The Top 7 Entry-Level HR Roles in 2026

If you’re reading this, it’s likely you’re considering a role in the highly rewarding people profession – how exciting!

Whether you're just starting your career or looking to make the switch to HR, there are loads of HR roles perfect for those new to the industry.

To give you more insight, in this blog, we’ll explore the top 7 entry-level HR roles you should consider in 2026!

1) HR Assistant

An HR assistant role is one of the best ways to kickstart your HR career!

This position gives you hands-on experience across a wide range of HR functions, allowing you to see how everything comes together in a department. You’ll work alongside experienced professionals who can mentor you and help you build a strong foundation of HR knowledge.

An HR assistant’s key responsibilities include:

• Recruitment support: proofreading and uploading job adverts, arranging interviews, or reviewing CVs to identify top candidates.
• General admin: inserting employee data into systems, filing and organising employee documents, organising employee agendas and taking meeting minutes.
• Assisting with exit procedures: documenting exit interviews, collecting employee property, and making sure all necessary paperwork is completed.
• Maintaining compliance and documentation: supporting senior staff with ensuring policies are adhered to, health and safety regulations are clear, and all HR records are kept up to date.
• Assisting and processing payroll: collecting payroll data like timesheets, answering payroll queries and generating reports and pay stubs.

Example in practice

In a company that is currently restructuring, there may be an influx of new employees. An HR assistant could be responsible for assisting with the creation of a new onboarding process.

This could include the preparing new induction materials, organising training s sessions, facilitating distribution of remote equipment, inputting and analysing employee data as well as monitoring new systems.

How to become an HR Assistant

To set you off on the right foot, we recommend gaining an HR qualification, like the CIPD Level 3 Foundation Certificate in People Practice.

This globally recognised qualification with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has been specifically designed for those with little to no HR experience, such as a career switcher or career starter.

However, if you’re starting your HR career from scratch, it’s also important to work on pinpointing your transferrable skills like:

• Communication
• Time management
• Attention to detail
• Adaptability

These are all valuable skills that you’ll use every day as an HR assistant –and they’ll be useful for future HR roles too!

2) Recruitment Assistant

A recruitment assistant role is perfect for someone who loves connecting with people! They’re the friendly face behind building strong relationships with job candidates and new hires, playing a key role in helping an organisation’s hiring and onboarding process run smoothly.

If you're the type who thrives on organisation, multitasking, and keeping things on track, this could be the perfect fit for you!

Time management and people skills are your best friends in this role.

A recruitment assistant's key responsibilities include:

• Job advertising: uploading job adverts onto allocated job boards, including all necessary information and contact details.
• CV and application screening: filtering out candidates who don’t meet the job criteria while presenting the ones that do to the hiring manager.
• Interview scheduling and candidate communication: serving as a point of contact for a candidate, recruitment assistants will arrange interviews and gather and record all relevant candidate information.
• Job offer support: this includes writing, distributing and filing the signed job offers of new hires.
• Reference checks: this could include organising PVG checks or applications, identity verification, criminal history and employment checks.

Example in practice

Say a long-standing company may lack a streamlined recruitment process. A recruitment assistant would work closely with talent acquisition specialists to review and suggest a solution that could be implemented across all departments.

This could include the adoption of an applicant tracking system, background check tools, or candidate relationship management software.

How to become a Recruitment Assistant

Seeking volunteering opportunities or HR apprenticeships is a great place to start when exploring a career in recruitment.

Additionally, all companies will recruit their employees differently, so spend time researching the recruitment processes and strategies used by a variety of companies. This will help build your knowledge and inspire your own ideas.

You will also want to gain a relevant HR qualification, like the CIPD Level 5 Associate Diploma in People Management.

This qualification, in particular, includes a specialist employment law module, essential for those interested in recruitment and employment in the long term.

3) Payroll Administrator

If you have excellent attention to detail, are numbers savvy and naturally organised, a job as an HR payroll administrator could be perfect for you.

