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what's the average salary for a MBA holder/ Is my sister's MBA worthless at this age?

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  • Dec 5th, 2008 3:55 pm
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Jun 6, 2007
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what's the average salary for a MBA holder/ Is my sister's MBA worthless at this age?

My younger sis who is 22 just finished her MBA. she is turning 23 in august. i want to know what level of job she should be aiming for and what salary range.
I know, like many on here will agree with, that 22 is quite young to be carring an MBA particularly as she would have the disadvantage of many employers thinking she has no experience but it is what it is.

Can anyone offer any advice on what to do? what salary range/ kind of job should she strive for? what level kind of job should she accept just to overcome the no-experience disadvantage?

any advice/opinion is welcomed.
if it helps, she has her Bachelors degree in Accounting and her Masters in MBA.

Or should she take a year off on vacation? :D


thanks

olddog
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Mar 31, 2005
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I'm amazed that at 22 she was able to gather the required (in most cases) experience that you need before even applying to the MBA program. Most places require a minimum of 3 years.

Unfortunately without the previous experience, most employers that I know wouldn't hire an MBA as they are worried that the person will want a higher salary, or will feel over-qualified due to the degree and not their actual work history.

At this point, she would be like any university graduate, where she needs to get a job and use that to launch into something else. I'd say her degree is not useless, but by itself it's a very hard sell nowadays.

Currently I work as a manager in a Big-4 accounting firm and have a lot of co-workers who have the same education as your sister. Although a vacation may be nice after so much school, taking a whole year off would be a huge mistake since her degree will become less effective the more time goes by. Take a month off, figure out what direction you want to go in and then aggressively start pursuing work. Take the off time to build her contacts as it's always who you know and not what you know.
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Mar 16, 2004
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olddog wrote: Can anyone offer any advice on what to do? what salary range/ kind of job should she strive for? what level kind of job should she accept just to overcome the no-experience disadvantage?
Or should she take a year off on vacation? :D

Since she did accounting in undergrad, is that that she's pursuing now or has she changed fields?

Anyway, 22's young as TotallyKiller has pointed out. It's going to be a hard sell. But tell her to not give up but at the same time don't have huge expectations. MBA without experience = newly graduated BBA or BComm.

Her salary expectation should be in the entry level range of around 42 - 48k, depending on industry as she has no experience to sell.

Don't take a year off. It'll only work to her disadvantage.

And I should know...I got my MBA at 24. It was tough...
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Jul 31, 2007
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i'm almost 24
but i got no MBA

a new grad and just find a job
it makes me feel bad now
:(
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Jan 30, 2007
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Obviously this person is super book smart and hardworking. We can understand that. Bottom line is that there are an equally large number of older, more mature, and well rounded people willing to do whatever she can and more for cheap. So to answer your question - I'd say 48K.

Book smarts don't count for very much at all right now. People with experience are out of work.
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Oct 20, 2001
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Does experience really matter for finance-type MBA jobs? I can see it important if the MBA grad wants to go into a manager position or management consulting, but if it's just number crunching then I don't see how pre-MBA is necessarily important. Maturity matters, of course, but that's often orthogonal from work experience.
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Jul 31, 2007
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PMP or MBA
what do you guys think?

I'm thinking going toward the PMP path
but i know MBA is probably more important
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Jan 24, 2006
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XBeta wrote: PMP or MBA
what do you guys think?

I'm thinking going toward the PMP path
but i know MBA is probably more important
why dont you do a MBA and then work towards your PMP in the later future.

i believe you need around 5 years project management experience before you can get your PMP so it wont be until later on.

a MBA will help you get into project management and then a PMP
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Jan 24, 2006
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how did she get the MBA at 22??? that is pretty early, i would like to konw what school too

i thought candidates have to have at least 2 years of relavent work experience before entering a MBA school
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Jul 31, 2007
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jayslay wrote: how did she get the MBA at 22??? that is pretty early, i would like to konw what school too

i thought candidates have to have at least 2 years of relavent work experience before entering a MBA school
same here

i still dont have that 2 yrs experience.. so i wonder if i should do MBA from there
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Apr 25, 2008
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That's pretty amazing!
I'm 25, starting my MBA full-time this fall and I'm one of the youngest in my class.

The advice by the previous posters seem sound - get an entry-level position without expecting the salary.. if she went through a MBA at 22 then she probably has the fortitude to work her way up fairly quickly regardless of age.
"Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies."
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Jun 4, 2006
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Why does everyone think its so difficult? She most likely took 2 paths.

One - Went to UWO, went on to Ivey, took the matriculation option right into 1 year MBA. Boom done now, with an HBA and MBA.

I doubt the above is possible though since she would have plenty of job offers before she was done, if she went to Ivey.

Two - Studied business at a decent school, had weak job search/social skills, and B+ to A- average, so couldn't get a CA job. Went back to a Tier 2 MBA right away at WLU/Degroote/etc.

Again though WLU mba is tier 2, most of the class has offers before they are done. Has she ever sent out resumes/interviewed?

