(Not So) Great Expectations From MBA Graduates

GMAC’s 2008 Global MBA Graduate survey results show why graduates have trouble achieving the success they desire. This article elaborates on some of the student’s expectations on career opportunities and how the MBA didn’t help.

In the 2008 Global MBA Graduate Survey, conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council, the global association of leading graduate business schools and owner of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), 5,312 graduate business students participated to share their thoughts and expectations on the MBA. These students responded from 149 participating schools, and 31% were non-U.S. citizens. While this survey covers many aspects of the MBA and the career, we will only take a quick look at the Career Options portion of the survey to highlight some key considerations for future MBA students and graduates.

In the Career Options section, students were asked how satisfied they were with how their graduate business degree prepared them for various factors of the career. The high satisfaction scores were related to a sense of personal satisfaction and achievement and the ability to remain marketable. In my studies with many graduates, both the sense of achievement and the perception of remaining marketable are felt by almost everyone. The feeling of achievement is real and stems from successfully completing a fairly long term commitment. However, the ability to remain marketable is based more on perception than fact. Most students haven’t researched their career options to understand how the graduate degree could impact them. We can see some evidence of this by looking at the lowest satisfaction items in the Career Options section.

The three least satisfied aspects from student expectations of increased Career Options are the right connections to get a good job in the future, mentors to help me achieve my goals, and opportunities to contribute to solving some of the world’s problems. This might imply that, while students have the skills needed to improve their career, they don’t how to actually get there. It’s like the MBA is a fuel additive that improves the efficiency of the combustion cycle and makes the car go faster. They have the destination of where they want to go but the map they have doesn’t have any street names on it. We also know they want to go different places since 48% of the graduates plan on changing industries after graduation.

Making the right connections. When I plan a vacation, even if it’s just a few days, I usually map out my path using MapQuest, Yahoo Maps or some other online tool. I even have a GPS to ensure I don’t miss a turn. Many of us plan this way for trips. Yet, we spend years in school without considering what’s on the other side of graduation; that is, the next job. Top Tier MBA programs help their students with networking. Lower tier schools don’t do so much leaving this activity completely up to the graduate.

Before we had GPS and online maps, we had to pull of the road and stop to ask for directions. We can also do this on the road to our career goals. Many top tier graduates develop a list of professionals, some highly successful, and contact all of them to gain their perspective on potential career paths.

In my book, Blitz The Ladder, I suggest that graduates can take this one step further and create their own career development team that meets weekly to create and implement strategies, activities and plans for improving their own career.

Mentors to help achieve goals. This is where the top tier graduates depart from the lower tier graduates. If you have a graduate degree, you should be capable of leading things. You shouldn’t have a strong need to follow. Most of the top business school graduates I’ve interviewed have clearly articulated their drive and determination in improving their career. They don’t mention using a mentor. They know where the want to go and feel they have the skills to perform at that level. One Stanford graduate declared his strategy as “listen, learn and perform.” He did his listening and learning in school. Now it was time to perform. As a Stanford MBA graduate, he knows he has to be a leader, not a follower. Since top tier graduates fair better in salary, the mental attitude could be a big contributor to differentiating themselves from their peers.

Opportunity to solve the world’s problems. Shahid Sayed, an MBA student at Kennesaw State University, handles this issue the way we should all handle it. He just tackles the big problems. He doesn’t wait for someone to ask him to do it. He just does it. Born in a poor small town in India, he knew that his opportunities would be limited. He overcame this limitation by seeking out college education in the United States. In the short time he has been here, he has created programs that are implemented in India to help these poor villagers and students learn more about the ways of the entrepreneurial Americans. He leads these programs himself. He is making a difference with his own actions by working directly with the students in the classrooms. Shahid’s actions are indicative of what we need from a graduate degreed leader; that is, they see a problem, they fix it.

The MBA is a valuable tool and if utilized correctly can help you achieve their goals. The problem many of us face is that we still fall victim to the mindset of the older generations where jobs lasted a lifetime and careers had a well-defined path. Unfortunately, those days are gone. Nonetheless, we can still make the journey. We can still stop and ask for directions. We can still make it to our desired destination.

Author:

Todd Rhoad is Director at BT Consulting, a career consulting firm in Altanta, and can be reached at todd.rhoad@blitzteamconsulting.com.