Is it necessary to have job experience before pursuing MBA?

Hello,

Well my friend it is not necessary to gain work experience before mba as many b schools take a mix of both freshers and work ex. Holders.

Most of the people, after gaining one or two year experience in management field, think of pursuing an MBA or a PGDM course, so as to further polish their credentials and job prospects. While many think that there is a difference between the two, few also perceive both as the same degree, with just a difference in the name. It is very much important for an individual to understand how both of them differ from each other and what their relevance is.



Pursuing both these courses helps one in the growth of their career, in getting a better position and obtaining a bigger salary.



I wish you all the best for future.

Cheers !!

No except a few colleges like ISB Hyderabad you don't need work experience to pursue MBA degree. In most of the colleges the percentage of students which are freshers is around 20-30% which further increases to around 40% in premier institute like IIMs.



Having a work experience do add up to your profile to your CV. It helps you in the selection procedure also as after MBA exams every college prepare a merit list based on your aggregate score which comprises of many factors such as CAT marks, 10th 12th and graduation percentage, work experience, engineer or non engineer, gender with different weightages for different colleges. So work experience being one of the parameter of aggregate score increases your score. But if you are a fresher you don't need to worry about it as generally it's weightage is pretty less around 5% which could be covered with your high percentile easily.



Work experience also helps in the long term during your placement season in MBA as many companies look forward for students who have a relative work experience but again there are many companies which prefer freshers also especially for marketing field. And with your performance in b-school you can again cover this loss.



So overall work experience definitely makes your profile better and helps you in overall procedure but is not at all mandatory to pursue MBA degree and be successful.



All the best!!

No, it isn't necessary to have work experience before pursuing MBA. Different bschools have different criteria for selection and work ex is one of them. You get certain points for having work ex but beyond a certain point work ex is not helpful. Moreover it depends a lot on the domain you are targeting. Consulting and operations firms will look for work ex but for sales and marketing and finance, freshers are preferred. General management considers both freshers and work ex people.



However I personally feel that having 1-2 years of worked is optimal for any domain. So,  in the end it depends on you. If you want to go into sales and marketing or finance then do not wait a year. If consulting is your preferred domain then it is highly recommended that you get work experience before going for MBA.