Posts under the ‘Tech MBA Online’ category

The “new kid on the block” is getting noticed.

Michigan Tech’s online MBA was launched in fall of 2010 and is already getting good coverage from national sources. Bloomberg Businessweek’s web site has listed the program under its “Distance Learning” section.

“We are pleased to see our new Tech MBA^® Online Program getting this well-deserved attention,” says School of Business and Economics Dean Darrell Radson.

The two-year Tech MBA^® Online focuses on technology and innovation management. The degree incorporates a solid foundation of fundamental business disciplines including a global perspective. Training professionals to be ethical leaders who manage financially sound but sustainable organizations is also a program goal. Cohorted in design, the degree includes two weekend residencies and a week-long international residency.

According to Radson, “The uniqueness of our program centers on its connection to technology. We are using the expertise of our university and our business school to train students to take new ideas and concepts and move them into new products and new businesses. The goal of this MBA is to help our students become leaders who know how to implement good ideas, leading to innovative products or new innovations within companies. This, in turn, will help our economy succeed.”

For more information about the Tech MBA^® Online, visit www.mbaonline.mtu.edu or call the School of Business and Economics Graduate Program Director, Ruth Archer: 906-487-3055.

Many different elements must be considered when determining which MBA program will best fit your needs.  Elements such as cost, future career options, the possibility of relocation, the state of the economy, and program flexibility will greatly influence decisions you make about which MBA program you pursue.  The Tech MBA Online program is designed for working professionals who seek a cost effective option that doesn’t require them to compromise the quality of their education for the flexibility it offers.

For more information on this topic, register for our webinar on Monday, November 1st 2pm EST, Using an MBA for a Career Change.

The Top 6

Six reasons that career changers or prospective students should consider getting an MBA online from an accredited program:

1. Flexibility: Most people that have a good job can’t take a leave of absence to pursue an MBA.  Many of these positions also require travel, which can make a traditional on-campus program difficult to complete. Finding an MBA program that offers schedule flexibility is key.
   For example, Megan Benam, an employee of Kimberly-Clark who works in the area of product development, is currently enrolled in the Tech MBA Online program.   Megan believes that one of the program’s major selling points is the ability to fulfill her travel obligations with her company.
2. Down Economy (retool): The best time to look for lucrative career options is when the economy is good.  When there is a downturn in the economy the things you would do to get a promotion or a pay increase are now considered to be the standard. Many times it;s necessary to re-tool yourself so that you can keep your current job.  Re-Tooling with education is one of the best ways to increase your value.
3. Cost-to-Benefit Ratio: There is a cost benefit of completing your MBA online.  Every person who is thinking about getting an MBA has to determine how much they’re willing to invest in themselves and their MBA program.  This should be determined by your post-graduate goals and will be driven by three factors:  out-of-pocket cost, opportunity cost, and long-term cost (the cost to repay an loans taken out for your education).  Most elite MBA programs can cost six figures.  A close examination of these three factors, as they relate to various MBA programs, should help you arrive at a program that best suits your needs based upon the real cost of the program.  For instance the total cost of the Tech MBA Online program is $38K.
4. Career Re-Alignment: The average person changes their major multiple times as an undergraduate.  Most people change their careers multiple times.  An MBA can help you re-align your career options once you have gained experience in your current field.  You will find that obtaining your MBA will open many doors that will allow you to successfully re-align your career with your current and future professional goals.
5. Expand Career Options: The program you choose should expand your career options — in other words there should be a tangible benefit in pursuing an MBA.  You should not consider getting an MBA if you don’t see the opportunity to expand your career options.  The acquisition of an MBA can be an effective tool in leveraging career options.
6. Re-Location: As you pursue your MBA the opportunity to re-locate with your current company or to seek employment with a different employer may arise. An online MBA gives you the ultimate flexibility of not having to wait until you have completed your program or having to switch schools to pursue your career opportunity.

