Hunter got involved in various on-campus activities including DAARSTOC and the Bonner Community Scholars program where she completed three international service trips.
Seizing on-campus opportunities led her to Belize.
As a Rider student, Melanie Hunter got involved in everything she could — from volunteering with the Bonner Community Scholars and taking part in DAARSTOC (Developing Administrative Abilities and Resources through Synergistic Training and Organizational Competencies) to serving as president of the Human Resource Management Association. Getting involved on campus also gave Hunter the unique opportunity to travel abroad, with a purpose, taking international service-learning trips to Belize, Dominican Republic and Morocco. If this weren’t enough, on top of her extracurricular commitments, she maintained full-time studies as a human resource management major, two part-time jobs and internships. Though juggling her commitments proved to be challenging, Hunter found success in this balancing act.
From there, Hunter’s experiences continued to take her on a rollercoaster ride — literally.
“My very first summer internship, I had while at Rider, was with Six Flags Great Adventure on their Human Resources team. Six Flags was the largest seasonal employer in New Jersey so that summer I helped hire over 1,500 employees. It was my first experience in recruiting. I also got to ride roller coasters and help plan company parties.”
In addition to her work with Six Flags Great Adventure, Hunter continued to explore her field and build experience through a year-long co-op with cosmetics giant L’Oreal in their Human Resources department. “During this internship, I helped hire other co-ops, plan employee engagement events and assist with the performance review process.”
At Rider, I learned the importance of getting involved, working hard and giving back to my community."
Recruiter, Google
When it came to business, her Rider education bridged the gap between theory and practice.
“I found the classes that I needed to take for my human resources and management and leadership majors to be so relevant to the work I was doing at my internships and when I entered the professional workforce.”
Hunter further took advantage of Rider’s small learning environment by forging meaningful relationships with her professors. One class, in particular, she found extremely valuable was “Selection and Training” taught by the Dean of the Norm Brodsky College of Business Dr. Gene Kutcher, “I use the concepts that I learned in that class every single day in my current role.”
I found the classes that I needed to take for my human resources and management and leadership majors to be so relevant to the work I was doing at my internships and when I entered the professional workforce.”
Recruiter, Google
In the end, she leveraged her academic and cultural experiences to land her dream job.
After graduation, Hunter's career success continued after accepting a job with Bloomberg LP. Based in Princeton, she started as a recruiting coordinator but was soon promoted. After five years of amazing opportunities there, including relocating to Hong Kong for a year, Hunter decided it was time to try something new. She moved to Philadelphia and started work with Comcast NBCUniversal with their recruiting team. Then, in July 2021 she received the call of her dreams. “I received a job offer from Google. Google was a dream company of mine so even though I liked my previous role, I didn't want to pass up the opportunity.”
Now, after working at Google for just over a year, she continues to enjoy incredible experiences as a professional recruiter for the tech giant, including the ability to travel around the world to represent the company at various technology conferences. Most recently, she has found herself traveling to San Diego, California, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, on behalf of the company. In addition to the travel, Hunter spends most of her professional time working with Google's Ph.D. recruiting team to help pending Ph.D. software engineers secure their first full-time jobs.
Norm Brodsky College of Business
Named a College of Distinction, Rider’s Norm Brodsky College of Business is one of only two colleges in New Jersey with dual-AACSB accreditation. With expert faculty who bring their industry experience to the classroom and immersive and experiential learning opportunities, we help students to build valuable skills for the career they desire.