The MBA, sesame, successful careers

Degree known in the world, the MBA is the key to a career change radical. But again it is necessary to choose your training.

high-level Training in management, the MBA (Master of Business Administration), diploma created in the United States and of level "graduate" (equivalent bac + 5), has a prestigious aura. "Designed to boost the careers of executives who wish to change jobs, it is aimed at participants with strong professional experience," says Bernard Garrette, associate director of the MBA HEC.

An MBA can hide another?

On some 80 formations autoproclamées "MBA", only twenty French business schools delivering the diploma of "authentic", modeled on the american model. "Four or five of them have a real international dimension," says Patrice Houdayer, director of programmes, international and student life of the group, Skema. Several formulas are offered : full time or part time, with classes on Fridays and weekends. These courses of one or two years, the general practitioners, often in English, are sold as "accelerators" career. Attention, an MBA from world fame costs an average of 50000€.

Prudence, however, an MBA may hide another. Behind this name, there are sometimes training six-month, ultra-specialized, accessible after a bac + 2, and downright whimsical. The name "MBA", not protected and prestigious, falls to pic to "dress" all formations that are not in the repositories of the most demanding.

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In summary, any formation can be called the "MBA" in France. Then to choose for his MBA, professionals advise to rely on the accreditation of Amba (Association for Masters ofBusiness Administration), awarded after an audit is very thorough. Bernard Garrette prefer, however, to rely on the rankings regular in the Financial Times.

What candidate type for which label?

The recruiters say: the MBA are more effective for those who want to evolve towards broader functions, for example, within a branch, that for a person who has followed a basic course in management. Profile type : trades in so-called "specialty" such as those of engineer, pharmacist, lawyer or biologist.

unlike what was proposed in the pseudo MBA in France, the true label can go out of its specialization of origin, to access to management positions more generally. Once admitted, participants take a step back from their profession, learn new techniques, work as a team, nurture their network, and are "coached" on a personal level.

MBA are these choke points?

The game is worth the candle? It depends on the project. MBA programs are often effective to allow a shift. Next to salary, it is not necessary to expect miracles. "The increases are limited in the short term. An MBA can, in the medium term, help to achieve positions of responsibility," says Françoise Dissaux-Doutriaux, founder of his own firm HR.

If the MBA will send a positive signal to the recruiters, they are never mandatory targets. In France, the diplôme initial custody a capital importance, which will take precedence over the MBA.