How Work Experience is Beneficial for MBA Students

“Will having prior work experience benefits my MBA?” is a perennial question among students who are taking their respective degrees. While it’s not really required for you to have work experience anymore in some programs (this wasn’t the case in the past), having a good measure of it is not exactly without advantages altogether. Not all programs are available for people with zero work experience after all but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

MBA Students
MBA Students

Work Experience as A Priority Among Applicants

Even now, business schools still practice giving higher preference for applicants who have held good positions in prestigious businesses and corporations. Officials of the said schools don’t hesitate to admit that those who have work experience will certainly have a good edge over those who don’t. However, it has to be made clear that the specific type of work experience you’ve had plays a big role in dictating your chances of being accepted into a top business school.

For instance, a student who applies for an MBA would surely be favored if he can prove that he has attained measurable success in his professional career in a well-known company. You should more or less have good answers to questions such as

  • Did you earn a credible leadership title during your stay in the company?
  • How much responsibility were you able to handle while working there?
  • How much authority did you have as a professional?

Even if you did get a good title (VP, for instance), it has to have been achieved at a believable rate. If you got the title only after 2 years of work than this could raise some eyebrows and question the validity of your title. Hence, credibility should be your top priority.

Take note that this is still only in the admissions part of a student’s MBA application. There are other advantages that students would definitely gain by having a commendable work history while they work towards earning their Masters in Business Administration.

Work Experience for MBA Students Could Translate to Better Salary Opportunities Having work experience could potentially open up more money opportunities in your career as well. This is primarily hinged on the fact that better MBA programs almost always require applicants to have at least 2 years of work experience. That requirement is there for a reason, after all, and more often than not, better careers and rewards await those who take the time to fulfill them.

How Much Work Experience Should Students Aim For?

 Experts suggest getting at least 3-5 years of work experience, preferably in supervisory roles. This is because by this time, not only will you have acquired enough knowledge on how to manage business processes, but this is also the time when you’ll be able to easily decide on what degree that suits you best. Acquiring that much experience will allow you to easily pinpoint the Master’s degree, this would be very useful in expanding your skills and setting yourself up for a career that you will have for life.

Immersion is Equally Important

As said above, MBA degrees don’t really require applicants to have work experience simply because the schools that offer them are confident that they’ll be able to impart to their students all the fundamental knowledge and skills they need to become better in any kind of business setting they want to thrive in You’re applying to learn more, after all, and not to sell yourself, as in the standard case in applying for work. This where the question of whether the school you apply to is good or not If you are applying for an Executive Global MBA, for example, you may want to consider a Distance Learning Masters Degree or Online Master’s Degree India. This is because there are very good schools out there that offer unique benefits like:

  • The opportunity to study and be immersed in the different business environments of multiple countries that are involved in your particular degree.
  • You gain better research skills that are essential to a degree that has business innovation as one of its core concepts.
  • You get to plan and set your own schedule for studying and working. This is vital if you mean to embark on other endeavors as you study.

An Executive Global MBA fits perfectly with a Distance Learning setup precisely because of these reasons. For students training to become future global-minded executives, immersing yourself in diverse backgrounds would only allow you to become more effective in your core objectives of furthering business innovation and enhancing your skills in business management in a global setting.