Are Payroll jobs in high demand? How can I break into this field with a STEM background and no experience? #PayrollJobs #BreakingIntoPayroll #STEMBackground #JobSearch
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I think this can partially depend on the size of the org but in my case (huge org), you literally couldn’t pay me to do payroll. The stuff they deal with on the daily is unbelievable. Never would I ever. And we do always tend to have openings somewhere in the company for payroll so I’d say that’s telling lol.
Purely personal experience. It’s normally boring as hell but then something wrong happens and you will be sweating bullets. Understandably, people get pissed if there’s something wrong with their paycheck. I wouldn’t mind being low level payroll but the pay reflects it. I joined payroll because people were leaving and then I was basically running the department in a few months because more people left.
Hard to get in if you don’t have the certifications that are payroll specific. If you really want to do it get certified
Find an entry level payroll clerk gig somewhere if that’s what you want to do. But it is a rough gig. Most companies who have easy payroll, don’t have a big payroll department, but even then it’s a constant cycle that is completely unrelenting.
If I could afford my mortgage as a payroll specialist I would do it. I was in payroll leadership until recently switching to HRIS but I couldn’t stand every “escalated” issue being something the employee did wrong. It’s draining.
No, we didn’t withhold too little of your taxes, you filled out your W-4 form wrong for your personal financial situation. No, we can’t pay you on time when you forgot to submit your time card until the day before payday. No, you can’t get direct deposit to your French bank account and also since when are you working from FRANCE
Oh honey. You accidentally make a typo and you ruin someone’s livelihood. You have to answer questions like “why are you taking out $200/wk in child support payments from my wages?” You’re running behind on verifications and you’re one minute late? Too late, banking hours are over, your employees won’t be paid until next week.
It is a thankless and brutal job.
Payroll is so much more mentally taxing than all of my other duties. I work for a smaller construction and trucking company and we have weekly payroll for roughly 122 total folks. I can literally never take time off because it’s just me and my assistant running the show behind the scenes.
If you love working where people only notice you when something fails, payroll may be for you!
Do you like accounting? That’s a lot of what payroll is like, including working with your accounting team to make sure GL reports from payroll and other expenses are mapped correctly. Should know and learn multi-state tax issues, and general rules around benefits and deductions as well. You’ll have to deal a lot with state tax agencies, unemployment agencies, garnishments required and similar state units.
And then with that comes getting people frustrated with you over payroll questions, even though most of this is due to them not reading their statements clearly or not knowing how to do math.
I’m all seriousness, it’s fine if you like simple task focused, straight forward rules based job processes.
I compare Payroll to being a professional sports referee – Do your job perfectly, no one notices. You mess up, everyone notices.
I started in payroll, I enjoy it being a part of my responsibilities for a smaller org (under 500) but would not want it for a larger org where that is all I am working on 40 hours a week.
ADP has lots of free classes, you can start there with learning to get a good feel for it.
Best to start with a single state payroll opportunity to learn the ropes with. Maybe offer to be the backup for payroll so you can get experience.
It’s hard to get unofficial training and exposure to due to all the confidential info involved (salary, garnishments, benefits, etc.).
If you have a background in HR and know the HR systems (ADP, Paychecks, etc.), I would apply for them even without the actual payroll experience- some may a person leaving that will be available to train you.
If you are not very familiar with using excel and basic data analytics, you will want to work on those skills.
I HATED my time in payroll! Employees escalated every single issue, even the ones they caused, and it was so annoying. The thing I hated the most is that payroll never stops, even during the holidays! I had a hard time taking more than a few days of time off because of this.
I’m a Generalist, but I actually came to HR from a finance gig where I did both payroll, A/P and A/R. I still run payroll at my current place of employment and feel like it makes me extra valuable. Many HR professionals will not touch it, but I like it. I also am ridiculously detailed, seriously dial in my payroll processes, love spreadsheets and geek out to numbers. If this sounds like you, go for it! You’ll probably have to start with an entry-level payroll clerk gig. These can be somewhat competitive because it’s like 99% OJT, so your previous background/degrees will not matter much. Your focus, level of detail, availability (payroll is like healthcare – there are rarely any vacations) and tolerance to stress/deadlines will matter more.