HR Manager
Run the interview, explain the contract, deliver the feedback — in professional Spanish, out loud.
The contract words split by country, and using the right one signals you know the terrain: Spain's el contrato indefinido is Mexico's contrato por tiempo indeterminado, and in Argentina permanent staff are la planta permanente. Benefits are las prestaciones — in Mexico, las prestaciones de ley is a fixed block of workplace language. Modern offices mix anglicisms freely with the Spanish terms: home office usually beats el teletrabajo, el onboarding competes with la incorporación, and in reviews people dar feedback as often as dar retroalimentación. And mind the register on the hard conversations: despedir, not echar — though outside HR, Mexicans will just say lo corrieron.
Below: the recruitment, contract and performance vocabulary lesson by lesson, the country-by-country terms that trip people up, and a way to learn it with no flashcards — every term used out loud in a live workplace conversation.
The warm-up pack
The words that actually get said in an HR meeting — not the legal term, the one people reach for.
01 · What your neighbor says, not the paperwork word
Lo corrieron.
He got fired. (Mexico, very common outside HR too)
What people actually say on the street — "despidieron" is the paperwork word, "corrieron" is the one your neighbor uses.
02 · How a layoff actually gets described
Le pagaron la indemnización.
They paid him severance.
In Argentina, this is how you'd hear a layoff described casually — the fact of the payment, not the legal term for it.
03 · The acronym everyone in Spain actually uses
El ERE es la sigla que todo el mundo entiende.
The ERE is the acronym everyone understands.
"Expediente de regulación de empleo" is a mouthful nobody says — in Spain, everyone just says "ERE", and now you can too.
04 · How a hiring conversation actually opens
El perfil que buscamos.
The profile we're looking for.
How a hiring conversation actually opens — more natural than the textbook "perfil del candidato".
05 · The benefits block that never breaks apart
Las prestaciones de ley.
The legally required benefits.
The fixed phrase Mexican HR uses for the benefits every employer must provide — say the whole block, it doesn't break apart.
06 · The bonus nobody explains because everyone assumes you know
El aguinaldo entra en cualquier charla de beneficios.
The aguinaldo comes up in any benefits conversation.
A year-end bonus so standard in Argentina that no benefits talk skips it — know the word before someone assumes you already do.
07 · The shorter option that's just as correct
Dar feedback.
To give feedback.
Spanish HR mixes this English loan with "retroalimentación" freely in meetings — either is understood, this one's shorter.
08 · The office version of 'trial period'
Estar a prueba.
To be on probation. (Spain, shortened from "periodo de prueba")
How Spaniards actually talk about the trial period — shorter than the formal term, and what you'll hear in the office.
09 · The opener for a work-life balance conversation
Cuando se habla de balance vida-trabajo.
When we talk about work-life balance...
In Argentina, "la conciliación" alone, no "laboral", is enough once this topic's already on the table.
10 · The everyday way to say it in Spain
Tener una entrevista.
To have an interview.
The plain, everyday way Spaniards say it — no need for the fuller "entrevista de trabajo" every time.
11 · The Mexican swap that sounds like the real thing
El proceso de reclutamiento es más usado.
"Recruitment process" is the more common term.
In Mexico this beats the more formal "proceso de selección" — a small swap that sounds like you actually work in HR there.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/hr-managerRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
Nothing to drill in the HR Manager lessons — you run the meeting, and Olivia feeds you the professional term at the exact moment the conversation needs it. One lesson you're conducting a structured job interview from the hiring side: el perfil del candidato, qualifications, expectations. Another you're presenting new policies on remote work and benefits to employees who have questions about la jornada laboral and el seguro médico. Then the hardest one: a performance review, where you deliver la retroalimentación constructiva, set los objetivos medibles, and keep it human. Out loud, across the desk, with Olivia answering back.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and HR Manager is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
In Spain, el contrato indefinido; Mexico's legal equivalent is el contrato por tiempo indeterminado; and in Argentina being permanent staff is estar en planta permanente. Its counterpart everywhere is el contrato temporal.
Las prestaciones — in Mexico the fixed phrase is las prestaciones de ley, the statutory package. In Argentina any benefits conversation includes el aguinaldo, the mandatory extra salary payment, and a bonus is usually el bono anual rather than la retribución variable.
La evaluación del desempeño — though multinationals across Latin America say el performance review in English. The feedback inside it is la retroalimentación constructiva, and in meetings dar feedback and dar retroalimentación are used interchangeably.
The precise trio: el despido (dismissal), la renuncia (resignation), la indemnización (severance pay). Colloquial Mexico says lo corrieron for 'they fired him', and the final payout package across Latin America is la liquidación.
El periodo de prueba — Spaniards shorten it to estar a prueba. Onboarding is la incorporación, though in tech offices the anglicism el onboarding competes with it head-on.
