Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialist Career Assessment
Setting fair pay and running the benefits
Welcome
These specialists decide what a job should pay and run the health insurance and retirement plans. They also write job descriptions and compare them to what other employers pay.
It is a small, focused corner of human resources. You will explore what the work is really like and whether it fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialist?
This job has three parts. Compensation means pay: what each job is worth and how raises work. Benefits means health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off. Job analysis means studying what a job actually involves and writing it down in a job description. The work runs on spreadsheets, salary survey data, and careful reading of plan rules.
The Reality: This is not a first job. Almost nobody is hired straight into it. People get here after a few years in human resources or payroll, and most postings ask for a bachelor's degree. North Dakota is also small for this title: the state has roughly 100 of these workers and about 10 openings a year. Plan on working in a bigger city or for a large employer, or plan on doing this as one part of a broader HR job.
Your Responsibilities:
- Study what jobs are worth and set pay ranges
- Compare your employer's pay to salary survey data
- Write and update job descriptions
- Run open enrollment for health insurance each year
- Explain benefits to employees in plain words
- Make sure pay and benefits follow the law
- Track retirement plan contributions and paperwork
- Build spreadsheets and reports for managers
You are the reason a paycheck and a benefits packet are fair and correct.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Pull a salary survey report. Compare it to what your company pays welders.
9:00 AM — Write a new job description with the shop supervisor.
10:30 AM — Answer employee questions about the new deductible.
11:30 AM — Check a retirement plan file for missing contributions.
12:00 PM — Lunch.
12:45 PM — Build a spreadsheet showing what a 3% raise would cost the whole company.
2:30 PM — Meet with the insurance broker about next year's plan options.
4:30 PM — Email a summary of the meeting to your manager.
Quiet desk work with numbers, plus a busy stretch every year at enrollment time.
Training in North Dakota
Most jobs ask for a bachelor's degree plus a few years of human resources or payroll experience. There is no license. The usual route is an HR or payroll job first, then this specialty. A degree in human resources, business, or accounting fits. WorldatWork offers the main compensation credential, and you can start those courses while you work.
Training Pathways:
- Work your way over (3 to 5 years): Start as a payroll clerk or HR assistant. Volunteer for the benefits enrollment work every year. That experience is what employers want here.
- Bachelor's degree (4 years): Human resource management, business administration, or accounting. This is what most postings ask for, and the accounting background helps with the numbers side.
- Degree plus a compensation credential (about 5 years): Finish the bachelor's, then work through the WorldatWork CCP courses. That combination is what large employers look for.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Management major, B.S., minimum 120 credits. The Human Resources Management track requires Compensation Management (MGMT 452), which is the core course for this career — catalog.ndsu.edu
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Human Resource Management, B.B.A., 120 credits, on campus or online. UND states the program covers staffing, compensation, training and development, and performance appraisals, and follows SHRM curriculum guidelines — und.edu
- Valley City State University (Valley City) — Business Administration, Human Resource & Management Concentration, 120 credits. The catalog lists Compensation and Benefits Specialist as a career path for the concentration — catalog.vcsu.edu
- Minot State University (Minot) — Management, B.S., 120 credits, on campus or online, with a Human Resources Management concentration that includes Talent Management and People Analytics — minotstateu.edu
- North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton and Fargo) — Business Management, AAS, Administration and Finance emphasis, 61 credits. A good two-year start with accounting and Human Resource Management — catalog.ndscs.edu
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Management, AAS, 60 to 61 credits, with Human Resource Management required — catalog.bismarckstate.edu
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. You must be comfortable with regular math, percentages, and spreadsheets. You do not need calculus. You do need to be exact, because a mistake here shows up in someone's paycheck.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.
Certification & Licensing
No license is required. The CCP from WorldatWork is the main credential. WorldatWork is the professional group for pay and benefits work. The general HR credentials from HRCI and SHRM also count here, and they are easier to start with.
