The question about how to get a job after MBA is probably the most asked by MBA students. Here I will explain what I have learned from my own post-MBA job searching experience and from the experience of my fellow MBA classmates who graduated with me.
As a rule, MBA graduates from non-top MBA programs face difficulties in getting a job after MBA. But by acquiring new skills, interning, exploring alumnae network of connections, graduates even from non-top MBA programs may get a job and develop a rewarding career.
I will not sugar-coat this topic in this article or on this blog. I am trying to tell the truth like it is. This article will discuss strategies and tactics MBA graduates can use to find a job and maybe a career.
Are there Job opportunities after MBA?
MBA is not as prestigious as it used to be 30 years ago. MBA graduates face stiff competition in the job market as job opportunities after completing MBA are scarce. Employers nowadays are looking for practical experience and skills, not education.
Most of the job opportunities after an MBA depend on whether a graduate can capitalize on a personal portfolio consisting of skills, experience, and ability to promote oneself.
It is relatively easy to find a job for those who graduated from the top 5-10 MBA programs. Elite business schools have a vast alumnae network who often hire MBA graduates from their alma mater – from the same business school.
Plus, top MBA programs usually have good job search counseling available for their students. Finally, top corporate recruiters swarm elite MBA programs to snatch such fresh graduates for a large company.
As a result, top MBA graduates usually are sought by employers and have a few job offers when they graduate. At least, they will get a job.
But for graduates of MBA programs below the top 10-15, finding a job after graduation is more complicated. I knew people with full 22-25 MBA degrees who could not find a job after graduation and went to work for their relatives in small businesses.
At the same time, I knew USC or Pepperdine MBA grads who found management consulting jobs quickly. Because it depends on the factors, I explain below.
How can an MBA grad counter this to find a job? What I explain below may still be helpful even for MBA graduates from elite business schools.
What jobs can an MBA get you?
Still, even a lower-ranked MBA can get you jobs. Sales jobs are abundant, and businesses are always looking for salespeople and business development specialists. Sales is an important skill. I know this is not why you went for your MBA. But many good salespeople make three figures easily, especially in the B2B market.
Other post-MBA jobs could be related to analytics. For example, business analysts, marketing analysts, operations analysts, financial analysts, and other similar jobs need an MBA. You would need to either have some experience, skills, or certificate to get one. Below I will explain how to obtain that.
The sales & marketing or analyst jobs are two different major types of jobs offered to MBA graduates. Think about it – how can you be a manager if you do not know the underlying job well? That is why managerial jobs are mainly offered for MBAs with experience in that or related area.
Do not expect you to jump into a limo back seat just because you have an MBA degree.
For this article, I searched a couple of large job sites to see what jobs are available for MBA graduates. I was surprised to see at least 74,000 jobs mentioning MBA degrees. And some of those are suitable as entry-level positions for MBA.
With the advance of social media and online opportunities, there are new types of jobs opening for MBA grads. They could be dealing with anything from writing to analysis to review and editing.
It may not be the glamour you are hoping for. But at least that is a job in a new digital environment that can lead to something more significant in the future.
How Can I get a good job after MBA? Bad and Good News for MBA grads
Your question is, how can I get a GOOD job after MBA? We should analyze the overall market trends to understand where all the good MBA jobs are gone.
MBAs who are looking for a job face a very tough market for a few reasons. First, many MBA programs still teach outdated theoretical, conceptual material which has no immediate practical application on the job.
Essentially, an MBA graduate usually comes out of MBA with general business knowledge but without any practical skills that could be used on the job from day one. Employers know that they often disregard resumes with MBA but without experience.
Companies are not training on the job anymore. They are not willing to hire inexperienced MBAs and train them while paying salaries. Instead, companies stubbornly keep seeking people with work experience and practical skills.
On the other hand, HR people, recruiters sometimes are unprofessional or plain lazy and play it safe by looking only for people with clear, applicable experience. And often, recruiters or HR people are clueless and cannot evaluate people and their potential.
In all my work experience, I had met only a handful of recruiters who had natural acumen for selecting and evaluating talent. As a result, I did a much better job than recruiters or HRs when I had to find and train people for my projects.
So, lack of practical skills plus industry unwillingness to be flexible creates a considerable gap between MBA graduates and businesses. That gap is tough to overcome for unskilled MBA graduates. And then companies complain that they cannot find good, qualified candidates.
