A regional human resource, or HR, manager is responsible for the hiring, training and placement of current and potential employees in an organization. Job duties include posting help wanted ads, filtering applicants, conducting interviews, checking in with upper management about promising job candidates, and hiring the most qualified people. They also help with the training of new recruits, placement, and conducting job performance evaluations. A regional HR manager does all of these things, but on a larger scale. He is generally responsible for a number of stores which operate within the same region or location.
Franchises and chain stores are two common examples of businesses that would use a regional HR manager. Each of these have multiple locations, often with several of them being within a specific town, zip code, or regional area. The HR manager would work for each of these locations, finding employees and supervisors for them all.
The primary job for regional HR managers is the hiring of new employees. This includes finding them through job boards and fairs, as well as giving interviews to find the best workers. In order to do the job correctly, the regional HR manager must understand the needs and operations of his company and be able to recognize the attributes in job candidates required to meet those needs. A fast food chain, for example, may hire young associates for the cooking and customer care positions in its stores because they need workers who are fast, upbeat and able to work for lower wages.
HR managers build relationships with employees and help them get started in their new jobs. This can include giving training courses and pairing new workers with current ones so the more experienced crew members can help new recruits learn the ropes. The manager may also check in regularly to make sure new employees are doing well and catching on quickly enough.
Some very specialized fields also needs regional HR managers. Hospital systems, for example, may include several hospitals, clinics and offices which operate under the same name and management structure. The regional HR manager for these places must be highly knowledgeable in order to choose the most qualified doctors, nurses and specialists. In some cases, he may be trained as a doctor himself. Other times, he will learn medical terminology and information to help him make wise choices. Often, upper management personal such as a chief of medicine will double as the HR manager.
To become a regional HR manager, one must either start out in a company and work their way up, or obtain a college degree in human resources, management, or business. Almost any industry has a need to hire regional HR management, depending on the company. Network with various businesses in the area to get an idea of who may be hiring.