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Praetorian
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 10 Jan 2008, 14:09
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https://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7ed1600a-b174 ... fd2ac.html

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Overconfident, overpaid and everywhere – the 2007 vintage of MBAs.

Last year Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, earned $183,500. With bonuses included, this is almost exactly what a graduating MBA now expects to be paid to create PowerPoint slides for a bank or consulting firm. But don’t expect them to look happy about it. We (I graduated four days ago from Insead) have taken our core negotiation course, plus optional salary-negotiation masterclasses and we know that all first offers, no matter how generous, should be viewed as only inching their way into the ballpark of respectability. No wonder recruiters think we are arrogant.
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According to the 2007 survey of recruiters run by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, the key gripes of MBA recruiters are about our unrealistic expectations, both in terms of salary and level of job. MBA hires are routinely perceived to be strong on analysis but weaker on interpersonal skills.
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max125
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 10 Jan 2008, 14:44
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Very good read...Thanks.
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uphillclimb
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 10 Jan 2008, 14:55
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Interesting. I've read that's a major reason that virtually all of the schools have recently implemented some form of "learning teams", on top of the section and study teams they've had before. Trying to give their hard-core quant-heads some polish...
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 10 Jan 2008, 15:58
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Surely that means that people who have more work exp. and leadership positions are in a better situation because their interpersonals are expected to be stronger?
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 10 Jan 2008, 19:00
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togafoot
Surely that means that people who have more work exp. and leadership positions are in a better situation because their interpersonals are expected to be stronger?
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True, however, interviews are used often to evaluate one's interpersonal skills. Also, the type of work experience I think is taken into value as well. For example, someone in general management is probably going to have better interpersonal skills than an analyst crunching numbers all day!
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 11 Jan 2008, 21:05
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This seems like a good place to put my latest gripe:

I have noticed that the folks who are challenged in interpersonal communication are the ones who have zero respect for the "soft" classes. In our first semester, we took a leadership communications and a "leadership, ethics and organizations" class. Most of the people who think those classes are lame are also the ones who give MBAs a bad name...guys whose body language tells you you're a boring idiot and they're brilliant...the folks who think that teams are like work machines and not made of people....etc. I want to say, "HOW CAN YOU THINK IT'S LAME WHEN YOU SO CLEARLY NEED IT????"

Lord knows I suck it up at some of our classes, but I know that the info is important and I freakin' work at it. I don't think those classes are a waste of time.
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FT.com: Confessions of an MBA graduate 11 Jan 2008, 23:11
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aaudetat
This seems like a good place to put my latest gripe:

I have noticed that the folks who are challenged in interpersonal communication are the ones who have zero respect for the "soft" classes. In our first semester, we took a leadership communications and a "leadership, ethics and organizations" class. Most of the people who think those classes are lame are also the ones who give MBAs a bad name...guys whose body language tells you you're a boring idiot and they're brilliant...the folks who think that teams are like work machines and not made of people....etc. I want to say, "HOW CAN YOU THINK IT'S LAME WHEN YOU SO CLEARLY NEED IT????"

Lord knows I suck it up at some of our classes, but I know that the info is important and I freakin' work at it. I don't think those classes are a waste of time.
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True. It is difficult to appreciate such soft skills until you actually need them.

Most people 'think' they understand leadership, ethics and other soft talents - self-conceit is perhaps one of the worst qualities of a leader. I cringe whenever I go to the business section of the bookstore - All I see is some very respectable business leaders on an ego trip. The fine folks at Simon and Schuster, Harper Collins etc. do a good job at killing lots of trees and selling us conceited fairy tales of leadership.