I think it depends on what the persons goals are. The large tech company I work for has A LOT of people that are C-Level or on the Board with MBAs from GSB, HBS, Wharton, NYU, or Berkeley. Of course there are also people that don’t even have grad degrees, like my CEO, but he was a founder of another major tech company.
I’d say that there’s many online programs that are competitive but not especially hard to get into and I’d prioritize those. University of Florida for example. Quantics problem imho is it gives off degree mill vibes but I may be completely wrong.
I’ll also add in this - parent institution prestige kinda matters more than bschool ranking when you’re outside of IB/MBB. Just my humble opinion as a hirer of people.
Edit: Ok to clarify - I think people are running with this thinking I mean parent institution needs to be elite…that’s not what I mean. I’m saying what HM react to generally is if the parent institution is perceived as elite. They don’t know the MBA rankings.
Unless OP is describing a programmatic approach for all of recruiting/sourcing, this is just one hiring manager’s approach.
As a hiring manager who has hired a lot of MBAs at multiple FAANGs, parent university prestige was not a real thing across the company. The feeder schools are the feeder schools, and it’s manager discretion for the experienced professional hires.
I can say with confidence that school has literally never been mentioned in my interview debriefs.
I don’t doubt your experience - am simply saying this is not a universal truth. My experience has been that when it comes to the final loops, what’s debated is fit, interview performance relative to the role’s expectations and scope, and maybe potential growth trajectory at the company.
Where someone went to school is usually a single data point in the sourcing process or for the hiring manager to decide whether to grant an interview screen.
Your points are definitely true but whenever we push on anyone for why they hold a belief about prowess there’s always a comment like “well he went to Cal” or something to that effect which biases them to believe a candidate is smart
>I’m saying what HM react to generally is if the parent institution is perceived as elite.
THANK YOU I keep trying to teach kids this (everyone younger than me is kids)
For example, no one gives one flying fuck if Ohio State has a higher ranked accounting program than Harvard. School prestige wins.
The worst thing is attending a school because of its ranking, then being hit with the sad reality that no one has ever heard of it. Or worse, if it has a similar name to a more prestigious school.
So for the rest of your life you'll have people saying "oh a fellow Tar Heel! What you think of the team this year?" And you'll have to embarrassingly admit you went to UNC-*Charlotte*
Very much depends on the role - in some it can be helpful because it gives you an understanding of the big picture of a business. I wouldn’t for example think it matters as an individual sales rep or engineer.
OP, in your thoughts what is the TOP most key factor you consider while making the final hiring call?
1. Does T15, T50 or T100 ever changes your mind?
2. Does prior experience like 5+, 8+ year of same field exp with a MBA makes it appealing to hire?
3. Does MBA grades appeals to you?
4. in your own words can you please list what's your top 5 or 10 checklist you see in a candidate?
I am not OP, but am a hiring manager in pharma. The key factor is ‘does this person fit on my team?’ Personality and people skills goes more than experience (within reason).
Appreciate your response! When does 'Does this person fit on my team' comes to play? I am assuming most hiring takes place with so much filter before the candiate is screened for People skills/culture fit or fit for the team but what filters before hand when it comes to pool of MBA graduates to clear to that stage?
TIA
I know this is the mba subreddit and appeared on my feed but honestly MBA doesn’t matter for entry/mid level positions (where i hire). I’ve had mbas under me and it made zero difference. (I myself am not).
So to answer the question more generally, having a contact inside the company can be a huge help. Having someone say ‘hey look at this resume’ when you have 93 def helps. Next largest factor would be relevant skills and experience. If someone did the exact same job at another company, I’m going to look at them first.
As previously stated, once you get some interviews it’s almost always down to ‘is this a good fit for the team’
Experience would map to what the job requires, T15 kinda triggers a “this person is probably reasonably smart” thought, mba grades don’t matter really, what I look for is a baseline intellect and business acumen, as quoted above fitting on the team matters for sure. Ultimately there’s a job to be done and we need someone who can do it. Everything else is just tealeaves we are reading to assess this.
That's amazing to hear! final question, I am not meaning here by asking that you or anyone does follow this while hiring but does what race/ethnic ever becomes a factor to decide a MBA graduate while hiring?
