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Paige Rivers
ENC2135, Spring Term
Amy Gulick
19 March, 2021
Second Draft, 1501 Words

Which do Employers Value More: Work Experience or an MBA?

Throughout the past twenty years, Business critics have questioned whether work

experience should be valued more than a Master in Business Administration(MBA). The

degree’s past reputation of a quick, direct pathway to success quickly faded due to a large gap

between the program curriculum and graduates’ ability to translate the managerial skills into a

work environment. Since then, corporate professionals and recruiters have begun to place a

higher value on job experience over the degree itself. Valuing work experience over the degree

remains a pressing issue for students currently in an MBA program and degree holders regarding

the hiring process, placing their employee status equivalent to non-degree holders despite the

immense amount of time, money, and effort spent earning the degree. Two artifacts, an online

video, Is an MBA or Master’s Degree Hurting Your Job Search?- Coaching Moment, and an

interpretive report, A Triangulation Assessment: The Value of an MBA Degree, An Evidenced-

Based Management (EBMGT) Systematic Review (SR), offer opposing views as to whether work

experience or an MBA should be superior. The online video explains how an MBA can favor

degree holders from a career coach’s perspective; in contrast, the research essay statistically

explains why work experience becomes the deciding factor during the hiring process. The

following analysis will compare and contrast how the two different artifacts use genre, tone,

diction, mode, and audience to defend their respective opposing views.

The first artifact, an online video published by Work It Daily, explains why an MBA

prevails over work experience and how degree holders can change recruiters’ hesitancy
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regarding employment considerations. Like the video, a digital story describes narratives using

digital tools published on public websites like YouTube. The composer incorporates specific

digital features like displaying public comments that exemplify the struggle in finding well-

qualified jobs for MBA holders. Other features include responses or commentary and contrasting

backgrounds and video angles whenever the speaker emphasizes a key idea or advice. In the

video, a career coach, J.T. O’Donnell, briefly explains that business recruiters may not hire an

MBA graduate because “some employers do not believe that all those case studies you may have

learned will actually help” (Work It Daily, 2018). Because of this, industries look for candidates

who can demonstrate managerial competencies through credible experience, not as much through

a textbook. When O’Donnell commented on the recruiter’s perspective, the colorful background

changed to a dark gray color. Changing the color of the background added another form of

significance to the narrator’s content, making her advice more memorable.

Just as O’Donnell explains the current issues among employers frowning upon MBA

graduates, she also offers advice to overcome those challenges. In the digital story, she

emphasizes, “Do not immediately go straight into an MBA program” (Work It Daily, 2018). By

refraining from the urge to directly enter into an MBA program and earning internships or job

opportunities, graduates can gain some experience to better strengthen the managerial

competencies through an MBA program employers expect. O’Donnell later comments, “By

entering an MBA program a little later than initially planned, you combine your experience with

what you will learn from the curriculum” (Work It Daily, 2018). Earning some experience, then

following through with the MBA curriculum, will effectively prepare graduates to master their

skills and succeed compared to those who just earned work experience. Jarie Bolander, a famous

writer in The Daily MBA, defends O’Donnell’s argument when he elaborates, “The ‘sweet spot’
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may be when the person has enough relevant work experience to fully engage in coursework, but

plan on working after they earn their degree so they can take full advantage of the potential

professional benefits'' (The Daily MBA, 2014). Like O’Donnell, Bolander argues that earning

even a year’s worth of work experience, then receiving an MBA, will set degree holders apart

and valued higher in the eyes of recruiters, unlike those without the degree, despite having more

work field experience. When O’Donnell shared her advice, the screen color and camera angle

changed as another form of emphasis on the content. Including different digital features establish

a clearer vision of the current conflict between work experience versus earning an MBA.

