TOPMBA
How Important Is Experience To Your MBA Career
The emphasis placed on experience of applicants amongst business schools and MBA recruiters is huge, and has only grown greater during the current period of global economic uncertainty.
TopMBA.com asks business schools why all eyes appear to be on the professional experience of MBAs.
When it comes to your career, experience matters. Whether you’re applying for a job, or graduate education such as an MBA program, you’ll always be assessed on your experience, and how it can be applied to your chosen program or career.
“Employers are looking for well- rounded MBAs,” explains Shadi Kelly, MBA careers director at Ashridge Business School in the UK.
“Work experience prior to an MBA provides the student with a platform to build on during their studies. Students benefit from being able to refer to their own experience during classroom discussions and apply management theory to their existing practical knowledge.
“As the job market becomes more competitive and employers have graduates from a wide variety of schools to choose from, organizations are looking very closely at MBAs work experience.”
According to the 2012 QS TopMBA. com Applicant Survey, global MBA
applicants are gradually increasing their levels of work experience prior to applying to programs.
Across all regions, the ratio of applicants with five or more years of work experience has increased. Further, the age of MBA applicants has increased by 0.7 years in 2012, to a global average of 28.3 years.
As Kelly points out, for those enrolling on an MBA program, an increased level in the amount of work experience possessed by their cohort is certainly a good thing.
The opportunity for MBA students to learn from each other’s prior experiences is one of the primary reasons for the degree being considered so valuable to an individual’s career.
With an experienced and knowledgeable class, discussion
elevates to the sharing and understanding of business from multiple industries and backgrounds.
As a result, in order to ensure high-quality learning for all, MBA admissions teams are particularly careful about who they admit to their programs.
MBA Experience: Quality Over Quantity
“From an admissions perspective, when we look at how ‘place-able’ applicants are, we tend to look at the whole picture: the company where they worked (some of the larger, well- known companies have established training programs), their tenure at the company, the type of work performed there, their progression along with their leadership and team management,” explains Regina Regazzi, executive director of corporate relations at UCLA Anderson School of Management’s
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