MBS MBA FAQs: Career Prospects
Saturday, July 19th, 2008Every couple of weeks I get an e-mail from someone looking to do an MBA from Melbourne Business School. I get asked lots of different questions in these e-mails but the ones I get most often cover admissions advice, post-MBA career prospects and the MBS careers office, and what my impression of MBS is now that I’m in the job market.
I’ve been meaning to blog about my replies to those e-mails for a while now but have only just gotten around to doing so. Here then is the first of those blog posts, this one covering career prospects and questions about MBS’ Career Services Centre.
Q. What is the Career Services Centre at MBS like?
A. It’s pretty good and it’s getting better. To give you an example: Back in 2006, when I started my MBA, the concept of an “MBA internship” was relatively new in Melbourne (and maybe even in Australia where internships and apprenticeships are generally 6-12 months long and are often something you do after your undergraduate degree). My MBA intake was the first to have an internship built into its program and, of the 30 or so people who wanted to do an internship, only 12 managed to get one. Things have improved drastically since then: of the 50 or so people who wanted to do an internship this year, over 45 got one. Most of that is thanks to the Career Services Centre’s efforts of the last couple of years.
The Career Services team is pretty impressive, too: they have a general careers consultant who can help you figure out what you want to do with your life and a bunch of industry specialists who really know what they’re talking about. The industry specialists also have great relationships with all the big companies in their designated industries. They also have a coordinator and general manager, both of whom know pretty much everything that’s going on and are a valuable resource in themselves.
The Centre also runs weekly career-related workshops (which are invaluable), holds a two-day residential careers/leadership training session (which is awesome), and manages the relationships with all of the companies that recruit from MBS (see next question).
Q. What kinds of companies recruit from MBS?
A. All kinds, including some of the biggest, most successful, and most well-known companies in Australia and the world. There are on-campus recruitment sessions/presentations held throughout the year and here is a list of some of the companies that held one during my last term there:
- Almost all the first- and second-tie consulting firms in Australia: BCG, McKinsey, Bain, Booz Allen, AT Kearney, E&Y, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, and LEK. And a couple of boutique consulting firms as well.
- Lots of large multinational corporations from different industries: GE, BHP Billiton, Boral, AMCOR, J&J, and Eli Lilly.
- Numerous finance companies: Babcock & Brown, Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, JF Capital, Goldman Sachs, ANZ, and National Australia Bank.
- A number of marketing-oriented companies: Pacific Brands, FutureBrand, and a couple of others.
- A number of technology-oriented companies: SMS, Fujitsu Consulting, InfoSys, and a few more.
- (And many more whose e-mails I deleted because I wasn’t interested in those jobs.)
Q. How do MBS students get/find their jobs? What kinds of jobs do they get, how much do they get paid, and which countries do they get these jobs in?
A. For details on all of this, read MBS’ graduating class survey for 2007. The data for the 2008 survey hasn’t been collected year (that should happen next month) and I’ll blog about that once the results are in.
Keep in mind, though, that 2007′s “average” starting salary of AU$105,211 doesn’t actually tell you much because it doesn’t capture the massive difference between graduates starting in, for example, C-suite positions and earning over 150k per year and graduates working in non-profits and earning under 70k per year. This is problem with averages.
What you can do to supplement this data is to look at industry-specific salary ranges as reported via salary surveys conducted by these four recruitment firms:
Notice how salary averages change across cities and industries and how they vary among the surveys themselves.
Q. What are the chances of using the MBA to switch industries?
A. It’s never easy to switch industries but the MBA is a great degree to switch with. That said, unless you work really hard, are incredibly persistent, and get a little lucky, you are unlikely to get your dream job in your target industry right after you graduate (particularly if you want to get into something like investment banking!). Instead, you’ll probably start at a lower-than-expected position in your new industry and will then work your way up to your dream job. This, by the way, is compared to the position someone from that industry would start at if they went and did an MBA and then came back. However, once you do make the switch, you’re likely to move up the corporate ladder (i.e. to your dream job) quicker than someone who doesn’t have an MBA.
