More and more people are choosing to improve their career prospects by staying in school and getting advanced degrees. In particular, it's widely believed that an MBA will more or less guarantee a job--and a high-paying one at that. The trend is perpetuated by canny business schools that churn out graduates right, left, and center.
As the pool of academically qualified candidates grows by the semester, one would assume it was an employers' market. Yet, employers and recruiters are still complaining about the limited number of competent B-school students to choose from. So what's going on? What are employers and recruiters looking for?
One major complaint that recruiters have is that many B-school graduates lack "soft skills." Soft skills, such as writing and public speaking, are emphasized more in liberal arts programs and not on MBAs, despite being essential to the success of up-and-coming managers. Oftentimes, graduates submit writing samples full of spelling errors and grammar mistakes or have casual tones not suitable for professional communication with prospective or existing clients. Even more disgraceful are the B-school graduates that can barely string together a sentence, let alone write simple business proposals or formal communiques.
Recruiters also rant about graduates who show up at interviews not knowing anything about the companies. Some students even use interviews with smaller firms as practice for interbiews with companies they truly want to work for. This lack of preparation shows a lack of respect, which reflects badly on the students as well as their schools.
But perhaps the biggest pet peeve of recruiters is the lack of interpersonal skills. It seems there is a direct correlation between the pretige of the school and the arrogance of its graduates, resulting in the mentality that they are better than others in the company. If graduates have superiority complexes, they tend to alienate themselves from frontline staff, creating an unfavorable working environment.
Overall, recruiters and employers are demanding a lot from MBA graduates. But since they are a dime a dozen, why wouldn't they? Employers these days need more than just a shiny diploma. Do you have the goods?
"Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill."
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发表于 2006-4-7 13:06:00
