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Thursday, Jan 28, 2010New Year Career Resolutions
Posted by dgore
DEAN’S MESSAGE
By Dean Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
With a new year well underway now is the ideal time to look toward what you want to achieve in 2010 and to set measurable goals for your future. There is cause for optimism and it is evident in the recovering economy and job market.
At the moment, hiring and new job creation lags the gains we see in other sectors of the economy and there is every indication that the employment recovery will remain slow and challenged for many more months. However, businesses are in a stronger position today overall than they were a year ago and this bodes well for Americans with advanced degrees.
While it is important for Graziadio School students and graduates to know when the job market will turn around, what is more important is whether or not you are positioned and prepared to be at the front of the line when the job renaissance arrives.
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) recently released their 2010 MBA job outlook survey. The study, based on responses from 317 employers from 287 companies in the U.S. and around the world, suggests that the still-challenging MBA job market has turned a corner.
Compared with 2009, the study finds, 35 percent of hiring companies plan to hire more recent MBA graduates in 2010 , while 43 percent anticipate hiring more experienced candidates, and 27 percent plan to hire more specialized masters-in-business graduates and recent masters-in-management graduates. Recent graduates should expect that starting salaries will most likely remain at 2008-2009 levels, so it is important that expectations are in-line. Among recently graduating master’s level candidates, MBA graduates appear to be most attractive to employers.
The GMAC poll results suggest that an overall improvement in the job market could occur in 2010. To help ready you, the Graziadio School will be hosting a series of “career-building” programs next week for students preparing to make the transition from the classroom to the next stage and for alumni seeking a competitive advantage in the workplace. Pepperdine Career Week offers events at every campus, culminating on Friday, February 5, with the Graziadio Internship Fair in Malibu for first-year Full-time MBAs seeking summer internships and the new all-programs Graziadio Career Forum in West Los Angeles. Attendees at the Graziadio Career Forum will hear current perspectives and insights into business functions and industries from expert panels. The multi-track industry format offers face time with professionals and recruiters in marketing, media and entertainment sustainable technologies, financial services, healthcare and many other careers.
We have created a unique opportunity around career preparedness. Every Graziadio student and graduate should take advantage of these week-long activities to network with company representatives, connect with fellow students and alumni across programs, and learn about the skills needed to advance careers within particular fields.
Following Career Week how do you position yourself for the job renaissance front-line? Again, the GMAC poll offers a few important insights from hiring companies.
- The more specialized you are, the better chance you will have at capturing a niche market job.
- Business graduates have to develop “soft skills” to be competitive in the global marketplace.
- Real experience, along with an advanced degree, is more important than ever. Quality internships, even unpaid ones, and project-based work while in school or between careers factors into hiring decisions.
- Experienced and recent graduates must remain flexible and open to less-than-ideal offers for now. As demand for products and services grow/return, companies will create the better positions and opportunities you seek. You want to be as employable as possible and/or on the inside when new jobs arrive.
- Have realistic expectations concerning compensation and job titles. Companies are still struggling to contain cost and are likely to remain conservative in their hiring practices for some time.
At the Graziadio School, we know you pursue an advanced business degree to achieve life goals and realize your potential, not merely maintain or improve your job prospects. You invest in building a career, not a paycheck. With your degree, you place yourself on an ascendant trajectory to create your own destiny, on your own terms. As educators, our mission is to empower your success.
2010 may be a defining year for the American job market on many levels. Uncertainty remains high, but uncertainty is the breeding ground of opportunity. Your Graziadio School education gives you leverage to make the most of boundless possibilities.
It is a new decade. Master your future.
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