A country is driven by its economy, which is undoubtedly run by the business organizations that pump money, goods, and services daily. However, the employees of these business organizations are the key stakeholders who drive the performance of the company and the economy as a whole. Therefore, these business organizations seek the best talent and personality to perform effectively and consistently.
MBA or Masters in Business Administration is a course that prepares an individual to work and perform effectively in these competitive business organizations and environments. With the employability of MBA graduates touching a new high at 55%, it has become one of the most sought-after degrees among discerning students.
The question that has been haunting students for a long time is whether students should gain work experience and then pursue the MBA course or vice versa.
Let us find logical answers to this question in this blog.
Why should one pursue an MBA course?
MBA or Masters in Business Administration is a professional course that prepares students to manage business organizations holistically while effectively managing its various aspects. A specialized MBA intends to prepare the future generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs to create sustainable solutions and help people achieve better lives, and make this world a better place.
While discussing the importance of pursuing a professional course like an MBA, a natural question is whether work experience before MBA is required. Is it a mandatory standard? The answer to this question is that gaining work experience is optional in India, although various institutes prefer it. The premier institutes sometimes make MBA after-work experience a prerequisite to confirm a seat.
Is Work Experience necessary to pursue an MBA?
Since work experience significantly contributes to any candidate’s skills, expertise, and work efficiency, it is highly recommended. Considering the vast uncertainty candidates face following this question, let us enlist some reasons why having work experience for MBA is necessary.
- Helps You in Understanding the Concepts Well
When you join an organization just after your graduation, you get exposure to the various departments of a business, such as accounts, human resources, marketing, sales, and supply chain.
This experience can help you understand the work and the related concepts better than those who do not have any work experience. In short, MBA is a professional course, and you need professional grooming before you start the rigorous course.
- Relating Theoretical Concepts With Practical Experience for Improved Comprehension
Another reason why MBA after work experience is vital turns out to be the invaluable practical experience of working in an organization. While dealing with its various departments, being an active part of any organization enables you to correlate your experiences to theoretical concepts, extending a better comprehension of the detailed coursework offered within an MBA program.
While dealing with diverse theories during your MBA coursework, experienced candidates will be able to logically relate to each of them with their prior work experiences, leading to enhanced understanding and accurate implementation of the same. A student with work experience can easily connect the dots.
- Gaining Momentum in Your Career
Prior work experience would surely give you the required momentum in your career.
How?
If you joined an organization as a sales trainee just after graduation, you continue with your job for the next three years. Since you joined as an intern, you are bound to get permanent employment within six months or a year. You may get a promotion and become a Sales Executive at that stage of your career.
After continuing as a Sales Executive, you decide to pursue MBA and get into a reputed college of your choice. As soon as you achieve addition of an MBA degree under your belt, you will be considered for a role higher than your previous working position, i.e., the Sales Executive.
This is how you gain momentum in your career with work experience while leveraging the definitive wings of a professional course like an MBA to succeed in the flight of your career.
- Define Better Meanings for a Holistic Life
Pursuing an MBA is not a piece of cake. The process might also require you to go through the extensive effort of baking. Most of the time, the rigor of this professional course compels the enrolled students to ask whether they’ve made the right choice. This might even lead some students to drop out, even after lavishly investing in the course.
Getting work experience before committing your time, resources, and efforts to a professional course like MBA will help you stay focused. This is because you can assess what you aspire to achieve in life and what you need to possess to fulfill such career aspirations. Your path and goal will be clear; thus, you will find better meanings for your efforts to make your life holistic!
- Helps You Become Rational and Pragmatic
Business is a practical world where valuable decisions are taken from your head, not your heart. However, the difference between ‘just feeling like doing an MBA’ and ‘need to do an MBA’ makes your professional journey more meaningful.
A detailed work experience before getting into the MBA program will help you make this vital decision more rationally and pragmatically. The answer to why work experience is important for an MBA is that your work experience can help you set realistic expectations, leading to better career opportunities in the future.
- Financial Aid for Assistance
Work experience grants you the financial freedom to pursue expensive academic endeavors such as an MBA from any esteemed university.
Even if your savings are not enough to fully sponsor your course, it can greatly assist in taking that initial leap towards career advancement while helping you to explore various financial aid such as education loans or scholarships. Financial limitations prove to be one of the topmost reasons why many eligible aspirants fail to pursue higher education. Work experience will enable you to chase this dream of yours.
- Gain the Required Competitive Edge Among Your Peers
MBA program peers, fresh out of college, would certainly be nascent to the field of Business Management, while your relevant experience through the years would help you achieve a competitive edge over them. From understanding theoretical concepts to holding practical depth, work experience can be leveraged as a headstart for candidates enrolled in MBA.
Essentially, work experience also reflects on placement opportunities, where people with no work experience are treated as freshers while those with a significant industry understanding are offered comparatively much better opportunities.
- Stress and Time Management Skills Come Naturally
Working under any organization guides employees to juggle multiple responsibilities while complying with deadlines. Some of them may include managing clients, managers, feedback, peers, and other processes functioning simultaneously.
Besides technical skills, having experience in managing such a responsible position would help you to develop relevant soft skills such as time management, negotiation, analytical, and problem-solving skills. This quality of managing stress and time will be helpful when you are bombarded with assignments, presentations, tests, corporate interactions, live events, and other activities running simultaneously at your MBA program.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the answer to the question ‘Is work experience required for MBA in India’ is a Yes!
Navigating through so many benefits, it is evident that you gain visibility among your colleagues, customers, managers, and other business stakeholders while working. Hence, growing your network. This growing network becomes necessary when seeking a good job placement during your MBA, therefore rewarding you with a dynamic career. Ensure choosing the most in-demand program to skyrocket your career toward growth!
A Master of Business Administration from Golden Gate University turns out to be an exceptional choice for candidates interested in upskilling through an MBA. Specifically curated to suit working professionals, this course is designed to fit easily in your 9-5 role while helping you strengthen your candidature and expertise. The course provides specializations across disciplines such as Finance, Adaptive Leadership, Marketing, and Business Analytics, giving you the freedom to upskill in your field of interest.
Enrol now and transform your upskilling journey with GGU!
FAQs
- Are online MBA programs trustworthy?
Yes, online MBA programs from renowned institutes like Golden Gate University, which hold authentic accreditations from esteemed councils such as WASC and WES, are best suited to pursue an MBA. Before going for an MBA online, ensure to look for reliable accredited institutions only.
- How many years of work experience do I need to take part in an MBA program?
In India, you do not need prior work experience to study MBA. However, working for more than three years can give you all the skill sets that you need to ace the MBA program
- Can I get good jobs after completing my MBA program?
According to research, almost 50% of MBA pass-outs work in senior positions for various business organizations, therefore confirming your chances to obtain great work opportunities after an MBA.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/738214/employability-among-business-administration-graduates-india/ https://www.mastersportal.com/articles/340/10-very-good-reasons-to-do-an-mba-degree.html
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