Career Guidance for MBA Students

During your MBA, it’s important to take advantage of the tools and resources available to you. Many schools, including Telfer, offer career guidance for MBA students.  

In a post-COVID era, organizations are seeking out workers with the right skills and expertise for their workforce. You can develop these skills, stand out for the world’s biggest recruiters and level up in your career. 

With an MBA, you can:  

• Increase your salary (a return on your investment) 
• Secure promotions 
• Transition in your career  
• Launch your own business 
• Build your network 

To get the most out of your career after completing your MBA, use the tools and resources we offer during and after your MBA.  

Building Your Resumé 

Mention the skills that you develop during your MBA on your resumé. Some of these skills include communication, versatility and flexibility, strategic thinking, digital savviness, entrepreneurship, leadership, resilience, problem-solving, decision-making, interpersonal skills, networking and more.  

The Telfer Career Centre offers career guidance for MBA students, including resources and workshops to make your resumé stand out. To market yourself effectively through your resumé, follow these four key steps: 

• Format your resumé
• Make an impact on recruiters
• Edit the language
• Tailor the content

The Telfer Career Centre website also includes resumé templates to use depending on your concentration and on the format you want.   

To write an outstanding post-MBA resumé, focus on your career wins and the challenges you’ve overcome, while covering your overall career.  

The Telfer Career Centre offers support for MBA students, like the MBA Career Management Program, with services and tools to enhance your post-MBA career. It also offers programs and events, along with personalized counselling, to answer questions about your career and develop an action plan to tackle it. 

Building Your Network 

One of the most important aspects of an MBA is networking. While completing your program, you can forge relationships with a diverse, closely connected network of professionals. This can build lifelong connections and friendships.  

The key to networking is to put yourself out there to form mutually beneficial relationships with a variety of people.  

Research shows that networking helps 50% to 60% of MBA graduates find jobs more easily. 

It’s important to start networking early in your program. A good place to begin is to reach out to alumni. Telfer holds various networking events with alumni, so you can connect with them often.  

When networking at events, don’t just make connections — exchange contact information such as your LinkedIn or email information as well, to build the relationship.  The key is to connect with people by finding shared interests and common ground. 

As part of our career guidance for MBA students, Telfer offers many networking events, including informational or social events like dinners, cocktail receptions, coffee chats, case competitions, case preparation sessions and corporate presentations. By participating in these events, you’ll continue to build networking skills, which aren’t only important during your MBA but also for the rest of your career.   

Preparing for Interviews 

To prepare for interviews after completing an MBA, figure out exactly what skills employers are looking for. Research shows that employers highly value the following skills from MBA graduates: 

• Strategic thinking 
• Communication 
• Versatility 
• Ability to navigate technological disruption 
• Leadership 

Since remote work is now more common, being tech-savvy is a skill that’s valued more by employers. They may thus seek skills, such as the ability to use different types of digital platforms and technologies.  

The Telfer Career Centre offers interview resources and tips, including a video on interview preparation.  Here are five tips to help prepare for a job interview: 

• Know what you have to offer
• Do your research
• Dress professionally
• Bring supporting material
• Practise

It’s also important to plan for online interviews, as the pandemic has shifted the way most employers conduct interviews. If you need to attend a virtual interview, learn about applications such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.  

Remember to prepare questions to ask the employer at the end of an interview. They should be genuine questions relevant to the job. This will show the employer that you’re truly  interested in the job and can help you stand out from other applicants.  

Post-MBA Employment and Levelling Up in Your Career 

When responding to job offers, make sure that the offer checks all your boxes. As an MBA, you have new skills and expertise. In some cases, it may help to know how to negotiate a job offer so that it meets your needs.  

The Telfer Career Centre has workshops and employer panels to help you with the following: 

• Exploring your interests, strengths and career values 
• Establishing your job search criteria 
• Learning about job search techniques 
• The art and importance of networking 
• Insight on developing a career action plan

After getting your MBA, you can start to level up in your career. Career guidance for MBA students can open a wide range of career opportunities, as well as salary potential. Various organizations across industries are seeking MBA talent to help take them to the next level.  

We have the stats to back this up. These stats include a 100% employment rate within nine months, an average salary of $97.5k three months after graduation and a 27% average salary increase three months after graduation.  

We help make you the most of your MBA even after you graduate by creating a supportive community for life. You’ll have unlimited access to our dedicated Career Centre resources, our industry mentors, and our network of over 30,000 alumni, who we actively support through our MBA talks, leadership workshops and alumni events throughout the world. 

The most important steps in your post-MBA career are to set realistic career goals, apply for jobs that truly interest you, use your hands-on experience to your advantage, use the resources made available to you by our school and not be afraid to take risks.  

Finding the Right MBA Concentration 

There are career opportunities for MBA graduates everywhere, including government, health care, consumer goods, large corporations, startups, and small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). 

The business world is constantly growing and changing, and it needs unique leaders. Everyone has different experiences and goals, and we offer you options to personalize your degree and gain the skills, knowledge and experiences you need to take your career to the next level. 

We offer two program formats to adapt your MBA to your career objectives. Complete the program in one year (offered in English only) and move on to your next challenge or maximize learning and career development simultaneously with our professional two-year program (offered in English or French). 

Depending on your personal and professional interests, Telfer offers various concentrations for your MBA. In our English professional and intensive MBA, you can customize your degree to gain the specialized skills and expertise that employers want. Select from one of four concentrations, including Digital Transformation & Analytics (DT&A), Finance, Management Consulting and Sustainable Management. 

See our programs and concentrations.  

Our MBA program lets you design your future while empowering you to lead with confidence, empathy, inclusion and sustainability. You can choose a concentration that challenges your perspective, expands your network, and allows you to lead change.  

Are you a current MBA candidate? Explore the many Telfer Career Centre resources for MBA students to make the most of your MBA experience.