Working closely with payroll managers and other finance professionals to ensure an organisations financial accuracy, a payroll administrators responsibilities include:

• Assisting with payroll processing: ensuring all wages are calculated correct, taking account for tax, pensions, bonus’ and any other additional deductions.
• Maintaining tax compliance: ensure taxes are correctly calculated and deducted, submitted to tax authorities and then recorded for tax returns.
• Analysing and reporting: creating monthly reports of departmental expenditure, employee expenses and payroll for external auditing.
• Staying up to date with tax laws, deadlines and policies: regularly researching and informing senior staff about changes to tax laws, approaching deadlines, or new financial policies.
• Maintaining and filing records: ensuring payroll records are up to date, easily accessible by those who need them as well as being confidentially stored.

Example in practice

Let’s say it’s time for the annual salary review – this is where the payroll administrator steps in to lend a hand to the finance team.

They’ll help process those well-deserved pay increases, distribute bonuses, double-check that raises are spot on, and manage any new tax deductions.

It’s all about making sure everyone’s pay is as it should be.

How to become a Payroll Administrator

You don’t need any specific HR qualifications for this role, but you’ll want to be good with numbers (or at least an Excel spreadsheet!) and be confident in your ability to input data.

It’s also important that you’re aware of compliance and regulatory frameworks. While in-depth knowledge isn’t expected at admin level, having a general idea of payroll laws and regulations is helpful.

We also recommend becoming familiar with different payroll software as well as payroll tax compliance.

4) HR Coordinator

An HR coordinator plays a key part in the HR department. They’re the ones who keep everything running smoothly by assisting HR professionals with admin tasks and helping the team stay on track.

They’re also the go-to problem solvers, often super organised, and always ready to lend a helping hand.

An HR coordinators responsibilities include:

• Recruitment support: assisting recruitment professionals with the creation of job adverts, screening applications and scheduling interviews.
• Maintaining employee records: updating systems with new employee information, contact details and generally keeping databases organised and accurate.
• Benefits administration: supporting the employee benefits and reward team with issuing employee benefits like health insurance, employee discounts and share schemes.
• Analysing and reporting: generating HR reports to assist with audits and general housekeeping.
• Onboarding support: HR coordinators will be first point of contacts for new employees if they require assistance during the onboarding process.

Example in practice

It’s time for the annual employee net promoter score (NPS) survey and the HR coordinator is tasked with the planning and coordination of the surveys.

This includes working closely with HR professionals to ensure the survey is undertaken within the decided timeframe, and in the right conditions (e.g. not affecting the day-to-day organisation of the company).

Additionally, they’ll distribute the survey to employees, which includes reminders and making sure employees have the knowledge and tools they need to complete the surveys.

How to become an HR Coordinator

To become an HR coordinator you’ll want to have a good foundation of knowledge when it comes to HR best practices and how the overall HR department is run. Start by gaining experience in administrative roles within HR and building strong organisational and communication skills.

You may also want to consider an online HR course like a CIPD certificate to boost your knowledge and credibility.

5) Compensation and Benefits Assistant

In the UK, there are certain employee benefits and compensation that companies must legally provide, like maternity and paternity leave, annual leave and pensions.

The compensation and benefits team ensures that the company stays on top of these legal requirements and offers the right policies and perks to their staff.

As a compensation and benefits assistant, you’ll be a key part of this team, helping with all sorts of tasks, including:

• Confirming knowledge and awareness of benefits: ensuring employees know what benefits their entitled to, where they can access them and who they should speak to if they run into issues.
• Maintaining records: for external audit purpose as well as ensuring compliance.
• Supporting salary reviews: collecting employee feedback throughout annual performance reviews. Assistants will also benchmark company compensation and benefits against competitors.
• Assisting payroll: making sure that benefits and compensation are correctly distributed to employees alongside their monthly wage.

Example in practice

As part of the annual salary and benefits review, the compensation and benefits assistant plays a key role in researching market trends, including salary data, benefits, and other compensation packages.

