Can an MBA help you change careers?

by Sinara Stull O

February 22, 2001 —

Most professionals enroll in B-school to advance their careers, but others sign up for a more radical reason: to shift direction entirely.

Consider Pete Laviola, who worked as a marine engineer in Arlington, Va., for eight years. While his job was interesting, he says it had long ago become repetitive. "I'd do a cycle of ship programs, and move on," he says.

Because Mr. Laviola enjoyed working on budgets, he decided to explore a career in financial services. He had engineering friends who transitioned to finance-related careers and were very satisfied with the change. So he quit to pursue an M.B.A. full time on a partial scholarship to Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Now a risk analyst with GE Capital in Cincinnati, Mr. Laviola says earning the degree helped him accomplish the career change he sought.

If you're considering an M.B.A. program as part of a career-change strategy, your best first step is self-assessment, says Ginny Rehberg, a career coach and television commentator in Boston. "Go inside yourself first," she recommends, to probe the most obvious but often ignored question: "What is it that I really want to do with this M.B.A.?"

Of course, adding B-school credentials to your resume isn't enough to make a successful change. You'll need to choose the right M.B.A. program, build connections through networking, identify your transferable skills and demonstrate them to employers. Here's how some newly minted M.B.A.s made their career transitions successfully.

Matching the program with your goals

Career changers find the type of M.B.A. program they choose plays an important role in their transition. Donna Fernandes, a former researcher and animal curator, wanted to become a zoo director. She has a Ph.D. in animal behavior, but needed an M.B.A. to reach her goal. Men dominate zoo management, she discovered, so she chose an all-women's school, the Simmons Graduate School of Management in Boston. She wanted a program that would provide academic excellence as well as teach skills to become a "strong female leader," she says. She's now combining her scientific background with practical management skills as the president of the Buffalo Zoo in Buffalo, N.Y.

Then there's Sarah Heckscher, a former consultant in business process re-engineering and strategy consulting. She wanted to be able to create new products and services and see them through their marketing and development stages, a process not traditionally part of consulting. She chose the M.B.A. program at Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., for its focus on entrepreneurship.

"One of the places you learn from is the student body," she says. By networking with her classmates, she became interested in Internet services. "I talked to lots and lots of people. I asked them questions about what they do during the day and who they interact with."

Make new connections

Networking is the best way to find a new job, especially for career changers, and B-school is a great place to do it, says Ms. Rehberg.

"Business school is one large informational interview," says Brett Huff, director of product management for OpenAir.com, a Boston maker of software for Web-based billing, time and expense tracking.

The Kellogg M.B.A. and former Deloitte & Touche management consultant did his homework on prospective fields and employers in both the classroom and the halls. "You're not really talking to strangers. You're talking to classmates," he says.

But the relationship that helped secure his first position after graduation came through off-campus connections. Mr. Huff had kept in touch with a man he once met on a plane. When the man started OpenAir.com, he tapped Mr. Huff to join the fledgling organization. In 1999, he was one of eight employees and is now one of 50.

Likewise, Ms. Heckscher landed her job through networking. While attending a wedding in Minneapolis, she learned that Epicentric Inc., a San Francisco-based Web portal company, was hiring. Ms. Heckscher was attracted to the Bay Area, so she traveled there several times at her own expense for interviews and informational meetings. She soon landed a position at Epicentric as its director of business development/syndication and exchange services.

Ms. Rehberg says that former classmates and colleagues, family and friends make the best networking contacts. Some B-school grads even send out a broadcast "Do you know anyone who

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