From Recruitment to Strategy: How HCMA Shaped Zlavia’s Career

What does HR look like beyond the hiring process? 

For Zlavia Melia Nur Islami, that was the question that led her to the MSc in Human Capital Management and Analytics (HCMA) programme at NUS Business School. With a background rooted in recruitment, she wanted to deepen her understanding of the analytical and strategic dimensions of HR, and the HCMA programme became exactly the bridge that expanded her perspective into broader HR strategy and data-driven decision making. 

The Modules That Left a Mark 

Two modules stood out as particularly formative during her time in the programme. 

The first was People Analytics. What resonated with Zlavia wasn’t just the technical side, but the discipline behind it: starting with a clear hypothesis, identifying relevant variables, building predictive models, and translating insights into recommendations that actually mean something to a business.” The emphasis was not just on running analyses, but on thinking critically about the problem and validating assumptions,” she reflects. 

The second was Compensation and Performance Management. Here, Zlavia worked through building an end-to-end compensation strategy for a fictional company. The exercise required aligning pay philosophy with business goals, designing salary structures, and considering how performance incentives shape employee behaviour. It shifted how she views rewards: not as an isolated HR function, but as something deeply connected to overall business strategy. 

Learning That Goes Beyond the Classroom 

The HCMA programme’s experiential learning component took Zlavia’s education out of the seminar room and into the workplace. 

As a Rewards Intern at Singtel, she got her first real look at corporate compensation in action, and the experience was eye-opening. Seeing firsthand how compensation decisions ripple into performance management, employee engagement, and organisational design helped her connect the dots between different HR functions in a way that coursework alone couldn’t fully capture. 

She also made the most of the broader NUS community. She volunteered as a mentor for NUS Teach SG, worked as a student assistant for an MBA problem-solving class, and through both roles, expanded her network well beyond her own cohort. 

And then there were the friendships. Quarterly engagement activities brought her closer to classmates outside of academic pressure, and hiking trips became some of her most cherished memories from the programme.” 

Beyond academics, the friendships and community were equally meaningful,” she says, a sentiment that speaks to just how much of the HCMA experience happens outside of formal study. 

How HCMA Took Her Career Further 

After graduation, Zlavia made the progression she had been working towards: moving from a recruitment-focused role into HR analytics. The programme gave her the analytical toolkit and the strategic lens to take that step with confidence, along with a clearer understanding of how the different pillars of HR connect and reinforce one another. 

Advice for Future Students 

For those considering the HCMA programme, Zlavia’s advice is straightforward and practical: treat every academic project as a portfolio opportunity.

“Approach every project as if you are presenting to a real business stakeholder,” she says. The work you produce during the programme isn’t just for grades, it’s material you can speak to concretely in interviews, evidence of how you think and how you solve problems. 

A Foundation, Not Just a Qualification 

Zlavia’s journey is a testament to what happens when curiosity meets the right environment. The HCMA programme didn’t just add credentials to her resume. It gave her a new way of thinking about people, organisations, and the role data plays in shaping both. 

For anyone standing at a similar crossroads, her story is proof that the right programme doesn’t just open doors. It changes how you walk through them. 

Interested in joining the MSc in Human Capital Management and Analytics programme? Learn more about the programme here: https://mschcma.nus.edu.sg/