Welcome to F1GMAT’s #askAtulJose series. I am Atul Jose. Today’s question will certainly come into most applicant’s strategy playbook. The question is:
Q) When should I inform the supervisor about my MBA plans?
Ok. Before I answer the question, you really have to assess the work dynamics and the culture of the company.
The first factor is the culture of the company.
1) Culture of the Company
The culture is primarily driven by the country where the employer originates.
In the US, MBA is more or less like a requirement for career growth, and everyone, including your supervisor, understands the importance of the degree. If the person is an alumnus of a top 20 Business School brand, It is likely that the person had leveraged the school’s name while building their network.
That is not the case if you are an international applicant coming from, let us say, Japan, or European countries outside of Finance. European employers value a Master’s degree. It is considered more relevant than a General Management MBA. In Japan, managers perceive diversifying their experience outside of the core function as wasteful, especially with an MBA that will cost you time and money. This presents a dilemma to applicants from the region who wants to share their plan.
Your judgment will be questioned if you don’t understand the culture of the country and your employer, and fine-tune your communication accordingly.
The second factor is the contribution of MBAs to your organization.
2) Contribution of MBAs
Research about the recruitment pattern of MBA graduates in your company. This is data that you have to find. If the influx is steady and the executive team recognizes the value of Management education, then communicating your plan won’t be taken as a shock. If your supervisors – one-level up or two-level up are all MBAs, then you can be comfortable in sharing the MBA plan.
The third factor is the size of the company.
3) Size of the Company
If your employer is not bootstrapped and had recent funding rounds or an acquisition, the culture will value MBA graduates. It is likely that for the acquisition or while preparing the pitch, the executive team had taken the help of a consultant who is an MBA. For a larger organization in the legacy industry like manufacturing or Oil & Gas, the recruitment of MBAs is at an all-time high. As you might know, Management Consulting began in these industries to streamline the operations or acquire a strategic asset or restructure the debt. In addition to that, specialized expertise is required to manage the change in the market conditions and customer demands.
The perception that MBAs are valuable only in established organizations with a large workforce and complex hierarchy or product suites has more or less been replaced with the growth of startups in India and China from 2010. Startups also spend a considerable part of their funding on recruiting MBA talent.
The fourth factor is the politics of your team.
4) Politics of the Team
Although the company culture percolates down to most teams, the dynamics of the team could exist on its own. I have heard of organizations with noble mission statements and PR, having teams that are petty with the applicants, restricting them from even allocating 1 hour every day for GMAT preparation, essay writing, or even prepping for mock interviews.
So you have to be mindful of the additional time commitment that will prop up once you reveal the MBA plan. Make sure that you have a GMAT 730+ score before sharing the plan.
Now comes the tricky part – when should you ask.
I have noticed that if you proactively discuss the MBA plan with your current supervisor or previous supervisor, depending on how close you are to the person, the earlier you discuss (1-2 months before the deadline), the more likely you are going to get a strong endorsement. If the discussion happens more than 2 months before the deadline you are targeting, it could suddenly start impacting your career progression as some supervisors won’t see the value of promoting you to the next position. In such scenarios, you really have to work extra hard to even be noticed, let alone be promoted.
Another strategy is to do the extra work first, take a large chunk of the tasks from the supervisor’s to-do list and then share your MBA plan. We tend to reciprocate to people who have helped us. How to ask nicely is a topic for another #askAtulJose question.
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I am Atul Jose. See you in the next #askAtulJose series.
