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Human resources career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from HR Coordinator to Head of People. Each one is rated on the same 38 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. An in-house HR ladder from coordinator to head of people, covering hiring, employee relations, operations, performance and reward.
- Level 1 of 5
HR Coordinator job description
Runs HR admin, records and hiring logistics using set procedures.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
HR Generalist job description
Handles day-to-day HR cases, hiring and policy questions unaided.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
HR Business Partner job description
Advises a business area's leaders on people issues and change.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
HR Manager job description
Runs the HR team and owns policy, employee relations and compliance.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Head of People job description
Sets people strategy, workforce plans and reward company-wide.
Read the job description
Human resources levels and job titles
HR and people team titles differ a lot between companies. This table maps each level on this ladder to the titles you will commonly see elsewhere. For how these titles line up across departments, see the job title hierarchy.
| Level on this ladder | Common job titles |
|---|---|
| HR Coordinator | HR Coordinator, HR Assistant, HR Administrator, Human Resources Assistant |
| HR Generalist | HR Generalist, Human Resources Generalist, HR Adviser |
| HR Business Partner | HR Business Partner, People Business Partner, Senior People Business Partner |
| HR Manager | HR Manager, Human Resources Manager, Manager People Business Partner |
| Head of People | Head of People, Head of HR, HR Director |
Skills matrix
38 skills and 1 certification across 5 levels.
| Skill/Certification 39 | HR Coordinator | HR Generalist | HR Business Partner | HR Manager | Head of People |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talent Acquisition5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can take down a hiring request on the standard requisition form and check that the budget approval, title and start date are filled in before it moves on. | ProficientYou can push back when a hiring manager asks for a role that does not match the need, the level or the budget, and agree a revised brief before anything is advertised. | AdvancedYou can scope roles that are new to the organization or sit across several teams, and set the requisition standard other recruiters and managers follow. | AdvancedYou can scope roles that are new to the organization or sit across several teams, and set the requisition standard other recruiters and managers follow. | AdvancedYou can scope roles that are new to the organization or sit across several teams, and set the requisition standard other recruiters and managers follow. | |
| BasicYou can source candidates yourself through boards, referrals and direct search, and screen them consistently against the agreed criteria with a written reason for each decision. | ProficientYou can fill hard-to-hire roles by choosing the right sourcing channels, and spot when screening criteria are shutting out capable candidates for no job-related reason. | ProficientYou can fill hard-to-hire roles by choosing the right sourcing channels, and spot when screening criteria are shutting out capable candidates for no job-related reason. | AdvancedYou can design the sourcing and screening approach for a whole hiring campaign, and check the pass-through data at each stage for unfair or unexplained drop-off. | AdvancedYou can design the sourcing and screening approach for a whole hiring campaign, and check the pass-through data at each stage for unfair or unexplained drop-off. | |
| NoviceYou can schedule a structured interview and make sure every panel member has the same question set and scoring guide before it starts. | BasicYou can sit on an interview panel, ask the agreed questions as written, and score answers against the guide with notes that back up each score. | ProficientYou can write interview questions and a scoring guide from a role's criteria, and lead a panel decision that rests on the scored evidence. | AdvancedYou can train managers to interview in a structured way, review their scoring for bias or drift, and fix question sets that do not predict success in the role. | ExpertYou can set the interview standard for the organization, including when assessments or work samples are used, and show whether the process predicts who does well once hired. | |
| BasicYou can make a standard offer within approved terms, answer the candidate's questions about it, and chase outstanding checks so nobody starts without them. | ProficientYou can handle a counter-offer or negotiation within the approved range, and decide what to do when a check comes back with a problem, taking advice where needed. | AdvancedYou can set the offer approval rules and the checks each role needs, and fix the steps that keep delaying start dates. | AdvancedYou can set the offer approval rules and the checks each role needs, and fix the steps that keep delaying start dates. | AdvancedYou can set the offer approval rules and the checks each role needs, and fix the steps that keep delaying start dates. | |
