MBAs and the Economy

It’s no secret that the economy is tanking and that jobs are getting more scarce by the day. Naturally, the first jobs to disappear are those most coveted by MBA graduates: highly paid careers in investment banking and management consulting.

So what is a top MBA grad to do?

Improvise. That’s the beauty of the top MBA programs. They attract the best and brightest, so grads are better able to adapt to a changing economy than someone whose fear would have kept them from quitting their day job to pursue the full-time MBA in the first place.

MBAs today are becoming much more entrepreneurial and expanding their ideas of what an MBA should be doing upon graduation. Would-be i-bankers are turning into tech startup moguls. Former management consulting aspirants are now finding fulfillment (and a paycheck) in general management jobs in industry. Regardless of the MBA’s original goals, he or she, for the most part, is adapting and thriving. It just takes patience and creativity.

The point is that regardless of what others might think about your desire to get an MBA at this particularly difficult economy, rest assured that the talents that got you into your program will also carry you on to a fulfilling, happy career. Just be open-minded as to what that career will be, and patient to find the right opportunity.