Credentials You Might Get:
- CCP (WorldatWork) — Certified Compensation Professional. WorldatWork calls it the premier qualification for compensation, HR, and total rewards professionals who want to specialize in employee compensation design and management, and has offered it since 1976 (worldatwork.org)
- CCP structure — the updated program requires 8 courses and exams, down from 10. WorldatWork says there is no required order for completing the courses, so you can fit them around a job (worldatwork.org)
- CCP entry — the WorldatWork page does not list a degree or years-of-experience requirement, and describes the credential as suited to people entering the field as well as those already managing compensation programs (worldatwork.org)
- aPHR (HRCI) — a good first credential while you are still in payroll or HR. HRCI states no HR experience and no degree are required (hrci.org)
- SHRM-CP (SHRM) — no degree and no prior HR experience required. Useful if you plan to stay broad in HR rather than specialize (shrm.org)
- PHR (HRCI) — 4 years of professional-level HR experience with no degree, or 2 years plus a bachelor's, or 1 year plus a master's (hrci.org)
The Exams: The CCP is earned by passing an exam for each of the 8 required courses rather than one long test. The HRCI exams are given at Pearson VUE centers or online: the aPHR is 1 hour 45 minutes with 65 scored questions, and the PHR is 2 hours with 90 scored questions (worldatwork.org, hrci.org).
Cost: WorldatWork does not publish CCP course and exam prices on its public overview page, and its full requirements page is members only, so call and ask before you plan a budget. HRCI lists the aPHR at $300 plus a $100 application fee and the PHR at $395 plus $100.
Keeping It Current: WorldatWork recertifies through credits, but the public page does not state the renewal period, so ask them directly. HRCI credentials last three years: 45 credits for the aPHR, 60 for the PHR (hrci.org).
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialist Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $24.04–$27.63/hour ($50,010–$57,470/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $33.88/hour ($70,480/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $41.70–$49.82/hour ($86,730–$103,620/year)
What that means: The middle North Dakota worker in this job earns about $33.88 an hour, or about $70,480 a year. Treat these numbers carefully: North Dakota has only about 100 people in this title, so a small sample drives the figures and they can swing from year to year. North Dakota also pays less than the country here. The national middle is about $37.60 an hour and the national top tenth reaches about $61.98, well above North Dakota's $49.82. The top pay in this field is in large corporate offices, and North Dakota has few of them.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 100 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 100 (about 8% growth). Expect about 10 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 5% growth — faster than average.
Outlook: Fair, but very small. About 10 openings a year in the whole state. The percent growth looks fine, but 8% of 100 jobs is not many. Most people reach this work as part of a broader HR job at a hospital, a large employer, or state government.
Who Hires in ND: Large hospitals and health systems, North Dakota state government, universities, big banks and insurance companies, energy companies, large manufacturers, and benefits and insurance brokers.
Work Setting: An office, almost always indoors at a desk. Much of the work is solo with spreadsheets. Some of these jobs can be done remotely because the work is data, not foot traffic.
Physical Demands: Low. Long stretches of sitting and screen time. Eye, wrist, and back strain are the real risks. A good chair, a sit-stand desk, a second monitor, and screen magnification or reading software are ordinary requests.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-1141); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Payroll or HR Assistant — The usual first job while you learn.
Path 2: Benefits Specialist — Focus on insurance and retirement plans.
Path 3: Compensation Analyst — Focus on pay ranges and salary data.
Path 4: Senior Compensation Analyst — Handle harder jobs and bigger studies.
Path 5: Total Rewards Manager — Run pay and benefits together.
Path 6: HR Director — Lead the whole people department.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Quiet, focused desk work
- Numbers with clear right answers
- Your work shows up in real paychecks
- Remote work is realistic
- Pay above the ND average
- A respected specialty inside HR
What's Hard:
- Only about 10 ND openings a year
- Not an entry-level job
- Most postings want a bachelor's
- Mistakes hit people's money
- Busy and stressful at enrollment time
- Top pay is out of state
Be Honest: Are you willing to spend a few years in payroll or general HR first? Can you be exact with numbers when a mistake means someone's paycheck is wrong? Can you accept that North Dakota has very few of these jobs?