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Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
18 Apr 2015, 01:53
Kudos
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I see that most guys who come out of an MBA prefer either consulting or finance/banking as their major and even as their career.
I come from a Oil and Gas background and in all the 5 years I have worked, I have been travelling a lot. I don't remember a time when I was home for 3 months straight. I have done enough travel internationally and don't want to do the same after my MBA. I have also made a decent buck during my 5 years of working with O&G. Till now, I am single and this does not affect my personal life. I plan on getting married soon and by the end of my MBA i will be married.
From my research I see that consulting involves a lot of travel and its a no no for me beyond this point. Finance takes a lotta work hours and weekends become working days eventually.
I am also not looking into making too much money if i have to sacrifice my family time. A modest/low 6 fig income or a high 5 figure income would do. So basically I am not ready to do a 85 to 100 or more hours/week job to make the $150k or more. I am not against the occasional late working and weekend working.
My question to you guys is, which MBA majors and jobs have a good work life balance. How is the work life balance in other fields of MBA like gen mgmt or operations mgmt. Its my belief that the work life balance sucks in consulting and finance. Correct me if am wrong.
Which companies should i be targeting if i want to enjoy a good work life balance.
I come from a Oil and Gas background and in all the 5 years I have worked, I have been travelling a lot. I don't remember a time when I was home for 3 months straight. I have done enough travel internationally and don't want to do the same after my MBA. I have also made a decent buck during my 5 years of working with O&G. Till now, I am single and this does not affect my personal life. I plan on getting married soon and by the end of my MBA i will be married.
From my research I see that consulting involves a lot of travel and its a no no for me beyond this point. Finance takes a lotta work hours and weekends become working days eventually.
I am also not looking into making too much money if i have to sacrifice my family time. A modest/low 6 fig income or a high 5 figure income would do. So basically I am not ready to do a 85 to 100 or more hours/week job to make the $150k or more. I am not against the occasional late working and weekend working.
My question to you guys is, which MBA majors and jobs have a good work life balance. How is the work life balance in other fields of MBA like gen mgmt or operations mgmt. Its my belief that the work life balance sucks in consulting and finance. Correct me if am wrong.
Which companies should i be targeting if i want to enjoy a good work life balance.
21 Apr 2015, 06:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
I think it depends on what exactly you're looking to do, but if you're still not sure and are interested in general management you should look into rotation leadership development programs LDP. There's already a great thread with some discussion of MBA LDP's https://gmatclub.com/forum/top-leadership-development-programs-132253.html#p1083358
Or you can see if you can just find a job directly with a company in the function you are most interested in. I know companies like Target, Amazon, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) like to hire MBAs for various operations positions. Take a look at what job descriptions at each company looks like and what positions prefer or require an MBA.
Those jobs will likely have the best work/life balance post-MBA.
Or you can see if you can just find a job directly with a company in the function you are most interested in. I know companies like Target, Amazon, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) like to hire MBAs for various operations positions. Take a look at what job descriptions at each company looks like and what positions prefer or require an MBA.
Those jobs will likely have the best work/life balance post-MBA.
21 Apr 2015, 10:29
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haree87
Think of jobs this way.
There are three kinds of jobs in any industry or company:
1. Those who make it
2. Those who sell it, and
3. Those who support the above two.
So for example, in tech, those who "make it" are the engineering teams, and those who "sell it" are bus dev, product mgmt folks. In professional services such as banking/consulting, those who "make it" are the analyst, associate and VP positions (junior folks) who work on the projects/transactions. Those who "sell it" are the senior folks - the partners/MDs whose jobs are to bring in business.
Think of #1 and #2 as front office positions: those jobs that are directly involved in the making and selling of the company's primary product or service. These jobs typically pay the most, get the most upside compared to #3, but also have the most demanding and unpredictable hours (not to mention the travel). Even at the F500 companies, these front office positions tend to be "executive track" positions even if they don't explicitly state so - it's where the most ambitious who are gunning for the executive roles 10-20 years down the road are in, and so you'll be working alongside folks who will be more work, work, work focused (and not only willing to travel, but willing to relocate for years at a time from one city to the next in order to climb the ladder and manage a larger and larger product group or category within the company).
If you want a better work-life balance and you're willing to trade off some of the upside and "excitement" -- then working in a support role (#3 above) at a company could be the ticket.
For example, at most F500 firms and even the banks and consulting firms, it would be positions like HR, accounting, operations, financial planning & analysis and so forth. Your compensation is relatively fixed yet stable (but you don't really get as much upside as the front office folks), and the hours are pretty regular since you're not beholden to customer/client-driven deadlines, changes in market conditions that will cause project timelines to change, etc. You still get the same benefits (healthcare, 401k, etc) as those in the front office, but a bit more predictability in your schedule and hours, which makes for a better work-life balance.
