The MBA degree means different things to different people. For many, it’s an impressive accomplishment and credential. For some, it is simply a ticket to move up the career ladder in an organization. For others, it is the opportunity to switch career paths.
Regardless of what it specifically represents to each of us, we must remember that our MBA is both a distinction and a responsibility.
Your MBA degree is an asset that you can often leverage in your career search and professional development to distinguish yourself from other candidates. However, while it is itself a distinction and will make you stand out on paper, potentially advancing you to a smaller stack of resumes for consideration, it does only half of the job required for you to achieve career success.
You — and you alone — are responsible for making yourself stand off the page and out from the stack of other career seekers by effectively communicating a powerful and consistent personal brand online and offline.
As a prospective, current or past Mason MBA, you will be going head-to-head with fellow Masonites, MBAs from other top programs, and other talented and qualified business professionals in the pursuit of internships, full-time employment opportunities and promotions.
It is not likely that all of these professionals and MBAs will have strong and memorable personal brands and thus, if you do, you will definitely have the competitive edge over them in your career search. However, hypothetically, even if every job candidate in the world established their own unique personal brand, an employer will only select the candidate whose brand best matches the opportunity at hand. Therefore, effectively branding yourself to target and match specific opportunities within your career scope will better ensure that you are the one selected.
Developing and establishing a strong personal brand should be a requisite for earning your MBA. Your MBA should no longer solely stand for Master of Business Administration, but should ultimately stand for Memorably-Branded Applicant.
