MBA Career Tools

People who have earned an MBA are on the path to a lifelong career that will be not only lucrative, but also rewarding in many other ways besides monetary ones. However, being on the path is not the same thing as being all the way there. Now that you've got your MBA in hand, the next step is actually to get hired by a firm or organization! (Unless you're one of those rare people who intend to make a go of it alone, in which case you won't need the advice found in this section.)

Let's not beat around the bush: we all know that the employment situation isn't as rosy as it was a few years ago. This isn't to discourage you or imply that you're not going to be able to find a job. It's just to acknowledge that landing one of these great MBA careers is tougher and more competitive than it used to be. You most certainly can find a position (it's an extremely rare MBA who can't get a job), but by being prepared and using career tools, you'll have an excellent chance of landing a better paying one, and doing it faster, than if you don't prepare. Let's talk about the MBA career tools you'll need to use.

MBA Career Tools: References

So you've got your Masters of Business Administration, and you're ready to launch your MBA career. You're about to start sending out resumes, attending recruiting events, and go full speed ahead in your quest for your perfect job. You've got an expensive new outfit you bought just for interviews, and you're ready to impress the interviewer. That's terrific, but don't treat one very important piece of your job interview arsenal as casually as most people do. We're talking about references. If you're going to land a job that lots of other MBA grads are applying for, you've got to stand out from the crowd. Interviewers aren't as easily impressed as many people think they are. It's easy to come across great in person, and everyone is going to be dressed for the occasion. However, there's a lot more to a person than can be conveyed in an interview.

That's where references come into play. Your prospective employer knows that you think you've got what it takes to get the job done, but he wants to hear that other people, in positions of authority, also think that highly of you. Most people applying for jobs are aware of this, but they don't handle references the right way. If you pay attention to this area, you can really make yourself stand out. The first thing to do is to ask more people than you think are necessary to write a letter of recommendation for you. MBA school professors are a great choice, and so are bosses and managers at places you've worked or interned. Naturally, the higher rank they have, the better, so don't be shy. Next, get these written as early as possible; don't wait until the last minute. Make copies of these letters. Don't attach them to your résumé, but you should always have them with you during the interview.

The people who write the most glowing testimonials about you are the ones you should put down as references, everything else being equal. If it's a tossup between a mildly complimentary endorsement from a CEO or a raving review by a manager you interned for, it's probably best to go with the rave review. However, if the differences between the two are only slight, then go with the CEO as a reference. When asking your possible references to write letters of recommendation for you, ask them to give some specifics about your work and the difference you made, on top of the general "she's hard working and personable, etc." stuff. This is much more impressive, and chances are good that when the company contacts the letter-writers to verify the reference they'll still have your accomplishments in mind. Follow these steps and you'll be ahead of the average MBA grad applying for jobs.

MBA Career Tools: Interview Skills

When it comes to getting a job with your brand-new Master's of Business Administration degree, there are a lot of factors that come in to play. Your GPA and transcript from your time at business school will be important. Your work experiences will count for quite a bit. References are important, too, and don't believe people who say that companies no longer check these; when it comes to high-level jobs, they most certainly do check references. Your resume is also a powerful tool for building your MBA career. However, none of these factors can make up for a poor interview. If you're going to win that job, you're going to have to prepare for a rigorous and wide-ranging interview, and prepare well. Failure to do so is virtually a guarantee you won't get hired.

Of course, you'll want to cover all the basics. Look the interviewer in the eye, greet the interviewer with a firm handshake, and always speak with confidence and authority. There is no place for wimps in the upper levels of the business world, and no matter how well you did in MBA school, if you come across in job interviews as hesitant, unsure of yourself, or demonstrate any other behavior that doesn't bespeak self-confidence, you're never going to succeed at landing a great job. It should go without saying that you should be very well dressed; if you need to spend some money to look good, don't hesitate. It will be an excellent investment.