| BasicYou can run onboarding for new starters end to end, lining up equipment, access and induction with the manager so the first day goes to plan. | ProficientYou can adapt onboarding for roles or locations that do not fit the standard plan, and check in with new hires during their first weeks to catch problems early. | ProficientYou can adapt onboarding for roles or locations that do not fit the standard plan, and check in with new hires during their first weeks to catch problems early. | AdvancedYou can redesign the onboarding program from new-hire feedback and early-leaver data, and get managers to own their part of it. | AdvancedYou can redesign the onboarding program from new-hire feedback and early-leaver data, and get managers to own their part of it. | |
| Employee Relations5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can log an employee concern accurately and confidentially, and pass it to the right person on the same day. | ProficientYou can manage a sensitive or disputed case directly, moving it to a formal process when needed, and include the employee's representative where one acts for them. | AdvancedYou can oversee a team's caseload, spot patterns that point to a wider problem, and raise them with leaders and, where employees are represented, their representatives. | AdvancedYou can oversee a team's caseload, spot patterns that point to a wider problem, and raise them with leaders and, where employees are represented, their representatives. | ExpertYou can set the organization's employee relations approach, covering early resolution, mediation, formal routes and collective agreements, and decide the highest-risk cases. | |
| NoviceYou can take accurate notes in an investigation meeting and keep the evidence file complete and confidential. | NoviceYou can take accurate notes in an investigation meeting and keep the evidence file complete and confidential. | ProficientYou can run an investigation into a routine allegation yourself, interviewing each party impartially and writing findings that follow from the evidence. | AdvancedYou can investigate complex or senior allegations, including ones with several complainants, and write reports that stand up to challenge at appeal or in a legal claim. | ExpertYou can set how investigations are commissioned and run across the organization, decide when an external investigator is needed, and review the findings of other investigators for fairness. | |
| NoviceYou can prepare the standard letters for a disciplinary or grievance meeting from templates, and check that the dates and rights they state are correct. | BasicYou can take notes at a formal hearing and tell the manager what the procedure requires at the next step. | ProficientYou can advise a manager through a disciplinary or grievance case from invitation to outcome, making sure each step follows the procedure and the law that applies. | AdvancedYou can handle contentious cases, such as parallel grievances or appeals, and prepare the case file and witness evidence for a possible legal claim. | ExpertYou can own the disciplinary and grievance procedures, updating them when law changes, and decide how the highest-risk cases and any legal claims are handled. | |
| NoviceYou can keep work-eligibility and mandatory training records up to date, and pass legal questions to a colleague who confirms the answer. | BasicYou can answer everyday questions on contracts, leave and working time for the places you cover, and run routine checks on HR records to find gaps. | ProficientYou can apply employment law to a live case and weigh the risk of each option, and prepare the HR area for an audit. | AdvancedYou can advise leaders on changes with legal risk, such as restructures, and assign each HR legal and reporting duty an owner and a deadline. | ExpertYou can set how legal risk is weighed in people decisions, including when to take legal counsel, and report compliance to leadership for every place the organization employs people. | |
| BasicYou can administer sickness and family leave cases correctly, including pay and return dates, and answer employee questions about their entitlement. | ProficientYou can spot absence patterns that need action, advise the manager on the next step, and handle long-term cases fairly, bringing in occupational health where needed. | AdvancedYou can review absence data across the organization, fix the policy or process gaps it reveals, and train managers to hold return-to-work conversations well. | AdvancedYou can review absence data across the organization, fix the policy or process gaps it reveals, and train managers to hold return-to-work conversations well. | AdvancedYou can review absence data across the organization, fix the policy or process gaps it reveals, and train managers to hold return-to-work conversations well. | |
| HR Operations4 | |||||
| BasicYou can keep employee records accurate unaided, run checks that catch missing or wrong data, and fix it at the source. | ProficientYou can manage access, retention periods and audit trails in the HR system so personal data is seen only by the people who should see it. | ProficientYou can manage access, retention periods and audit trails in the HR system so personal data is seen only by the people who should see it. | AdvancedYou can lead a change to the HR system, such as a new module or a migration, and keep records complete and correct through it. | AdvancedYou can lead a change to the HR system, such as a new module or a migration, and keep records complete and correct through it. | |
