Human resources (HR) refers to the people employed by an organization, as well as the department responsible for managing them. While it may seem odd to refer to people as “resources,” it’s an apt term. Hiring personnel with the necessary skills and fostering an organizational culture that motivates your employees to work together effectively is as fundamental to the success of a company as financial or material resources.

Finding and hiring the right people, or “talent,” is thus a top priority for companies in any industry, and especially in highly competitive sectors like tech and finance. And this in turn makes the HR department of a company hugely important, with responsibilities covering everything from recruiting to hiring and onboarding to ongoing talent management and performance evaluation.

Because the work of recruiting and managing people is so important, experienced HR professionals are always in demand. High-level HR roles also pay well, making this career path a promising long-term opportunity if you have excellent people skills and a keen sense of what makes teamwork work.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for a human resources manager is $113,300 per year, and these jobs are expected to grow faster than the national average. As a managerial position, the responsibilities associated with this role are wide-ranging, including not only the direction of employee recruitment and hiring process but also overseeing employee benefit programs, setting policies and resolving disputes on HR issues like equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment, and supervising support staff.

Careers in human resources may start with a role as a human resource specialist, such as a recruiter or “head hunter.” These employees are responsible for finding, screening, and interviewing applicants for open positions at a company, and as such they are often the first member of the HR team that potential hires meet. As such, recruiting specialists need superb people skills as well as a willingness to travel to job fairs, college campuses, and other places to find the right talent.

Yes! Human resources is fundamentally about interpersonal “soft skills,” and Coursera’s industry-leading online learning platform includes video lectures, live office hours with instructors, and even group projects that give you engaging opportunities to develop these talents. Indeed, as more and more HR work is conducted remotely, learning to evaluate talent and potential hires through video interviews is becoming an increasingly valuable skill.

And, by offering courses and Specializations in human resources from top-ranked institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Michigan, Coursera gives you the opportunity to take advantage of the flexibility and low cost of online learning without sacrificing the quality of your education.