Action Item: For prospective students you can evaluate what your future earnings (annual salary) post-graduation from an MBA program and determine what would be the appropriate investment (cost of our program is $38,000–less than most new SUVs!). Learn more about finance options for the Tech MBA Online.

How portable is your personal brand? As an MBA student you are responsible for the management of  your career.  Meeting new people, potential coworkers or employers, is becoming easier because of rapidly advancing technology. It is important to manage your personal brand, one that will move with you through your career. The typical MBA student has had some work experience so changing employers and/or jobs isn’t a new experience. As the lines of your personal and professional life begin to blur the opportunity to create components of a non-portable personal brand are possible. One of the ways the Michigan Tech MBA Online program is illustrating their commitment to their current students is through offering personal development seminars within the program.

How do you define a personal brand?

Portable Personal Brand: It is the ability to take your online personal brand assets with you when you move from company-to-company, change careers, change positions, or transition to being an entrepreneur.  Essentially the digital characteristics and assets of your personal brand move wherever you go.

Why is this important?  Lets start first with career changes. The average person changes careers approximatxely 5-7 based in their lifetime based upon my research.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t provide data on career changes but on the number of jobs a person holds in his/her lifetime (which is 10.8 jobs from ages 18 to 42.) So it is not a matter of if but when you are going to change careers and/or change companies. It is critical that you keep your personal brand portable.

Tips on Creating a Portable Personal Brand

• Personal Branded Social URLs: Always maintain separate personal branded accounts.  Your personal social network account URLs should not be tied to the company accounts as the only accounts you have or manage.  When you leave a company your accounts should come with you no questions asked, but this can only happen if you own the accounts.  In an ideal world you want to bring your pre-existing accounts with you to your place of employment if they are relevant.

• Own Your Network: If the contacts in your network are housed only in the social networks that you rent from there is an inherent risk if your account gets comprised or the terms of service changes.  Your network will become more of an asset in the workplace, not necessarily because of numbers but become of influence.  Create your own personal database from your social network contacts. You need to have database of contacts.  Download and import your contacts into a personal list that you own and manage (Note:  If you are tweeting from company accounts legally you don’t own the contact list. Everyone knows there is a difference between contact names and relationships.)

• Set-up Linkedin Profiles Properly: Set up your Linkedin accounts with your own personal email address (i.e. Gmail account).  There have been situations where people have been locked out of their accounts because the account was set-up with a corporate email address.

• Own Your Hub (Don’t just rent): Every professional should own the online hub of their personal brand (yourname.dotcom.)  Make sure your dot com isn’t linked to your current job (i.e. www.JohnDoeABCEngineering.com)

Benefits

One of the major benefits of having a portable personal brand that it can be leveraged for future career opportunities.  What do I mean by a portable career?  Portable careers are job situations that don’t depend on location. The environment is flexible and allows you to do your job remotely.  With the development of technology:  Skype, WI-FI, and other technologies that allow you to work remotely these types of opportunities are starting to increase.  Portable careers will grow in popularity in the future as work changes.  The forerunner to this is alternative work arrangements which companies have become more comfortable with as a way to provide a benefit to the company and cut cost when they can’t pay an employee more money.

When is developing a personal brand critical?  The answer is now. According to The Infinite Dial 2010 report 48% of American have online social media profiles. Seek an MBA program that understands the value of social media and helps you to apply the career related benefits of engaging online.

How portable is your Personal Brand as an MBA student is totally in your hands?

Over 267,000 people took the GMAT test in 2009, which is the highest number ever in the history of the test (Source: Graduate Management Admissions Council). Of those test takers, 51% took the GMAT at an international location. MBA programs are becoming more competitive and getting into the school of your choice requires a good score on the test.

What are you doing to prepare for the GMAT? Have you looked for a mobile app to help you study? There are a number of apps that you can use on your iPhone, IPad and Android devices to help you prepare for the GMAT. Here are a few recommendations–check them out!

