Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the August 18, 2003 issue of
QuintZine.
According to a recent MBACareers.com QuickPoll, men and women have starkly different reasons for obtaining an MBA.
While both pursue an MBA to increase earning potential, the commonality ends there. Men obtain an MBA for networking and
preparation for entrepreneurship and advancement while women hope that an MBA will gain them additional career opportunities
and credibility in the workplace. Men did not cite credibility as a motivator for obtaining an MBA.
Additionally, the survey revealed that the long-term career goals for male and female MBAs differ as well. Men acquiring an MBA
aspire to become president or CEO of public/private companies or to start their own businesses. Women MBAs, however,
ranked management consulting, executive-level vice-president positions and nonprofit executive management high among their
career goals.
For women, career-advancement challenges still remain. A recent poll by
CareerWomen.com, a sister site to
MBACareers.com, revealed
that women at all levels in an organization are still experiencing tough barriers to advancement in the workplace. The survey pointed
to corporate culture favoring men, exclusion from informal networks, perception that family will interfere with work and lack of women
serving in board-level positions and in senior management. According to one respondent, "work/life balance is difficult for women. Children,
aging parents, home responsibilities all seem to be women's issues. When seeking a promotion, I always consider that I can do it all --
I don't think this is a consideration of my male colleagues."
A persistent question among college students is how long to make their resumes. Conventional
wisdom dictates no more than a page for a college student or new grad. But exceptions are possible.
Writing in Resume Writer's Digest, Sharon Pierce-Williams quotes Richard Garner, VP of human resources and corporate
property for CT Communications, Inc., who likes to see "students who stayed busy and involved" in college,
so, Garner says, "if students have enough important information for a second page, I am not opposed to one."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job search now lasts 18 weeks. And given that
the typical American worker takes home $34,020 in salary, those 18 weeks between jobs add up to a stunning
$11,776 in lost paychecks, according to the same data.
According to a recent MBACareers.com QuickPoll, men and women have starkly different reasons for obtaining an MBA.
While both pursue an MBA to increase earning potential, the commonality ends there. Men obtain an MBA for networking and
preparation for entrepreneurship and advancement while women hope that an MBA will gain them additional career opportunities
and credibility in the workplace. Men did not cite credibility as a motivator for obtaining an MBA.
