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What Top Business Schools Don’t Tell Future MBAs About Their Corporate Recruiter Policy

Many of the top business schools across the nation focus more on corporate recruiting than equipping future business leaders with the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed amongst all the economic, technological and societal changes taking place. As future MBAs face troubled times in a weak economy, business schools need to equip graduates with the ability to secure their own financial future.

In the wake of the global economic meltdown, top business schools across the country are evolving their curriculum to promote critical thinking and other real-world skills designed to help graduates advance in troubled economic times.

Some business schools are scrambling to re-invent their programs to address issues beyond basic management and finance. However, the problem of corporate recruiting still remains – as students are rushed towards securing jobs without attention to acquiring a broader perspective on management issues and the discipline and accountability required to run a successful business.

Many students at top business schools pursue an MBA because they have no idea what type of career they want. Sadly, after two years of rigorous study, many of these students send out dozens of resumes and then accept either the job with the most impressive recruiting presentation or the highest salary. Four or five years later, many are just as disappointed as they were when they first applied for their MBA. They lack direction, a calling.

Future MBAs should be encouraged to discover their special talents and deep needs that will lead them to their callings. The goal of business schools should be to educate a new kind of MBA: one who is equipped to add value from day one, build successful businesses, raise a healthy family, and give back to his or her community

Students in world-class MBA programs should be encouraged to develop their critical thinking skills – which involves developing the ability to create value in the marketplace to help them secure their own financial future.

At many top MBA programs, students are lured into accepting positions at companies that offer the most impressive recruiting presentation or the highest salary. Armed with lessons learned from the current economic crisis, today’s business leaders are shunning greed and seeking out curriculum that emphasizes critical thinking – which includes thinking deeply about your hopes, fears and the extraordinary gifts that will help you decide which path you should take in business and in life.

After several years of working at investment banks and consulting firms, many MBA graduates often become unsatisfied with their work and end up working longer hours just to repay student loans. A business school education is certainly an investment and tomorrow’s leaders must be equipped with the latest skills and theories to succeed amongst all the economic, technological and societal changes taking place – including career counseling and job search skills that require them to be very thoughtful about what they want to do before they start the recruitment process.

Jeff Sandefer is the founder of Acton School of Business in Austin, Texas. He has built the leading MBA program in entrepreneurship studies in the nation and has been named one of the top ten entrepreneurship professors in the United States by Business Week. He has also founded five successful companies and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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