Recruiting the Recruiters: MBAs and the HR industry

In terms of MBA job opportunities, the HR industry is in rude health. The 2012/13 QS TopMBA.com Jobs & Salary Trends Report shows that the volume of job opportunities in recruitment and HR increased by 33% between in 2011/12 and a further 25% in 2012/13.

In total, 13% of vacancies reported by the 3,305 actively hiring MBA employers on whose responses the 2012/13 survey is based were in HR/recruitment; a higher figure than even consulting (12%). In fact, only the financial services/banking (26%) sector could boast a higher volume of job opportunities.

Remuneration is also competitive. If you worked in the recruitment or HR industry for a European or North American firm, you would stand to earn an average of US$81,550 supplemented by a tidy bonus of US$17,650, bringing the total to US$99,200.

So, for those looking to move into the sector or those already in it and looking to upskill alike the outlook is sunny – actively hiring employers are looking for MBAs to fill their recruitment roles, and they will compensate you handsomely for it too. And there is certainly interest from those pursuing the degree, particularly among female applicants, 11.2% of whom aim to move into the sector according to the 2013 QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey.

HR tracks, HR electives and HR courses

Of course, figures like this do not come from nowhere; there must be some reason why the HR industry values recruitment professionals with MBAs so highly. Perhaps the most obvious of these is justifiable self-perpetuation. Those responsible for hiring recruitment professionals at these firms will often be MBAs themselves, and will therefore understand the value the degree imparts – a cycle which continues when the new hires take responsibility for hiring the next cycle of HR professionals.

It makes a lot of sense in this still tough climate, in which prudent hiring practice is especially pertinent, to seek out those possessed of the nuanced understanding of the intricacies of people management in general and human resources specifically that an MBA will provide.

Indeed, human resources play a large part in MBA curricula around the world – in core modules, electives and specialized tracks.

Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business is an example of a school which offers an HR track – the human resource management MBA concentration according to their nomenclature – which sees students take classes at MSU’s respected School of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The HR track covers areas such as negotiation and conflict, human resource staffing and compensation. Part of learning on the course takes place through a state of the art team effectiveness lab, in which there are three five-person computer networks which run specialized simulation software which models relevant real-world scenarios.

At the MIT Sloan School of Management, on the other hand, HR electives are what is on offer, in the form of a package of industrial relations and human resource management options, which include ‘negotiation and conflict management’, which presents negotiation theory in an employment context, looking at conflict – including special cases such as whistleblowing and racism – from a first and third person perspective, and ‘urban labor markets and human resource management’, which looks at broad trends in the labor market, the organization of work within firms and public and private training policy.

On IE Business School in Spain’s 13 month International MBA program, human resources is included in the core courses. These HR courses consist of organizational behavior, looking at the relationship-building challenges faced by managers, communication skills, which looks at finding a clear, authentic voice, and talent management, which focuses on how to make human resources support an organization’s strategic objectives.

Peer-to-peer learning

In addition to pedagogy, MBAs facilitate peer-to-peer learning. Famously, the MBA is a degree in which students learn as much from their peer group as from their professors. The vast majority of those on reputable programs, which demand a good few years of management experience, will have had experience of dealing with recruitment and human resources issues. It also likely that some HR professionals will also number amongst the student group too. 

Therefore, an HR professional stands to learn a lot from their fellow students, who will have worked in different fields and are likely to hail from different countries with different attitudes and approaches (top schools boast extremely diverse cohorts). And, of course, sharing your own knowledge with other professionals will also help you consolidate your own knowledge – “The best way to learn is to teach,” as Frank Oppenheimer famously put it.

For the human resources professional looking to move up in their career, the professional looking to move into the HR industry or simply the generalist looking to consolidate their managerial skillset and become the complete package, the MBA could therefore be a great career option.