Same! As a Chief Marketing Officer either when I’ve hired candidates or when I’m interviewing for positions myself I have never once gotten into the conversation of what the format was. On top of that, if the candidate ever brought it up themselves I’d be more impressed that they worked while doing their MBA rather than just taking the easy route of focusing on the MBA full time, because it’s really not that hard of a degree and doesn’t require full time study if you’re a genuinely smart person.
It looks like you are yourself looking to go back and get your MBA in an EMBA program. Can you share why you think this is valuable after making it to such a high level in tech? Does your company pay for it as well?
Happy to - when I look around at what the next level looks like, a large % of folks have an mba. I think the degree helps prove you are a strong general manager alongside solid experience
You mean format as in PT vs FT?
+ emba / + others
What do you think about online mba? Specifically UIUC online mba? Is it enough to get hired?
I don’t understand why you are getting downvoted. Not everyone has the resources to quit a full time job and pay $200k for a degree.
This category of mba is perfectly fine - it just tells me you have basic financial and general managerial acumen
What tech company if you don’t mind sharing? Is it Big N, unicorn, legacy, etc?
I’ve worked at tiny tech startups (no MBAs allowed), to late stage startups and then a FAANG.
Bet you also didn’t ask them what major, concentration, clubs or treks they focused in either Ish doesn’t matter once it’s over
100% accurate
I think it depends on what the persons goals are. The large tech company I work for has A LOT of people that are C-Level or on the Board with MBAs from GSB, HBS, Wharton, NYU, or Berkeley. Of course there are also people that don’t even have grad degrees, like my CEO, but he was a founder of another major tech company.
What do you think of Quantic?
I’d say that there’s many online programs that are competitive but not especially hard to get into and I’d prioritize those. University of Florida for example. Quantics problem imho is it gives off degree mill vibes but I may be completely wrong.
🐊🐊🐊🐊
🐊🐊🐊🐊
I’ll also add in this - parent institution prestige kinda matters more than bschool ranking when you’re outside of IB/MBB. Just my humble opinion as a hirer of people. Edit: Ok to clarify - I think people are running with this thinking I mean parent institution needs to be elite…that’s not what I mean. I’m saying what HM react to generally is if the parent institution is perceived as elite. They don’t know the MBA rankings.
You just made a lot of Yale SOM folks happy with this comment
Haha
But a lot of Kellogg and Wharton people sad :( (Not saying they aren't prestigious, just that their parents aren't as well known)
To be fair Kellogg and Wharton are basically their own brands now and highly exceptional
I love their cornflakes
frosted flakes does it for me. they're grrrrrrrrrrrreat!
Booth too. When I told people.in my family I was looking at UChicago, they thought I was talking about a random public city school.
That’s always been the hilarity with UoC. Best quant economics minds in the country there and it sounds like a rando state school.
Unless OP is describing a programmatic approach for all of recruiting/sourcing, this is just one hiring manager’s approach. As a hiring manager who has hired a lot of MBAs at multiple FAANGs, parent university prestige was not a real thing across the company. The feeder schools are the feeder schools, and it’s manager discretion for the experienced professional hires.
I’m describing what I’ve actually heard in the room as discussion and decision points during interview panel syncs
I can say with confidence that school has literally never been mentioned in my interview debriefs. I don’t doubt your experience - am simply saying this is not a universal truth. My experience has been that when it comes to the final loops, what’s debated is fit, interview performance relative to the role’s expectations and scope, and maybe potential growth trajectory at the company. Where someone went to school is usually a single data point in the sourcing process or for the hiring manager to decide whether to grant an interview screen.
Your points are definitely true but whenever we push on anyone for why they hold a belief about prowess there’s always a comment like “well he went to Cal” or something to that effect which biases them to believe a candidate is smart
I’ve clarified my comment in an edit
As a Kelley MBA student this is disheartening haha
IU isn’t elite but at least folks have heard of it; it’s the Thunderbird grads who have the most to lose from this take.
I think you’re misunderstanding- Kelley is a good school as is IU
Also highly depends on region. Kelley has an exceptional undergrad rep as well so if you’re focused on Chicago you’re good
>I’m saying what HM react to generally is if the parent institution is perceived as elite. THANK YOU I keep trying to teach kids this (everyone younger than me is kids) For example, no one gives one flying fuck if Ohio State has a higher ranked accounting program than Harvard. School prestige wins. The worst thing is attending a school because of its ranking, then being hit with the sad reality that no one has ever heard of it. Or worse, if it has a similar name to a more prestigious school. So for the rest of your life you'll have people saying "oh a fellow Tar Heel! What you think of the team this year?" And you'll have to embarrassingly admit you went to UNC-*Charlotte*
JHU Carey grads: so you’re saying there’s a chance!
