Top corporations throughout New Jersey, the nation, and the world recognize that graduates of the Rutgers Human Resource Management Master’s program possess extraordinary skills, knowledge, and understanding of the strategic importance of human resource management to business performance.

Student placement is a very important component of the MHRM program. Each year, representatives from numerous Fortune 100 and 500 companies travel to the MHRM site to interview students for HR positions and internships. Many of these corporations do nationwide searches at programs such as ours for high-potential HRM students to enter their HR management associate positions. Our graduates often begin their HR careers with these rotational, high-visibility, fast-track, developmental positions, which lead to managerial positions in the future.

The MHRM department will work with international students to help place them in countries where they have work authorization. There are only limited U.S. job opportunities for international students on F-1 (non-immigrant student) visas, because most companies are not prepared to sponsor new hires for H1-B status (work authorization for up to 6 years).

Companies that have recently hired our students for jobs and internships include GE, IBM, ExxonMobil, AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson and Johnson, Ingersoll Rand, Merck, Wyeth, and American Express.

An HR professional may manage one of the HR functional areas or a general HR unit. A career as a general manager of a business unit is also common. Successful careers often include international experience and involvement in organizational change processes such as mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, and re-engineering.

Facing stiffer competition in the global marketplace, the role of HRM has undergone a concomitant transformation. Much of the “administrivia” has either been engineered out of the job or has been automated. Some of the HR functions have been distributed to general line managers. As a consequence, there is a need for line managers to broaden their knowledge about how to add value to the organization through effective HR strategies.

Starting salaries are competitive with MBA graduates entering HR staff work, in the $50,000-$72,000 range for individuals without experience. Prior HR experience brings higher salaries and more responsible positions. Those students without prior experience who do internships have a greater market value and are frequently offered jobs by the organizations with whom they intern.

As organizations have come to recognize the importance of integrating HRM strategies with business strategy, vice presidents of HR have increasingly become members of corporate executive committees and boards of directors. With this shift in importance has come annual compensation for senior managers in excess of $150,000; in large organizations salaries often substantially exceed this amount.