| BasicYou can prepare an accurate monthly payroll input unaided, and process benefit enrolments and changes without errors reaching payslips. | ProficientYou can reconcile payroll against HR records, trace the cause when someone is paid wrongly, and get it corrected quickly. | ProficientYou can reconcile payroll against HR records, trace the cause when someone is paid wrongly, and get it corrected quickly. | AdvancedYou can run the payroll and benefits calendar across several teams or countries, resolve disputes with the payroll provider, and tighten the controls that keep failing. | AdvancedYou can run the payroll and benefits calendar across several teams or countries, resolve disputes with the payroll provider, and tighten the controls that keep failing. | |
| NoviceYou can find the current version of a policy and answer a simple question about what it says. | BasicYou can update a policy for a small change in law or practice, and check the new wording with a senior colleague before it is published. | ProficientYou can write a new policy from scratch in plain language, consult the people it affects, and explain it to managers so they apply it the same way. | AdvancedYou can review the whole policy set on a schedule, remove overlaps and contradictions, and make sure managers use the policies rather than work around them. | ExpertYou can decide which policies the organization needs and which it does not, and set how policies are approved, published and kept lawful everywhere it operates. | |
| NoviceYou can pull a standard headcount or turnover report from the HR system and check the figures before sending it. | BasicYou can produce regular reports on hiring, absence and turnover that leaders read, and explain what changed since the last one. | ProficientYou can analyze people data to answer a specific question, such as why one team loses more staff than others, and present a finding leaders can act on. | AdvancedYou can set up the people metrics a business area tracks, define each one clearly, and make sure the data behind them can be trusted. | ExpertYou can set the people analytics agenda for the organization, decide which questions matter most, and use the answers to shape people strategy. | |
| Performance & Growth5 | |||||
| BasicYou can run a review cycle for a group of teams, answer questions on the process, and chase late or missing reviews to completion. | ProficientYou can prepare calibration data, facilitate a calibration meeting, and follow up on reviews that are disputed or look inconsistent. | AdvancedYou can improve the review process from what went wrong in the last cycle, and train managers to write reviews that rest on evidence rather than opinion. | AdvancedYou can improve the review process from what went wrong in the last cycle, and train managers to write reviews that rest on evidence rather than opinion. | AdvancedYou can improve the review process from what went wrong in the last cycle, and train managers to write reviews that rest on evidence rather than opinion. | |
| NoviceYou can point a manager to the right policy, template or guidance for a people question they bring you. | BasicYou can talk a manager through a routine people issue, such as a first conversation about lateness, and help them plan what to say. | ProficientYou can coach a manager through underperformance or a difficult team problem so they handle it themselves, and check back later on how it went. | AdvancedYou can build the confidence of a group of managers so fewer issues reach HR, and spot when a manager needs development rather than case advice. | ExpertYou can set how the organization equips managers to handle people issues, and hold senior leaders to the same standard when they avoid hard conversations. | |
| NoviceYou can collect training requests from managers and record them in one place with the reason given for each. | BasicYou can run a simple needs survey for a team, separate real skills gaps from nice-to-haves, and suggest a suitable option for each gap. | ProficientYou can analyze skills gaps across a business area from performance data and conversations with managers, and recommend the most effective way to close each one. | AdvancedYou can build the organization's learning plan from the needs analysis, and set its priorities against the budget. | AdvancedYou can build the organization's learning plan from the needs analysis, and set its priorities against the budget. | |
| NoviceYou can look up a role in a salary survey or the pay band table and report its range accurately. | BasicYou can match roles to benchmark data, check where an offer or pay rise sits in its band, and flag anything outside the range. | ProficientYou can build or update pay bands for a job family from market data, and advise managers on placing individuals fairly within them. | AdvancedYou can run the annual pay review, test pay for unexplained gaps between groups, and recommend fixes with their cost. | ExpertYou can set the reward strategy for the organization, decide where it pays against the market and why, and keep the pay structure fair and affordable. | |
| NoviceYou can book a learning event, send joining instructions, and record attendance and feedback forms afterward. | BasicYou can run a short session from an existing course outline and summarize the participants' feedback for its owner. | ProficientYou can design a course for a business area from its needs analysis, with learning objectives and a format for each one. | AdvancedYou can evaluate a learning program by comparing participants' work performance before and after, and change the design when the results fall short. | AdvancedYou can evaluate a learning program by comparing participants' work performance before and after, and change the design when the results fall short. | |
