Help! DH about to graduate MBA program but no job prospects, yet....

[Anonymous]

Hello all! I'm in a pickle and not sure what to do or how to help my DH at this juncture. So, DH is graduating in May from a solid MBA program. He has not had any solid job leads and after some gentle nagging I find out he hasn't applied to many places because he doesn't know what he wants to do with himself post graduation! I'm pretty distressed by this considering we have a little 7 month old baby at home and I'm working full time as a consultant while he's been in school. I was really looking forward to him bringing home a second income shortly after graduation. I'm starting to fear that he's not going to have any job offers at the rate he's been applying by the time May rolls around let alone, by the end of the summer. I've tried talking to him, asking him what sort of skills he wants to use and develop, what kind of work he would want to do...that sort of thing, to help him narrow down jobs to apply for. But all I get from him is that he wants to do work that involves big picture strategic thinking ...but not strategy consulting. It feels like he is really lost right now which is curbing his motivation (he's also a career switcher, btw -- formerly a chemical engineer.)

Sorry for this long winded, wordy plea - does anyone have any advice on how I can help my DH focus and find some kind of work that he would be interested in pursuing? I'm not on a pity party or anything and DH is a great father. I know he is doing his best to juggle his responsibilities at home and school; but I could really use some tips on how to talk to him/help him since nothing else is working....Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

Honestly in my extensive experience its not smart to drop out of the job market and do an MBA full-time. Its completely possible to do it at night ( I say this as someone who completed her MBA and JD all at night while raising a family so Im not saying its fun, I'm just saying its attainable) and I think its really only something that makes your more marketable in your current job or industry. What was his previous career in? How long has he been a full time student?

[Anonymous]

How prestigious is the program? just trying to gauge his options.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, OP here. He's graduating his full time program in May, so he'll have been out of the job market for 2 years. He had a good corporate finance internship this past summer (though did not want to go back to work there full time.) He was previously a chemical engineer and worked for about 4 years. He is not interested in returning back to chem engineering work...

[Anonymous]

It's a top 20 program.

[Anonymous]

This was my DH too, right down to leaving his prior career, doing this full-time and starting right when we had a baby. It has not been easy. He is 4 years out from his top 20 MBA program and has been able to patch together some very good consulting gigs, but has not been able to land a FT job. I am the primary breadwinner and, thankfully, can support us comfortably.

Here's what I suggest: he needs to be taking full advantage of EVERY opportunity he can get through the career office. Those services will end at some point after he graduates and he needs to be in their face every day until then. It sounds like he needs some serious career coaching to become more specific about what he wants. If the career center can't help, then you may need to get referrals to a dedicated job/career coach who can.

The two of you need to have very candid talks around the following issues:
- what is your respective willingness to move/relocate for a job. How far away is he willing to look for a job?
- What is the plan for supporting your family, esp. vis-a-vis health insurance & other benefits. Can you go FT with benefits somewhere? Or does it have to be him? Be CLEAR about your expectations here, and be really willing to hear his expectations/plans too.
- Look at your finances and plan how you're going to manage if he is unemployed at 3 mos out, 6 mos out, etc. Put it on paper so you're both looking at the same numbers, neutrally.
- What are your expectations around childcare if he remains unemployed for some period of time. Should he pick up some of those responsibilities? Or can you afford to have FT child care so he searches FT as well? Can you put time limits on the latter if it is not working out? This was probably the source of greatest tension for us.

Good luck. He's fortunate to be coming out at a time that the market is picking up. But it is still tough to have any kinds of gaps in the resume. He should be focused on keeping those gaps filled, if he can, while searching for FT work.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't seem like he can be really choosy in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Its just not smart to go full time with an MBA. Its not a good enough degree to stop working for.

Signed,

Someone who has one from a top 10 school and thank my lucky stars I never quit my day job.

[Anonymous]

If he is in a full time top 20 program he needs to be working with the career office as closely as possible. He's missed most of the on campus recruiting at this stage but the career office usually gets various opportunities floating through. This is a good time for MBAs - my program (top 5) had a 98% placement rate at graduation last year. He really needs to get off his butt at this point. The school should have an interest too since top schools don't like unemployed grads either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its just not smart to go full time with an MBA. Its not a good enough degree to stop working for.

Signed,

Someone who has one from a top 10 school and thank my lucky stars I never quit my day job.

It worked brilliantly for me. I never would be where I am without an MBA from a top school. I honestly don't regret it for a minute.

[Anonymous]

Career office for sure. They probably even have tests he can do to figure out which type of position he'll like best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was my DH too, right down to leaving his prior career, doing this full-time and starting right when we had a baby. It has not been easy. He is 4 years out from his top 20 MBA program and has been able to patch together some very good consulting gigs, but has not been able to land a FT job. I am the primary breadwinner and, thankfully, can support us comfortably.

Here's what I suggest: he needs to be taking full advantage of EVERY opportunity he can get through the career office. Those services will end at some point after he graduates and he needs to be in their face every day until then. It sounds like he needs some serious career coaching to become more specific about what he wants. If the career center can't help, then you may need to get referrals to a dedicated job/career coach who can.

The two of you need to have very candid talks around the following issues:
- what is your respective willingness to move/relocate for a job. How far away is he willing to look for a job?
- What is the plan for supporting your family, esp. vis-a-vis health insurance & other benefits. Can you go FT with benefits somewhere? Or does it have to be him? Be CLEAR about your expectations here, and be really willing to hear his expectations/plans too.
- Look at your finances and plan how you're going to manage if he is unemployed at 3 mos out, 6 mos out, etc. Put it on paper so you're both looking at the same numbers, neutrally.
- What are your expectations around childcare if he remains unemployed for some period of time. Should he pick up some of those responsibilities? Or can you afford to have FT child care so he searches FT as well? Can you put time limits on the latter if it is not working out? This was probably the source of greatest tension for us.

Good luck. He's fortunate to be coming out at a time that the market is picking up. But it is still tough to have any kinds of gaps in the resume. He should be focused on keeping those gaps filled, if he can, while searching for FT work.

OP, here ---> THANK YOU. I really needed to hear this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Career office for sure. They probably even have tests he can do to figure out which type of position he'll like best.

Op, here...thanks, that's an interesting thought and I'll ask him to pursue that and take some time if they do offer a rigourous Myers briggs type eval. Silly that I never thought to suggest that before!

[Anonymous]

In my experience, engineers and MBAs go well together because they get numbers and can quickly analyze the impact to business.

I think the challenge is finding a good fit here. I would imagine that he would be a desired candidate at chemical companies, given his background. Or even a different manufacturing industry. Of course, here in DC, there are the lobbyists but not the company folks.

Around DC, Corporate Executive Board seems to hire tons of folks with MBA-type backgrounds.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mines quit his job in the midwest and moved to DC to do full time MBA. He found a job a few months after graduating and this was about two years ago so I do believe your DH can find work if he puts his mind to it. I will say he was never able to find a job in DC though, so your Dh probably needs to apply all over to improve his prospects.