Kirsten Pollock

Tyson Riskas

Business 1010

April 7, 2019

HR Director

Term Research Paper: Assessing a Career in Business

The career path I have chosen to research is HR Director. I have always felt that this is

the direction I would like to take in my career since working at Frito-Lay. Since I have started

my research on this position, I have learned what steps I need to take in order to achieve this

goal. During research, it has shown me ways on becoming a successful HR Director while also

putting into perspective the challenges included with the job.

Job Description:

The big responsibilities HR Directors have are making sure they meet with managers to

discuss staffing plans, training and development plans, and budget plans. HR Directors play a

large role on training management on how to develop employees to perform business objectives

and how to handle difficult situations with employees. They also develop and train the Human

Resource department to establish standards and procedures that administration must follow.

Overall, HR Directors have a lot of big responsibilities and play an important role in company.

(Human Resources Director Job Description, 2013)

Their day-to-day duties are as follows:

  Recruiting and interviewing future employees.

 Organizing employee orientation and training.

 Training manager on coaching employees with disciplinary issues.

 Developing leadership training for front line supervisor.

 Creating employment engagement surveys.

 Review policy development.

 Developing and updating policies and procedures.

 Creating new and innovative people programs.

 Attending meetings on budgets and staffing plans.

 Working out employee opportunities (termination, pay, culture adjustments.)

 Develop and organize recognition programs/events

(Ben, 2015)

General Career Path:

How to get the HR director job from an entry level position is intense at Frito-Lay if

you’re starting at the bottom. First, you will have to get a promotion to a Customer Service lead

or start on the small format side and get a special assignment position. After you have a special

assignment position as a Customer Service Manager or Customer Service Development

Manager, you need to go through the Self-Nom program. When you have completed the Self-

Nom interview and accepted the job, this will make you a Level 5 employee. Level 5 employees

will need to have experience in their position for 2-4 years before applying for a Level 6-7

position. When you reach a Level 6-7 position, you will need a bachelor’s degree and 2-4 years

of experience. Continuing to a Level 8-9 position, this is where you will want to enter a position
for HR and get 2-4 years of experience in this area. When you have the experience and a degree

you will be able to apply for an HR Assistance Manager position which is a Level 10-11. You

will need 2-4 years of experience and are eligible to apply for the HR Director Position. It is a

long process but if this is your goal these are the steps you will need to take in order to achieve

this position.

General Education Experience:

The general education experience you will need is:

 Bachelor’s degree but a master’s degree may be preferred for some positions.

 Your Bachelor’s degree will need to be in Human Resources or Master’s in

Business Administration.

 You will possibly need an internship to gain HR experience. A lot of companies

are looking for 5-7 years of experience, so an internship would be helpful way to

achieve experience in this field.

 Getting certification in the American Society for Training and Development and

the International Society for Performance Improvement are not required but will

provide better opportunities for an HR Director position.

 Key skills you will need are strong verbal and written communication, decision-

making, leadership, problem-solving, and people skills; knowledge of federal and

state labor laws; use of time accounting human resource, accounting/payroll,

enterprise resource planning, and resume submission software. (Become a Human

Resource Director: Step-by-Step Career Guide)

Average Salary:
 The average salary for this position according to the US National Average for a Human

Resources Director salary is $82,159. But for Glassdoor their average salary is $61,998. (HR

director average salary) The average salary for HR Director at Frito-Lay according to Glassdoor

is $120,000. (Frito-Lay Human Resources Manager Salaries, 2018)

Career Outlook:

I believe that my future in this career can happen with Frito-Lay. I have already had

meetings with managers to talk about the process I need to follow in order to reach my goals. I

have also set follow up meetings with managers to make sure I am continuing in the right

direction. I feel I have been given the steps on what I need to do in order to achieve this goal and

be considered a candidate for the position. It will not be an easy process, but I believe it is worth

it.

