Landing a Job After
Your MBA
Even
before you start an MBA, take steps to maximize the chances of getting a great
job when you graduate.
It
goes without saying that for the vast majority of MBA students, the primary
goal is to get a great job after graduation.
A
job certainly isn’t something that is handed to you when you get your diploma,
but there are concrete steps you can take to maximize your chances. Here are
five things you can do, starting right now, to get the best job you can after
you graduate.
Landing a
post-MBA career takes a bit of direction
1.
Start early
It’s
never too early to start the process.
Thinking
about your motivations for pursuing an MBA, and considering what you want to do
after you finish, is a good way to start, even before you apply to MBA
programs.
And
indeed, many business schools can help with this process, even before you set
foot on campus.
“We
try to engage with our students right from the minute they apply for the
program,” says Sue Thorn, the director of “CareerPlus,” the career development
department at Warwick Business School.
Before
they start the program, students enrolling in the MBA at Syracuse University’s
Whitman School of Management participate in a series of self-assessment
activities that are designed to help them analyze their strengths and prepare
for their career search.
“It's
really helpful for students to do a lot of self-reflection and engagement in
research on career choices prior to actually coming into their MBA program,”
says Angela Petrucco, the assistant dean for career services at Whitman.
Because once you start an MBA, having clear career goals will help you make
important decisions, such as which electives to take and which networking
events to attend.
Starting
early has the added benefit of helping to narrow down your MBA search. For
instance, if you know you want to work in the United States after graduation,
you might decide to focus on US-based business schools, rather than those in
other countries.
Think
about what you want to do after your MBA
2.
Know yourself
“For
any individual, the first step in successfully managing a career is knowing
what you want, and if you have the skills needed to get it,” according to
Yvonne Li, the director of admissions and career services at China’s CEIBS.
Indeed,
knowing what you can offer to potential employers can help you hone your career
path. But it’s also about knowing what you want out of a job, as well as what
workplace aspects you’re not prepared to compromise on.
According
to Warwick’s Sue Thorn, a prospective MBA should ask herself, “If I had a blank
piece of paper, what would my starting point be? What would my ideal role be?”
To
do this, there are a variety of tools, such as the Keirsey personality
assessment test and other career assessment tests, which can be helpful.
Business
schools' career services departments can help with the nuts and bolts of
landing a job
3.
Set realistic
career goals
Armed
with a better sense of self-awareness, you can start thinking about what you
want to be doing after you finish your MBA. Take somebody who has been working
as a scientist, for example. The scientist might ask herself what her assets
and transferable skills are.
The
scientist might decide that, based on her interests and having accrued a set of
analytical skills in her work, she might be best equipped to go into marketing,
or perhaps another quant-heavy field like finance.
For
some students, it can be challenging to think outside of the box.
“I
think one of the biggest challenges,” says Warwick’s Sue Thorn, “is following
their own career path rather than following the crowd.”
“It's
quite easy to get swept up in thinking that, 'oh, everyone is applying for
investment banking or consulting, perhaps I should do that.’”
In
this sense, it’s important to research a number of different career paths and
even meet with people working in a variety of different fields, in order to get
a sense of what’s out there.
4.
Leverage
internships and other hands-on experiences
For
many MBA students, internships are one of the most effective ways to land a
job. Indeed, according to a recent corporate recruiters survey from GMAC, some
85 percent of the surveyed companies who had MBA interns last year ended up
offering full-time positions to these individuals.
This
is because many companies see the internship almost like an “extended
interview” where you can actually prove your worth on the fly.
But
perhaps more importantly, an internship can be used to add skills to beef-up
your profile.
For
example, Whitman’s MBA students can take advantage of consulting projects with
real companies, where “they're applying the business skills that they're
learning in the classroom to real-life problems, and they're gaining experience
that they didn't have prior,” according to Angela Petrucco.
Job
fairs and networking events are great places to get leads on a post-MBA job
5.
Stand out by
taking advantage of b-school resources
All
legitimate business schools have some kind of career services support. This can
include everything from leadership-development seminars to networking events.
Networking,
in particular, can be a great way to generate career ideas and find job leads.
Networking
can start early on in your studies. For instance, each September, CEIBS’ career
development center organizes a “Career Exploration Day” for incoming students.
“We
invite business leaders/CEIBS alumni to share their expertise on various
industries/functions, individual career planning and job searching strategies,”
according to Yvonne Li.
Many
career services departments will also help with the nuts and bolts of the job
search process: the resume prep, the cover letters, and even the interviews.
According to Angela Petrucco, staff at Whitman’s career center will do
one-on-one mock interviews with MBA students; and students even have the option
of using an online system to record their interviews and review them later.
These
and other resources are there for every MBA student, and taking advantage of
them during your program will help give you a leg-up during your job search.
Because landing a job, in the end, is about more than just the degree.
“Most
recruiters post-MBA are not just looking for someone who gets high academic
marks,” says Warwick’s Sue Throne, so “take as many opportunities as you can to
meet as many people, and really embrace everything that the MBA can offer you.”
“Because
what you're trying to do is stand out, rather than just say that you have an
MBA.”
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