The second artifact explains the opposing view of why work experience outweighs an

MBA. An informative report uses research and data analysis like surveys, bar graphs, and charts

to argue the current issue. Dr. Randall D. Fisher, a research professor at the University of

Maryland University College, exposes the lack of MBA graduates’ ability to master the

managerial skills employers expect. In doing so, he appeals to the rhetorical approach of logos in

his recently peer-reviewed interpretive report, A Triangulation Assessment: The Value of an

MBA Degree. Within his research, the author surveyed over sixty MBA students and industry

recruiters regarding nineteen managerial skills employers look for, such as leadership, critical

thinking, networking, collaborating, etc. Out of the nineteen skills, only six were considered

mastered (Fisher, 2019). Due to the graduates’ inability to model the expected skills, the degree

becomes less valuable to other deciding factors, like learning the same skills in a workplace

setting. Fisher also tested a sample of MBA graduates to determine the impact of an MBA

degree on job performance. The scale measures 0-4, 4 referring to “Very High Impact” and 0

referring to “No Impact” (Fisher, 2019). After testing, the category “Competence” measured

2.95, “Commitment” measured 2.84, “Caring” measured 3.05, and “Credibility” measured 3.20,
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all of which fell under the scale of “High Impact” (Fisher, 2019). Though the data lists these

strategies as highly impactful, the job performance level, which employers also very much value,

measures much lower because of their inability to show their skills. As a result, employers want

fewer MBA graduates because of this prevailing flaw in the degree curriculum. Therefore, those

with more practice in a corporate environment who become proficient in the same skills.

Although the two artifacts portray opposite sides to why corporate employers value work

experience more than an MBA or vice versa, they use similar rhetorical approaches to defend

their arguments. Both composers target MBA and non-degree holders, employers, and Business

undergraduates who may be interested in earning an MBA, all who form the audience. O'Donnell

and Fisher convey similar diction, using common business-related terminology and a formal tone

to exemplify confidence, professionalism, and credibility. For example, throughout the video and

research paper, the author and narrator often use terms and phrases such as “MBA, job

performance, advanced degree, case studies, theoretical scenarios” to keep the viewers and

readers on the same topic and mindset. Using unrelated terms could confuse audience members,

leading their focus and understanding astray and ultimately creating the wrong idea the

composers did not expect. The authors also incorporate ethos to appeal to the emotional aspects

of the struggles behind earning an MBA and then either succeeding or failing to obtain a

sufficient job position in return. In the video, O’Donnell introduces her job position and past

experience as a career coach to establish authority in the following content, offering viewers

reassurance and validity in her advice. She also reveals aspects of ethos through her clear and

encouraging tone. The way she implores readers to hear her creates a trusting relationship as

well. Simultaneously, the writers incorporate logos through scientifically approved statistics and

data to evaluate the success or lack of ability to transfer skills employers value enough to place
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the degree higher than work experience. Even though the artifact composers use similar

rhetorical approaches, both succeed in effectively offering two opposing sides to the issue of

employers struggling to determine whether work experience or an MBA should be valued more

so than the other.

In summary, a Master’s in Business Administration(MBA) raises particular concerns

regarding the hiring process. Students who graduate with just a degree and minimum work

experience than those without the degree but have many years of work experience create a rising

issue for business employers for the past twenty years. Through his peer-reviewed statistics and

research, Dr. Randall D. Fisher proved that recruiters nowadays prefer work experience over the

degree due to MBA graduates’ lack of effectively demonstrating the managerial competencies

they were supposed to learn through the program curriculum. They believe applicants with more

work field experience learn and master the same skills as MBA students for fewer consequences

and risks. However, J.T. O’Donnell counters Fisher’s arguments through her professional,

persuasive explanations and advice as a career coach. She emphasizes that if degree holders can

clearly show their accomplishments and techniques that make themselves more valuable to the

company, employers will choose the MBA graduates over the others. The struggle to determine

whether work experience or an MBA is more significant than the other, and ultimately the

deciding factor, during the hiring process continues to this day.

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Works Cited

Bolander, J. (2014, January 15). Why You Need Work Experience before Enrolling in an MBA

Program. The Daily MBA. https://www.thedailymba.com/2014/01/15/why-you-need-

work-experience-before-enrolling-in-an-mba-program/

Fisher, R. D. (2019, March 30). A Triangulation Assessment: The Value of an MBA

Degree, An Evidenced-Based Management (EBMGT) Systematic Review (SR). Academy

of Educational Leadership Journal. https://www.abacademies.org/articles/a-triangulation-

assessment-the-value-of-an-mba-degree-an-evidencedbased-management-ebmgt-

systematic-review-sr-8043.html

Work It Daily. (2018, July 16). Is an MBA or Master’s Degree Hurting Your Job

Search? - Coaching Moment [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=dcxuRz3wQWo