WHAT THE RECRUITERS LOOK IN A MBA GRAD

What the recruiters tick

in a MBA graduate?

Having an MBA on a resume doesn't mean much if there isn't real-world experience to back it up.

Perry-Martel International knows what HR managers and other recruiters look for in MBA graduates. But it's research goes further than it's line of work.

What companies look at a MBA is not only a good education in terms of the professors who groomed him or her, but the kinda education that gives him international contacts or at least that western outlook towards business professions at the same level as the top B-Schools boast of.

AT THE SAME LEVEL INTELLECTUALLY

Recruiters want to make sure the students are at the same level as they are intellectually, that they have at least minimum 2 years entry-level business experience.

PEER GROUP IMPORTANT

Most recruiters agreed that the quality of the other students in the MBA program make a huge difference.

Companies certainly value the interaction amongst the peer group going through the program, almost as much if not more than the technical things that they're learning.

When a person is able to reflect how they are relative to a peer group, those who are self-aware recalibrate. The interaction with the other students teaches them almost as much as the technical curriculum.

This may be why Queen's University School of Business consistently ranks among the top business schools in Canada.

THE BEST B-SCHOOLS TEACH

TEAM WORK AND TEAM BUILDING

The best B-Schools main emphasis is team work and team building.

The two things most evident in good leaders are their ability to leverage their strengths and their ability to work with others in a team. The premier schools just do that. They wrap the MBA program around team work.

Students are put into teams with different roles for eight months of the program, and half of all grades are team grades.

' REAL-WORLD ' EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Although most students in MBA programs in Canada have around five or six years of managerial experience, some can enter the program with as little as two years or less. This can be a problem for some recruiters looking at a resume from an MBA grad.

They are concerned when they look at a resume and see MBA and the applicant is in their 20s, they worry that they don't have enough practical experience.

Young MBA grads can be perceived this way, and that is why the best schools make sure its grads get as much real-life experience as they can through a mandatory internship program.

BILLABLE FROM DAY ONE

Recruiters say over and over again that they really like those MBA programs whose graduates are always useful on the first day of the job.

They come in with a much more realistic attitude, not the arrogant edge.

They don't think they have to be president within a half an hour.

For example, being in a tech town, the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management emphasizes business software knowledge from local tech giant Cognos.

Cognos is a world famous Ottawa (Ontario) based company which makes business intelligence (BI) and performance management software.

Telfer School focus is on performance management as part of it's complete business education.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY THE STUDENTS CANVAS COGNOS PRODUCTS

It's relevant to what is going on in industry because Teller has face-to-face meetings with Cognos as it can point students to clients of Cognos to show them the relevance in terms of the use of this software.

The software helps businesses to assess where a company is in terms of long-term and short-term objectives in all areas of a business: marketing, operations, services, manufacturing, private sector or public sector.

Ottawa is one of the only business schools in Canada with this focus.

In four or five years time, business management software is going to be a major area for all large companies and Telfer students will be ahead of the curve.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO TEACHING STUDENTS WHAT BUSINESSES NEED

It all comes down to teaching students what businesses need.

Does an MBA or EMBA increase one's marketability?

Absolutely.

But from a client's standpoint, recruiting firms look to see what does this person have that is going to make their client's business better.

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