What is the main task for MBA graduates who do not have previous work experience or skills? Get that work experience or skills.
Generally, looking for a job after MBA can be challenging for some graduates but not for others. I will explain the difference. Finding a job for graduates from MBAs below the top 50-100 is a monumental task. But not all hope is lost, and there are many hooks MBA graduates can use to find employment.
So, how to find a job after MBA? First, you should investigate several major areas when trying to get a job after graduating with an MBA degree. And there are few primary considerations for your post-MBA job search. And there also are a few tricks and strategies you can successfully employ to find a job after MAB.
Can I get a job after MBA without experience?
You could get a job after MBA without experience even if you went to a low-tiered MBA program. But most likely, that will be a sales job. It is relatively easy to find after MBA a commission-based sales job with or without base pay.
Sales jobs are everywhere, and many sales jobs are open for MBA graduates without experience. It could be a door to door sales, which I do not recommend. On the other hand, it could be a local business-to-business sales job which I do recommend.
I did a job like that just after my MBA for a local business. I was going business to business, offering partnering with us. Most of the time, I got rejected, but I scored pretty good partnerships few times, even with local branches of big businesses.
I was proudly called “marketing manager” for authority purposes and had a fancy business card. I had the authority to hire and fire my small team (the best perk, frankly). But I was paid very little and killed my used car while driving around. But I learned some guerilla marketing techniques.
Still, that experience helped me to lose some of my shame and natural shyness. Fear of people got diminished after just 3-4 months of working there. I helped to grow business by about 60% that year. Much of that was the result of my effort. Then I left for lack of growth opportunities.
Keep in mind that if you do an excellent job in a crappy place for low money, they will be happy to keep you at that job forever. So get skilled and move on.
Sometimes these sales and marketing jobs are called more fancy names like business development.
Or you could try getting into a more complex sales job like a financial advisor or financial planner. For those jobs, you will need to have a company that will sponsor your preparation for series seven and other financial exams while you work your bottom off for them.
Otherwise, many entry-level low-paid jobs will be closed for MBAs without experience because MBA is an overqualified candidate. Still, you can beg your way into the entry-level accounting or marketing analyst job and see if you can grow in it.
You need now experience and or at least a tangible skill allowing you to perform some even simple work in the business on day one.
Below, I describe several steps an MBA can take to obtain practical skills that will help find a job even without work experience.
What to do after MBA to Get a Job? 12 specific things you can do.
- Scout Local Job Market.
Unless you graduated from nationally recognized top 10-25 MBA, you should search for a job in the local market. The local market is familiar with graduates from local colleges, including MBA programs.
Such familiarity makes local businesses and local branches of national companies more comfortable recruiting or hiring those who obtained MBA locally.
Ironically, certain MBA degrees may have better appeal on the other coast. For example, some employers on West Coast still think that Rutgers is an Ivy League university, which is not the case. But these little things may play a booster role when an MBA graduate applies for a job.
Still, the local market is the first place to find a job for any MBA student. The same rule applies to international MBA students who move to another country to obtain their Master of Business Administration. If they can get a work visa, it makes more sense for them to look for a post-MBA job locally.
- Use business school’s Alumnae Network.
The business school’s alumnae network is where MBA students should tap into when looking for a job. Even lower-ranked MBA programs have alumnae who hire graduates from those programs.
Older established universities have a more extensive alumnae network just because they have been around for longer. So, for example, a USC or Pepperdine MBA graduate probably has a better chance of finding a job in Los Angeles or San Francisco than in New York.
And if such a graduate has previous work experience or skills which can be valuable to many employers in the country.
- Capitalize on your past work experience
Have you worked before enrolling in MBA? Do you have some work experience with applicable skills or knowledge of a specific area of business? Then you can either return to your previous employer in a managerial capacity or look for a job in the same industry where a similar type of work is required.
The easiest route is if you already have specific job skills and work experience valuable for those employers. You are more marketable with MBA now because, in any case, you can hit the ground running on the new job from day one.
Plus, you are MBA and can take over project management responsibilities. If you feel confident, you can now apply for higher managerial positions than you used to have before getting into the MBA program.
Remember, MBA is leverage for your exiting skills. Or the other way around, your existing work experience and skills leverage for your MBA degree when you are looking for a job. They complement each other.
