Courses Needed for a Human Resources Degree

Human resources programs include many courses in business, including leadership, communications, management, business law, marketing and sales. Business courses provide needed corporate knowledge and organizational skills that are applicable in all areas of the business world, not just human resources. For example, a course in leadership teaches you about employee motivation and engagement, delegating work, effective communication and conflict management.

Development courses teach you the nuts and bolts of human resources jobs. You will learn about employee benefits and compensation, including insurance, salary and retirement; recruitment and interviewing techniques; and employee training and development. Courses will also teach you the legalities of these practices, which is important to know if you want to prevent future litigation. For instance, there are specific laws regarding recruitment and interviewing practices, and ignoring these laws is a serious problem in human resources.

Technology has become the heart of human resources departments -- long gone are the days of paper filing systems. Human resources introductory courses teach you how to use standard office software, including word processing, spreadsheets and databases. More advanced courses cover business information systems, such as for record management and accounting.

Even if you do not plan to do accounting work, you will need basic finance skills to work in human resources. Finance coursework will teach you about financial statements; stocks and bonds; budgeting for capital and projects; and international financial management. The skills you gain in financial document interpretation will help you with decision-making in human resources departments.

Additional coursework includes required and elective classes. Human resources majors -- and all business majors -- must complete at least one or two courses in business or professional writing. Take these courses seriously. Those with the best writing skills are most likely to climb into higher-level human resources positions, for example. Electives include courses in science, art, psychology, sociology or history, and comprise approximately 22 percent of the required coursework for a bachelor's degree.