Work Experience for MBA

Society Business and Career
1

Hi there and Salam to everyone,

I just wanted to ask “Is teaching considered a work experience for someone who wants to pursue an MBA?” or the work experience must be in a practical or applied domain, something not really related to academics???

Thanks…

2

Re: Work Experience for MBA

teaching is practical experience, u are dealing with people, managing resources, teaching budgets, dealing with stakeholders i.e. board members, principal, parents.

what u have to show is how what you did is relevant to what you want to do, and how an MBA would be a part of it.

3

Re: Work Experience for MBA

teaching is certainly considered as work experience... as long as is verifiable (e.g. you're not just offering private tutoring). As X2 said abover, whether its relevant work experience or not is a different matter altogether.

4

Re: Work Experience for MBA

So if I start teaching finance subjects at a university level would it help me to go for an MBA finance, or working in a financial institution would be better option than that.

I should also mention that post MBA I will not like to continue with teaching..........

5

Re: Work Experience for MBA

This might be helpful:

6

Re: Work Experience for MBA

it depends are you planning on entering and joining a business school dept's faculty in doing what they do or you are up for corporate world of work.
teaching and on job trainings, orientations by well experienced professionals, new hires' training and all that industrial organizational knowhow and book knowledge teaches, is about shifting skills as they may be transferrable across work fields.
thus, on your CV, you can put this on under Other Work if you are applying for work for corporate positions.
otherwise, for academia, have it in your main Work Experience section of your resume.
best,
Dushwari

7

Re: Work Experience for MBA

It’s very rare that anyone would pursue a teaching career after an MBA – unless you’re already in academia and an MBA is your entry ticket to teach in a management school.

In any case, it would be best for you to seek an entry-level corporate position in finance. Don’t worry to much about rank – as long as the role is relevant to finance. You need to be able to show how an MBA would help you advance your career in your field of interest.

If you end up with a teaching job, make sure that it relates to finance as well. At least that will demonstrate your aptitude in that domain.

8

Re: Work Experience for MBA

thanks everyone your valuable suggestions are a great deal of help for me...... i owe you all! I would try to seek an entry level corporate job in finance just as Umar bhai said because i think it will better help me in my future aspirations...........

but one more thing i would like to ask here. I have a friend who wants to pursue an MBA in HR, what kinda entry level jobs are there for him??? As we all know here in Pak HR jobs are very few as compared to jobs in finance or marketing, and the ones which are present they are either obtained upon a masters degree in HR or on the basis of social contacts. My friend has only done a four years BBA degree just like me and has no prior work experience.

So should he go for jobs in any discipline(i.e. fin, mrkt etc) and then do his MBA in HR or should he try to look out for HR jobs from here???

9

Re: Work Experience for MBA

Unfortunately, my observations of those trying to break into HR haven’t been too encouraging. Part of the reason it’s relatively more difficult to break into HR is because a lot of firms including many big names still view the HR function as a cost center rather than a strategic competency. Some companies may not admit it, but that's how they treat the HR dept. I’ve had the opportunity to work in the corporate HR office of a very large multinational and my own experience was rather dispiriting.

This is not to say that there are no opportunities in HR… I actually got my wife to pursue the field more seriously at the post-graduate level… but breaking into it isn’t easy.

If your friend has the conviction of sticking with HR and overcome the initial hurdles (it’s better to ebb your expectations early on), then there’s no harm in pursuing it as a long-term career option. Just remember that he/she might have to start with administrative/clerical work and move up into a more focused role.

10

Re: Work Experience for MBA


If your objective is to be a manager after your MBA, then teaching courses is not experience in my books... I'd rather you get some experience managing people first to see what is it you're getting into. Even being a part-time manager at McDonalds is a great start.