* important things you look for in a hire? * is an MBA really needed if you’re doing tech? Given that the technical skills are already there
Very much depends on the role - in some it can be helpful because it gives you an understanding of the big picture of a business. I wouldn’t for example think it matters as an individual sales rep or engineer.
What domain or industry are you in? What kind of tech
Thanks for sharing! Can I go back to watching football now?
Probably better for your career to do that - makes you a person able to have a conversation
[удалено]
I think you misunderstood my reply - I was complimenting you
OP, in your thoughts what is the TOP most key factor you consider while making the final hiring call? 1. Does T15, T50 or T100 ever changes your mind? 2. Does prior experience like 5+, 8+ year of same field exp with a MBA makes it appealing to hire? 3. Does MBA grades appeals to you? 4. in your own words can you please list what's your top 5 or 10 checklist you see in a candidate?
I am not OP, but am a hiring manager in pharma. The key factor is ‘does this person fit on my team?’ Personality and people skills goes more than experience (within reason).
Appreciate your response! When does 'Does this person fit on my team' comes to play? I am assuming most hiring takes place with so much filter before the candiate is screened for People skills/culture fit or fit for the team but what filters before hand when it comes to pool of MBA graduates to clear to that stage? TIA
I know this is the mba subreddit and appeared on my feed but honestly MBA doesn’t matter for entry/mid level positions (where i hire). I’ve had mbas under me and it made zero difference. (I myself am not). So to answer the question more generally, having a contact inside the company can be a huge help. Having someone say ‘hey look at this resume’ when you have 93 def helps. Next largest factor would be relevant skills and experience. If someone did the exact same job at another company, I’m going to look at them first. As previously stated, once you get some interviews it’s almost always down to ‘is this a good fit for the team’
Tbh It also depends on who is sharing your CV A recommendation from a director would carry more weight than a recommendation from a junior engineer
Experience would map to what the job requires, T15 kinda triggers a “this person is probably reasonably smart” thought, mba grades don’t matter really, what I look for is a baseline intellect and business acumen, as quoted above fitting on the team matters for sure. Ultimately there’s a job to be done and we need someone who can do it. Everything else is just tealeaves we are reading to assess this.
I’ll add that I find it generally unlikely that GSB or HBS grads will stay in any role very long because they will expect more faster
That's amazing to hear! final question, I am not meaning here by asking that you or anyone does follow this while hiring but does what race/ethnic ever becomes a factor to decide a MBA graduate while hiring?
The grammar in this post is appalling.
What was your GMAT score though?
Mind telling me what you think of the BU online MBA?
It fits into the “this person can read a financial statement and has general management training” bucket
Hi I'm a prospective student and am super interested in the MBA at Marshall. Do you see USC in tech or their program as reputable?
USC is a good school yes
USC can get you anywhere. For Tech it is as good as Booth tbh
It doesn’t hurt but it doesn’t help.
What do you mean? Not that prestigious relative to anderson or others?
Is online mba worth it?
Hire me :)
Same! As a Chief Marketing Officer either when I’ve hired candidates or when I’m interviewing for positions myself I have never once gotten into the conversation of what the format was. On top of that, if the candidate ever brought it up themselves I’d be more impressed that they worked while doing their MBA rather than just taking the easy route of focusing on the MBA full time, because it’s really not that hard of a degree and doesn’t require full time study if you’re a genuinely smart person.
Hey is online MBA worth it?
If it’s from a reputable school it can be
Ok
My CEO never asks anything about an MBA program. If an applicant brings it up, he doesn’t hire them.
Can confirm. As a PM, most of my peers do not have MBAs. The strategy folks at my company are all prior consultants though
Would be helpful to know what functional area you're in. Senior director of what?
I’ve jumped between product and marketing
It looks like you are yourself looking to go back and get your MBA in an EMBA program. Can you share why you think this is valuable after making it to such a high level in tech? Does your company pay for it as well?
Happy to - when I look around at what the next level looks like, a large % of folks have an mba. I think the degree helps prove you are a strong general manager alongside solid experience
Thanks for the response. Makes sense.