careernav.

Leading Companies & Markets

HR covers all industries and sectors: consumer, industrial, telecommunications, IT, medical, health, retail, finance, leisure and entertainment. In small organisations HR can be just payroll and administration. Larger organisations provide more HR opportunities. The ‘blue chip’ multinational organisations tend to have larger HR teams, bigger infrastructure, better organised development programs and scope for development and career progression.

Career progression is more structured, with more management layers and more opportunities for travel overseas. They also tend to be more rigid, a little slower to react, and less nimble than smaller medium sized enterprises, often with more office politics. The public sector offers careers in HR. Like the multinational organisations they are often slower to react and change. The ‘Employer of Choice’ reputation is highly sought after in the medium to large companies.

The consumer, banking and healthcare markets tend to be higher paid than retail and telecommunications. Leading consumer goods companies include Unilever, Cadbury Schweppes, Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Foster’s, Lion Nathan, Coca-Cola Amatil, Panasonic, Nike and Adidas. The ‘Big 4’ banks are attractive; so too are the industrial transport companies Toll and Linfox and the telecommunications companies: Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. Among the insurance companies AAMI and AMP are well regarded. 

The industrial organisations normally provide broad opportunities with the larger ones providing overseas opportunities – Orica, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto. The public sector also offers numerous opportunities in HR but tend to offer lower remuneration.

Environment & Culture

The environment and culture of an organisation is often dependent on the size and type of organisation. In smaller organisations the environment is often reactive and you need to be comfortable with juggling priorities. Larger organisations are often less reactive and slower to change. In any HR role you need to be organised, efficient and disciplined to achieve your objectives.

Most organisations have normal hours of 8.30am to 5.00pm week days however there are times when interviews or training programs need to be conducted outside of these hours.  Decisions often need to be made quickly and must be made in line with any policies and procedures and the values of the organisation.