I was reading a USA Today article this evening about the
graduates of a particular university from 1998.
I found the article interesting primarily because in 1998 the economy
was booming, IT was in high drive and tech businesses were leading the economic
charge towards the future. Apparently
this class of MBAs from a Tier 2 school, I assume that is what the author meant
by “next tier” anyways, were highly recruited by many large companies and
consultant agencies because most Tier 1 grads were being swept up by up and
coming technology upstarts. Of course as
we know the Dot Com bubble blew up in all of our faces and the economy took a
downturn. Many of these MBA grads soon
found themselves pounding pavement looking for new jobs as a result.
Again, September 11th hurt the economy and once
again some MBA grads were looking for work.
I find this interesting now because it appears that we are in something
of a recession now, despite the fact that the Fed, some politicians and the
media at large seem to largely be downplaying the toll that the mortgage and sub
prime lending market seems to be taking on our economy. It seems that once again we are entering into
turbulent waters and I find myself somewhat empathizing with those who
graduated B-school with an MBA just in time for an economic down turn.
The thing that I found interesting about the article is that
on following up with these graduates they asked them what they had
learned. Almost to a man (or woman) they
all espoused patience in some form or another.
Patience, resiliency or an ability to stick it out and not make rash
short term decisions seemed to be the repeating theme. Of course a couple people went with the old “do
what you love” bit, but it seemed that most of those offering advice talked
about just being patient and viewing your career over the long term.
That’s what an MBA is really about anyways, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not like when I graduate
businesses will be beating down my door trying to recruit me. Certainly there is no shortage in my area of
MBA credentialed professionals. It seems
I drive past at least 3 to 4 billboards a day talking about the virtues of a
TCU MBA or hear on the radio about Concordia University’s ability to make your
dreams come true or SMU Cox School of Business which runs a very Lexus
announcer guy type of advertisement trying to convince the listener that by
attending their MBA program you’ll be in the business elite. Somebody must be going to those programs and
graduating. Certainly there is
competition out there and in an economic downturn, what’s a guy to do
right?
For now I guess I’ll be patient, see what comes my way and
play to my strengths. I am certain I
have some talents and skill sets that many of my MBA peers do not or will not
have when I graduate. Who knows, maybe I’ll
be looking back in 2018 giving the same advice as those 1998 grads are giving
now.
For more on the article see http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-05-07-mba-grads-olin_N.htm