Picking your time – The advantage of work experience before the MBA
By TopMBA.com
Published: June 22, 2006

While a number of business schools in India and across the Asia Pacific region will still accept students straight after their first degree, a growing proportion of top MBA programmes around the world insist on a significant level of hands-on experience in the workplace.
Melbourne Business School, Australia and Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, USA, for example, look for a minimum of two years professional experience. IE Business School, Spain and Cass Business School, UK, specify three years, while at Ashridge, UK, the minimum specification is five years previous work experience.

One of the main reasons schools now insist on this level of experience, is the expressed preference of recruiters for individuals who can ‘hit the ground running’, as soon as they graduate from an MBA programme. According to the latest TopMBA.com research from the organisers of the QS World MBA Tour, which surveyed more than 500 employers in more than 30 countries, over 50% of potential employees of MBAs look for candidates with at least a year’s prior work experience. Only around 8% of organisations are willing to look at individuals who have clocked up less than a year’s experience before embarking on their MBA studies.

However, this pressure from recruiters is only part of the reason behind the drive for experienced students. Sandeep Gupta worked for major companies such as Cadbury Schweppes and Siemens before studying at Cranfield School of Management, UK. He believes prior work experience plays a key part in getting the most out of the MBA experience: “Sitting in the classroom, during a case study discussion, it’s easy to identify with the characters involved because, more often than not, you can see a similarity between what you have experienced in the past and what the case study depicts.” He continues, “However, since you are now sitting outside the workplace, you can see the situation with a more neutral perspective and can identify who could have done what to produce a different outcome. There’s also an element of glamour and awe associated with words such as ‘vision’, ‘strategy’ and the like, which are used liberally on an MBA programme. These words have little meaning unless you can fit them into the bigger picture. And the only way you can do that is through prior practical experience.”

Sandeep Gupta’s view is shared by another Indian MBA, Rajesh Kothari, who studied at IESE, Spain after six years working in the financial services sector at home. “I found my work experience was invaluable to me on the programme. Making a real contribution to classes is extremely important – this most certainly isn’t the sort of study where you just politely sit and listen. When you want to make a point in class it definitely helps if you can draw upon previous experience and if you don’t have it, it really shows. The case study approach offers a very practical form of learning and the ability to draw upon six years in the workplace was a major bonus.”

Source: www.TopMBA.com

Aqui va una noticia interesante sobre networking, del site CNN Money en partnership con la revista Fortune.

Five months of networking, still no new job
You're doing all the right things to land a great position, but aren't getting anywhere. What's wrong?
By Anne Fisher, FORTUNE senior writer
May 17, 2006

(FORTUNE) - Dear Annie: Is it really true that senior-management jobs are more often found through networking than by any other means? I'm skeptical, because it just isn't working for me. I'm in charge of international marketing for a division of a large global company. In the aftermath of a merger last year, my job is less interesting than it used to be. I'm ready to move on, and since January I've been doing everything the networking experts recommend: going to conferences, heading up a trade-group committee, getting in touch with former colleagues and other acquaintances to hear the scuttlebutt about possible openings, etc. But so far, nada. What do you think?
-Net Zero

Dear NZ: I think you haven't given it enough time yet. Five months may seem like forever when you're anxious to make a change, but networking your way into a senior-management position may take longer.

A few statistics: ExecuNet, a career-services network for executives earning $100,000 a year or more, reported in its latest annual survey of the senior-management job market that 70% of human-resources chiefs say they rely heavily on referrals and other networking contacts to find candidates for executive job openings, which are almost never advertised anywhere (on job boards, for instance).

Doing all the right things, as you have been, puts you out ahead of most of your competition. The ExecuNet poll shows that, while 84% of senior managers agree that broad networks of personal and professional contacts are crucial to success, just 19% say their own networks are in "excellent" or "very good" shape.

"Networking is time-consuming," says ExecuNet president Mark Anderson. "But sooner or later, the payoff will be there, and probably when you least expect it."

Anderson recommends that everyone - not just people who are currently seeking a new job - spend at least one hour a week getting to know peers at other companies, going to work-related social events, or even meeting new people through volunteer work.

"Over the course of a year, just one hour a week adds up to a full workweek of effort, and you'll be amazed at how many new connections you've made," he says.

Anderson speaks from experience. Some years ago a friend from an old job told him about ExecuNet, and he started looking into it. Later the same year, Anderson went to a Stanford alumni luncheon and got to chatting with ExecuNet CEO Dave Opton. The two hit it off, and Opton eventually hired Anderson.

"I got this job through two different networking events that were six months apart. It's not always quick," he notes.

"People tend to attribute a promotion, or a great move to another company, to luck, or to being 'in the right place at the right time.' But far more often, it's the result of networking," Anderson adds. "The more people know who you are and what you're good at, the 'luckier' you're likely to be." So hang in there.