An MBA graduate would be promised a bright future professional this is often true. But beware! Before embarking on the MBA path, you have to ask yourself the right questions. For if this diploma can boost a career, nothing is acquired: an MBA only makes sense if it is part of a coherent professional project.

Also, we must not lose sight of this particularly demanding adventure in terms of time and financial investment. So here are some good reasons to choose this way … sometimes to nuance and, in any case, to balance well with the other possible options.

What is an MBA?

MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the English translates as “Master of Business Administration”. MBA – a program of postgraduate education. It is aimed at training general managers to work in various fields.

MBA (Master of Business Administration) graduate implies universality. No matter what area manager was working (trade, manufacturing, consulting, investment and construction companies, banks, publishing), business management technology will be the same. Changing only the subject environment, create products and techniques.

Schools that offer an MBA degree are called business schools. As a rule, the business school (or, as they are called, School of Management) are at major universities. The training period for the MBA program takes one to two years.

Executive MBA / Part-time MBA

These MBAs are for executives with 5 to 10 years experience (the average age is between 25 and 35 years). You will attend evening and weekend classes as well as many seminars.

It is a very interesting option, regarding remuneration and professional development, for those who have entered the labour market for some years and who can not, for financial reasons, leave their position.

Technical profiles, such as engineers or specialised profiles, will be able to acquire the necessary knowledge to manage and run a business while continuing to work.

This training requires significant investment and motivation. Expect to put in brackets, time for training, your leisure and your family life! The advantage is size: it is usually the companies that finance these training and you can expect a clear increase in salary at the exit.

The MBA: an overview

Historically generalist (even though specialised MBAs are developing today), this training is mainly aimed at bringing to the participants in the technical profile (salesmen, lawyers, engineers, scientists, etc.) management skills and a global vision of the ” to promote their access to management positions.

They are so extensive all managerial skills: management, accounting, taxation, law, finance, languages, etc. , All in a context of multilingualism and multiculturalism.

Regardless of the place of learning, most of the lessons are in English, students and teams of teachers representing different nationalities. By its international nature, the diploma has acquired a very high reputation in a context of globalisation of the economy. It is particularly interesting for companies looking for executives capable of adapting to different global markets.

Who are the MBAs for?

The MBA was initially intended for engineers wishing to access management functions. It is aimed today at all people with a technical background (businessmen, lawyers, engineers, scientists, etc.) who wish to develop or re-launch their careers. Their dual competence (technical and managerial) could well, after an MBA, be dear in the labour market …

Technical profiles with at least three years of professional experience

The idea is therefore generally to open management posts to people with a different initial training. And only after a few years (at least three years) of professional experience in their field.

Based in particular on an exchange of experiences, the MBA training is indeed of little interest for a student just holding his diploma … who will in most cases not be admitted to follow it.

As for graduates of Business Schools, some believe that an MBA could indeed open up new doors for them. Others, however, think that MBA training, especially in its generalist version, would not bring much to their initial training: no dual-skill could then be put forward unless opting for ” One of the many specialised MBAs that bloom at the moment! To each, in short, to form his opinion.

Reasons to Take an MBA Programs:

Have you been thinking about taking an MBA Programs? What are the advantages? Much is said about the doors that can open an MBA programs for the future professional. But if you have not yet decided to do so, in this section, we explain what these programs offer you both at the professional and training level.

Benefits of MBA Programs:

MBA Colleges in India prepares you for the real world: an MBA programs is characterised by its Briefcase Hands-on training. Unlike an ordinary master, an MBA is practice-oriented and focuses on developing student skills and the skills you will need in your job.

It gives you the specialisation you need: MBA training is already a specialised training in itself. However, within the MBA area, there is a trend towards even greater specialisation. It is normal to see MBA programs specialised in Finance or Human Resources, which focus on the management of companies in very specific areas.

Develop your skills: a manager must have skills that qualify as a competent professional. Management skills, leadership ability or team management, are essential elements that every manager must possess. MBA programs stimulate and develop these skills by focusing on professional practice.

Update your knowledge: If you already have a career path but have noticed that your career has stalled, an MBA is the best option to update knowledge. The new MBAs enhance values ​​such as ethics and sustainability, which until now were forgotten. If you want to recycle professionally, it is advisable to renew the concept of the manager based on new programs and values.

It prepares you for the problems: when dealing with possible cases (real or fictitious) in the classes, the MBA gives you a decision-making ability with which you can respond quickly and efficiently to problems that may arise at work. An MBA is a kind of training that proposes “assumptions” to those who must react, make decisions, calculate the impact of them and weigh advantages and consequences.

