WHY MORE MILLENNIALS ARE ATTRACTED TO MBAS
Grads are in demand in non-traditional sectors as the workforce makes a shift
MBAs used to be associated with grey-haired financial consultants, but these days even millennials are seeing the benefits of an MBA.
Andrew Soave is in his first year of a two-year MBA program at the Rotman School of Management. And he just turned 23. “I’m not the youngest here, but I’m one of the youngest,” he says.
When Soave was studying health sciences at McMaster University, he thought he wanted to go into medicine. But after taking some business electives in his second year, he realized he was more interested in the business side of health care than in anatomy and biology.
“There’s a lot I could impact in health care at a slightly higher level, so I came to Rotman, thinking I wanted to get into health-care management,” says Soave.
He had two alternatives: get an MHA (master of health administration) or an MBA. “The MBA is advantageous because you’ve got a business mindset, so it’s a different way of looking at these programs,” he says about his decision to pursue an MBA.
But he also sees an MBA as being more versatile, in case his plans change.
“Part of it, too, is people want to make that transition from being an individual contributor to a leader or manager, and this is a really good way to make that jump.”
“That’s what’s growing in popularity. My dad would have graduated university and gone straight into some sort of management position, whereas I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
There is, however, more demand from local and global companies for MBA graduates when hiring for managerial positions. According to the 2014 Global Employer Survey conducted by Quacquarelli Symonds, the demand for MBA graduates in North America jumped 10 per cent in 2014 as confidence in the economic recovery continues.
“I think that as markets shift, we’re starting to see more diversification of career paths post-MBA,” says Leigh Gauthier, acting director of recruitment and admissions for the full-time MBA program at Rotman. “It used to be finance and consulting, but we’re seeing the industry respond positively to MBA skill sets across the board.”
There are more roles for MBA grads in non-traditional sectors and even in areas such as entrepreneurship. While entrepreneurial endeavours appeal to any age group, the school’s Creative Destruction Lab — an accelerator incubator — is attracting major attention, especially from millennials.
The full-time MBA program also offers students a chance to develop their interpersonal and communicative skills in the Self Development Lab (SDL), which combines a series of lectures with experiential modules. Soave is taking advantage of access to the SDL, as well as taking a “really cool course” on the myths and realities of what it takes to be a good leader.
While the average age of full-time MBA students at Rotman is 27 to 28, students range in age from about 22 to 40. Part-time MBA programs, on the other hand, are targeted to a slightly older demographic of working professionals.
Ages tend to skew younger in combined programs, such as the JD/MBA (which combines a law degree with an MBA) and the Skoll BASc/MBA (which combines a bachelor’s degree in engineering with a professional experience year, management internship and MBA). That’s because students don’t require two years of work experience to be part of these combined MBA programs.
Internships are particularly relevant for a younger demographic who may be switching careers or taking a technical degree to the next level.
“They have ambition and want to find the key that will open the next door for them,” Gauthier says. It also allows them to test-drive a career that perhaps they hadn’t considered before.
But Soave recommends having at least some idea of what you want to do before entering an MBA program, since it’s an expensive proposition.
“I come from an operations background and … I’m just finishing up an operations certificate, Lean Six Sigma,” he says. “It’s given me a lot of value because it’s in co-ordination with the MBA. It really helps to have a plan going in.”