Targetted MBAS in job-seekers’ crosshairs

Arts degree leads to posts with cultural institutions

When Gabriela Urbanik decided to get her MBA, she made a list of schools she wanted to apply to. The usual suspects were on there — Schulich, Rotman, Queen’s — but when she heard about Ryerson’s MBA in the Management of Technology and Innovation program, she knew where she wanted to go.

“It made it to the top of the list right away,” she says.

The program has a few focuses, including media management and supply chain management, but the courses that drew Urbanik in are in information technology.

Urbanik is one of many students choosing a specialized MBA program, one that centres around a particular sector, not just finance or marketing.

Joyce Zemans, director of Schulich’s MBA program in Arts and Media Administration, says these niche MBAS are gaining popularity among people who have a clear idea of where they want to take their careers.

Zemans explains that these programs are typically taken by people already in a specific industry who want some management experience to get ahead.

Her program is mostly made up of arts professionals. They’re often actors, musicians, artists and others who want to move from the creative side into a business role.

While these courses include standard MBA classes, such as finance and marketing, they offer lessons focused on a particular industry. “We have a cohort of students who work on policy,” she says about her own program. “It’s something they wouldn’t get otherwise.”

Schulich’s Arts and Media MBA has been around for four decades. Zemans, who’s writing a book on it, says it was the first niche MBA in Canada. Over the years, the school has launched several other specialized programs.

Its newest MBA, which will open its doors in September, is in global mining management, and it offers MBAS in non-profit management, real estate and infrastructure, among others.

Kimberly Bates, director of Ryerson’s MBA in the management of technology and innovation, says the MBA industry is growing thanks to these niche offerings. MBAS, she says, have often been more about the network and title, not the education. But that’s changing. “People are drawn to programs like these, because they are interested in the knowledge these classes provide.” When it comes to landing a job, it’s debatable whether or not someone needs a niche MBA, but, says Bates, it can’t hurt. She says companies are still hiring from non-specialized MBA programs, but the more experience someone has in a particular field the better.

“They have knowledge in (a specialty) and they have the business experience,” says Zemans. “It’s value added.

“We’ve got alumni all the way down the [Bloor] street, from the Canadian Music Centre to Ontario Arts Council and the Gardner Museum,” she says. Urbanik is hoping that she, too, will be able to land a great job in her chosen field. She’s in her second semester of the one-year Ryerson program, but she wants to start reaching out to consulting companies to see if there’s any work.

She already knows that taking this form of targetted MBA was the right move. Her class, along with students from other universities, recently presented case studies in front of people from the Canadian Association of Management Consultants. After her presentation, someone from the organization commented that she and her classmates did a stellar job.

“They like how we used examples from technology to solve certain problems,” she says. “But, even more so, they appreciated the fact that we had that knowledge.”

“People are drawn to programs like these, because they are interested in the knowledge these classes provide.” KIMBERLY BATES DIRECTOR OF RYERSON’S MBA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION