies current with employment law changes, and support required filings, postings and audits
- Coordinate benefits enrolment and renewals with brokers or providers, and help employees use their benefits
- Organise training such as compliance courses and manager workshops, and track completion
- Pull HR reports on headcount, turnover, time to hire and leave, and flag trends to the HR manager or leadership
Required skills
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Nice to have
Qualifications
- 1Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, communications or a related field, or equivalent experience
- 2Experience in an HR role such as HR assistant, HR coordinator or recruiting coordinator (set the years to the level you are hiring for)
- 3Hands-on experience with onboarding, employee records and at least one HRIS
- 4Demonstrated experience handling employee relations matters with sound judgement and discretion
- 5HR certification (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, aPHR, PHR or equivalent) preferred, not required, unless your organisation needs it
Work environment
Work environment
Career growth
HR generalists can move into senior HR generalist or HR business partner roles, or specialise in talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, HR systems, learning or employee relations. With broad knowledge of the organisation and its policies, many advance to HR manager and then head of people roles.
Common questions
What are the roles and responsibilities of an HR generalist?
An HR generalist covers the full range of HR work: recruiting and onboarding, employee records, answering policy and benefits questions, advising managers on performance and conduct issues, supporting investigations, keeping policies compliant and producing HR reports. The exact mix depends on company size. In a small business the generalist may also run payroll and benefits; in a large one they usually support a business unit and hand specialist work to payroll, benefits or employee relations teams.
What are the duties and responsibilities of HR?
Human resources covers the whole employee lifecycle. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes HR generalists as handling all aspects of HR work, including recruitment, compensation, benefits, training and employee relations, and administering HR policies, procedures and programmes. In practice the core HR duties are: working out hiring needs with managers and recruiting; interviewing applicants and checking references and backgrounds; onboarding and orientation; keeping employment records and processing paperwork; administering pay and benefits; organising training; handling employee relations, complaints and investigations; and keeping policies in line with employment law. The responsibilities list on this page turns these into a job description you can post.
What should a human resources job description include?
A human resources job description should state the job scope (which teams, sites or countries the person supports and who they report to), the HR roles and responsibilities that take most of the week, the employment law the person needs to know for your locations, the systems they will use (HRIS, applicant tracking, payroll), and whether certification is required or preferred. Name the level clearly: an HR assistant or coordinator mostly processes paperwork and scheduling, an HR generalist handles cases end to end, and an HR manager owns policy, the team and the budget.
What is the difference between an HR generalist and an HR manager?
An HR generalist does the day-to-day HR work and handles cases directly. An HR manager owns the HR plan for the organisation or a large part of it: setting policy, managing the HR team and budget, and advising leadership on organisation design, pay and workforce planning. In small companies one person often does both. If you need someone to run the function, see the HR manager job description instead.
Does an HR generalist need a certification?
No. Certification is voluntary, but some employers prefer or require it. The common US options are SHRM-CP (no degree or HR experience required to sit it) and SHRM-SCP from SHRM, and aPHR, PHR and SPHR from HRCI, which also offers PHRca for California law and international versions. Treat a certification as evidence of knowledge, then test how the candidate applies it.
What is the difference between an HR generalist and an HR specialist?
A specialist focuses on one HR area, such as recruiting, benefits, compensation or training. A generalist covers all of them at working depth. Hire a generalist when one person needs to handle whatever comes up; hire specialists when volume in one area justifies a dedicated owner.
How do you screen HR generalist applicants?
Give them the work. A short job simulation such as replying to an employee email about a leave request, drafting a manager's notes after an attendance conversation, or triaging five open HR cases by urgency shows judgement, tone and legal awareness far better than a CV. Then use the interview to probe a real employee relations case they handled: what they found, what they recommended and what they would do differently.
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