Maybe a PhD in Finance/Accounting should be next and she should become a lifetime academic.
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Feb 16, 2004
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XBeta wrote: i'm almost 24
but i got no MBA

a new grad and just find a job
it makes me feel bad now
:(
seriously!! I got out of school with an engineering degree when I was 24-25 because of co-op, OAC and an extra term for business courses and to bump up the avg....and now the average kid is like 22 years old with their masters... :(
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Jun 4, 2006
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I think I was being more realistic than negative. Your right, maybe I jumped the gun and made conclusions, maybe when the OP returns we can understand the situation more clearly.

As to my point about being a lifetime academic, maybe you saw that as an insult. But there is plenty of very smart people who add value in academia both in the fields of accounting and finance. So why should the said person not consider that path?
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Apr 25, 2008
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adehbone wrote: Why does everyone think its so difficult? She most likely took 2 paths.

One - Went to UWO, went on to Ivey, took the matriculation option right into 1 year MBA. Boom done now, with an HBA and MBA.

I doubt the above is possible though since she would have plenty of job offers before she was done, if she went to Ivey.

Two - Studied business at a decent school, had weak job search/social skills, and B+ to A- average, so couldn't get a CA job. Went back to a Tier 2 MBA right away at WLU/Degroote/etc.

Again though WLU mba is tier 2, most of the class has offers before they are done. Has she ever sent out resumes/interviewed?

Maybe a PhD in Finance/Accounting should be next and she should become a lifetime academic.

Out of curiosity, which universities in Canada do you consider to be Tier 1? Rotman, Ivey.. any others?
"Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies."
- Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking that he renounce Satan.
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It does not really depend on "what I consider tier 1", as you can find this data in most magazines and mbaforums on the web. Or even on the recruiting schedule of firms you want to join. Though based on my research in Canada the following school's get the best recruiting also hardest to get into like Sauder I think you need average of 6 years work experience. Or like I think McGill's class size is very small. In no particular order;

Ivey/Rotman/McGill/Sauder
Queens/UofA/Schulich
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Apr 25, 2008
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adehbone wrote: It does not really depend on "what I consider tier 1", as you can find this data in most magazines and mbaforums on the web. Or even on the recruiting schedule of firms you want to join. Though based on my research in Canada the following school's get the best recruiting also hardest to get into like Sauder I think you need average of 6 years work experience. Or like I think McGill's class size is very small. In no particular order;

Ivey/Rotman/McGill/Sauder
Queens/UofA/Schulich
Thanks for the reply, that's what I thought. I have read up on MBA programs in Canada but I usually don't see too many references to "tiers". Rather, the ones that you mentioned are the only ones listed/recognized on "international" lists. :)
"Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies."
- Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking that he renounce Satan.
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thanks for the replies guys.
She went to Laurentian University and got her MBA there too.
as for job experience, she has been exposed to lots of it as she had to cater for herself through undergrad and graduate studies. she moved to sudbury for undergrad and was living alone and supporting herself with no help. (ok little help from me :D , very very little help though). that being said she was working two jobs at the same time whe was going through school. One at TD bank and another at one of the 3 major telecommunication industires in Canada. So i guess she gathered a lot of maturity and experience from working those kind of jobs when she was still a teenager and also living and struggling alone. But prospective people hiring dont care about that...... But sometimes, she herself finds it amazing that she is done with undergrad and MBA at such an age.
I know for sure any job she gets is temporary as we have a solid solid solid gameplan to quit whatever we are both into by 2010 and start a business together in 2-3yrs time.
That being said, the job experience between now and then would be for connections, networking and of course experience.

BTW, am 24 and will be starting my MBA in January (she kind of caused this as i dont want her being too ahead of me :D ). I have 2 undergraduate degrees though and she has one :D My first undergrad degree might not count as anything in Canada though being an immigrant...lol

I am putting a gameplan together on what kind of job and where to look once she moves back to Toronto. Which is in August/september. (We always brainstorm each others situations together and outline strategic plots on dissolving whatever situation).
As long as she can gain interviews, she will definitely get one as she is very well in-tune with the lines of interviews and what and how to perform. (i believe interviews are like games. sometimes not even about the experience or qualification on your resume but how you interact/woo/command/impress the interviewer). After that its just a matter of showing how well of an asset u are to the company and making them understand they made a great choice hiring you.

if anything she can strive for an average job full-time withing the company we both work for now. Am in the Toronto location while she is in the Sudbury division. She is smart and has created a lot of netwroks within the organisation. I just want more for her.


thanks
olddog
Stumbled upon RFD by mistake, best mistake of my internet life i must say...... :D
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Oct 17, 2007
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Hello,
I have a MBA-Finance and Undergrad in accounting as well. I graduated from the US but when i came to Canada i had a hard time getting a job, i was over qualified. I stared as an intern and got my foot in the company. Right now i am working but my pay is not of a MBA graduates. My focus right now is to gain experience. Couple of years of experience and MBA is good but without work experience, hard to sell...
Finished my MBA when i was 26 and moved to Canada a year ago, so do the calculation.. :)

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