The best part: you have tonnes of resources to help you make the switch. This includes not only books, elective courses, and industry clubs, but also your classmates, faculty members, Career Services staff, and alumni.
The most powerful industry-switching tool available to you, however, is your MBA internship. Assuming you manage to get one in your target industry, you’ll not only get some industry experience on your resume, you’ll also get networking contacts, lots of news and information about that industry, and maybe even direct contacts in companies that you might want to apply to for a job.
Q. What does it take to get a job in management consulting?
A. Lots of hard work, a love of numbers, the ability to see the big picture and the interconnections between elements, and the right (i.e. management consulting) attitude. The advantages you’ll have
in being an MBS student include:
- You’ll get taught how to do all of this
- If you like it, there are numerous electives you can take that will teach you how to do it even better
- MBS has great relations with all of the top management consulting firms in Australia. Indeed, many of its lecturers have worked in those firms in the past.
That said, there are two things you have to be ready for.
- Consulting firms will only hire you if your grades are really high (i.e. top 20% of your graduating class high) and, even then, only if you do really well on their case interviews (which are never easy).
- Only one or two people get into any of those firms in a given year and there are lots of smart people at MBS who want to get into management consulting so there’s plenty of competition.
In other words: the prospects are great if you work really hard, do lots of preparation, and get really good grades. If not, your prospects are still good but it might take longer and may be harder to get in.
Finally, the Career Services Centre and the student-run MBS Consulting Interest Group will guide you in all of this.
On to other topics…
Those are the most popular career-prospect questions I tend to get. I’ll move on to other topics next time but if there are any other specific questions you want me to answer on this topic, please let me know and I’ll cover them in a subsequent blog post.
Anupam said,
July 21, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
Great, Can we share this article on our site so that prospects can be educated about MBA from melbourne Bschool
Ameel Khan said,
July 22, 2008 @ 12:57 am
@Anupam: Sure. Please reference this blog post by providing a link to it though. Thanks.
Ameya said,
October 23, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Thanks for the detailed information, Ameel. That was extremely helpful!
I have an admit from MBS for MBA program starting Jan-09. Unlike the Sept intake, the January intake at MBS doesn’t include the internship. Do you think this makes the Jan intake a little disadvantageous considering the post MBA prospects? Would you advice to defer my admit from Jan to Sept-09 so that I can avail the internship feature of the Sept intakes?
Thanks,
Ameya said,
October 31, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
hey Ameel, can you please answer my query?
Ameel Khan said,
October 31, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
Ameya: My apologies for the late reply. Whether the January intake puts you at a disadvantage or not depends on where you are now (in your career and in your industry) and where you want to be after you graduate. If, for example, you want to switch industries then, yes, you may be at a disadvantage. But it’s not that cut and dried.
For example, some January intake students do an internship *after* their MBA and this works well for them. For international students, however, this isn’t always an option because the company you do an internship with may not sponsor your visa.
Other January intake students manage to switch industries without having done an internship. These students participate in student clubs based around their industry of choice, they network with people from that industry, and they do lots of research. It’s a little harder, yes, but it can be done.
Without more information about your specific case, though, I can’t give you any more advice. Also, don’t just ask me: ask other MBS bloggers as well. It’s always good to advice from more that one person.
Ameya said,
November 1, 2008 @ 6:06 am
Thanks for the inputs. Here is my background: I have worked in IT industry for more than 6 yrs(3 in USA) as a developer as well as in leadership roles. However, I do want to switch the industry after the MBA and rather I am looking at the course as a catalyst for that. I am currently in process of applying for skills assessment and would be applying for PR once that is done. I hope I have the PR by the time I finish the course. Please let me know what you think of my case.
Also, another question about PR if you can answer based on your experience – for international students who do not have PRs by the time the course is complete, what level of interest do the companies show to sponsor the 18 months work visa? Basically, is it fair to hope that the international students would get jobs with the work visa instead of a PR.
