The simple truth is that any time is a good time to do an MBA for almost anybody who desires a fulfilling career or has any interest in business.
That is to say that career-wise, there are very few situations in which it would not be beneficial to have the knowledge, insight and confidence offered by such a highly respected business degree.
The question then becomes when it is best to study an MBA.
After all, it’s a time-consuming, resource-intensive task that could take any time from 12 months full-time to several years part-time or at your own pace. You may also benefit more from on-the-job training at work to gain expertise in certain business areas.
Plus, the MBA study experience will not just affect you, but also those around you. Family and colleagues must come into consideration.
So, what suits one MBA candidate might not suit another.
While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of when it’s best to complete an MBA, there are a number of guides that can offer direction when taking into account your unique situation. These include stage of career path, salary level, real-world work experience and where you’re at in your current job.
Prior to work experience
For younger MBA candidates, those who intend to head straight into business school immediately after completing a bachelor’s degree, there is a question mark over the value of an MBA degree without any work experience.
After all, four or five years of work experience will at least introduce the candidate to the various pressures of the business environment and will offer them a real-world view of how departments and professions interact.
It will also give those candidates case studies around which they can frame learning and knowledge as they work through the MBA.
Then there’s an argument that the knowledge will be out of date by the time the graduate actually needs to use it. If they complete an MBA then don’t reach senior management ranks for seven to 10 years, how much of their knowledge will be fresh or relevant?
However, a case can also be put forward to say a graduate will rise through the ranks much more quickly if they have an MBA.
Some universities don’t accept students into an MBA program while others do. The broadly accepted value of diversity in business, top business schools have realised, includes input and inclusion of those with no experience.
In fact, the future of work may have to be designed by members of a new generation who have not had their thoughts polluted by people with years of work experience in an office. The argument against completing an MBA prior to having professional experience in the workplace is beginning to lose its edge.
Benefits of completing an MBA before beginning your career
- This will less likely to affect your lifestyle as you’re not yet on a full-time wage.
- The degree will likely fast-track your career once you’re working full-time.
- This can lead to being headhunted straight out of university by businesses.
- You can pick up excellent knowledge and insight from the majority of the MBA student cohort who have work experience.
After five years of professional experience
This is the traditional time to complete an MBA.
The candidate has been in the workforce for long enough to have a good idea of where they’d like their own career to go.
They have also developed a working knowledge of how other departments, professions, organisations, industries and sectors fit into the big picture.
Most importantly, the MBA candidate has witnessed the effects of good, bad and indifferent leadership. An MBA degree, after all, is ultimately about the development of leadership skills.
Finally, it’s also likely that at this stage of life a candidate’s personal commitments, such as family, children and mortgages, are not overwhelming.
The costs of an MBA, including time and money, are not as likely at this stage to be as big an issue as they might be in another ten years.
Benefits of completing an MBA after five years of work experience
- This is the traditional route and therefore much of the MBA system is built to serve students at this stage of career.
- Personal sacrifice shouldn’t be as difficult as your commitments are not as great as they will be later in life.
- Career timing is excellent as the potential for promotions into positions of management is increasing.
- An MBA provides an excellent opportunity, at this stage of your career, to differentiate yourself from others.
When you’ve hit a management ceiling
Here is the reason Executive MBA courses were developed.
Almost every senior manager’s career comes to a point at which they’re facing a leap into the executive ranks. This can often be quite daunting. It’s a move from technical to strategic and from people management to organisational leadership.
EMBA programs have been designed to assist this transition. Students in the course are particularly aided by the fact that they’re surrounded by people of similar seniority who collectively boast a mass of experience and knowledge.
Typically, EMBA students are supported by their employers in terms of time allowance and mentoring from senior people in the business. Sometimes the organisation pays all or part of the fees too.
This helps the student to cope with what could be a major disruption to their life at a stage at which they potentially have children, a mortgage and other responsibilities on top of a time-consuming job.
Benefits of completing an EMBA at senior management level
- It offers a confidence- and knowledge-boosting pathway into the executive arena.
- This program is often conducted with the full support of your employer.
- The course differentiates you from the other senior managers in your cohort.
- It gives you an opportunity to learn from the broad and rich experience of others in the EMBA program.
When it’s time for a change
Some go into an MBA program as part of the career plan they mapped out long ago.
The other major group of MBA enrolments is characterised by people who simply realise it’s time for a change.
This change could come in many forms.
Salary
The typical pattern for salary increases is one that involves small, incremental rises once every year or two. This may be okay for a person in their 20s, but as they move into their 30s and 40s, many realise a higher salary is essential.
According to the 2023 Graduate Outcomes Survey, Australian employees with an undergraduate degree in business and management earned an annual median salary of $69,200. Postgraduates in the same study area, which includes MBA holders, earned much higher at $120,000 a year. This demonstrates how a postgraduate qualification like an MBA can significantly improve your salary potential.
Career
Often the timing of an MBA will be driven by an individual’s desire to re-invent themselves, perhaps from an employee to an entrepreneur, from a technician to a leader or from a senior manager to an executive.
It might involve a small shift in focus or a complete change of direction.
Whatever the case, the breadth of knowledge offered by an MBA degree in leadership, commerce, finance, marketing, human resources and more as well as the specialisation offered by full-time MBA and online MBA programs can be powerful influencers of career progression.
Career Plateau
Finally, many MBA enrolments come from those who have simply realised their career has plateaued.
To get to the next level in their current sector, no matter what stage of career they’re at, they need to differentiate themselves.
This timing reveals itself in several ways.
One is being overlooked for promotions. One is a feeling of never being challenged by the work you’re doing. Mostly, it’s a knowledge that you could be doing more, but you simply don’t get the opportunity and, in some cases, you don't have the right skill sets.
Whether it leads to a new position within your current organisation, a new job elsewhere, the powerful interest of recruiters or the startup of your own business, the true value of an MBA graduate degree comes in the fact that it opens up opportunities.
That’s a powerful offering at any time.
Take charge of your future
Obtaining an MBA degree might be just what you need to advance into the next stage of your professional life. You can find MBA programs across leading universities in Australia that cater to business professionals in various fields at different stages of their career.