Never forget the interviewer's name, and use it from time to time. You don't want to overdo it and come off as an automaton, but you need to use his or her name a few times during the interview. If you have trouble with remembering people's names, then it's something you'll have to work on. There are excellent memory tips and techniques (many of them free) all over the Internet and at bookstores. You'll also want to demonstrate that you have more than just a passing knowledge of the company you're interviewing for. You'll want to brush up on their product lines, any recent news, their major markets, their industry, their main competition, etc. In the age of the Internet, this won't be hard to do at all, but many people neglect this step and don't fare well in interviews. Finally, always be sure to send a thank you letter to the interviewer (not just an email). This can make a very good impression and should never be forgotten. There are some expensive options on the market to help people prep for job interviews, such as videotaped practice sessions and coaching. You might want to resort to these if you've been on several interviews with no luck, but in most cases they shouldn't be necessary. Take time to master your interview skills and your MBA career should get off the ground in no time.

MBA Career Tools: Resumes

MBA degrees are very important pieces of paper when it comes to trying to secure your dream job in the field you've chosen. However, another piece of paper is almost equally important, believe it or not, and that's your resume. This might not seem fair, because you spent a couple years working and studying relentlessly to earn your MBA diploma. It was one of the hardest challenges, academic or otherwise, that a person can take on and conquer. It's hardly fair that a resume should be almost as important as your MBA. Actually, it really is unfair. However, it's also the way it is, and anyone who doesn't give the task of preparing his or her resume properly the weight it deserves is going to be at a tremendous handicap when it comes to MBA careers.

Here's the most important piece of advice you need when it comes to your post-MBA résumé: don't ever try to write it yourself. Just as a doctor should never treat himself, and a lawyer should never defend herself, candidates for upper-level jobs should never write their own resumes. You might have been writing your own resume for years, but that doesn't matter. You're in the big leagues now, and you need to let a professional handle this critical task. Why? For one thing, employers have very high standards when it comes to executive résumés, and these standards change from time to time. Relying on a website or book to tell you what the latest preferred styles are won't cut it. Leave it to someone who keeps up with those things for a living.

That's the second reason you should hire a pro: pros do this for a living, and if you choose your résumé writer well, the writer will be able to do a much better job of it than you could. Not only do professional resume writers keep up with industry standards, but they're also specialists at highlighting your strengths and even discovering some you might have missed. One more time, just to stress how important this is: don't even think about writing your own resume. In almost every city there are professional resume services. You want services from a real company (not a person working from home) that has been around a while and specializes in executive resumes. They won't be cheap, but they'll be worth it. A resume is one of your most important MBA career tools, and it's imperative that it's prepared right.

MBA Career Tools: Internships

Here's a tool for building MBA careers that will require some planning ahead, and that's internships. Unlike the other MBA career tools discussed on this site, which can all be acquired shortly before or immediately after graduation, an internship must be secured long before then. In traditional two-year MBA programs, internships are usually for the summer between first and second year studies. The traditional two-year program is the one best suited for internships. Accelerated programs generally don't allow enough free time for internships, while students enrolled in executive and weekend MBA programs generally already hold down full-time employment, leaving no time to work as an intern. Of course, there are always a few exceptions in all these programs, but the two-year plan is by far the best suited for internships.

When you work for a corporation or other organization as an intern, you use (and demonstrate) the skills you've learned at MBA school, make valuable connections, and you get a taste of a certain aspect of the business world, helping you to decide which career is right for you. When you apply for a real position after earning your MBA, an internship will add a lot of value to your resume. For all these reasons, and many more, internships are highly sought-after by business school students, and competition for the best ones is fierce.

You'll want to start applying for the most prestigious internships that interest you as soon as possible. Some of the biggest corporations in America run internship programs for MBA students, but most of them accept just a small number of students each year. Because the competition for these programs is so high, and each program has only so many slots available, it's best to apply for several. It's also wise to apply for some less prestigious internships as a backup, just as you did with college and MBA school. Applying for several internships while also trying to keep up with the heavy workload of an MBA program can be quite daunting, but people manage to pull it off every year, and so can you. If for some reason you don't get accepted into one of your top choices, don't despair. The main thing isn't to have the big corporation's name on your resume, but to get an internship under your belt, and get that on your MBA resume.