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MBAs who can't find jobs

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Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#81

Post by godelski »

kevingadd wrote: post #40
bobjordan wrote: post #20

I graduated with an MBA in 2008 from a top 10-ish school, just before the Great Recession. I had no desire to be an entrepreneur. I pursued the consulting track and landed a full-time offer from my summer internship, but I got laid off in 2009 along with about half of the firm. After that, I did contract consulting jobs for a year and ended up working on a project in China. As that project ended, I still couldn't fin…

This seems like it boils down to "if you can't find someone willing to hire you, start a company and find someone willing to hire it"? Which solves the problem of not having a job, I suppose, but doesn't necessarily solve the problem of not having an income. Contract manufacturing sounds like a very specific field. Were you working in contract manufacturing before, or did you basically make a career pivot into manufa…

I think it also comes off as anecdotal with no good causal relationship. I have no doubt the parent put in a lot of hard work, sacrificed much, and struggled. But I'm not convinced the strategy is repeatable. A saying I like is "the harder I work, the luckier I get." Because hard work gives you the ability to take advantage of opportunities. But at the end of the day there is a combination of hard work and luck. Maybe this is just how the world is, but we're humans so we have the power to shape it, and I think we should make hard work less reliant upon luck. But I think one of the first steps to doing that is recognizing how stochastic the system (both what we can control and what we can't) is. I'm glad this worked out for the parent and I sincerely do not want this comment to undermine their work. But I think we're often too quick to assume a repeatable process and not selection bias.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#82

Post by __turbobrew__ »

WJW wrote: post #58
nsxwolf wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I am assuming serious job seekers would only be applying to relevant roles. I've applied to several hundred positions that are very much in line with my experience and skillset since summer without success - I would assume someone who has never worked in tech would need to be applying for at least as many positions as I have.

This is wild to me. I've applied to 4 jobs in my life and been hired for 3 of those. I can't imagine having to write hundreds of individual cover letters. Is this one of those US vs EU differences?

It is a self perpetuating cycle. If you are lucky to land a good first job that leads to a good second job which leads to a good third job, so on so forth.

Many of the people applying for 100s of jobs are either unqualified or completely green. Especially now more than ever the bottom 10-15% of the workforce has been trimmed in various layoffs so if you are completely green you are competing with people who have industry experience.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#83

Post by thecleaner »

bobjordan wrote: post #20

I graduated with an MBA in 2008 from a top 10-ish school, just before the Great Recession. I had no desire to be an entrepreneur. I pursued the consulting track and landed a full-time offer from my summer internship, but I got laid off in 2009 along with about half of the firm. After that, I did contract consulting jobs for a year and ended up working on a project in China. As that project ended, I still couldn't fin…

People like you are what cause an uptick in the economy. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#84

Post by HDThoreaun »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #47
l2silver wrote: post #10

The article mentions MBAs graduating from top schools not being able to find a job in a tough job market, but obviously this problem is as old as time for MBA graduating any given year. One of the issues is that the MBA is a money maker for these universities, so why not graduate as many people as possible. The other issue is what people expect from these MBA programs. They see it as a way to get career flexibility,…

> One of the issues is that the MBA is a money maker for these universities, so why not graduate as many people as possible. I wonder why U.S. universities issuing MBA degrees take a "graduate as many as possible" approach, whereas medical schools use a "intentionally limit the supply of doctors" approach. Perhaps it's a game theory thing. Any one school can easily and independently increase the number of MBAs it gra…

Medical schools are limited by residency spots. Theyd love to expand, but without more federal subsidies for residencies it cant happen.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#85

Post by mistymountains »

darth_avocado wrote: post #9

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that business is the most popular major in the country. A glut of middle managers is maybe not something the economy wants, especially when in most companies you can just work your way up to be one without an MBA. Really the only value for the degree I see is if you already have a business. And some value if you want to start one (on top of the 200k debt you just took for th…

The issue is that actually, outside of technical paths, businesses do like to hire business grads as it allows them to do even less training and they usually don’t care if someone is well read or opinionated (possibly prefer the opposite).

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#86

Post by jdksmdbtbdnmsm »

thecleaner wrote: post #83
bobjordan wrote: post #20

I graduated with an MBA in 2008 from a top 10-ish school, just before the Great Recession. I had no desire to be an entrepreneur. I pursued the consulting track and landed a full-time offer from my summer internship, but I got laid off in 2009 along with about half of the firm. After that, I did contract consulting jobs for a year and ended up working on a project in China. As that project ended, I still couldn't fin…

People like you are what cause an uptick in the economy. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Inherited wealth works wonders.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#87

Post by leoqa »

flkiwi wrote: post #16
monero-xmr wrote: post #4

Always better to go to graduate professional school (law, business) when you have a job lined up. Going to Harvard or Yale with no plan means you might get a job after. But if you don’t, after a couple years the degree is a scarlet letter. I have a friend who went to a good law school but graduated middle of class. He does the same job he did before, but is still paying off the $200k debt he took :(

I'll take that a step further: have a personal "business plan" for what you are going to accomplish and treat professional school like a job with that goal as your job description. I went to a non-top-tier law school, but I finished very high in my class and knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish (and was largely debt-free in doing so). I ended up where many of my Harvard Law friends did with substantially less fin…

I’ve done software for 15 years and am fortunate to soft-retire soon. I was considering my next career to be law. I’ve filed civil actions, patents and would want to do civil litigation for consumer rights.

Any advice on how to go about getting a degree that is reasonably priced, getting experience? Is there industry knowledge around which (ideally online) school is the most legit?

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#88

Post by tim333 »

godelski wrote: post #81
kevingadd wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like it boils down to "if you can't find someone willing to hire you, start a company and find someone willing to hire it"? Which solves the problem of not having a job, I suppose, but doesn't necessarily solve the problem of not having an income. Contract manufacturing sounds like a very specific field. Were you working in contract manufacturing before, or did you basically make a career pivot into manufa…

I think it also comes off as anecdotal with no good causal relationship. I have no doubt the parent put in a lot of hard work, sacrificed much, and struggled. But I'm not convinced the strategy is repeatable. A saying I like is "the harder I work, the luckier I get." Because hard work gives you the ability to take advantage of opportunities. But at the end of the day there is a combination of hard work and luck. Mayb…

I think not so much "the harder I work, the luckier I get" as keep working even if you don't get paid much for a while. Which probably is repeatable and you'll likely make money eventually if you bring value to others.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#89

Post by entropicgravity »

bobjordan wrote: post #20

I graduated with an MBA in 2008 from a top 10-ish school, just before the Great Recession. I had no desire to be an entrepreneur. I pursued the consulting track and landed a full-time offer from my summer internship, but I got laid off in 2009 along with about half of the firm. After that, I did contract consulting jobs for a year and ended up working on a project in China. As that project ended, I still couldn't fin…

In about 2004 Business Week had an article that said 'the value of an MBA is simply the salary of the job that your school gets for you on graduation'. No job, no value. Some schools have much better placement departments than others.

Re: MBAs who can't find jobs

#90

Post by galaxyofdoom »

TrackerFF wrote: post #50

Pre-face: MBA here I got my MBA covered by my employer, but honest to god - I didn't learn or see much new. Prior to that I had a MSEE, as well as a Bachelor in Econ and Business Administration. All the classes were just mixes of core finance/accounting/management classes. Had electives, but again, nothing I wouldn't have learned on the job or in my own spare time. I guess you can get some academic/knowledge value if…

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