How to Become an HRIS Analyst Without Experience
Are you looking to become an HRIS analyst? This article outlines the steps you can follow to pursue this career.
An HRIS analyst is an HR professional responsible for managing HR data and information within an organization. They provide insightful recommendations and strategies to support business growth.
A bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or human resources is typically required to become an HRIS analyst. Some organizations also prefer candidates with several years of experience for senior HRIS analyst roles.
This article is designed for those who want to learn more about the steps to becoming an HRIS analyst. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this goal.
To learn more through video, watch below. Otherwise, continue reading.
Step 1: Fulfill the Qualification Criteria and Become a Certified HRIS Specialist
Meeting the HRIS analyst qualification criteria is the fundamental requirement for becoming an HRIS analyst. Generally, a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a master’s degree in information technology, along with a major in human resources or business administration, is essential. If you aspire to be an HRIS analyst, it is crucial to meet the minimum qualifications for the role.
A computer science or human resources degree provides foundational knowledge relevant to the HRIS analyst position. These qualifications will help you develop the skills necessary for the role, which should be your primary goal. With a degree in a relevant field, you will learn about:
- Federal and state human resource laws
- Analytical reasoning
- Human resource project management
- Human capital management
- Management of employee records and HR databases
- Network and HR administration
While a degree in computer science or HR is a strong starting point, true learning and mastery depend on your initiative. Engaging in thorough research and cultivating effective study habits will significantly enhance your chances of acquiring the skills needed for a data analyst role.
Additionally, you can further develop your skills by pursuing a specialization or certification in human resource analytics and HR administration. Obtaining an HRIS analyst certification not only bolsters your job application but also equips you with technical knowledge and professional insights. With a certification in human resources, you will learn to:
- Analyze employee performance evaluation metrics
- Maintain employee records and identify trends
- Address issues of discrimination and harassment
- Provide valuable insights for improved business outcomes
- Strategize to achieve short-term and long-term HR goals with enhanced productivity and efficiency
The learning outcomes for HRIS certification extend beyond these topics, and many more concepts will be covered. If you want to enroll in a course, consider checking the HRIS Certification at HR University.
Step 2: Learn to Analyze the Data and Extract the Desired Metrics from It
Data analysis is one of the primary responsibilities of an HRIS analyst within the HR department. They are tasked with researching employee data and extracting valuable results and metrics.
To succeed in this role, you must develop a strong understanding of analyzing data from various reports, such as employee feedback forms, performance evaluation sheets, and departmental progress reports. This analysis will enable you to identify meaningful insights that can inform further research and help you propose valuable strategies and recommendations for improving employee productivity and business growth.
Remember that data research and analysis are foundational responsibilities for an HRIS analyst. Therefore, it is essential to master scientific computing and enhance your computer skills to increase your chances of becoming an expert HRIS professional.
Step 3: Learn to Prepare Presentations and Reports with Detailed Statistics
Once you have mastered the skills needed to analyze data and extract meaningful results, your next responsibility is to convey these metrics to senior HR professionals and stakeholders. Effective communication of performance metrics is crucial for informing them about the individual and overall performance of the business, departments, and employees.
Creating clear and detailed presentations and reports that summarize your findings will ensure that your insights are understood and can be acted upon, ultimately contributing to better decision-making within the organization.
Thus, you should have a sound grip on preparing presentations, allowing the audience to pick the results you want to convey. You must learn to break the technical statistics into more comprehendible reports so a non-technical investor or enterprise executive can easily comprehend the meaning.
This is why you must have the skills to present the statistics and metrics so everyone understands them clearly without any ambiguity. This skill is also one of the most crucial skills required for an HRIS analyst’s role.
Step 4: Learn to Collaborate with HR Employees
One of the fundamental job duties of most HRIS analysts is collaborating with other senior professionals and teammates in the HR data analytics department.
Master the HRIS analysts’ skills, keeping in mind that their role is collaborative. Collaboration is also mandatory for higher productivity and quicker project turnouts.
Thus, you should master good verbal and written communication skills before jumping into the HRIS analyst role. Furthermore, teamwork is mandatory for fact-based results instead of opinionated results to ensure that the extracted results and metrics are not one’s personal opinions.
Step 5: Familiarize with HR Programs and Processes
Until or unless you’re not well-versed in the HR programs and operations, you cannot develop analytical thinking in the best favor of HR. Thus, you must understand how an HR department works. The HR operations are:
- Talent acquisition
- Recruitment
- Onboarding
- Payrolling
- Employee retention
- Employee relations
- Business records
You must learn about these processes in detail to master HR skills. Only then can you contribute to providing insights and recommendations for changes in departmental policies for better employee and business development.
