Human Resources Postgrad/Masters

michaelflynn61

I'm looking at doing a postgrad/masters in Human Resource Management and am looking for some advice from some people in the know. I have a 1.1 BA in Mathematical Studies and Philosophy from UCC which I got in 2007. Since then I have done some travelling and worked in the aviation industry (but not in HR). HR is something that I have always wanted to get into and feel that now is the right time for me.

I've been looking at a few different courses. Ones like Industrial Relations and Resource Management in NUIG and Human Resource Management in both UCD and DCU.

I am just wondering if I will be able to get into a HR course with my background and experience since it is not directly related to it. Would appreciate any advice from anyone in the know about how best to go about this and any suggestions of what courses are best would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

Cicero

Hi MF61

I don't want to put you off any area of study or course or knock your confidence or ambition to succeed but maybe consider the following first:

1. A lot of HR professionals are recruited in large companies from "experienced" staff with a solid business background
2. The traditional "personnel" manager has long passed and has been replaced by a more strategic, business focused HR business partnership approach where expertise in business is valued equally as high if not higher than HR professional knowledge.
3. Jobs in this area are much harder to come by and there's lots of people out there with the skills and knowledge considering the downturn in the economy.

It's entirely up to you of course, but IMO, I couldn't see you walking into a HR role with just an academic qualification in the current economic environment.

Other posters may provide you with a more positive perspective/outlook. The Skills/knowledge you learn will of course help you no matter what area of business you move into, but there may be more "employable" Masters options for you at this point in your career?
HR is something you could do at a later stage if you still felt strongly about it.

michaelflynn61

Thanks very much for your input. You're not raining on my parade at all. Opinions like this are very welcomed and important to me in making my plans and decisions so thanks you for it. There are indeed some other areas of study that I am looking at, public relations being one of them and I do have plenty of time to research and get as much information as possible.

Cicero

Best of luck with your choice, whatever it is...your degree is high caliber (1.1) and to have maths could open so many doors for you and has so many applications...very hard to give you advice at all to be honest as to what to study but as you say, a bit of research on your part is the best first step...from an employment perspective, a course that was some way connected to the areas of medical engineering, alternative energies or analytics might help your employment prospects but of course, no point in studying for something you have no interest in either.
Cheers.

michaelflynn61

Yeah, unfortunately they are not really areas that I am interested in. Thanks a million for the advice. It's very much appreciated - have to see all sides to the coin before making a decision!