In my many years of running my own companies and now an M&A business I have hired and fired a few MBA's. The good ones were very good on their feet and knew how to resolve a problem practically not theoretically. The ones who didn't make it were the opposite and would come up with a slide show to fix a problem.
Far too many people think an MBA is the ticket to a good job, and while it may be to some many MBA's do crash and burn.
The other problem in some companies is that the MBA mentality overules common sense that is not taught in most MBA schools. Enron was full of them.
In summary they are no better or worse than the rest of us..Then again I'm just a dumb old engineer.

Hey ,my brother resembles that remark,only younger :p ;) :cool:

Probably smarter too...I learned it all on a slide rule :cool:

Let me give you a run down of my history (no bragging intended):

I did my LLB at U of Toronto and then pursued my JD (Jurdis Doctorate) at Columbia University in New York, NY. I received my JD and was then offered a job at Chase Manhattan Bank at a starting salary of $85,000 USD . I decided to go further and submitted my application to Harvard Law School and then completed my Master of Laws (LL.M.) I moved back to my home country, Canada, in '89 and was then offered a position at Royal Bank (working for $ 200,000 CDN) - bigger salary, because of higher degree?

Following that position I then worked in the Government of Canada at a salary of $ 250,000.

I to like to learn and achieved my Doctor of Juridical Science degree (S.J.D.), the highest degree in law, also from Harvard. I continued my position at the Government of Canada (I was offered a higher salary of $300,000). In December of 2003 the United Nations came knocking at my door and offered me a job as the Chief Trial Attorney in New York for a starting salary of $ 550,000 USD, all of which I don't pay taxes on (due to the exemption for United Nations employees).

Would the UN had of hired me if I had not completed any thing further then my LLB (for this type of position)? No they wouldn't have - no matter how much street sense or experience I had. Although experience is priceless.

It would never hurt to have an MBA or anything equivalent in any field - and employers would never look poorly upon you if you held one.

Good luck.

JP
^

Many of my MBA classmates found it very difficult to get good jobs following the MBA. many pursued it to change careers and ended biterly dissapointed so I would be extremely cautious if this is your aim. The fact that their expectation had been raised also didn't help. To be honest I was lucky in making big easy money for very little work for 18 months and thus I cannot complain.

It is interesting to note the anti-MBA sentiment from those who haven't personally experienced the product. I expected the MBA would validate my previous 10yrs senior corporate experience rather than add anything. I was pleasantly surprised by the new skills and thought processes I acquired and I am a practical, business oriented (entrepreneurial) kindof guy, with common sense in spades.

The employment climate in the UK and Europe is not great for MBAs except for the consulting crowd recruiting from 2 or 3 big schools. I chose a smaller but highly regarded school which had zero "milk round" activity since it wasn't of sufficient size to warrant that type of approach.

I would be interested though in the employment possibilities for a European MBA, in the US & Canada. Does the MBA help you make the migration? How might someone approach this?

It's the old 'You can lead a horse to water .....' thing. It's pretty easy to scrape through most MBAs without learning anything new and I suspect a lot of people do just that to get the letters after their name in hope of better career prospects. But, it can also be a great way of getting exposed to new ideas and techniques and I'd suspect that for people who put the work in and approach it as a learning opportunity, it adds to their capabilities.

Nothing personal here but I find it almost disgusting to see someone get paid for your type of work work with a salary equivalent to almost $1 Million CDN in taxable income. Its not as though there is a shortage of trial attorneys in the world although I do understand your type of trials are based on international law and war crimes laws etc.
But that is still an outrageous number to me. No wonder the US governmet witholds so much money from the UN; there appear to be no controls there.
None the less I'm glad you got a job like that; good luck and hope it continues.

What about a Ph.D (thesis-based) Management degree?

But that is the price tag for a Senior Trial attorney with a S.J.D. from Harvard working on International Law cases.

My life if my job. I work 7 days a week. If I can't fix a problem then it doesn't get fixed. I understand that there is an abundance of Trail Attorneys - but I worked to get where I am today and there isn't anything wrong with that. To me working for the UN is my dream job and I love every minute of it.

JP

Seriously, what were you doing? Must've been contract since even Deputy Ministers only pull in half of what you say you were making.

As I said its nothing personal;if you can get that much money go for it. But, I do think the UN is not accountable or responsible to its stakeholders when it pays salaries like that. How does that compare to private practice salaries with your level of education?

Parnel...have you considered starting a reality TV show? :D

If you could keep up, just follow me around for a few days and you will have your script :cool:

Good for jptasker.Supply and demand.Thats reality.
If He/She can get that kind of money,and love their job on top of that,
good for him/her. ^
Whether its right or wrong......