Top Reasons to Advance Your Career With an MBA

Competition for the top procurement jobs is fierce. Have you considered that an MBA might be one way to get ahead of the pack?

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Procurement can be a very competitive industry. Both procurement managers and officers are continually looking for ways to advance their career and beat out other job candidates for the best roles.

If you’ve been in the same position for a while and seem to be struggling to rise higher, it might be time to get your nose in some textbooks and build up your network of contacts through a higher degree.

A Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) can, in particular, be a fantastic option to study. You can choose one of top online MBA programmes to work on part-time, or opt to quit your current role and study full-time instead.

Here’s why you should consider enrolling in an MBA program today.

Job Prospects

One of the major reasons why it’s worth completing an MBA is the job prospects that can come from such qualifications. Having an MBA listed on your resume can help you to stand out from other job candidates in a crowded marketplace, particularly if you’re keen to get into a higher, leadership position.

Employers typically tend to see MBA graduates as having greater business acumen, skills, and knowledge than those who haven’t completed the higher degree. They also appreciate the fact that students will often be more likely to “hit the ground running” on day one.

In addition, having an MBA under your belt can also give you more job security with your current company or within your industry. Employers tend to feel that business school graduates bring more value to their roles and to an organisation in general, by:

• Having a broader business understanding
• Being able to handle complex situations
• Improving adaptability, nimbleness, and innovation
• Being able to spot inefficiencies and better problem solve

This kind of belief can mean that if the economy tightens or a firm’s results decrease, and people start to be let go, your name will be much lower down on the list than others.

Relationship Building

Another major benefit of studying an MBA is that doing so gives you the chance to meet, and build solid relationships, with like-minded graduates from around the world.

Many people who have completed MBAs find that contacts they made during their studies become invaluable contacts in the long-term. Having this network to use as a sounding board, and to turn to for advice, ideas, and referrals, as you build your career is priceless. These connections can help you to really stand out from others in your company or industry.

Getting to know graduates from across the globe exposes you to different cultures, business practices, points of view, and networks. It’s something you wouldn’t necessarily have in many other types of degrees. MBAs are very international studies, and tend to have strong alumni networks which stay close even in spite of distance.

Learning Practical Skills

Of course, completing an MBA is also certain to give you a wide variety of practical skills which you can use at work every day. For starters, communication is something that graduates really have to get good at during their studies, whether through completing team projects, individual presentations, or work placements.

Working together in teams, and getting a group of potentially strong personalities to move in the same direction, can also help you to learn helpful leadership, management, and negotiation skills for the future. Completing studies while you’re still in a full-time job also requires fantastic time-management skills.

Other transferable skills which students can graduate from an MBA with, and use throughout their career, include:

• Creativity;
• Problem solving;
• Critical thinking;
• Computer proficiency; and
• Cross-cultural understanding.

Learn About the Bigger Business Picture

Lastly, completing MBA studies also gives you the chance to stop and think about the bigger business picture. This will help you not only in your current role, but also throughout your career.

MBA coursework typically always involves students looking at the global economy and trading markets. This gets people to think about more than their own little world where they currently work. It also makes it easier to see how events impact on both a micro and macro level in a business.

Tiffany Rowe is a marketing administrator who assists in contributing resourceful content throughout the World Wide Web. Tiffany prides herself in her strong ability to provide high quality content that readers will find valuable.