An IT professional with four years of work experience approached me with an aspiration to join INSEAD/IMD/Richard Ivey/ISB. I could gather from his choices that he is primarily exploring a one-year MBA programme and wants to save time. However, what was unsettling was that he had no clarity. He wanted to make more money and hold significant leadership positions in the Industry, but when I asked him what Industry or functions he saw himself working in after MBA, he had no idea. According to him, the strategy was to figure that out when you are on the campus.
IntrospectionSo, you have not had a chance to introspect in your life, speak with people, get in touch with them to find out more about different industries and functions, and, without knowing anything, you want to jump on the fastest treadmill — a one-year MBA programme which will come with a very rigorous curriculum in a far-from-home environment, with competitive peers and recruiters with high expectations. You think you will end up finding the love of your life? This strategy can be the source of supreme disappointment for the applicants at the end of the 11-12 month engagement — that disappointment coupled with a Rs. 70-lakh-loan can make it even more miserable. Many of the applicants with 3-4 years of work experience do not end up saving a year by joining a one-year MBA programme. They reach a stage in their MBA where they dread that the term is about to end and they did not get enough opportunities to find their plan A/plan B jobs. This was simply because those plan A and plan B options were constructed without any significant experience of research. They had just done what they had seen others do, and it did not work for them.
If you are not meant for a one-year MBA programme, you are simply not meant for it!
On the contrary, a woman applicant with 10 years of work experience in marketing was keen on programmes such as Tuck, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. She had this unchecked item on her list, and that item was to get a top tier U.S. MBA. She was also certain of the career choices she wanted to explore. However, what she did not realise was that some of the two-year MBA programmes will have strong reservations because of her work experience. Schools might fear that they will not be able to meet the expectations considering her seniority before MBA. Her target positions will be more prevalent in one-year MBA programmes, as the recruiters come to those campuses with different needs and expectations.
Two examplesWhat do you think is happening in the two examples above?
Both the applicants are making wrong choices. While the first guy is definitely a strong contender for a two-year MBA, the second applicant does not need to spend two years with the kind of understanding that she has about her future. The first one should try everything out, as extreme as Marketing and Finance. However, the woman is definitely a sharp shooter and can get recruited for significantly senior positions that will leverage her areas of expertise.
If your mindset is: “I have no idea of the industries or functions and will explore them once the MBA gets started,” you are at a stage of life where you cannot afford a one-year MBA.
One-year MBA programmes are meant for people who have some idea of the nature of the post-MBA jobs they will be recruiting for. They can afford confusion, but that confusion has to be an informed one. That is, they will have to know what factors to assess before jumping into any of the available alternatives.
Two-year MBA programmes are meant for people who are open to experimenting and are willing to spend another year in learning about other alternatives that are available in various industries and functions. People with work experience of less than five years should normally look for a two-year MBA. The ones with 5-7 years of work experience should consider both the alternatives based on the stage of their careers.
InternshipIf someone is looking at making a significant switch in their career (industry/function), they need to take up an internship. For example, barriers to entry are the lowest in investment banking only when you go through the internship route. Most of the bulge bracket banks would like to meet you several times before taking you for full-time positions. Full-time conversions without an internship are tough given the competitive nature of certain industries.
If, for example, you are working with Infosys or any other IT firm and are keen on moving over to products (working for product management positions with Microsoft), you should take the two-year MBA route. You should look at building the concepts in the first year, try out an internship, assess various alternatives after the internships, and do the full-time recruiting in the second year along with building your base in product management and marketing-related courses.
If you are already working in the product development teams and work with the product managers on a daily basis, and are now keen on making a switch from the development side to the management side of the products, I think you can do that with a one-year MBA too. The U.S. will not offer many one-year MBA programmes with strong placement support, and you will have to explore Canada, Europe and other global destinations. For someone willing to make a career in India, ISB is a good alternative too.
In a nutshell, create a future that you are trying to capture through an MBA programme. An MBA is a means to an end and not an end in itself.
The writer is Founder and CEO, Pythagurus Education.
