HRM Master Students after Graduation
In 2019, the university conducted an alumni survey aimed at students formerly enrolled in the Master Programme in Strategic Human Resource Management and Labour Relations. The purpose was to find out how former students evaluate their education, and also to see what kind of jobs they found after graduation.
The survey targeted alumni who were enrolled between 2010–2018. A total of 43 answered. Since the programme has an international approach, they have their origin in 16 different countries, six of them outside the European Union.
Where do the HRM Alumni Work?
Before beginning their master studies 81 % of the students had some kind of work experience while 21 % had no work experience at all. It seems as though it has been relatively easy for the students to find a job after their studies. 23 % of the respondents already had a job when they finished the programme, and within a year all but 5 % had a job.
The majority of the alumni (71 %) work in the private sector with almost equal shares in manufacturing and services. But the alumni are also employed by state authorities (10 %), as well as counties and municipalities (11 %). A few also works for non profit organisations (3 %).
Two thirds of the alumni work in rather large organisations with over 500 employees.
Common Job Titles
The most common job titles are, not surprising, HR related:
- HR specialist (28 %),
- HR business partner (21 %)
- HR manager or HR consultant (10 %)
- As well as HR generalist, HR administrator and Administrative Manager.
Other job titles include Project Manager, Research Officer, Freight Forwarder and Supply Chain Engineer.
Not surprisingly, the alumni have wound up in different countries after graduating. For example: Australia, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom. However, two-thirds of them work in Sweden, which indicates that a number of students that came from abroad are now working in Sweden.
What is Their Work About?
When asked what they do at work, about half of the alumni stated that internal and external communication, leadership and organisational development, strategic development and change issues, and staffing, recruitment and dismissal are task they perform on a daily basis.
Many also work with skills development, internal education, strategic skills supply, employer branding, salaries, benefits, pension, labour law, negotiations, and agreements.
Examples of competencies they say they have great use for in their work roles are the ability to:
- independently identify, formulate and solve problems
- cooperate with others to solve assignments
- perform tasks within given time frames
- make oral presentations
- independently gather new information
- analyse qualitative information
- argue and discuss with stakeholders regarding important issues
When asked about their job satisfaction the majority of the alumni say they are quite satisfied with their work. Also, most of the alumni are content with their wage. 86 % say they are either extremely satisfied (53 %) or somewhat satisfied (33 %) with their choice of profession.
Would They Recommend the Programme?
Overall, the alumni are content with their choice studies. 90 % of the respondents assert that they are either extremely or somewhat satisfied with their programme studies, and almost half of them say their studies has been extremely or very useful in their professional roles. The absolute majority agrees that the programme to a great extent has improved their understandings, abilities or capacities to work with advanced HR tasks.
A total of 93 % would recommend the master's programme to others.