what is an mba degree and why exactly do employers want to hire mba graduates in this video i'll explain what a master's in business administration degree is although i think by now it should be pretty well known but more importantly i'll explain what mba graduates learn and know that non-mbas might not and why that makes them more competitive in the job market so stay tuned hey folks richard walls here helping with career development and personal finance if at the end of this video you decide you like what you see and you want to see more content like it make sure to subscribe down below and hit the notification bell right next to it so you get notified of when i post new content and while you're down there if you like what you see of course go ahead and hit that like button it helps my channel out quite a bit with that said let's get to it we'll start with the basics an mba is a masters in business administration it is one of the most valuable master's degrees one can get to advance their career where it's not uncommon for newly minted mba graduates to earn close to six figures and in many cases well into the six-figure market depending on a number of factors like school prior work experience and industry needless to say the potential salary increase combined with the demand in the job market for the mba degree makes this very compelling this value though has come into question in recent years primarily because the cost of an mba from some of the top schools have shot through the roof and some may argue that the return on investment isn't quite what it used to be however there are plenty of schools at great price points so the value can still be had from an mba and as we get into the why let's do a quick overview of what you learn in an mba program a curriculum typically consists of a handful of core business concepts like accounting finance marketing supply chain process management organization and leadership now every school will present these concepts in a slightly different way some of the concepts may overlap a little bit and some schools may add some learnings here but the general idea is that you get a well-rounded business education so that you become a more strategic thinker and decision maker in an organization as an added benefit many mba programs offer specialization or concentrations where a student can pursue a smaller track in a specific industry or topic examples of this might be data analytics innovation real estate digital marketing and healthcare and really the list goes on there's a lot of schools that offer many specializations and the idea here is you take a few additional courses to gain a deeper knowledge and expertise in a specific subject now i consider specializations to be especially important because with the popularity of mbas more people have them than ever so the need to differentiate your mba from everyone else's becomes that much more important specializations are a way to do that now with the basics out of the way let's talk about why mbas are valuable to employers going back to what you learn in core business concepts the reason this is all important to employers is that every decision that a company makes or that a team within a company makes does so with a specific outcome in mind and at the end of the day that outcome will have either directly or indirectly some kind of financial impact that you then have to measure in order for any business to survive they need to be financially viable or at least on the path to getting there and that is built on many decisions being made across many organizations and many functions at a company where an mba is valuable is that all the core business concepts you learn tie into virtually every function at a company and with the knowledge and understanding of how one decision in one organization affects another organization you can be a far better influencer and a more effective decision maker you can also better anticipate challenges one example might be with a marketing campaign so let's say for example you or someone else has the idea to promote a particular product for the month of december now what has a tendency of happening with some larger companies is that some functions are a little bit siloed from one another meaning that the communication isn't as strong as it could be but as a newly educated mba you would know that promoting this product would yield a certain return on investment you would also know that you would expect to see higher volume of sales above and beyond what is normal but you would also connect the dots and be aware of how that would affect supply chain if bad forecasts are provided either too high or too low on volumes sold then you could run into a situation where you have customers that are waiting a lot longer than expected on a back ordered product maybe they end up canceling which wouldn't be a good thing to have happen or you sit on a lot of inventory that just sits in a warehouse incurring costs until it gets sold the idea here of course being that you're in a better position to connect the dots between decisions made in one organization and how that impacts the rest of the company down the line and ultimately what the financial impact looks like as well and when it comes to larger companies as i mentioned earlier there is always the potential for some functions to be a little bit siloed and communication not as great so it's really incumbent upon you as a decision maker and as a thinker the decisions that you make you can get ahead of some of the potential issues that may arise down the line it's exactly this holistic business education that makes one competitive in the job market compared to other degrees that may be more narrowly focused and that's not to say that there aren't other master's degrees that are incredibly valuable but mbas are the most versatile and applicable to just about any industry now all that said there are two major caveats to be aware of first is not all employers care about mbas now this is typical or more typical in newer companies or startups that value experience in wearing different hats as opposed to a formal structured mba this is because there's a perception either rightly or wrongly that mba graduates are very structured and process oriented which is especially great for a larger organization where that is required to succeed but they wouldn't be nimble enough in a startup environment that is to say in a startup environment processes are not quite yet well defined they are in the process of getting defined but you have to pivot on a moment's notice and again the perception is that an mba graduate might not be able to do that that's just the perception that some of these newer startups might have second is not all nba degrees are equal everyone is in a different situation when it comes to their career goals their family their finances and what may be an excellent mba program for one person may be a totally bad fit for someone else part of that is to say that a top ranked nba is not right for everyone for many reasons while you're likely to get paid quite well certainly better than just about any other school it's certainly not a guarantee and the cost of the program is also a major factor then there are some nba programs that while they may be inexpensive do not come from established reputable institutions and therefore the value of the degree is not what it could be and you may end up being on the low end in terms of salary when it comes to new mba graduates but there's a lot in between with many fantastic mba programs at various price points with features that align best to your career goals and your family and financial situation good news is my channel is the perfect resource to help you figure out exactly which program is right for you so if you haven't already do make sure to subscribe folks let me know down in the comments below what you think of the mba degree and whether you yourself consider it to be valuable or not with that said thank you for watching and i'll see you [Music] around