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An MBA is the price of admission for landing the best jobs the corporate world has to offer. If you want a solid salary, respectable benefits, and the chance to be associated with companies lauded in the pages of Forbes or Businessweek, a resume listing credentials beyond “bachelor’s degree in business administration” can put you light years ahead of the pack. Still, spending several years in graduate school can seem like a daunting proposition. Long nights of studying, group projects, and time away from friends and family can be exhausting. You may find yourself asking, “is an MBA worth it?” The answer is yes, especially when you consider these five surprising ways an MBA can help you transform your ladder.
Expand Your Experience
To successfully navigate complex business situations, you need wisdom gleaned through experience. Simply having obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration won’t provide all the know-how you’ll need on the job. Most MBA programs, whether they are offered by site-based or distance education universities, provide opportunities to gain experience through hands-on, group projects, giving you the chance to learn from your mistakes before the fate of stockholders is in your hands. Better still, through case studies and course reading, you have the chance to learn from the performance of famous CEOs and lesser-known business maestros. When similar situations come up in the real world, you will know what to do.
Meet Your LinkedIn Connections
Networking has always been an important part of graduate business studies. While LinkedIn makes it easy to stay in touch with business acquaintances, no matter where the job market takes them. Take the time to meet other students in your MBA program and get to know what you have to offer each other. These relationships will pay off for the rest of your life.
To successfully navigate complex business situations, you need wisdom gleaned through experience. Simply having obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration won't provide all the know-how you'll need on the job.Click To TweetInterview Your Industry
If your MBA program requires an internship, you are in luck. As Bloomberg Businessweek points out, “the summer internship is really a two-month interview to determine if the candidate… merits a full-time job offer.” It’s also your chance to interview your industry. Pay attention to the corporate culture you experience and how your skillset and personality mesh with the job at hand. The business experience an MBA internship can provide is important and can help you in any corporate environment, but the chance to try an industry out before you commit years of your life to it is priceless.
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Get to Know Your Future Customers
For many, the B2B sector is a major profit center. The businesses that will be your customers may someday be run by the students sitting to your right and to your left. Consider this your chance to do a little market research. While you’re at, use your MBA training to learn what makes a company pull the trigger on a high-dollar purchase. Someday, your VP of Sales will thank you.
Demonstrate Your Tenacity
Completing an MBA program will be challenging. Stick it out and, in the end, not only will have a great resume credential, but you will have irrefutable proof that you can complete just about any assignment your boss decides to throw at you. Many managers wonder if they could successfully take on the world if upper management decided to give them the chance. As an MBA graduate, you will already have a clear answer to that question.
