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Study Human Resources

Potential Career Outcomes

Some potential occupations include:

These occupations require a qualification assessed as comparable to the education level of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Bachelor degree or higher degree and in a field highly relevant to the nominated occupation to have a positive skills assessment.

Course overview

A qualification in human resource would allow you to work as a human resource professional. A human resource professional plans and evaluate staff recruitment, assists in resolving workplace disputes and may be involved in negotiations with employers and unions on issues such as employment salary and work conditions.

In Australia, there are many courses you can take to start your career in human resource. Australia offers courses both at the vocational training level across to higher education. In these courses you will be exposed to topics such as:

  • Human Resource Services
  • Recruitment
  • Workforce Planning
  • Payroll
  • Diversity in Workplace
  • Mediation
  • Performance-Management Processes
  • Employee Relations
Graduate Outcomes
  • In general, a human resource professional earns $1662 per week.
  • A human resource manager earns on average $2464 per week.
  • It is expected that there will be strong employment growth in this industry.
  • 81% of human resource professionals work full-time. This is more than the national average.
  • Age: average age is 44 years.
  • Gender: 57% of workers are female.
Common Course Requirements
  • Completion of secondary education
  • Meet English proficiency (Usually at least IELTS 5.5 overall for Vocational courses, or 6.5 for University courses).
Related Courses

Some related courses include:

  • Certificate IV in Human Resources

Duration: 22-52 weeks
Intake: Monthly
Cost: $3,800 – $15,500
Locations:  Most cities throughout Australia

  • Diploma of Human Resources Management
    Duration: 20-104 weeks
    Intake: Monthly
    Cost: $3,600 – $28,670
    Locations: Most cities throughout Australia
  • Bachelor of Human Resources Management
    Duration: 152 -204 weeks
    Intake: February, July
    Cost: $25,000 – $40,000 per year
    Locations: Most cities throughout Australia

Studying Human Resources in Australia: What the Course Covers

Human resources (HR) courses teach you how organisations attract, develop, reward and retain their people. Subjects usually include recruitment and selection, onboarding, workforce planning, learning and development, performance management, remuneration and benefits, employment law and the Fair Work system, workplace health and safety, industrial and employee relations, diversity and inclusion, organisational behaviour and HR information systems and analytics. Degree courses add strategic HR management and research skills.

Qualifications and AQF Levels

Qualification AQF level What it prepares you for
Certificate IV in Human Resource Management AQF 4 HR assistant, recruitment coordinator and HR administration roles
Diploma of Human Resource Management AQF 5 HR officer and HR coordinator roles
Bachelor of Business (Human Resource Management) AQF 7 HR adviser, recruitment and employee relations roles, and the usual level for a skills assessment
Master of Human Resource Management AQF 9 HR adviser and HR manager roles, often for graduates of other fields

Study Pathways

You can start with a Certificate IV or Diploma of Human Resource Management and move into a business degree with an HR major, often with credit, or study a master of human resource management if you already have a degree. As noted above, the professional HR occupations generally need a bachelor degree or higher in a highly relevant field for a positive skills assessment, so a vocational qualification alone is usually not enough for migration purposes.

Related Occupations and Visa Pathways (as at October 2026)

Occupation ANZSCO CSOL (482 and 186) Skilled lists (189, 190, 491, 485)
Human Resource Manager 132311 Yes STSOL
Human Resource Adviser 223111 Yes ROL
Recruitment Consultant 223112 Yes STSOL
Workplace Relations Adviser 223113 Yes ROL

Our Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) guide explains which visas use each list and what that means for HR and recruitment occupations.

Career Outlook

HR professionals work in almost every industry, in corporate HR teams, recruitment agencies, consulting firms, government and not for profit organisations. Knowledge of Australian employment law and the Fair Work system is important, so local study and experience are valued. HR manager roles generally require several years of experience.

Applying for a Student Visa to Study Human Resources

For an HR course, show how it builds on your earlier study or work in business, administration or recruitment, and the HR role you want afterwards. Our Student visa (subclass 500) page explains the current visa conditions.

Human Resources Study FAQs

Yes. As at October 2026, Human Resource Manager, Human Resource Adviser, Recruitment Consultant and Workplace Relations Adviser are on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). Human Resource Manager and Recruitment Consultant are also on the STSOL, and Human Resource Adviser is on the ROL.

The 485 Post-Vocational Education Work stream requires an MLTSSL occupation, and the HR occupations are not on the MLTSSL. Bachelor and master’s graduates may be eligible for the Post-Higher Education Work stream, which has no occupation list requirement.

Generally yes. Employer sponsored visas require relevant work experience, and manager level occupations are usually only assessed positively after several years of relevant experience.

An HR adviser works on day to day people matters such as recruitment, policies, employee relations and performance processes. An HR manager plans and leads the HR function, sets strategy and manages the HR team. For migration, Human Resource Manager is a manager occupation and generally needs more years of relevant experience than Human Resource Adviser to be assessed positively.

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