Credentials V Experience Debate Intensifies - What Is Value of the Pricey M.B.A.?

"It’s [earning the M.B.A.] useful if you want to career switch and/or have the means to go on a two-year 'holiday' to network and have fun. The tuition fee is prohibitively expensive & the opportunities aren’t as abundant as before, however. The most successful people I know don’t need it to get ahead in life." - Response on Fishbowl Consulting post about the value of the M.B.A. Here is the thread, dated March 27, 2023.

The M.B.A. had once been the golden ticket. Now, like so many academic credentials, it is declining in market value. The shift in hiring, retaining, and promoting has been toward experience. That seems to even apply to credentials from the Ivies. 

What could catch the eye of employers is the list of certifications. In my intuitive career coaching, I advise clients who are slow at work to use the time for picking up one or more certifications. They are available both online and in-person and remain affordable. Incidentally, as wth the M.B.A. which continues to be useful in career change, certifications can be the platform for making the leap from a downsizing profession to a growth one. Here is my article on career change, published in O'Dwyer's Public Relations.

Sure, an advanced degree, especially from a top university, can open the first door and perhaps a few after that. Just review how professional services such as management consulting and law recruit. But then you're on your own. Your actual achievements and softs skills will matter plenty. 

Prediction: Soon enough, just like they say about writers - You are a dime a dozen - those with the M.B.A. will be treated as not worth paying a premium to. They will become, yes, a dime a dozen. With the glut of those graduating with law degrees, inexperienced lawyers could be told the same thing. That could kick off with the JD Class of 2024 which had been over-enrolled. 

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