Make sure to highlight anything from previous work that now complements your MBA knowledge. Presenting yourself in the best light is the right thing to do when looking for a job as an MBA. Just make sure not to lie because lies can be quickly exposed.
- Use Other skills that you have learned before your MBA.
You can get a job after MBA by exploiting skills that you had learned before going to business school.
Do you know to code? Do you have accounting skills? Did you do direct sales and marketing? Have you done digital marketing? Did you work as an analyst of some sort? Did you trade stock or options or cryptocurrencies? Are you a math champion?
The existing skills that you acquired either through jobs or on your own may be helpful to find a job after MBA. Look for an employer and job where your skills can be applicable to get your foot in the door. In the resume and cover letter, make sure to explain how your skills and MBA complement and leverage each other.
Suppose you know to program, then you may be welcome in either financial institutions or the tech industry. For example, if you know math well, you may look for an analyst position in a financial institution or hedge fund. If you know sales or digital marketing skills, you may go into the marketing department of the larger company now that you have an MBA.
Remember, unless MBA is from a top elite business school, you will need something else to make the employer interested. And your MBA then will kick in as an authority booster now. You can say that you also have some big-picture business knowledge, learned how to perform teamwork, and understand business concepts and managerial duties. Whatever you learned, know, skills you developed or learned before MBA can serve as a hook for getting a job and make you look more valuable for them.
What can I do with an MBA and no experience? Steps for Unexperienced MBAs
If you are without much experience and with low -ranked MBA degree, then looking for small business jobs is an option. Smaller businesses often offer small wages and but hire people with fewer formalities. While working there in any capacity, you can get additional skills and certificates for further career development.
- Learn new skills After MBA
You can learn specific skills, like accounting, coding, business analytics, or enterprise management software, to help you land an analytical or consulting position.
You can take short-term courses with certificates that can make you more marketable as an MBA graduate. Those courses can be anything from coding to accounting or finance.
I will not describe those here in detail because I wrote a separate article on specific skills that you can earn after MBA to find a job sooner. You can read it on this blog here.
You can even go for another degree after MBA, but I do not recommend wasting any more time on education unless the degree has practical application. For example, see that blog post of mine.
- Use your MBA network to find a job.
Your MBA classmates may become your network of connections and may help you land a job in the future. So please keep your options open and pay attention. Some of your MBA classmates may notify you about a job opening and may even act as your reference people.
For example, one of my MBA classmates became a recruiter and pushed me to a different position after we graduated. I found a job through some other route, though. But she did send me to a few interviews.
Another classmate offered to teach me how to learn and operate a specific business in which he became successful. I did not go for it and regretted later that I passed on it – that could be an exciting backup option. Do not immediately refuse opportunities when they come to you.
- Start Job Search Early
Started looking for a job early while you are still an MBA student may reveal many essential avenues for you. Start preparing a resume, send it to employers, maybe get some calls and go for a few interviews.
Some employers may be willing to do a preliminary interview with you if they want to hire you later after you graduate. You should now get familiar with the job search process as an MBA graduate.
You will learn employers’ requirements, expectations, what they look for in an MBA graduate. In addition, you may discover during interviews which additional skills or courses may make you more valuable on the job market. You also will learn more about going salaries.
Finally, keep your options open. Even if you are an analyst by nature but are offered a sales job – go and interview for them. For example, I went to interview for a financial advisor job. That was a sales job, but with lots of hoops in the forms of securities exams, I would have to take.
The recruiter gave candidates a lecture before the interview, where I learned what the profession entails. I would go for it if I had different circumstances. Sales is a beneficial skill that can help you to get out of your introverted nature.
- Get your resume professionally done.
A resume is the first document that a potential employer will see. And it will get tossed if not done professionally. Therefore, I suggest using professional, reputable resume writers and designers to make your MBA resume look attractive from first sight.
Doing the above will increase the chances of a recruiter or HR person looking over your resume, reading it, and maybe calling you for an interview. I have read that a professionally prepared resume increases the chances of getting an interview by 30%.
- Cut your expectations
If you are a recent MBA graduate looking for a job without previous work experience and graduated from an MBA other than the top 50, you should cut your salary expectations.
Do not walk around thinking you are of any importance. Employers are looking for value, not for importance. And MBA marketing materials are all just that – marketing and sales materials.
Take a job that pays and take it quickly. And if you find it in the area you like, then work hard to learn as much as possible for you have passion and career.
