May 2005
Mastering MBA Websites
By
President of Workforce Associates
and author of
NetWork: Maximizing Your Career Resources on the Internet
Available online and in print from Author House
May 2005
Mastering MBA Websites
By
President of Workforce Associates
and author of
NetWork: Maximizing Your Career Resources on the Internet
Available online and in print from Author House
For those of you who have MBA’s or are thinking about adding an MBA after your name, there is some special good news. The better MBA programs, whether you’re looking at the Forbes list or the Wall Street Journal’s or Business Week’s or US News, offer impressive post-graduate support. But even if you don’t have or want those three letters after your name, many of these schools offer valuable resources to any and all who "drop in" at their websites. There are many examples to follow for you to check out:
Your first task is to find out about the MBA programs closest to you and how they rank. Here’s a list of all top-ranked business schools per the evaluations of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes magazine, US News and World Report, the Business Education Commission, and several other organizations.
Next, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the MBA Career Services Council that is the umbrella for MBA career resource centers around the country and in many other countries as well. For example, here is a list of companies that were hiring during 2004, including information for foreign nationals with MBA’s and those looking for internships. It’s a very comprehensive list that runs for 26 pages with many names and email addresses of contact persons at each major US company for you to email directly. The MBA CSC is dedicated to setting standards of excellence for the profession and to be THE source for valuable MBA employment and market information. The Council has 300 members representing 210 universities worldwide and has extended its membership to include employer and affiliate professionals responsible for college or university graduate-level employment. Check out www.mbacsc.org/ for details.
In a survey published in 2004, the MBA Career Services Council reported that the job market for MBAs had improved "noticeably" from the previous year: 60 percent of schools reported that on-campus recruiting had increased. Eight percent of schools indicated that recruiting had increased by more than 25 percent. William Brady, president of the Council and director of Graduate Career Management at Brigham Young University's Marriott School, was quoted as saying that "demand for MBA graduates has increased during 2004, lagging behind the recently reported productivity gains and overall modest economic recovery. Schools are indicating more on-campus activity across several broad industry sectors." For more details, take a look at Vault’s Career Library book entitled MBA Career Bible, 2005 edition.
Third, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the websites of individual MBA Career Services centers, especially at public universities. For example, the MBA programs at the University of Wisconsin, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Washington report on acceptance rates and initial salaries for their grads.
In addition, each MBA program has its own extensive online and live resources for job hunters and alumni. If, for example, you live in Minnesota, the Carlson School of Management has a wealth of information, regardless if you hold an MBA or not. For instance, here's targeted salary information and material about Minnesota-based companies to help job hunters in their search.
But don’t ignore private university MBA programs. At Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, a full time position was created in 2003 to deal exclusively with the employment needs of alumni. The Stern School of Business at New York University opened its Career Center for Working Professionals to work with alumni as well as the school’s part time and executive MBA students. While most of the information is reserved for alumni to enjoy, there are many resources available to anyone who looks at their impressive website. For example, archive newsletters provide ideas, names, and links to resources in the NYC metro area. http://www.stern.nyu.edu/Alumni/Winter2004_Newsletter.pdf is chock full of information for the savvy job seeker. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania provides its alumni with free access to otherwise costly online resources. But anyone can use its main site http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices and be linked to jobs and internship opportunities.
I could go on and on about MBA programs and their online resources but you probably already have gotten the point! Harness these websites in geographic areas where you are job hunting. You’ll find more information than you could ever imagine. And don’t forget my favorite Chronicle of Higher Education, which offers hundreds of job opportunities for anyone with a college education. Don’t think that the Chronicle is only for those who are looking for academic positions. Smart employers use Chronicle to list professional positions at research institutes, training departments, foundations, as well as the more familiar academic and administrative positions at community colleges and universities.
Have a very Happy May! Keep your resumes and comments coming.
Jane M. Lommel, Ph.D.
jlommel@WorkforceAssociates.com
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