| People Strategy5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep an accurate record of headcount, open roles and planned leavers for the teams you support. | NoviceYou can keep an accurate record of headcount, open roles and planned leavers for the teams you support. | ProficientYou can build a workforce plan for a business area, setting out the hires, moves and development needed to meet its goals for the coming year. | AdvancedYou can plan across several business areas, test the plan against scenarios such as slower growth, and agree the trade-offs with leaders. | ExpertYou can own workforce planning for the organization, tying headcount and skills to the business strategy and budget over several years. | |
| NoviceYou can update organization charts and role records accurately once a change is approved. | NoviceYou can update organization charts and role records accurately once a change is approved. | ProficientYou can support the restructure of a team, running the consultation steps and keeping affected employees informed and treated fairly. | AdvancedYou can design a new structure for a business area, weigh the options against cost and how work flows, and lead the people side of putting it in place. | ExpertYou can set the design principles for the whole organization, such as spans and layers, and lead large-scale change without losing the people it depends on. | |
| NoviceYou can send out an engagement survey on schedule and track the response rate by team. | BasicYou can run a survey or pulse check that includes wellbeing and inclusion questions, and summarize the results by team for managers. | ProficientYou can help managers turn survey results, including the bad news, into a few actions on engagement, wellbeing or inclusion, and see them through. | AdvancedYou can choose the listening methods for the organization, such as surveys and focus groups, and check whether wellbeing and inclusion programs changed the results. | ExpertYou can hold leaders to account for acting on what employees say, and decide how engagement, wellbeing and inclusion shape the people strategy. | |
| NoviceYou can log a leader's people request with the business reason they gave, and route it to the HR specialist team that owns the topic. | BasicYou can prepare a short people-data summary for a business area and mark the trends its leaders should discuss. | ProficientYou can turn a business leader's goal into a short list of people actions, and bring in the HR specialist each action needs. | AdvancedYou can coach a senior leadership team through a people change, and show with data how it moved the measures the leaders chose. | ExpertYou can advise executives on people decisions that shape the organization's direction, and set how business partners are deployed across business areas. | |
| NoviceYou can update the succession records for a business area from the latest role and leaver changes, and keep their contents confidential. | NoviceYou can update the succession records for a business area from the latest role and leaver changes, and keep their contents confidential. | ProficientYou can run a talent review for a business area, using agreed criteria to name its high-potential people and the critical roles with no ready successor. | AdvancedYou can build succession plans for critical roles across several business areas, and test the talent criteria for unfair gaps between groups of employees. | ExpertYou can set the organization's definitions of talent and succession cover, and decide which development investments protect the roles it cannot leave vacant. | |
| Certifications1 | |||||
| Not required | Not required | Not required | Required | Required | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep your own tasks and deadlines in a current to-do list, and tell your manager as soon as work you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and set the estimating method other teams use. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible after you hand work over: you check it did what it was meant to, fix your own mistakes, and give updates before anyone asks. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can report the organization's most exposed outcomes to its leaders as they stand, including bad news, and answer for them. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into pieces and weigh the options for each against the evidence. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and ask an expert when a task goes beyond what you have learned. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can advise the team on your area and apply new developments in the field where they pay off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work so your team can act on it, and play a request back in your own words before you act on it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates by creating the forums and norms that teams use to share information. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together by putting in place routines and forums they use across the organization. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can lead one piece of work shared by several people, on your own team and beyond, and make calls that they act on. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
Use this ladder with your own team
For managers and HR teams: create a free account, then add human resources from Departments → Add from template in one click: all 38 skills, with the mastery expected at each of your 5 career levels.