Jen knew she needed to do something to help get her career up on its feet—so she decided to pursue an advanced business degree. “I felt earning an MBA would help me achieve the next level in my career. It was also a personal achievement thing for me—to say I had earned an advanced degree.”
So she enrolled in the Suffolk University Executive MBA program with a management concentration. “In my program, the classes were all day Saturday from eight in the morning to five pm, 44 weeks out of the year –which, while painful, I liked more than feeling like I had to race out of work to get to class.” Plus she loved the other members of her program. “With the executive program, you had to have at least 5 years of biz experience, and at the age of 28 (then), I was one of the youngest in my class. It was terrific to be able to benefit from everyone's real-world experience and the lessons were very practical. To me, this was better than being surrounded by ‘kids’ who had just rolled out of undergraduate school and who wouldn't have much to bring to the table,” she states. “No offense to them,” she adds, laughing.
Currently, she works in advertising. “I am a User Experience Manager at an advertising agency,” She says. “I help create strategy for online experiences and map out the blueprints before the creative element is added to the site or application. I feel like my ‘business mind’ helps me better understand our clients' objectives and constraints.” She loves her job. “It's interesting, it's challenging, it's fun, and it adds real business value,” she states with enthusiasm. “Eventually I would like to go out on my own, maybe do some consulting.”
If you are considering earning an advanced business degree, she has some great advice. “Know exactly what you hope to get out of it. Others in my class wanted to change fields, or felt an MBA was table stakes to move to the next level in their current job,” she says firmly. “Also, do it while you have some business experience, and are still enthusiastic about it!”
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