Is an MBA the best thing for you?
Janice Chalmers
How do you tell if an MBA is right for you? Ask yourself these six questions to work it out. Go on, be honest
Why do you want to do an MBA?
It's a myth that an MBA is a door to automatic progression. Some sectors prefer a professional qualification over an MBA.
An MBA is good if you:
Are currently a specialist who wants to change fields, eg an IT manager who wants to become a managing director
Want to be a generalist manager or management consultant - it gives breadth over depth of knowledge, and gives graduates an overview of how all the different aspects of a business hang together
An MBA is less useful if you:
Are already a specialist or want to specialise more; an MBA - which is a generalist business qualification - would make you study less relevant topics, giving you less time to specialise
Don't really want a corporate career. This is changing now, as there are MBAs for entrepreneurs, small business etc but, in the main, most of the programmes' case studies, learning materials and theories are geared toward big business
Why do most people do an MBA?
To improve job opportunities
To obtain a business qualification
For intellectual stimulation
To increase their salary
To obtain general, rather than specialist, skills
To change career direction
To increase their self-confidence
Source: MBA salary and career survey 1999-2000
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Can you afford it?
The good news is you don't have to be an accountant to work out the cost. The bad news is there are probably more hidden costs than you think. Add the following up:
MBA course fees
+
Rent/accommodation
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Cost of course materials
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Subsistence (food etc)
+
Supporting a family (if you have one)
+
Maintenance or an agent's fee on your house (if you let it)
+
Travel (to get home on week-ends or holidays)
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The opportunity cost of lost or reduced earnings
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The expense (if self-funding) of supporting yourself while looking for a job post-MBA
Then compare this total with your expected increased earnings over the rest of your career as a result of your MBA.
Is it possible practically?
Do your current commitments allow you to take the time out to do it? For example, if you have small children and a partner who works full-time, how will it affect your parenting responsibilities? Does your age mean that there will be too few years left after the MBA for you to recoup your investment if you're paying for it yourself?
Is it a good time to take yourself out of your market?
The finance and consulting sectors are the biggest employers of MBAs, but they are currently cutting back on MBA hires because of an economic slowdown in their sectors. The worst thing you could do is take yourself out of your job and your market (and people's minds) to find yourself trying to get back in a year down the line when no one is hiring. So read the signs for your chosen employment market.
Are you prepared for the workload?
The bulk of the work on MBAs is done in small groups of typically six to eight people. So you'd better be prepared to work with, spar with, and learn from others. An MBA is not for lone rangers. Nor does it have the looseness of your first degree. You can expect 12-hour days, assignments handed out on weekends, high-pressure group work, and possibly even fights for computers. This is the lot of the MBA today. One business school hands out written assessment courses on business problems that suddenly arise on a Friday afternoon at one in the afternoon, to be solved and written up by eight in the evening on Saturday.
Are you ready for management speak?
Do you actually like the thought of learning about Boston boxes, Porter's five forces, Kanban production, and transnational strategy around the globe?
If you're not so sure about an MBA now, but still itch for a change, find out what else you can do to move on to the next step in your career.
If you're certain an MBA is what you want, carry on...
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