Cut your position expectations, too, because MBA is nothing but a fancy credential without practical application.
Take any position which can give you some money, learning opportunity, and or growth potential.
Unless you are a grad from the top 10-15 MBAs or have pre-MBA work experience, then you should eliminate your expectations and take any job that even slightly fits the definition of a “professional job” in business.
- Perform internships while in MBA or after graduation
MBA students or graduates can benefit from a good internship under two circumstances. Either you do anything for a big-name company or your intern and learn some specific skills for a lesser-known company, precisely in that order.
Most MBA students will get internships only in local smaller companies. Do not reject those. You can learn plenty from just being in that business environment, even if those will not lead to jobs. Plus, interning as an MBA student can open your eyes to real situations in the industry.
And as an MBA intern, you can get motivated to study harder once you spent some quality real-work time in a friendly office. In addition, an internship allows MBA students to obtain more real-life work and communication skills that can later be applicable at a real job.
I am not even mentioning that the internship looks good on the MBA graduate’s resume and my LinkedIn profile.
Note that some unscrupulous people may exploit students’ desire for real-life work experience and simply make you do a crap job. Beware of that.
Again, do not refuse a sales internship as sales is still a helpful skill.
But it will be even better if an MBA student could find an internship where they can be trained on hard skills like coding, using computer software, databases, doing excel spreadsheets, or something else.
- Apply for internships or jobs even without skills
MBA graduates should apply for jobs even if they do not precisely match all skills. You may even be called for an interview, during which you may inquire about what steps you should take to get such a job.
If the company does not hire you, you can ask for an internship. The point is to get your foot in the door and learn something.
For sales and marketing-oriented MBA students or graduates, there are plenty of sales and marketing openings to apply or try to intern for the same companies.
For more analytical MBAs, I suggest trying to learn analyst skills of some sort. For example, marketing analysis, management analysis, operations research, equity research – any skills like that is worth pursuing.
You can learn on the job or as an intern. However, even learning basic accounting may lead to a future career in the accounting or finance sectors.
So, apply anyway. Suppose a position mismatches your skills or requires plenty of experience. In that case, you can use and mention in the resume and cover letter that you are open to internship opportunities in exchange for learning how to perform that job.
I suggest looking on the job sites to which post-MBA or post-business degree positions are most posted. That means there is market demand for those professionals. And then, you can apply for them, offering an internship in exchange for learning.
Learning during internship is important
Learn, and you can later apply and get hired as MBA with specific analysis skills. And during an internship, you realize that you do not learn anything, then ask to be transferred to a position where you can learn something. If not, then find another internship.
NOTE: I do not recommend internships unless you can genuinely learn some specific business skills. Because otherwise, unscrupulous employers will simply be taking advantage of MBA and other graduates.
At the same time, even door-to-door sales could be a communication skill to learn. But you can do it without MBA. So instead, an MBA student should learn something complicated that many other people do not bother to learn.
RULE: Your task is to get a job first. Get any job, work, self-improve, and keep looking for other positions with more future potential. Very few people make six figures after graduation. Get a job that has career potential or where you can learn practical skills. Work for low wages but grow your value as a professional. Then you will make a bank.
The “growth potential” and “practical skills or knowledge” are the two critical criteria for MBA graduates to find a job and a career. Learning and experience will eventually help you work at better companies or better-paid positions. For example, work in a company or internship for 6-18 months, learn something and then move on to another company.
- Do not be afraid to start your career anew.
Do not be afraid to start a completely new career in a new industry with a bottom with low pay because your MBA may kick in later in your career and give it a boost. That is what happened to me. My MBA gave me a boost when I was hired to manage a couple of good projects ten years after I graduated as MBA.
Conclusion: I have an MBA and can’t find a job
If you are MBA and cannot find a job, then you are not alone. Every year many MBAs are fruitlessly looking for a job.
The education industry is about making money – it is a business industry. So they sold you an MBA degree. Now it is up to you what you can do with it. Reread this article, talk to other MBAs, read other articles to develop a strategy for your steps to finding a job and career.
I know it is unfair. But then, what can we do about it? Just make the best of what you have. I enjoyed my MBA. I use MBA knowledge now in my work quite often.
To find a job, lower your expectations, get some practical work experience, and learn practical skills hook your entry-level position.
You will figure out what to do. Do what your guts are telling you to do.
Source 1.
