MA-HRIR Alumnus Pursues Passion for Working with People

Marc Gauthier, ’12 HRIR, emerged from his undergraduate education eager to put his political science background to work on Capitol Hill – he landed a position working for the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs after graduation. But after moving to Washington D.C., he found the job was not a perfect fit, and stepped away from politics to re-evaluate his career path. In the meantime, Gauthier began working at a restaurant, where much to his surprise, he derived considerable satisfaction from training and developing new employees.

“I learned about training individuals, and what that really entailed,” he says. “I also learned customer service skills, and that’s what HR is really all about. If you can manage a tough guest situation and turn it into a positive interaction , you can really work with any employee you need to support.”

In his next position, Gauthier worked for Envision, implementing and managing leadership conferences geared toward high school students. As he progressed to increasingly challenging roles within the organization, he most enjoyed the HR-like portions of his job, which included staffing, training, development, and coaching. Based on advice from a respected mentor, Gauthier began exploring a long-term career in human resources.

“I knew I needed to further my education, and the Carlson School felt like the best fit,” he says.

In 2010, Gauthier began the Full-Time MA-HRIR program. Today, he is a Senior HR Generalist at Honeywell, and supports employees in Building Solutions business. He says his success stemmed from the time he spent interacting with expert professors in the classroom and from the network he formed at the Carlson School. Gauthier formed lifelong bonds with HRIR students and forged valuable connections to MBA students who would someday share his workplace.

“You’re not going to get a more well-rounded education in any other program,” he says. “At Carlson, you’ll take classes with MBA students, who you’ll build relationships with and who will be your peers when you enter the workforce -- these will be your colleagues for life.”