In addition, once you have complete knowledge of how the HRIS software and other processes work, your mindset and work methodology will ultimately start to adapt to the goals, and thus, your contribution to the department with meaningful metrics and analytics will become even more effective and realistic.
Step 6: Learn to Develop Strategies for Business Goals based on Metrics Extracted from Data Analysis
HRIS analysts provide recommendations and ideas for achieving long-term and short-term business goals based on the trends and results they extract from the department’s progress, labor statistics, and employee evaluation reports.
Thus, you must learn the tactics to contribute genuine suggestions and valuable ideas that may help your organization to achieve goals more productively.
In addition, learn to develop insightful strategies based on the trends you capture from the data records. The strategies should be realistic, not opinionated, well-researched, and ideally implementable.
Furthermore, the data you capture from the metrics allows you to understand whether the progress is according to the business goals. If not, how can you mold the work and employee progress with a strategy that directly targets the business goals? Thus strategic skills are crucial for becoming an expert human resources information systems professional.
Step 7: Gain Knowledge about Providing Insights for Business Growth
Although this may seem easy, providing valuable insights is not as easy as it may seem. Only an expert with good communication skills and persuasive habits can prove the point they want to convey. Thus, knowing that learning and researching the data is not enough, you must learn how to participate effectively by developing strategies for better employee and HR growth and recommending them to the stakeholders.
Also, convincing them to believe in your strategies and viewpoint is as important as developing strategies, thus familiarizing yourself with the tactics to provide the best insights is also necessary.
Step 8: Practice the HRIS Analyst Skills and Gain Experience (Optional)
There is no doubt that with practice, you can nourish and test your skills. Thus, if you’re on the way to becoming an HRIS business analyst, then make sure to test your knowledge and information by working as an intern or a volunteer in an organization.
With practice, you can gain experience and upskill your knowledge based on the practical challenges you face while accomplishing your responsibilities.
Although gaining years and years of experience is not a fundamental requirement to secure this seat, it is beneficial for candidates with only a bachelor’s degree and no specialization or certification in human resources.
Furthermore, experience will complement your job application, increasing your chances of selection for the role, along with certifications, perfectly nourished HR skills, and specializations.
You can also build your HR portfolio when you practice in real life. A portfolio allows you to showcase your skills to potential recruiters, thus again increasing your chances to secure the seat.
Thus, we recommend you either opt for an HR analyst internship, volunteer for HR projects for startups or start practicing your skills by winning freelance projects.
Step 9: Apply for an HRIS Analyst’s Role
Once you fulfill the general competencies, such as minimum and preferred qualifications, suitable skillset, certifications, and specializations, it’s time to start your hunt for the role.
Read the complete HRIS analyst job description for each position you apply for, and then mold your resume and job application in correspondence with the organization’s preferences. Also, research the organization, its goals, culture, and preferences on the online platform. This way, you will have a broader idea of what the organization is about and what kind of talent they are interested in.
Keep your knowledge and skills up to date with market trends and demands to increase your chances of winning the HRIS analyst job openings.
FAQs
Here are answers to some of your most frequently asked questions regarding the human resource information management system analyst’s role.
Is a degree in CS mandatory to become an HRIS (human resources information system) analyst?
No. Although having a bachelor’s degree is a mandatory requirement, there’s no restriction to obtaining a degree in the only computer science field.
If you have a bachelor’s degree in information technology or even business management, you can become an HRIS analyst as long as you have the necessary skills for the role. Thus, your only goal should be to develop the required skills no matter what educational background you have.
Hence, having a degree in computer science to become an HRIS analyst is not a mandatory requirement.
What makes a good HRIS analyst?
Skills are the most crucial factor to become an HR professional. If you’re already working in the HR department, and want to progress your career to become a better HR professional, then we recommend you nourish your skillset. Some knowledge of software development, computer systems, and hardware or software issues for the HRM also makes you a better HR professional with quality control traits. Jump into the market research to know what’s in the demand and what are the industry trends. Mold your knowledge and skills based on your research, and work on self-secured projects to practice your skills. Good skills with time will ultimately make you a better HRIS analyst and professional HR worker.
If you are new to human resources and are looking to break into an HRIS analyst position, we recommend taking our People Analytics Certification Courses, where you will learn how to build your skillset in analytics, build your human resources analysts network, craft an excellent HR analyst resume, and create a successful job search strategy that lands you a sought-after HRIS analyst job.
