Getting an MBA Can Open These 5 Doors for You

To get an MBA or to continue with the status quo? That’s the issue millions of business professionals find themselves wrestling with from their late twenties all the way through retirement. And while there are certainly personal reasons to not pursue an MBA, the truth is that obtaining a graduate degree can open a lot of closed doors.

The Great Debate

MBA coursework typically involves a wide range of business-related courses. Depending on your previous work experience and what jobs you want to pursue in the future, you can align your studies with a number of different focuses or concentrations. These include things like management, finance, accounting, human resource management, and other areas.

Is an MBA worth it? If you find yourself asking this question, remember that you often have to take chances to succeed. Will it cost you time and money to pursue an MBA? Certainly, but the reward is typically much greater.

Those who pursue an MBA are usually interested in working as a top-level executive, founding a company, or serving in some sort of management or leadership roll. It’s definitely not something that’s useful in every industry or position and should only be invested in if necessary.

5 Opportunities Afforded to MBA Degree Holders

With the groundwork now laid, let’s take a look at the crux of the matter and how obtaining an MBA can help you advance your career. Specifically, MBA degree holders are afforded the following opportunities:

• More job interviews. Over the next few years, 80 percent of U.S. companies plan to hire an MBA graduate. As soon as you add those three letters to your resume, you instantly gain access to dozens or hundreds of different job opportunities in your local area or industry. Simply having an MBA is sometimes enough to land an interview when you otherwise would have been glossed over.

• Higher consideration. Once you get an interview, your MBA continues to provide value. When compared to candidates without a master’s degree, you’re automatically looked at with more credibility. This one-two punch of more job interviews and higher consideration should lead to more desirable job opportunities.

• Chances for internal promotions. You may not have to go far to find a job after obtaining an MBA. An MBA is often what accelerator companies look for when trying to promote or hire internally. Before pursuing an MBA program, ask your employer about possible opportunities. If you work for a large corporation that you’ve built a healthy relationship with, it’s even possible they may help you pay for the program.

• Access to a higher salary. It can be difficult to make assumptions regarding salary, but the bottom line is you can expect a pay increase in the months and years after obtaining an MBA. If you have a pre-MBA salary of $50,000, you can expect that number to jump to $75,000 within a year after getting an MBA; five years after obtaining an MBA, expect your annual salary to be 80 percent higher than it was pre-MBA (or $135,000 when using the $75,000 example). However, it’s not always cut-and-dried. As the "2014 Alumni Perspectives Survey" shows, much depends on the size and location of your company, number of employees, the position you hold, etc.

• Networking opportunities. One added bonus that most people don’t think about is the networking opportunities that come with pursuing an MBA. Because you’re often forced to work in group projects, form study groups, and spend time (in and out of the classroom) with so many other professionals, you get the chance to build relationships that often pay off later in your career. If you look at it like a networking opportunity, you can build some pretty outstanding contacts.

Doing What’s Best for Your Family

Perhaps the most telling answer to the question of whether or not you should pursue an MBA degree is found in the following statistic. When asked if they had it to do all over again, 92 percent of MBA graduates said their program was professionally rewarding.

In the end, it all comes down to you and your family. Would pursuing an MBA set you back or move you forward? The issue for most is that the question is a challenging one to answer. The upfront cost and time commitment requires patience and trust, but for those willing to make the sacrifice, good things typically await. Take your time, talk to trusted peers, and remember: an MBA can open a lot of doors that you would otherwise find firmly shut.