The sky is the limit with an EMBA on your resume.
What Are Your Executive MBA Career Opportunities?
The EMBA can open up many different career paths for leaders who know what they are looking for. It is the type of business programme that has a flexible format, high-level business courses, and superb networking environment. In the lines below, you will learn more about three of the most popular Executive MBA career opportunities and what to keep in mind about each of these options.
C-suite climber
One reason to choose an Executive MBA may be because you need a boost to grow and develop the leadership experience you already have. For example, you might find it difficult to negotiate your promotion, struggle with some aspects of managing a team, or miss crucial details in your business knowledge. In many cases, these newly acquired skills and confidence can lead to a C-level role within your company.
Denise Carter, who graduated from the Wharton (US) EMBA programme in 2019, chose this road for the credentials and to fill in knowledge gaps. She believes that she couldn’t show her best in important meetings because she felt less qualified than others in the room.
Career switcher
Have you already achieved everything you wanted to achieve in your organisation? Then, you might want to move on to another field of work.
However, switching careers is usually a less common path for EMBA participants. Due to the flexible format of the EMBA, you will be able to keep your current job while taking evening or weekend classes, which is one of the most lucrative aspects of the programme. While in business school, executives apply everything they learn directly to their job. In that sense, most professionals who opt for an EMBA do so because they see potential to develop as leaders in their current organisation.
Make sure you do enough research on the industry you would like to move to before making that final decision. Be clear on why this programme is the right match for your long-term goals and how an EMBA will help you make the transition.
Entrepreneur
Aspiring entrepreneurs can decide to pursue an EMBA for different reasons. Some will have already founded their business venture and may need to hone certain skills. Others might be interested in launching their own enterprise but think that corporate business experience is not enough to get started. Either way, data at business schools around the world shows that interest in entrepreneurship is rising. At INSEAD (France), the proportion of entrepreneurially focused projects – where EMBA students apply what they have learned in practice – has jumped from 12% to 25% over the past five years, the Financial Times reported in 2021.
Experts such as Rhonda Shrader, Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas (US) Entrepreneurship programme, believe there is a connection between the trend of studying entrepreneurship and the global pandemic.
Interested to learn more? Read the full version of this article, which includes quotes from EMBA students and admissions representatives, on Access MBA.
