Driving your career with an MBA

Career growth will always be a priority for executives, whether they are looking to stay in their current job, change industry or function, or move to […]

Career growth will always be a priority for executives, whether they are looking to stay in their current job, change industry or function, or move to a different region of the world altogether. Studying for an MBA will enable you to focus better on your personal and professional goals by learning the one elusive skill that is most in demand: career management.

At this early stage, you may need to decide on which MBA format would be best for you. Full-time MBAs are typically designed for people looking to change job functions or sectors, or even start new careers in a new country. Part-time MBAs are mainly designed for candidates looking to advance their careers but without having to leave their current situation.

Furthermore, if you wish to change sector or function, you will have a different strategy than if you were intending to stay within your existing area of expertise. If this is the case, you should probably apply to general management MBA programmes, where the core management skills you acquire will be applicable across the board.

Whichever format is best for you, careers officers will tell you that it is better to start early when thinking about career development. Many business schools actually encourage students to begin their professional development before the start of the MBA by conducting a series of self-exploration exercises. And essay questions in most MBA applications are designed to get participants thinking about their careers.

In conducting a self-exploration exercise, you should assess the transferable skills that you have acquired from your background and experience. Although you might know what you are interested in or good at, you might not know how your strengths map out against the world of work and what you could do with your career. After completing this self-assessment you should draft a career plan, while determining how your skills match up against the career plan you have in mind.

Match the job to the skills

Let’s say you want to land a position at a major investment bank in the City of London or on Wall Street within five years of completing the MBA. First, you must ask yourself whether you currently have the skills required for this type of position and, if not, pinpoint areas in which skills are lacking. For example, if you have experience in accounting but lack experience in structuring corporate finance deals, you know the area in which you lack skills for that job.

To remedy your shortcomings, you could take elective courses in finance, which in any event forms part of the core education of most MBA general management programmes. You could also consider doing an MBA internship in a corporate development role where you would get exposure to this type of work. If you follow these steps towards fulfilling your career plan, you could soon be applying for such a position with a much higher chance of success.

Test the waters with MBAs and alumni

Now that you have arrived at business school, you are ready to discuss your career plan with your peers and alumni. Typically, your career presentation is coordinated by your MBA career services department as an exchange of ideas with other MBA students and alumni. You will share your experience in structured sessions and obtain a return on that experience, while providing moral support to others.

Furthermore, group work will be coordinated around the art of writing CVs and cover letters, and mock job interviews. The latter are important as you need to know how to communicate your objectives effectively when major job interviews start. In addition to your peers, outside consultants and experts in career development are frequently invited to career workshops to provide guidance in career design and job searches and introduce you to specific tools and proven techniques to help you achieve the job of your dreams.

Recruiters arrive on campus

No matter when your MBA starts, professional job recruiters will descend on the campus soon after you arrive, looking to cull the best and the brightest of your class. By now, you should have turned in a structured career plan with the help of career counsellors and peers. The latest version should be submitted to alumni for comments and validation.

By this time, careers officers will be keen for you to have honed your career management skills, as they will have gone to great lengths to attract corporate recruiters to the MBA career fairs. They invite top companies to recruit from their talent pool while giving you privileged access to these recruiters. Campus fairs are often followed up by on-campus interviews, where selected participants are invited to elaborate more fully on the merits of their career plan before a panel of interested recruiters.

Internship opportunities

Not all students meet the right people at MBA career fairs, so business schools provide yet another means for students to find their niche in the job market. Many full-time MBA programmes, and even some part-time ones, offer participants the option of undertaking an internship or a consulting project to integrate more fully into the corporate world. Typically lasting four to six months, these corporate experiences enable students to complete a supervised project while gaining valuable experience in their chosen sector of activity. Companies also benefit from the exchange, particularly those that have specific projects to complete.

Because these internships are supervised, students can draw many valuable lessons as to whether their interests, abilities and motivation match the targeted corporate sector or function. Should you be unhappy with your choice, your dedicated supervisor will recommend different career strategies and organisational cultures where you will be more successful. “Try and try again” is the mantra for overcoming this common dilemma.

Post-MBA careers services and networking

Once you have finished your MBA, your careers services department will become your lifeline to success. Most departments have developed an extensive corporate database, which is constantly updated and available to alumni. They also keep track of sectors in the global economy where the needs of recruiters are increasing, and provide you with the opportunity to find out detailed information about salary expectations in certain sectors, such as the remuneration of a particular company. A quick search through the careers database or a telephone call to a careers officer can help put you on the right track to new opportunities. In addition, you can gather information from the careers department about the local alumni network association in your city or region.

Getting the right job and the right salary

If you are successful in landing a job offer, your salary and signing-on bonus are likely to come up as points of negotiation. In this case, your immediate goal will change suddenly from achieving the offer to coming to a negotiated agreement with your prospective employer.

This is the time to be humble in recognising that your new employer is providing you with the opportunity to move up the corporate ladder, and not to go straight to the top all at once. An MBA is a lifelong passport to career growth and in due course will pay for itself many times over. According to the 2010 Financial Times rankings of Global MBA programmes, alumni from the top 10 programmes reported that their salaries had increased by an average of 120 percent in the three years from starting the programme to $150,200. IE Business School, for example, reported salary increases of more than 159 percent over the period to $134,392.

At the end of your career search, you can be sure of one thing: that an MBA is all about creating a foundation upon which you can build a solid career that lasts a lifetime. According to the Financial Times, most MBA alumni were satisfied with their career development after their MBA, with 87 percent of respondents reporting that they achieved their aims of career progression and higher earnings.

Find more information about MBA at www.accessmba.com