An MBA can be a career-altering move. A chance to sharpen your business acumen. An opportunity to network with the movers and shakers of different industries. A chance to enhance your leadership skills. And most importantly, an avenue to build on your work experience and climb the corporate ladder, switch industries, or even kickstart your own venture.
An MBA with work experience can be a bit like a sports car with a V12, where potential meets performance. MBA programs in the US are designed for students who are already working and need to develop their management skills or who wish to start their own business. This is the reason why most MBA programs are designed to require students to have some work experience beforehand. In the article below, we will explore some plausible reasons behind this phenomenon.
Limited Context For Learning
The typical MBA experience is full of advanced strategic frameworks, management theory, and business concepts. Without any real-life experience to rely upon, these concepts remain confined to theory. There are no triggers through which a student can connect and apply these frameworks to the real world. For instance, if you are a student of an AACSB online MBA program, your efforts to relate the concepts of a consumer behavior unit might prove to be futile if you have no exposure to the way consumers make purchase decisions.
Networking Challenges
To truly maximize the ROI of an MBA degree, networking can be an ace up the sleeve of future graduates. The classmates of the current cohort and the alumni network of past graduates can be a great foundation for success. Having no industry insights and relatable scenarios can make conversations superficial. Your interactions with classmates, professors, and others might lack the meaningful value that leads to deeper connections. For example, in a class discussion based around navigating business disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, your classmates could freely speak about how their businesses tackled their situation, while you would be forced to conjure up hypothetical situations that sound real.
Delayed Personal Development
A stint at the office can be a great learning ground for young professionals. Nothing can beat managing client deadlines, office politics, creative crises, and work-life pressure all at the same time. The opportunity to eke out a living and manage personal finances can instill a sense of self-reliance in individuals. Individuals also learn to accept the unknown and go with the flow. Depriving oneself of such experiences can not only negatively impact the MBA experience but also the career progression after attaining the degree.
Easier Concentration Selection
Selecting the right concentration can be a million-dollar question for many grads in this space. After all, it is a question of selecting a career pathway for the rest of your life (at least for the foreseeable future, till a career pivot is possible). Work experience gives individuals clarity on the things they like, the things they don’t, and the things they are okay with. This can help paint a clearer picture in selecting their concentration.
For instance, a person who has worked in marketing for an FMCG brand and a services company might realize that he fancies consumer behavior and marketing strategy but is not a fan of data analytics and social media management. Thus, when he chooses his concentration, he can be sure of selecting the more traditional units of marketing and avoiding the ones related to digital marketing and quantitative market research.
Polished Soft Skills
A workplace is a great learning curve when it comes to soft skills. Individuals are often forced into a tough spot when explaining something complex to a client or driving a bargain with a supplier. There is no dearth of opportunities to give public presentations and lead meetings. Teamwork can be a necessity to tackle complex challenges and not just a means to complete an assignment. Fallout and reconciliation with co-workers can be more common than the average Joe thinks. All these are great ways to hone various soft skills like communication, public speaking, collaboration, leadership, and emotional intelligence.
An MBA can be the start of a blossoming career. However, without adequate work experience, that career might struggle to take root, leaving it fragile and unable to grow in a competitive world. Work experience not only provides the right context to bridge theory with practice but also enables more nuanced and deeper professional connections. The personal development and growth of soft skills can help sculpt a well-rounded professional. With hindsight, an individual can also select the right concentration attuned to their evolving choice and preference.
