I’ve got a few friends who graduated from these colleges, according to their experience, the key to any choice is whether you are comfortable with it or not.

XLRI has by far the best faculty in HR in Asia. Some of the professors have made frameworks taught across the world.

Almost every alumni from XLRI is an HR in a great organization in a great position is from XL. Your career progression would be very very fast. Once you join XL, there is no going back. Although you can switch from HR to Sales/Marketing, later on.

Seeing the other side of things, IIMK is a world-class institution offering the standard PGP course in General Management that all IIMs offer. As compared to HRM, there is a wide variety of specialization from operations to marketing to finance and consulting. The decision can be made post the first trimester with the help of seniors and faculty who are well versed with the ins and outs of every field.

Another important question is about switching from one function to another. Yes, it is possible to switch from HR to another function but the expectations would be on the lines of HR to Sales & Marketing because of the similarities in the work that both of these functions do.

HRM is not all about transferring people or paying salaries, etc. It’s how to leverage the human resource of an organization strategically to provide a competitive advantage. This is what HRs from XLRI are expected to do in their respective organizations.

To summarize, go for HRM if interested in the field. If you’re not yet sure about what else to do, go for IIMK and make the choice later.