Human Resources Specialist

Support the Costello College of Business HR function by coordinating Graduate Assistant, student wage, and related onboarding and recognition activities.

Responsibilities

• Manage the college’s Graduate Assistant hiring process from initiation through completion, including GA posting, applicant and hiring documentation, offer letters, onboarding coordination, eligibility tracking, ePAF submission, tuition waiver submission to the Financial Aid Office, and maintenance of accurate electronic records.
• Monitor GA appointments to ensure hiring stays within allocated hours and approved budget parameters; complete quarterly wage budget reports and applicable monthly spending reports; track related budget and labor information; and flag discrepancies or concerns for HR leadership review.
• Act as a primary process resource for GA hiring by auditing documentation, monitoring completion of required steps, resolving routine process issues, and providing timely updates to HR leadership and faculty.
• Coordinate non-student wage, student wage, and Federal Work Study hiring processes, including collecting required information, preparing hiring documentation, assisting with onboarding steps, entering or supporting ePAF actions, maintaining hiring logs, and communicating with hiring managers, supervisors, and employees.
• Maintain wage budget labor logs for NSW and SW hires, complete quarterly wage budget reports and applicable monthly spending reports, track related budget and labor information, and identify discrepancies or concerns for HR leadership review.
• Ensure hiring and personnel-related documentation is complete, accurate, and retained according to HR procedures.
• Coordinate employee onboarding activities to support a welcoming transition, including ensuring new employees receive Costello swag, providing supervisors with first-week onboarding guidance, and sharing first-few-weeks expectations with new employees.
• Administer Costello Awards by managing nomination, review, and award workflows for internal recognition programs.
• Support George Mason University recognition efforts by partnering with central HR’s Faculty and Engagement team to promote university-wide informal and formal recognition programs, encourage nominations, and coordinate the degree bonus program by reviewing eligibility and processing qualifying academic credential payments.
• Support external awards submissions by tracking external professional or academic awards and maintaining related documentation and deadlines.
• Track and promote professional development opportunities for faculty and staff by maintaining opportunity information, sharing relevant options, monitoring deadlines, and supporting awareness of available learning and development resources.
• Support HR projects focused on improving operational efficiency, accuracy, documentation, and customer service.
• Review current processes and document workflows, identify gaps or duplication, recommend improvements, update tracking tools and templates, and assist with implementation of process changes including automations, Microsoft Forms, dynamic forms, and reporting tools.
• Create and maintain forms to support consistent HR information collection, routing, tracking, and follow-up.
• Strengthen consistency and reduce manual effort through HR team initiatives.
• Provide backup support for recruitment-related activities, including posting assistance, applicant disposition updates, recruitment close-out, organization of recruitment documentation, onboarding coordination, and communication with hiring managers and candidates.
• Provide backup support for position description (PD) processes, including PD updates assistance, formatting, routing, document collection, and tracking to support timely review and submission.
• Provide backup support for schedule-related processes, including schedule update assistance, tracking, documentation, and coordination.
• Assist with maintaining recruitment, PD, and schedule tracking tools and ensure actions follow established HR procedures.
• Provide general administrative support to the HR team, including maintaining electronic files, updating tracking logs, preparing routine correspondence, collecting documents, responding to routine inquiries, supporting special projects, and completing other assigned duties.
• Serve as a backup to other HR team members as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience providing HR, administrative, payroll, hiring, onboarding, employee transition, or records support in a professional office setting.
• Experience maintaining confidential records, tracking hiring actions or personnel transactions, using spreadsheets or databases, communicating with internal and external stakeholders, and coordinating multiple tasks with accuracy and deadline focus.
• Demonstrated experience supporting HR projects, reviewing or documenting workflows, identifying process improvements, and creating Microsoft Forms, dynamic forms, branching forms, or similar workflow tools to improve HR intake, approvals, tracking, reporting, and process documentation.
• Knowledge of general HR practices, hiring processes, onboarding documentation, personnel records, employee transition support, or confidentiality requirements.
• Knowledge of project support, process documentation, workflow review, and process improvement practices, including identifying gaps, duplication, and opportunities to improve accuracy, efficiency, and consistency.
• Skill in Microsoft Office applications, spreadsheets, tracking tools, shared files, and HR systems to organize data, monitor deadlines, and maintain accurate records.
• Skill in creating Microsoft Forms, dynamic forms, templates, and data collection tools supporting accurate information gathering, workflow efficiency, routing, and tracking.
• Ability to manage multiple hiring actions and projects simultaneously while meeting deadlines and maintaining attention to detail.
• Ability to communicate professionally and clearly with faculty, staff, students, hiring managers, candidates, and central HR partners.
• Ability to coordinate onboarding communications and resources for new employees and supervisors, including first-week guidance, employee expectations, and related welcome materials.
• Ability to interpret and follow established policies, procedures, and guidelines, and know when to escalate questions or concerns.

Technologies

• Microsoft Forms
• dynamic forms
• branching forms
• Microsoft Office
• spreadsheets
• databases
• ePAF
• Microsoft dynamic form development
• ePAF submission
• Banner
• MicroStrategy
• Salesforce
• PageUp
• Handshake

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a university or higher education HR environment.
• Experience supporting Graduate Assistant hiring, student wage, non-student wage, Federal Work Study hiring, ePAF processing, recruitment close-out, onboarding communications, HR audits, HR projects, reporting, and process improvement initiatives.
• Experience with George Mason University systems, including Banner, MicroStrategy, Salesforce, PageUp, Handshake, or similar HR and recruitment systems.
• Knowledge of George Mason University HR, payroll, student employment, and hiring systems and procedures.
• Skill in preparing ePAFs, maintaining hiring logs, conducting document audits, and supporting Graduate Assistant, non-student wage, student wage, and Federal Work Study hiring.
• Skill in building Microsoft Forms with branching logic or similar dynamic functionality to streamline HR requests, approvals, documentation, and reporting.
• Ability to identify opportunities for process improvement and develop tools, templates, or workflows that improve accuracy, efficiency, and service delivery.

Application Instructions

• Apply for Human Resources Specialist at https://jobs.gmu.edu/.
• Submit the online application including three professional references with contact information, plus a cover letter and resume.

Posting Details

• Location: Fairfax, VA, United States (hybrid)
• Open date: October 12, 2026
• Apply by (for full consideration): October 23, 2026
• Open until filled: Yes