Ameel said,
November 1, 2008 @ 11:45 am
If you expect to have your PR by the time you finish your MBA then you should be okay with the January intake. Like I said earlier: in that case, you can even do your internship after your MBA.
You might have to network a little harder and start applying for jobs a little earlier than the September intake people, but that’s not very hard to do — especially if you make good use of MBS’ Career Management Center.
Ameel said,
November 1, 2008 @ 11:56 am
There are two types of visas you can get after you complete your MBA: (1) a company sponsored work visa or (2) an 18-month, non-company sponsored, Temporary Resident (i.e. TR) visa. You apply for the latter if you don’t have the necessary points for a PR but have done a two-year masters-level degree (which the MBS MBA is equivalent to).
From what I’ve heard, most companies that hire MBAs are fine with sponsoring your work visa once you get a job with them. However, I’m not the best person to ask about this because I’m not on one of these visas.
It’s a little more complicated if you want to work for a company that doesn’t normally hire MBAs or international students (but it can be done without too much of a hassle). It’s even more complicated if you want to work in an industry like IT which relies on a lot of contract work in which case companies don’t sponsor your work visa unless you’re a long term contract.
Since you want to change industries and, presumably, go into an MBA-related industry like management consulting, you should be fine even if you don’t have your PR by the time you finish your MBA. And, even then, you can always apply for a TR which will let you live and work in Australia for 18 months without needing company sponsorship.
Ameya said,
November 4, 2008 @ 1:31 am
Thank you once again for the reply.
Could you give me a couple of MBA bloggers’ links?
I did actually talk to a few MBAs and found mixed views as few favor the MBA highly while for few of them its not very good in terms of job opportunities in Australia. I guess it always comes down to the individual’s experience with the whole process.
Ameel Khan said,
November 4, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
Individual experience is one factor but so are things like the industry you’re in, the level of seniority you have, the type of job you’re looking for, and so on.
For example, in Australia, the MBA would probably work against you if you were in the Media and Entertainment industry. It used to work against you in the Not-for-Profit sector as well, but that’s changed quite a bit over the last few years. Also, the MBA won’t do you much good if you’re too junior to benefit from it. That is, if you’re too junior to get a management position based on your work experience anyway, doing an MBA probably won’t help you get one either (at least not immediately).
I have a number of Melbourne Business School MBA bloggers listed on my MBS Blogger’s page (last link in the navigation bar on the top of this page). That might be a good place to start.
Ameya said,
November 5, 2008 @ 7:59 am
Thanks, Ameel.
Barnali said,
November 9, 2008 @ 3:13 am
Hi Ameel.
I saw your blog sometime back and also visited the other MBS bloggers’s site. Thanks for the effort you are putting up.
I am a prospective classmate of Ameya (Jan 2009) and am being sponsored by the Auatralian Government. The scholarship covers the total tuition but poses a condition on me to come back to my home after completion of the courses. I intend to apply for PR in 2011/ 2012 (provided most other factors remain constant). Do you think an 2 year-MBA from MBS plus a 2 year post-MBA experience will enable me to gain enough points for PR? I guess TR is not applicable for people applying from outside Australia. Please comment.
Also, how much should one hope for an overseas job (Singapore, HK, China) right after graduating from MBS?
Thanks,
Barnali
Ameel Khan said,
November 9, 2008 @ 12:17 pm
@Barnali: Whether you have enough points for PR or not depends on a number of factors. Certainly having an Australian masters degree will help.
For details on your eligibility for that visa, visit the Australian Government’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) website: http://www.immi.gov.au/. The visa you are most probably interested in is the ‘Skilled – Independent (Migrant) visa (subclass 175)’ which you can find at: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/175/index.htm. The eligibility page in that section will help you calculate how many points you will have when you apply for this visa in 2011/12.
As for your second question, I have no idea what overseas MBA salary levels are. I’m sure you’ll find some salary surveys on the web that will tell you that, though.
Congratulations on your sponsorship :)