Are you planning to take up an MBA? Is deciding whether to opt for MBA or not stressing you out?
You may wish to take up an MBA degree to move ahead in your career or you may want to take for your own joy and as an achievement, then both these reasons are valid.
The post graduation degrees can be expensive financially and stressful physically as well as emotionally. A bachelor’s degree itself can help you find numerous job opportunities but opting for an advanced post graduation degree can act like an investment. Hence, you need to think carefully and act wisely. You can think about an advanced degree if and only if you feel like you can’t achieve the next step of your goal without it. But the advanced degree wouldn’t be useful if the additional training, knowledge and certification would allow you to attain just the same goals that a bachelor’s degree can help you achieve.
To avert any mistakes and the losses you can consider the below points:
Ask right questions
Make sure if your future career gaols really require an MBA or not. Connect with people who are working in the job profile you wish you work in. This will also help you understand if the subject of your specialization will be appropriate and in line with achieving your career goals.
Survey the market
This is one of the most important things to think about before applying for an MBA degree. For this, you need to think backwards, that is, from future towards present. This will help you understand market requirements, job available, the compensation being offered and prospects for career growth. This thought process will also help you decide your college or university which is crucial for placement offers and also the subjects and other certification courses you need to acquire before completing your MBA degree.
Does your employer value your advance degree?
Taking up an advanced post graduation course like MBA, will not only demand your time commitment but also expect handling of expenses. Hence, before coming to any conclusion, you need to think about the value addition this degree would do to your education as also the kind of gains you would get in return. You can talk with your boss about your future goals and aspirations to pursue an MBA degree for the same. By gauging their reaction, you can conclude if this degree will be useful in your future endeavours, as also if your organization values your efforts and degree.
Consider your circumstances
As we know, an advanced course can degrade you financially as well as physically and emotionally, you would want to consider your individual circumstances before coming to a decision. Make sure you have plenty of resources and assistance available as also advice which would help you to go in the right direction. You would also need to build a network and a stream of contacts which would help to place your in a better job pool and assist you in achieving success.
Along with the above mentioned points, you can even ask yourself the four questions as follows before opting for an MBA degree course:
1. Where do you see yourself in five years? OR what are your short term career goals?
Most of the students applying for MBA course have a vague or general idea about what they want to accomplish as a career. But colleges and universities providing MBA degree are interested in understanding your passion and goals. They would prefer to provide admission to a student with at least realistic short term career goals as these students would go on to become a good alumni, a good ambassador for the university and motivate other students to pursue MBA. Hence it is recommended to gain some basic information by doing some research on Google and LinkedIn. This will help you refine your short term goals. You may also do some mock interviews; interact with people who are doing the same what you wish to do, if you are still uncertain about your goals.
2. How has your current experience and education equipped you for an MBA?
If you have already decided your goals, and chosen MBA for post graduation, then you need to express it properly. You might need to write an essay, or fill up a form expressing your ambitions or might even need to face an interview. But if are not adequately persuasive, it would not be possible for the person on the other side to understand your aspirations and might think about giving you the admission. To avoid this scenario, take some time out, think about your career and future, write it down and examine it thoroughly.
3. Why MBA?
Most of the colleges or universities provide all subjects for specialization for MBA. But while choosing the university, you need to be vigilant about its faculty members as well. As the better understanding of a subject depends a lot in the teacher teaching that subject. You can consider this point as well while writing down your goals. Considering the faculty and choosing the university wisely is very crucial, as there are chances of changing the subject of specialization by the students if they get confused about what must be given the priority – the university, faculty or subject of specializations.
4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? OR what are your long term career goals?
Your long term career goals are as important as your short term career goals. The short term career goals are like a stepping stone to your bigger ambitions. The university or college authorities will be interested in understanding your perception about your future and your ideas for converting short term career goals into long term goals. You can do some research on different career websites as also talk to people on LinkedIn. One more way to decide your long term career goals and impress the university authorities is by not aligning your short term goals with those of the long term. In any case, you need to be genuine and honest with yourself as well as the universities.