Careers within the human resource (HR) field, whether it be as a manager or specialist, have grown rapidly over the past few years and likely will continue to grow.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs within the HR field are going to grow by seven to nine percent each year over the next nine years.

Kimberly Zacherl, Program Director of the Human Resource Management major, is proud to announce that the HR program at Mercyhurst was approved to be realigned with the Society for Human Resource Management through 2025. Mercyhurst University is the only school in Erie are that offers a bachelor’s degree program in Human Resource Management.

“A Human Resource Management degree qualifies students to work in virtually every industry since every business needs strong human resource leaders,” said Zacherl. “The people best poised to land these jobs are college graduates, especially those with a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management.”

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has been providing education, certification and networking opportunities to its members, all while lobbying Congress for issues related to labor management.

Being recognized by SHRM guarantees that the Human Resource Program at Mercyhurst is up to date with the latest changes in the field and have access to beneficial resources. Another advantage of SHRM’s endorsement is that students are able to apply to the SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) exam earlier than students who attend a school that has an HR program not endorsed by SHRM.

SHRM has over 300,000 HR and business executive members in 165 countries. Their large scale allows them to impact the lives of more than 115 million workers and families globally.

The SHRM certification is one of the top Human Resource credentials recognized in the market today. Since students whose school is aligned with SHRM have access to the exam earlier, those students who pass the exam and receive their certification are ahead of their competition right out of college.

Nowadays, more and more companies are looking to hire HR professionals who are certified onto their staff. Over 5,000 employers are seeking SHRM credential holders every month.

Additionally, SHRM has represented 140 million employees worldwide and supported 100,000 employers.

To be eligible to take the exam, students must meet some requirements. They should be in their last year of school and have at least 500 hours of HR relevant experience. Qualified hours can be found in these areas: internships in HR, HR work-study assignments, directed HR work-related projects, directed HR research-related projects, supervised independent student in HR or part-time or fulltime work in HR.

The HR field is an important piece of the workforce and it is very diverse in terms of what industries you can enter. Students interested in the program can reach out to Zacherl at kzacherl@mercyhurst. edu or 814-824- 3042.