What Work Experience is Beneficial for Entry to an MBA in Finance Program?

Finance students applying to a Master of Business Administration in Finance program generally ask the same question, “What work experience is beneficial for entry to an MBA in Finance Program?” Admissions committees often say relevant work experience can be almost as important as the applicant’s undergraduate degree. Applicants often have concern over what’s relevant and what’s not. Here are some tips.

Is Related Work Relevant Work?

Students entering into an MBA in Finance program typically have some job experience that was obtained while earning the bachelor’s degree. In many cases, this experience was major-related. In other words, the student may have worked at a bank or some financial institution where the student worked with finances. This may be related work, but is it relevant in terms of beneficial experience?

Some say yes, while others say no. Some admissions officials have stated that even though it’s great that an MBA finance student has experience working in finance, better experience may have been gained working in a position where the applicant can showcase skills that will benefit him or her in the MBA program such as stability, leadership and professional development.

Most Important Aspects of Working Experience

Many wonder what could be more important than getting experience working in a field that is the student’s ultimate career goal. Going back to the skills mentioned above, this experience is important, but other qualities often mean more.

Stability – Admissions committees might like to see the experience from a few different jobs but only if it’s because student left a job for reasons of promotion or job advancement. Repeatedly quitting a job just to be quitting doesn’t show stability.
Professional development – Staying with one job and being promoted from one department or position to another shows signs of professional development.
Leadership – Leadership is very important for applicants trying to enter an MBA in Finance program. A student’s resume should show jobs or experience working where the student was able to show leadership. How many workers did he or she supervise? Did the candidate manage a budget? How did the candidate interact with co-workers? Things like this will shine on the resume much more than just working in a job in the finance area at least in terms of relevance.

Paid Work or Internships?

When obtaining job experience, the aspiring MBA student can obtain it through volunteer work at a non-profit organization, through an unpaid internship or at a full-time, paid position. Are they all equal in terms of importance? According to U.S. News & World Report, top business schools prefer one to two years of professional working experience, and this is usually in the form of paid, full-time jobs. While volunteer work and unpaid internships do have some relevance, when put alongside paid jobs, they tend to pale in comparison.

U.S. News & World Report did also stress that any time of experience, whether it’s unpaid internships or volunteer work, can be very important if the student was able to exhibit leadership skills or the ability collaborate with others. In other words, how much was the applicant able to accomplish during the job experience?

Students that have gotten to the point applying to an MBA in Finance program have shown commitment and the desire to go all the way. Making the right choice in obtaining work experience that’s beneficial to the program can make the difference between success and entry into a good program and school.