8 Outstanding Educational Online Resources & Books for HRs

There is a golden rule of a successful career as an HR manager – you have to keep learning.

The thing is that the HR industry is growing and changing very quickly. Staying aware of all the changes can help you predict future trends and make sure your organization keeps up with the changes.

To help you remain well-informed and encourage continuous learning, we want to share a few educational resources. You’ll find websites and a few publications that you can always keep at hand.

Let’s take a closer look.

Educational Online Resources for HRs

Let’s first take a look at a few internet resources that you will find useful to enrich and expand your knowledge in human resources management. The majority of these resources are free, but some may ask you for something as small as a subscription, but it’s worth it.

1. HR.com

The first one on our list is HR.com, and it is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive online resource for anyone interested in human resource management.
This resource deserves your attention, first and foremost, because it has HR certification and recertification courses. It means that this website is certified to issue the official confirmation of your knowledge, and you can use this certification to enter the job market.

Apart from an official certificate, HR.com also offers a lot of other useful learning opportunities:

• White papers, case studies, and other research.
• Free resources, including the glossary of HR terms.
• Additional premium HR leadership courses.

One of the coolest features that HR.com has to offer is its free templates. You can find such essentials as employee evaluation templates and even ready-to-use job description forms such as a supply chain management job description or a robotics engineer job ad on this website.

On top of the features mentioned above, HR.com also encourages all the learners to join different HR communities divided into several categories – payroll, integrated talent management, legal issues, and the role of technology in HR. These communities often share extra educational resources available only to the members. So, if you decide to study with HR.com, make sure you also give different communities a try.

2. SHRM Resource Center

Like HR.com, SHRM, or the Society for Human Resource Management, is a certified educational resource that issues credible confirmations of your knowledge of this field.

When it comes to the certification exam, SHRM also offers different resources to help the participants self-prepare. There are three options – you can study by yourself, hire an instructor for yourself, or your team of HR managers if they are the ones to pass the exam.

Among different learning resources, SHRM offers a variety of topics:

• Behavioral Competencies
• Employee Benefits
• Compensation
• Diversity and Inclusion
• KPI Essentials
• Talent Acquisition
• Specialized Workplace Topics

But the biggest perk of SHRM as an educational resource is its interactive tools. For instance, if you are currently studying the recruitment process, you can use the employee cost calculator to determine the cost per hire.
There are also other interactive resources, like a performance review tool, interview question builder, notices generator, etc., which you might find useful as an HR manager.

3. TLNT

TLNT is an educational resource that includes articles and publications from the authoritative players in the HR industry. You can use this resource as an additional daily read to expand your knowledge about the latest HR news.
As an educational authority, TLNT is also famous for its webinars and conferences. These online events are hosted by people in senior HR management positions and often offer unique insights and real-life case studies.

The good news is that participation in TLNT’s events is often free. All you need is to fill out a registration form. However, it’s absolutely worth it if you want to grow as an HR manager – such events often host many professionals from the industry who can help you grow your network.

4. HR Bartender

With such a relaxing name, HR bartender seems like a leisurely website for all HR talks. However, it’s one of the most comprehensive resources that deserves its place alongside such giants as HR.com and SHRM.

What makes HR Bartender so unique?

All the educational resources on this website are subdivided into what’s called the Bar Menu. There are all kinds of topics in this menu, from career development to consulting and HR law. But among these categories, the one that’s the richest in resources is employee engagement.

HR Bartender uploads resources on employee engagement almost every week, mostly covering the following topics:

• The impact of corporate education on employee engagement
• Must-have work guarantees for every employee
• Reward and recognition ideas with real-life examples

On top of that, HR Bartender often invites HR experts to share their insights on boosting employee engagement and improving employee retention. So, if you’re interested in this topic, HR Bartender is definitely the right resource to learn from.

5. Recruiting Blogs

If you are more of a visual learner and quickly get tired from reading, you can take advantage of HR-related YouTube videos. Recruiting Blogs is one of those channels that can help you enrich your knowledge about HR and keep up with the industry’s latest news.

The biggest perk of this channel is that it uploads entire webinars, and they are free to watch.

The channel also hosts experienced professionals from the HR industry to discuss different burning topics, such as tech in recruitment, engaging passive candidates, improving employee retention, etc.

Books and Publications for HRs

Okay, now you have an array of digital resources to visit to educate yourself on different HR topics regularly. But what about other resources, like books and publications that you could read while you’re offline?

Here are some essential recommendations.

1. Human Resource Management by Gary Dessler

If you’re looking for an ultimate textbook on human resources management, this one should be your go-to. Gary Dessler created a very comprehensive resource that teaches HR management, starting from the basics to more specific HR topics like analytics and metrics.

Human Resource Management is also one of the must-read textbooks in the majority of HR management training programs. Anita Doe, the leader of a content writing team at GetGoodGrade, notes that some of the questions during her HR certification exam came from this book’s footnotes.

So, this book is definitely a staple educational resource for future HR managers. But keep in mind that this book is constantly updated, so make sure you own the latest edition.

2. Predictive HR Analytics by Kristen and Martin Edwards

Studying the metrics is one of the most confusing aspects of learning about HR management. That’s why you need a handy resource that you can use as a cheat sheet to check if your calculations are correct.

Predictive HR Analytics is one of such resources. It introduces the basic frameworks of working with HR data both on the beginners and on a more advanced level using real-life examples.

As you might have guessed from the title, this book also focuses on predictive analytics in HR: how to do diversity analysis, predict turnover and employee performance, and evaluate interventions. All this knowledge will definitely find practical use in your activity as an HR manager.

3. People Management Magazine

Besides books, you can also take advantage of the magazines from the HR industry, and People Management is one of them. It is an online magazine with the latest news about HR management, and it covers a variety of topics, such as:

• Employment law
• Role of the leadership in organizational growth
• Recruitment and retention
• Diversity and inclusion
• Employee wellbeing

This magazine is a very reputable source of information about the HR industry, as it often invites industry experts to share their knowledge and case studies.
HR Management Blog

If you want to find out how to be a great HR manager for remote teams or learn about the best ways to increase your employee survey participation rates, take time to read our HR blog that covers these and many other topics in an accessible and fun way. We always aim to provide you with the latest and make even those complex concepts and rules simpler.

Just head over to our blog section, find answers to the most common HR questions and learn the red flags and precautions that will help you to avoid trouble and disappointment in your work. We strongly believe in the culture of sharing, which motivates us to provide you with the best HR articles only!

Get Excited to Learn about HR!

Whether you are at the beginning of your career as an HR manager or working in this field for years, it’s important to keep studying. Luckily, there is a wide variety of resources you can keep at hand to remain abreast of the industry’s current events.

Here’s a quick recap of the resources that we recommend:

• HR.com
• SHRM
• TLNT
• HR Bartender
• Recruiting Blogs YouTube channel
• Human Resource Management by Gary Dessler
• Predictive HR Analytics by Kristen and Martin Edwards
• People Management Magazine

Do you find these resources useful? Which ones can you recommend? Let us know in the comments!

This article is written by Estelle Liotard. She is a Writer, Editor, and Communication Specialist working on digital publishing and term paper writing in her spare time. She is fully dedicated to her writing profession and aims to develop new content creation and research competencies through articles and case studies. Estelle also enjoys reading up on writing-related literature, which she hopes will help her improve her craft further to benefit readers worldwide. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com.