Watermelon Express ($24.99)

Watermelon Express leverages the power of technology, social collaboration, and data analytics to build the smartest and most convenient educational tools for students and test takers across the world. Watermelon Express consists of not only a management team and developers, but also students, publishers, affiliates, and marketing partners in the community. Each one of these contributors provide their own unique approach towards education.

Over 40,000 students across 64 countries have used the Watermelon Express iPhone, desktop, and/or web app within last 12 months. This vibrant community of individuals is well on their way to achieve their career goals.

GMAT Practice Quiz (Free)

As the world’s largest privately-owned GMAT Prep and admissions consulting provider, Veritas Prep maintains a large network of instructors, consultants, and students. The Veritas Prep GMAT Practice Quiz iPhone App has been downloaded more than 50,000 on the iTunes store!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the app, it lets you practice all five GMAT question types — Data Sufficiency, Problem Solving, Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension — and do it on your own terms with multiple customization features.

GMAT Club (Free)

The GMAT Club Apple application is specifically designed to help you prepare for GMAT on the go. Simply take one question at a time and the application will remember which questions you have taken as well as show you detailed statistics. Keep your prep fun – shake your iPhone to get the next question and if you get it wrong, you’ll get buzzed!

The application from GMAT Club, a large community with 90,000 members and 700,000 GMAT&MBA related posts, has 111 HARD 700+ level GMAT quantitative questions.

Be prepared for the GMAT, and feel confident using your mobile device to help you study.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? In an uncertain economic time, it’s very important to evaluate your career planning strategy and to position yourself to grow personally and professionally. The Michigan Technological University – Tech MBA Online program is hosting their second Career Re-Tool Workshop in Kentwood, Michigan. This is a must attend event for job seekers, those in career transitions and people who want to re-tool themselves for promotion in a challenging job market. Attendees will have the opportunity to evaluate educational opportunities and the value of higher education in reference to their career objectives.

This free event is open to the public and will empower people to strategically re-tool their careers by re-thinking education, social networks to aid in job search, and personal branding to position themselves for success.

Location: Kentwood Public Library 4950 Breton Road SE Kentwood, MI 49508

Time: 6:30pm-9:00pm

Hashtag: #grretool

Speaker Line-up
Hajj E. Flemings, Tech MBA Online Program Ambassador

Hajj serves as the Program Ambassador for the Michigan Tech Online MBA program where he promotes and recruits for the program.

He is the author of ‘The Brand YU Life: Re-Thinking who you are though Personal Brand Management and has been featured on Fox 2 News, ESPN.com and BusinessWeek.com and travels nationally speaking as a brand strategist enabling personal and business brands to remain relevant.  His clients include Walt Disney, Ford Motor Company, Skechers Footwear, U.S. Department of Defense (Telecom Division). He has spoken at Iowa State University, Davidson College, University of Michigan and numerous colleges and universities around the nation on personal branding, social media and career development

Mike Yoder, Social Media Strategist Deksia

As social media strategist at Deksia, he shares responsibility for business development and social media strategy development and delivery for the firm’s social marketing strategy consulting service. Responsible for taking LinkedUp Grand Rapids from 400 to over 5,000 members in under two years—making it the largest non-alumni LinkedIn networking group in the State of Michigan—Mike is able to parlay his social networking experience into innovative and comprehensive strategies for his clients. Mike has a BA in speech & communications from Geneva College in Pennsylvania and an MA in organizational communications from Western Michigan University. A long-time resident of Grand Rapids, he lives on the Northwest side of town with his wife and three children.

Christina Torri, Social Media Coordinator

Christina is the Social Media Coordinator for Mindscape at Hanon McKendry where she handles day-to-day social media management for both clients and the company. She is also partnering with Mindscape management to build out this evolving service area to meet client needs for integrated digital engagement. She recently finished her MBA from Grand Valley State University focusing in Internet marketing and social media. Christina received her undergraduate degree in business from Western Michigan University and has worked in large corporate environments including Verizon Wireless and National City Bank. She has a passion for online marketing, social media, and personal branding.