Bio of someone in the profession:

I had the opportunity to meet with an HR Manager of a small business. Ryan has been with the

company for 4 years and said that he really enjoys the work he is doing every day. “I love that I

work with a small business where I can connect with our employees on a personal level. I would

like to call myself the life coach here because I have earned the trust of my team. They don’t

perceive me as the guy with all the bad news. But as someone who truly cares about their lives

and willing to work with them.” When I asked Ryan what he enjoys about his job, we started

talking about how he has implemented changes and kept his employees onboard, “Since I have

built great relationships with the team, I have found when the business needs to make a change

our team is on board. I also make them aware that I am here to answer any questions and

concerns they may have on the changes and how we will run things going forward. Because I
have an open-door policy our team is usually not hesitant to ask questions or even throw a

challenging question at me every now and then”. I asked Ryan if he had a program for

recognizing his employees and what was the benefit of the programs, he replied, “When I started

with this business, I realized they had no budget for our team or organized way to recognize

employees going over and beyond at work. I notice that they didn’t have a team event or a once a

year event for the team and their family. I reviewed our budgets and found ways to save money

and give back to our team. We now host a Thanksgiving and Christmas party for the last couple

of years; where they can invite their families and we give out awards, and bonuses during this

time. When we hold meetings, we always bring food they choose which a hard-working team

appreciates. Every Friday we do a call out of an employee and let them know we appreciate them

along with a small gift. We also hold a team event every 4 months where we take our team for a

building exercise or go out and doing something fun. This has really changed the atmosphere at

work, and we have received great feedback on how our team feels appreciated and supported”. I

really enjoyed meeting with Ryan and being able to pick his brain for information. He answered

all my questions, and in the end, I could see why he would call himself a “life coach”. (Ryan,

2019)

Pros and Cons:

Some of the pros of this job is that you are part of influencing people. I think it’s one of

the best feeling to know that the process you have trained and developed is working and has had

a positive effect on employees. You can also help change someone’s situation by giving them

work so they don’t lose their home or help them with school by getting them a reimbursement.

You can also offer training to people so they can learn new skills and are able to continue

working whether with your company or elsewhere. You are part of helping leveling entry
employees onto new career paths that they didn’t know were available to them. You get to

welcome all on-boarding new hires and help them feel at ease coming into a new role. There are

so many good things about the position and the kind of work a HR Director does day in and day

out. (Erstad, 2017)

Some of the cons of this job is even though you play a huge role in recognition a lot of

time HR Directors do not get any recognition for their work. You must maintain a safe distant

from employees because you must be strong with the company’s decisions. You might have a

conflict of opinion with your boss on certain activities, but your boss has the final say even

though their decision could be a risk. Overall, an HR position is considered as one of the most

complicated working environments. (Reddy, n.d.)

You’re fit with this career:

I think becoming a HR Director is a good fit for me because I enjoy working with people

and being part of developing new plans. I am constantly learning ways to develop training

techniques and how to save money in certain areas. I feel that am great at noticing talent and

pushing those people in the right direction in their careers. I am also someone who really likes a

challenge and feel that this job will constantly keep me on my toes. At this point I feel if I keep

pushing forward and working towards my goals; I will be starting an HR career in a few years

and I’m excited for that next step.

Works Cited
Become a Human Resource Director: Step-by-Step Career Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved from Study.com:
https://study.com/articles/Become_a_Human_Resource_Director_Step-by-
Step_Career_Guide.html

Ben. (2015, July 7). A Day in the Life of a Human Resources Director (HDR). Retrieved from upstartHR:
https://upstarthr.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-human-resources-director-hrd/

Erstad, W. (2017, October 23). 11 Rewarding Reasons to Work in HR. Retrieved from Rasmussen College:
https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/blog/reasons-to-work-in-human-resources/

Frito-Lay Human Resources Manager Salaries. (2018, May 4). Retrieved from glassdoor:
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Frito-Lay-Human-Resources-Manager-Salaries-
E1657603_D_KO10,33.htm

HR Director average salary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://resources.workable.com/hr-director-average-

salary

Human Resources Director Job Description. (2013, May 21). Retrieved from VillaNova University:
https://www.villanovau.com/resources/hr/hr-director-job-description/

Reddy, C. (n.d.). Top 16 Pros and Cons of Being an Human Resources Manager. Retrieved from wisestep:
https://content.wisestep.com/top-pros-cons-human-resources-manager/

Ryan. (2019, March 20). HR Manager. (Kirsten, Interviewer) Salt Lake City: Personal Interview.