Admission: Bring A Workable Career Plan!

Focussing on the employability of students on the front end may mean that schools are beginning to shy away from some traditional academic qualifications such as  impressive GMAT scores. Instead professional qualifications such as interpersonal skills, proven job performance, and promotions become more valuable. In order to test candidates for these, many MBA programs have created partnerships between admissions and career services staff, bringing in resident career experts to sit in on interviews and evaluate applicants. The increased focus on job placement could spell trouble for candidates whose essays fail to outline clear career plans. Career switchers with no work history in what they hope will be their new profession might be similarly disadvantaged. The same goes for younger students as some schools now stress the importance of work experience.

The reasons why schools changed their admission policies towards employability are many and varied. One key factor is that they want to maintain their rankings. After all, career placement and starting salary influence many MBA program evaluations.  And admitting candidates who are most likely to find jobs is also a matter of customer satisfaction in the end. Career services' input helps schools to identify the qualities that corporate recruiters are looking for.

The financial crisis and the current jobs crunch are not necessarily what motivated the admission departments to focus on employability. Many first started a partnership with the career services department about five years ago, around the same time the Graduate Management Admission Council, GMAC, (which administers the GMAT test for MBA admissions), held conferences on the issue. “It's especially important these days,” said Susan Motz, a GMAC vice-president. “But I think it's important in any economy.”

It's helpful for prospective MBA students to recognize just how many schools rely on the advice and input of career services. From the applicant's standpoint, their scrutiny might seem like an added layer of complication, but it's also an opportunity. Applicants should consider adding information they might not otherwise include in an academic application, such as knowledge of profession-specific software. When training resources are tight it's useful to show an ability to hit the ground running. The interview should be treated exactly like a job interview, from the attitude to the suit. And references and recommendations should pump applicants up as being employable.

A possible over-emphasis on employability as an admission criterion has its detractors, though. Rich Leimsider, director of the Center for Business Education at the Aspen Institute, says focusing too much on salary and job placement is part of a larger trend amongst business schools of concentrating excessively on short-term results rather than a broader purpose. “A medical school wouldn't say having their graduates make the most money is their highest aspiration,” Leimsider says. “I would hope that one would say the same thing about business schools.”

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