The decision to pursue MBA is a big one. While an MBA degree from a reputed institute is recognized the world over, the thought of investing more money and time toward academics might be overwhelming for some individuals.
However, considering the present global hiring trends and the hiring spree witnessed by almost all the top US colleges, it can be safe to assume that going for a full-time MBA degree can be an investment worth a lifetime of rewards.
Demand for MBA Graduates
While a postgraduate management degree has always been in demand, there has been a temporary slowdown during the pandemic. However, MBAs’ demand is back and is poised to grow more in the post-pandemic era.
We had seen this before when the global economic crisis of 2008 temporarily stalled hirings across all sectors. However, the hiring spree fully got back on track once the economy recovered.
The annual 2021 Corporate Recruiters Survey by GMAC finds that most corporate recruiters are not only planning to hire more business graduates but also believe that demand will increase in the next five years. It must be noted that even during the pandemic, business graduates from top business schools still managed to land a job, although the projected median salary went down from USD 115,000 to USD 105,000.
However, the median MBA salary projected a strong recovery in 2021, and it is expected to soon match up to the pre-pandemic level by the end of 2022.
Furthermore, many global companies had to temporarily hold their growth and development plans like capacity expansion, profit growth, increasing global foothold, etc., because of the Covid-19 crisis. With the pandemic on its way out, such companies are likely to step up their projects in the pipeline. In such a scenario, the demand for skilled managers can only increase.
Moreover, a whole new lot of industries led by technology, e-commerce, green energy, and many other sectors are gearing up for robust growth, and they are likely to hire business school graduates who are expected to have strong strategic, interpersonal and decision making skills that can help a company to recognize new business opportunities and drive innovation and profitability.
[READ: Are MBA Graduates in Demand in the Post-Covid World?}
How Can MBA Help Your Career
- Multiple Skills
A student gets to acquire a whole set of new skills while pursuing MBA from a top college. Students participate in various projects, group discussions, and events during their stay on campus that helps them acquire communication, interpersonal and leadership skills.
The charged-up college environment helps students unleash their intellectual creativity, analytical ability and critical thinking. Furthermore, a student gets to mingle with other students of different countries and cultures. Hence, the students develop a cross-culture awareness.
All these skills acquired during the course period helps MBA student to swiftly climb the corporate ladder as they develop a deep understanding of individual psychology while working on a project or collaborating with a large team of individuals with diverse backgrounds.
- Better Job Prospects
An MBA degree can dramatically increase your job prospects. You can break into greater roles and responsibilities in your current company that might lead you toward securing a higher pay grade.
Even if you are a fresher with no work experience, an MBA degree can differentiate you from the rest of the crowd, as many corporate recruiters prefer to recruit MBAs only for certain jobs. Take a cursory look at the recruitment drives conducted by various reputed companies. You will find that most of them prefer an MBA degree for some earmarked roles, especially the ones related to finance, human resource management, business development, etc.
Furthermore, MBA degrees awarded by certain B-schools have a strong brand value attached to them. Alumni of such colleges are unlikely to face job scarcity even during troubled times. This can be corroborated by the fact that as many as 86.3% of MBA graduates across 45 programmes in USA B-schools got employment within three months of getting their degree, that too in the Covid-19-hit 2020
Apart from securing a job, the MBA degree is often instrumental in getting a significantly high pay package for an individual.
[READ: Which MBA Programs Have the Highest Salaries]
- Specialization
An MBA degree provides the opportunity to delve deeper into your interest area and acquire specialization in that field. You can get ample opportunity and time to understand the details and modus-operandi of different industries and then choose your specialization accordingly.
Many US B-schools offer different optional credit subjects that can help you add a concentration to your degree. For instance, you can choose to specialize in finance with extra emphasis on financial markets. There can be many more specializations like digital marketing, social innovation, healthcare, etc., that can add more value to your degree.
Such specializations are especially helpful for professionals looking for a switch in career. For instance, a finance professional looking for a career switch to HR can try so with an HR specialization on his MBA degree. Having said that, freshers also benefit from specialization as it reflects well into their professional resumes.
- Networking Prospects
Students get to interact with like-minded and talented individuals across different countries while pursuing MBA from a reputed B-school. This helps them in understanding and appreciating different point-of-views toward addressing an issue.
Furthermore, students interact with industry insiders and veterans during various events organized by the different in-house clubs. You get to learn from experts about what’s happening in the industry.
Connections made during such interaction can help you to capitalize on job opportunities once you complete your studies. Even the college’s alumni network can help you with various professional opportunities that might be otherwise unknown to you.
- Global Outlook
Once you taste the international waters with an overseas MBA degree, you develop a broad global outlook toward the job market as well. You no longer limit yourself to searching for job opportunities in your home country only. Instead, you develop an attitude to compete with the best professionals in the world, which in turn pushes you toward scaling greater career highs.
While some naysayers will keep predicting the saturation point for MBAs, the facts and figures suggest that MBA graduates will probably keep bagging lucrative job offers regardless of global macroeconomic factors. For those who are interested in making a career in management, it is best to ignore such noises and set out on their MBA journey now.
