Human resource (HR) professionals recruit, develop, and retain the employees of an organization. They maximize an organization’s use of talent by finding and hiring capable employees, and providing training and development opportunities. As the bridge between managers and employees, they maintain positive employee relations and improve employee satisfaction, wellness, and performance. They administrate employee benefits, supervise wellness programs, and oversee disciplinary systems and rewards programs. HR professionals may also focus their efforts on the organization as a whole by consulting with upper-level managers to implement changes to leadership or to an organization’s structure, strategy, or culture.

HR professionals work for large or small organizations, nonprofit organizations, and public and private companies in generalist or specialist roles. HR generalists are responsible for all of the HR functions in an organization, which requires a broad understanding of the HR discipline and allows them to interact with a wide variety of people. HR specialists focus on performing selected activities in one of the major HR functions, which include staffing, organization development, training, employee relations, and compensation/benefits.

Career opportunities for graduates with a business emphasis in OBHR increase each year. The demand projections appear to be particularly strong for training and development specialists in response to the increasing complexity of many jobs, the aging workforce, and technological advances. Some of the companies students graduating with this degree have worked for include Cisco, eBay, Goldman Sachs, Goodyear, Google, Marriott International, Mercer, Nordstrom, PepsiCo, Qualtrics, and Southwest Airlines.