They also dive into internal data, spotting any pay gaps across departments and making sure everyone is getting fair and equal pay, no matter their gender or background.

How to become a Compensation and Benefits Assistant

Keep in mind that not all companies will necessarily have a compensation and benefits team, as this largely depends on the size of the company.

However, to become a compensation and benefits assistant, we recommend gaining experience in HR or finance-related roles, focusing on data management and payroll administration.

Studying a relevant qualification, such as a CIPD or SHRM certification, can also enhance your understanding of compensation structures and benefits management.

6) Entry-Level HR Generalist

An entry-level HR generalist will provide support across the entirety of an HR department which, like an HR assistant, is perfect if you’re still learning the industry ropes.

Entry-level HR generalists tend to focus on the daily operations within the team and will work closely under a senior HR generalist.

Entry-level HR generalists’ responsibilities include:

• Supporting with recruitment and onboarding: this includes building relationships with hiring managers to create job descriptions, an accurate screening process and in turn, strong potential candidates.
• Managing employee records: keeping employee information and files up to date, accurate and secure.
• Support employee relations: be a point of contact for senior management in need of HR support, e.g. information on policies, procedures, misconduct and mediation.
• Training and development: manage access to training materials for employees, as well as arranging internal and external development opportunities.
• Payroll assistance: gathering timesheets, attendance records and tax forms for payroll data entry.

Example in practice

An entry-level HR generalist might collaborate closely with the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) team on exciting projects like the annual Black History Month campaign.

HR plays a vital role in driving DEI initiatives, contributing to employee engagement and shaping the organisational culture.

Additionally, an entry-level HR generalist may assist with the logistics and administrative tasks.

This might include collecting and analysing employee feedback on the campaign to measure its success.

How to become an Entry-Level HR Generalist

Entry-level roles typically require a basic knowledge of HR practices, including recruitment, employee relations, payroll, and benefits, so consider internships, volunteer work, or HR assistant roles to get hands-on experience.

Due to the variety of the role, having an understanding of a broad range of HR topics and best practices is ideal.

Depending on your professional experience, you could start by studying an HR qualification, like the CIPD Level 5 Diploma, which explores topics like organisational performance and culture, talent management and workforce planning.

7) Entry-Level HR Associate

An entry-level HR associate will work closely with senior HR associates to develop a deeper understanding of the different elements of HR.

This job is perfect for someone looking to gain practical experience and climb up the HR ladder.

An entry-level HR associate’s responsibilities include:

• Admin support: managing diaries, calendars and department meetings.
• Ensure compliance: maintain records of workplace health and safety training and incident reports, making sure their compliance with health and safety regulations.
• Learning and development: working closely with the learning and development team to coordinate both mandatory and employee training, keeping track of qualifications and certificates.
• Employee experience: supporting L&D with employee retention and employee culture strategies and campaigns.

Example in practice

A company may be going through an influx of employee resignations and is keen to roll out an employee retention campaign. An entry-level HR associate would assist with the implementation of the campaign, raising company awareness of new initiatives, gathering employee feedback and tracking campaign metrics.

How to become an Entry-Level HR Associate

To become an entry-level HR associate, you typically need a solid understanding of HR principles, which can be gained through a relevant degree or certification.

Gaining hands-on experience through internships, apprenticeships, volunteering, or entry-level administrative roles can also help build the necessary skills to succeed in this role.

It’s also a great idea to focus on your transferrable skills like organisation and time management, as it’s likely you’ll be juggling multiple projects at once.

Working closely with people, you should also have good interpersonal skills, showing empathy and consideration to employees.

Your Path to HR Success

Choosing the right HR career path – let alone the right HR role – can be tricky!

However, it’s important to always put your interests at the forefront, as these will be what ultimately keep you focused and motivated as you move forward.

Whether you're someone with an analytical mindset who enjoys working with numbers or a people person who’s passionate about employee wellbeing and experience, there’s a perfect HR role waiting for you.

Take the first step in your HR career and gain a 100% online CIPD qualification with DPG.