Employers want skills on top of MBA
BRW, February 14-20, 2013, p 40-41
“The global financial crisis has made everyone question the building blocks of commercial life, looking at the banking system, corporate management, at the behaviour of small businesses, large businesses, rogue traders and, ipso facto, business schools,” says Andrew Horsley, a recruiter and also the NSW branch president of the Graduate Management Association of Australia.
The association is a national body that promotes continuing management education and Horsley, who started life as a lawyer before moving into the oil and gas world – thanks to the MBA he acquired in 1978-79 – and subsequently into executive recruitment, is a staunch believer in the power of graduate management qualifications.
Even he, however, says people are shining a much-needed light onto MBAs and all who have them.
"People used to take it as article of faith – if you’ve got an MBA, that would mark you out as someone special,” he says. “Now they say: ‘You’ve got an MBA, let’s see how you perform’. The jury is now in. Sure there are special people with MBAs, but now you must look beyond that and see how they perform on the job.”
It’s not all a picture of doom and gloom, however. The degree can still help job applications stand out.