Careers for MBA Students

An MBA makes you more attractive to employers than other candidates.

A master's of business administration degree, or MBA, gives students a chance to dive deeper into different business topics. Areas of study for an MBA include management, marketing, finance or entrepreneurship. MBA degrees also typically lead to higher paying salaries. According to the Earn My Degree website, people with master's degrees made $10,000 more per year on average than people with just a bachelor's degree. There are a variety of different careers for MBA students.

Finance Executive

People with an MBA with a focus on finance or accounting can use the degree to leverage a career in finance and become a chief financial officer, VP of finance or something similar at a company. Your MBA degree will give you the skills and knowledge necessary to help increase a company's revenue, decrease expenses and manage a team of finance or accounting department employees. Many people who work at the executive level have their MBA degree, and finance is no exception.

Consultant

Another career option for an MBA student is to work as a consultant. Consultants are hired by companies to improve a certain aspect of their business. For example, a company might hire a marketing consultant to ramp up its marketing department, as opposed to hiring a full-time marketing manager. You can work independently or for a consulting firm. Normally, you would work as a consultant in the same area of study you focused on during your work on your MBA.

Business Owner

Many people with MBAs choose to start their own business as opposed to work for someone else. Any one type of MBA degree can lead to a career as a business owner, though an entrepreneurship MBA degree will prepare you best for the challenges of launching a company and growing it into a successful venture. The work you do as an MBA student can even get you started on your business owner career. Many schools offer a network to MBA students that includes venture capitalists or other investors, as well as people you might want to partner with or work with as mentors.

Teachers

Another career option for MBA students is to become a teacher. You can work in junior high or high schools to teach students different business topics like economics or entrepreneurship. You can also teach at the college level, though it may require you continue your education past your MBA and earn a Ph.D. This career is different from the others because you do not enter the business rat race, but rather share your knowledge and experience with the next generation of businesspeople.

References

• Earn My Degree: Value of Education
• MBAs: How Online MBAs Can Lead To High Paid Executive Positions
• GredView: Graduates for Hire: Careers for MBA Graduates
• Quint Careers: The Master of Business Administration: Is the MBA Worth the Time, Effort, and Cost?
• Bloomberg Businessweek: Best Schools by Specialty: Entrepreneurship
• University of Tampa: MBA Students Become Teachers with Junior Achievement