Couple that whopping expense with
concurrent lost income, and the prospect of dropping out of the workforce for
two years or juggling a job and evening
classes becomes even scarier, especially
when opportunities are in short supply.
Just 40 percent of students in full-time, two-year MBA programs had a
job offer in hand before graduating
last spring, according to the Graduate
Management Admission Council’s
survey of about 5,300 students at 147
business schools. That’s down from
50 percent in 2009 and 62 percent in
2008. Among part-time MBA students,
just 22 percent had job offers before
graduating this spring, compared with
38 percent in 2009.
Adam Siegel spent 18 months looking
for a job after earning his MBA from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sloan School of Management. Consulting work helped pay the bills until Siegel
landed a position he was enthusiastic
about: vice president of sustainability
and retail operations for the Retail
Industry Leaders Association, a trade
group in Washington, D. C.
Despite his lengthy quest for a job,
Siegel, 28, says spending two years
forging connections with a dynamic
group of leaders-in-training and professors with industry contacts was a
priceless opportunity.
“It’s been invaluable right from the
get-go to interact with people I’ve known
since business school,” he says.
Building a network of colleagues is
one of the key benefits of obtaining an
MBA, especially if it’s from a prestigious
school, says Terry R. Bacon, who’s writ-
ten extensively about business power
and influence and is the scholar-in-
residence at the Korn/Ferry Institute.
A degree from an impressive school is
“a way of branding yourself, and there’s
no question there’s a greater value to
some MBAs than others.”
Recruiters look favorably on MBAs,
provided candidates also have practi-
cal experience that complements their
education. Although all MBA programs
include exercises in teamwork and lead-
ership training as well as internships and
consulting opportunities, school is
no substitute for
in-the-trenches
know-how.
“I think an
MBA loses its luster when it’s not
backed up by good,
practical experience,” says Sean P.
Murphy, president
of Management
Search Inc. in
Hartford, Conn., a recruiter specializing
in aerospace and defense companies
such as Boeing, General Electric and
Lockheed Martin.
Employers like to see at least five to
seven years of industry experience on
top of an MBA. That combination signals
that an engineer with a technical background has learned to become a critical
thinker and strategist—key skills for
moving into a leadership role.
Business schools, too, favor applicants
with experience in the workforce. Three-quarters of the 800 students who make up
the Wharton School’s class of 2012 have
spent at least three years as employees.
Their average age is 28. Business school
applicants with professional experience
tend to have a more accurate understanding of the skills they’re lacking and
how they’ll leverage their graduate education to close those gaps. They also may
realize that they need more diverse skills
to launch a company, step into a leadership role in their current field or take
their experience in a new direction.
“Previously, we rarely saw engineers
transitioning to marketing firms. It was
unheard of,” says Robert H. Smith’s Kang.
Marketing companies have been
hungry for engineers with exceptional
analytical skills to organize data and
make strategic decisions. Nonprofits and
foundations also are clamoring for the
skills that MBAs possess and, increasingly, so are companies concerned about
sustainability (see sidebar).
Nathalie S. Butcher left her financial analyst job at General Mills Inc. in
2004 to attend business school at the
MI T Sloan School of Management. She
planned to transition into operations
work. But during graduate school,
ON THE
VALUE OF
AN MBA:
“I wouldn’t
be here if I
didn’t have
that business
background and
that perspective.”
—NATHALIE BUTCHER
a three-month internship doing relief
work in Indonesia led to a new interest:
overseeing relief supply logistics.
“I realized in Indonesia I could help
more people from behind a computer
than in the field,” says Butcher, who
spent three years with the United
Nations coordinating the distribution
of relief supplies in Sudan. She recently
joined a nonprofit institute that does
similar work.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have
that business background and that
perspective,” she says of her education
and experience.
However, prospective MBA students
need to be realistic, cautions Randi Bus-sin, a Boston-based career coach who
works with midcareer clients. An MBA
alone won’t open any doors, particularly
if you’re making a radical career change.
It can’t guarantee you a promotion or
a job in your current field, and it’s no
shield against layoffs, either.
Those who opt not to go the MBA
route aren’t necessarily at a disadvantage. Experience, networking and
impressive accomplishments continue
to open doors and wow both current
managers and prospective employers.
“If you have the degree without the
performance, you’re sunk,” says the Korn/
Ferry Institute’s Bacon. “If you have the
performance without the degree, you can
still be wildly successful.”