Believe your quality as a professional: being programs with an eminently practical nature, they accredit your work and are an important quality mark. An MBA allows you to position yourself as a competitive professional within the market and certifies your worth. It’s a great cover letter for a company to look at you.

Better position, better salary: having an MBA is a differential factor highly valued by companies. Having a higher qualification than most will be more likely to make your work better paid

More opportunities to find work: An MBA Programs differentiates you as a professional, something not only important when you value a company, but also allows you to access a wider offer.

Ability to undertake, security and self-initiative: If you have an idea of ​​your own but have never run a company, standard MBAs are the best option. Traditional MBA programs offer you training in different areas of a company, from management to operations or finance.

Whether you are working in a company or going to run your own, you should be very sure of yourself as a professional. With an MBA you will feel very prepared and thanks to their practical cases you will learn to make important decisions.

Networking: An MBA programs is not only an important addition to your resume, but it can also give you the contacts you need. Your classmates can become co-workers, so take advantage of the networking program.

Learning to Manager

The MBA aims to train future managers, efficient in their daily work. In order to be strategic strategists, he focuses his training on the participants’ acquisition of a transversal vision of the company’s functions: marketing, logistics, human resources management, finance, accounting, etc.

The diversity of the subjects taught aims to make the future manager operational whatever the problem to be solved in terms of management. From this point of view, the courses are inspired by very concrete situations, coming directly from the business world: conducting meetings, facilitating teams, managing conflicts, etc.

In order to learn how to make the right decisions in complex situations, the students must quickly become the Consultant or the Head of the company: the practical cases are legion, when they do not constitute the whole course.

“Concrete” thus rhymes well with “MBA”.

Developing a sense of teamwork

The MBA makes it possible, according to the students, to gain in maturity and confidence , in particular because it implies a lot of teamwork: public speaking becomes essential. It is necessary to constantly confront its point of view with that of the other members of the team, to discuss it, to defend it … to adopt it sometimes, but often to adapt it or modify it. We are not advancing alone anymore, but we must take into account a group of personalities and ways of seeing things, as will be the case later, in business!

Booster to career

Changing sectors of activity, gaining flexibility in the labor market, giving a new impetus to a career, aiming for a reorientation towards positions that were previously inaccessible by lack of skills: these are the main motivations of the participants in the MBA programs.

Although it has evolved considerably since its creation, the MBA has retained its vocation as a career accelerator: it allows the opening of the doors of certain prestigious companies, strategic missions, access to Responsibility … It remains for many the diploma of future managers.

Developing a network of contacts

In MBA, an address book can quickly expand: the other participants, of course, will be part of it. But also some recruiters directing on campus or people met during various events. Let us not forget access to the network of alumni, often very profitable to who knows how to exploit it! Some even go so far as to say – and we do not know if this is a joke – that if tuition fees are so high in MBA, it is because we would pay for this access To the school network

Staying in a coherent professional approach

An MBA is of real interest only if it is undertaken precisely and brings real added value to a CV. An employer, even if he is not insensitive to a candidate with one of the most (INSEAD of Fontainebleau, IESE of Barcelona, ​​London Business School and Harvard), is seeking less and less this diploma as such.

Obtaining it must be part of a coherent professional approach that can, if necessary, be defended during a job interview. The diploma alone is no longer enough: they are above all appreciated by experiments and personalities.

This is all the truer as the MBA offer is expanding, it has become complex for future employers. They tend to recognise only the biggest international MBAs …

So pay attention: you can now be very graduate, but unemployed and over-indebted. So it’s not a question of leaving a job on a whim to launch, this one lowered, in an MBA!

Be aware of the workload

Starting an MBA is not an innocuous thing regarding privacy: adventure involves putting it in parentheses for one or several years, so much the workload is important. The support of the whole family is then indispensable, especially if the candidate is father or mother of family!

Good to know though: One-year programs are more intensive than those over two years. Your previous training may also allow you to invest a little less time in certain subjects. The whole thing is to learn more about the program … and get organised.

Acquiring a double competence

The MBA strategy pays particular attention to people from technical fields far removed from management and management in companies: engineers, doctors, lawyers, biologists, etc. , Can thus acquire new skills, more general, allowing them to progress in the company and to occupy positions previously inaccessible. This dual competence is, at present, highly sought after.

Some people, on the other hand, believe that a graduate from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce would not necessarily gain by investing in an MBA, above all a generalist one: his studies would, in essence, have already enabled him to acquire the essential notions necessary for management business … A specialised MBA could, however, open new doors.

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].