The simple truth is that for almost anybody who desires a fulfilling career, or has any interest in business, any time is a good time to do an MBA.
That is to say that career-wise, there are very few situations in which it would not be beneficial to have the knowledge, insight and confidence offered by such a highly respected business degree.
The question then becomes when it is best to study an MBA.
After all, it’s a time-consuming, resource-intensive task that could take any time from 12 months full-time to several years part-time or at your own pace. Performance and learning in certain topic areas may benefit from the professional experience that comes from time spent in the workplace.
Plus, the MBA study experience will not just affect you, but also those around you. Family and colleagues must come into consideration.
So, what suits one MBA candidate might not suit another.
While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of when it’s best to complete an MBA, there are a number of guides that can offer direction when taking into account your unique situation. These include stage of career path, salary level, real-world work experience and where you’re at in your current job.
For younger MBA candidates, those who intend to head straight into business school immediately after completing a bachelor’s degree, there is a question mark over the value of an MBA degree without any work experience.
After all, four or five years of work experience will at least introduce the candidate to the various pressures of the business environment, and will offer them a real-world view of how departments and professions interact.
It will also give those candidates case studies around which they can frame learning and knowledge as they work through the MBA.
Then there’s an argument that the knowledge will be out of date by the time the graduate actually needs to use it. If they complete an MBA then don’t reach senior management ranks for seven to 10 years, how much of their knowledge will be fresh or relevant?
However, a case can also be put forward to say a graduate will rise through the ranks much more quickly if they have an MBA.
Some universities don’t accept students into an MBA program without prior work experience, but many do, including top tier b-schools such as Chicago Booth School of Business, The Wharton School and Melbourne Business School.
The broadly accepted value of diversity in business, top business schools have realised, includes input and inclusion of those with no experience. As HR thought leader Liz Ryan wrote in a Forbes piece, “being an outsider is a huge advantage”.
Those with no experience are unblinkered by habit, custom and tradition.
“You don’t get breakthrough ideas from people who have been trudging along the same neural pathways for years,” Ryan said. “You get big new ideas from people who are totally new to your field.”
In fact, it has been argued that the future of work, having been so powerfully shaped by the pandemic and its working-from-home, will have to be designed by members of a new generation that have not had their thoughts polluted people by years of work experience in an office.
And so, the argument against completing an MBA prior to having professional experience in the workplace is beginning to lose its edge.
This is the traditional time to complete an MBA.
The candidate has been in the workforce for long enough to have a good idea of where they’d like their own career to go.
They have also developed working knowledge of how other departments, professions, organisations, industries and sectors fit in to the big picture.
Most importantly, the MBA candidate has witnessed the effects of good, bad and indifferent leadership. An MBA degree, after all, is ultimately about the development of leadership skills.
Finally, it’s also likely that at this stage of life a candidate’s personal commitments in terms of family, children, mortgages, etc., are not overwhelming.
The costs of an MBA, including time and money, are not as likely at this stage to be as big an issue as they might be in another ten years
Here is the reason Executive MBA courses were developed.
Almost every senior manager’s career comes to a point at which they’re facing a leap into the executive ranks. This can often be quite daunting. It’s a move from technical to strategic, from people management to organisational leadership.
EMBA programs have been designed to assist this transition. Students are particularly aided by the fact that they’re surrounded in the course by people of similar seniority, and who collectively boast a mass of experience and knowledge.
Typically, EMBA students are supported by their employers in terms of time allowance and mentoring from senior people in the business. Sometimes the organisation pays all or part of the fees, also.
This all helps the student to cope with what could be a major disruption to their life at a stage at which they potentially have children, a mortgage, and other responsibilities on top of a time-consuming job.
Some go into an MBA program as part of the career plan they mapped out long ago.
The other major group of MBA enrolments is characterised by people who simply realised it’s time for a change.
This change could come in many forms.
The typical pattern for salary increases is one that involves small, incremental rises once every year or two. This may be okay for a person in their 20s, but as they move into their 30s and 40s, many realise a higher salary is essential.
Consider that, according to a study by Grattan Institute, a male with no education after year 12 will earn just under $1.7 million in their lifetime, but a male with a Bachelor or undergraduate degree will earn $2.8 million. For females, the figures are $1 million for year 12 and $1.8 million with a Bachelor degree.
Salary continues to improve with a master’s degree. As we reported in a piece about MBA Salary Increases, the 2019 BOSS MBA Raking study showed those graduating from MBA degrees saw an average pay rise of 28 per cent, to an average of $157,000, a report in the Australian Financial Review said.
Those graduating from EMBA courses saw their average salary rise from $154,000 before the course to $222,000 afterwards – an average salary increase of 44 per cent.
Often the timing of an MBA will be driven by an individual’s desire to re-invent themselves perhaps from an employee to an entrepreneur, or from a technician to a leader, or from a senior manager to an executive.
It might involve a small shift in focus or a complete change of direction.
Whatever the case, the breadth of knowledge offered by an MBA degree in leadership, commerce, finance, marketing, HR, etc., and the increasing levels of specialisation being offered by full-time MBA and online MBA programs, is a powerful influencer of career progression.
Finally, and just as powerfully, many MBA enrolments come from those who have simply realised their career has plateaued.
To get to the next level in their current sector, no matter what stage of career they’re at, they need to differentiate themselves.
This timing reveals itself in several ways.
One is being overlooked for promotions. One is a feeling of never being challenged by the work you’re doing.
Mostly, it’s a knowledge that you could be doing more, but you simply don’t get the opportunity and, in some cases, you don’t have the right skill sets.
Whether it leads to a new position within your current organisation, a new job elsewhere, the powerful interest of recruiters, or the startup of your own business, the true value of an MBA graduate degree comes in the fact that it opens up opportunities.
That’s a powerful offering at any time.
Whether you’re ready to enrol, or just have a quick question, simply fill out the enquiry form below to speak directly to the university’s enrolment team. They will be able to guide you through:
