Meet HR-Expert Amber Trail – Founder of The HR Trail
Amber Trail, MBA, SHRM-CP is the founder and consultant for her human resources consulting company, The HR Trail, LLC. With over a decade of HR experience and a master’s degree in Business Administration, Amber brings her passion and knowledge of human resources to small businesses nationwide. She realized that not all businesses need nor can they afford a full-time HR professional, and that's why she decided to create The HR Trail. To provide various human resource consulting services such as recruitment, coaching, company handbook development, event planning, and more. Her motto is creativity + passion = purpose, and she thrives on successfully helping small businesses accomplish their human resources needs!
Hey Amber! Please introduce yourself.
I like to describe myself as a woman who wears many hats with a passionate and resilient mindset. One of my many hats happens to be a mom of three very rambunctious boys! All under the age of 12. Most days they drive me crazy but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
I reside in South Central Pennsylvania, USA in a very small town that isn’t really a town at all. I love where I live though because it’s peaceful and quiet. It’s the kind of town that you would let your kids ride their bikes to the neighbor’s house, which happens to be about one mile down the road. We live in a very serene and beautiful woodsy/farmland area. My husband and I have lived here for three years. Living in the country, you would think we have a mini-farm but alas, we don’t. We have a beautiful, yet large, Great Pyrenees dog and two cats. All outdoors, even though our male cat would prefer to be inside sleeping on the couch all day!
What is it that you do for your clients?
I provide a virtual service for my clients that handles all aspects of human resources. Most small businesses don’t have the resources or need for a full-time or part-time human resource professional and that is where I come in - to fill that need! Instead of them finding their information on the Internet that could be potentially wrong and hold them legally negligible in the long run, I provide them with real-life HR experiences, solutions, and suggestions. One of my favorite services that we offer is recruitment. I love the feeling of filling a position with someone who is passionate about what they do. This is the growth factor in their own career as well as contributing their knowledge and expertise into their new position.
There are two other services that we offer to our clients who are coaching and consulting. Obviously, as an HR company, we provide HR consulting to the many questions that arise by being a small business owner. The other piece of that is coaching. Some of our clients want to handle it all on their own. Even though sometimes we advise against this, we will help coach them into a role that will enhance their experience in their HR role as a business owner as well as learning to set goals for themselves and their employees.
Who should hire/work with you?
We work with any industry but we specialize in small businesses that have less than 75 employees. With this employee limit, we find that they currently do not have an HR professional in their workforce. We can help shape or re-organize the structure of an HR department without an actual HR department. We create systems and processes for our clients to run their business efficiently and effectively in regards to compliance and building up their current team members morale.
What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
I can’t really say where I would like to be 10 years from now. My goals change all the time. I’m still growing and learning what I am passionate about. Considering I have been in human resources for almost 12 years now, I can’t imagine doing anything else other than growing that passion and building a personal brand of helping people be and feel successful. I love helping women grow into their full potential and bringing forth their passion by empowering them to remove fear out of the equation. I am excited to see what that will look like in the future but I tend to live in the moment so I can soak up everything happening now!
