Five Tips for Busting the MBA Bubble: Planning Your Post-MBA Path
The high cost of education, a precarious job market and shrinking salaries have led critics to question whether the MBA truly adds value after graduation. While it’s impossible to definitively answer this question, as with all degrees, an MBA is ultimately what you make of it. Let’s count down five ways to leverage your degree into optimal outcomes through proactive planning which begins before you even step foot into an MBA classroom.
- Student Tips
The high cost of education, a precarious job market and shrinking salaries have led critics to question whether the MBA truly adds value after graduation. Leading the pack? MBA grad Mariana Zanetti. In her self-published book, The MBA Bubble, Zanetti proposes the titular phenomenon based on her own unsuccessful experiences landing a job with b-school credentials.
While it’s impossible to definitively answer the question of whether the MBA adds value, a vast number of experts disagree with Zanetti. After all, as with all degrees, an MBA is ultimately what you make of it. Let’s count down five ways to leverage your degree into optimal outcomes through proactive planning which begins before you even step foot into an MBA classroom.
1. Start early.
MBAs are both intense and expensive. Defaulting to business school -- as opposed to making an educated, informed decision to attend -- is a recipe for failure.
One other thing to keep in mind when pre-planning for your MBA? While real-world experience is suitable for some career paths, others require foundational knowledge only a b-school education can provide. It’s also important to keep in mind that it’s not necessarily an either/or scenario: Many MBA programs create opportunities for hands-on learning -- a boon for employers looking to hire during the skills gap.
2. Write down your goals.
Developing self-awareness about your purpose in pursuing an MBA is only the beginning. The next step? Documenting your goals -- the more measurable the better. Having a clear vision and “game plan” to help you achieve it is an essential part of staying on track. That doesn’t mean your plans can’t change based on new information procured throughout your b-school studies, but it does prevent you from losing sight of the “big picture” along the way.
3. Drill down to skills.
Today’s employers aren’t looking for a pedigree. Rather, they’re looking for people with specific, mission-critical skill sets aimed at helping organizations navigate the complex business world. Once you’ve assessed your goals, your next step is to identify the specific personal and professional skills you’ll need to reach them.
If you already have these skills, what is your agenda in considering business school? If you don’t already have these skills, what’s the best way to acquire them to ensure that you’ll graduate as a stronger candidate?
Ultimately, it’s a matching game. How can you best match your skills to the ones sought-after by your desired employer?
4. Look beyond the textbook.
While there’s plenty of knowledge and skill to be acquired in b-school, there are also benefits beyond conventional classroom learning. We’ve all heard the expression, “It’s all who you know,” and this has no greater significance than in the business world. In getting an MBA degree, you’ll become part of an alumni network with the power to open many doors. This may take some effort on your part -- attending networking events, building a comprehensive social media presence -- but the potential is near-endless. Sure, this has professional payoffs, but it also has personal ones: Many b-school graduates count their former fellow classmates among their very best lifelong friends.
But it’s not just alumni networking, either. B-school students also have access to numerous services unavailable to the outside world. From campus recruiters to career fairs, MBA students have a wealth of resources at their fingertips.
5. Consider internships.
Today’s MBA in Business programs are attuned to the fact that many employers are seeking grads with real-world experiences. In response, they’ve retooled their curricula to integrate opportunities for everything from part-time internships to consulting projects. In addition to offering real, trial-and-error learning, these can also be a foothold or foot in the door on the job hunt.
The truth is that there are indeed b-school grads out there like Mariana Zanetti who have second-guessed their decision to attend business school. There are many others, however, who have parlayed their MBA degrees into career success through proactive planning, initiative and follow-through. These five tips can help get you off to a strong start -- both in b-school and as a future job seeker.
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MBAJoanna Hughes
Author
Joanna worked in higher education administration for many years at a leading research institution before becoming a full-time freelance writer. She lives in the beautiful White Mountains region of New Hampshire with her family.
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