The College of Business’ Online MBA received top marks for employability in QS Quacquarelli Symonds’ annual rankings, placing No. 9 nationwide and No. 12 worldwide. This recognition directly reflects the College’s reputation among employers – and its efforts to provide working professionals with a world-class graduate education that will help them achieve their career goals.

The employability ranking was calculated using responses from 61,005 employers over five years, with the College’s Online MBA scoring 85.7 out of 100 possible points, well above the global mean of 49.4.

“I am honored that the real-world abilities of our Online MBA alumni are recognized among the best in the world,” said Travis Maynard, the College’s senior associate dean of academic programs. “This ranking is evidence of what we provide all of our graduate students: innovative programming, a top-tier curriculum and a supportive experience that extends beyond the classroom.”

The Online MBA also ranked No. 26 nationwide based on a methodology that encompassed faculty and teaching, class profiles, employer reputation and class experience.

The College’s Career Management Center boosts students’ career prospects

The College’s high rank for employability reflects its deep commitment to career development, a mission supported by its dedicated Career Management Center. In line with the College’s overall mission of Business for a Better World and developing action-oriented leaders, the center offers a wide variety of services to graduate students to help them have careers connecting the principles of people, planet, profit and purpose.

The center provides one-on-one career counseling, mentoring programs and self-guided online resources to help professionals advance their careers. In addition, the center’s staff teaches an elective class that equips students with practical skills including how to assess their own strengths, how to job search, how to build a network and how to best leverage LinkedIn.

“Students’ biggest motivation for getting their MBA is employability – they’re looking for a new credential or more knowledge that’s going to help them advance and elevate their career path,” said Andrea Karapas, the center’s director. “Our role in the Career Management Center is to help students navigate what’s next for them by identifying how their MBA can help them advance their careers and then helping them understand the steps to get there.”

Although the Online MBA equips students with the skills needed to take on a leadership role or make a career change, the path to making their career goals a reality isn’t always simple – and that’s where the center’s career counselors come in.

“We’re here to guide students through that process to teach them effective strategies to get from point A to point B,” Karapas said.

Nearly 80% of Online MBA students continue working for the same employer after graduation, leveraging their new degrees to advance their careers within their companies, the center’s data shows, so its career counselors are often focused on guiding students through that transition.

The career counselors encourage students to take an inventory of their strengths, identify their career goals and craft a strategy to get there using the resources available to them. That includes helping students update their resumes to include the new experiences gained in the Online MBA program and teaching them about networking.

“They’re rebranding themselves, whether they’re going to stay with their company and move up or they’re going to transition into a new job with a new company or in a new industry,” Karapas said. “They have new skills that they’re bringing to the table by completing an MBA degree, so they can’t package and brand themselves the same way they did prior to that. They have new things that they can integrate into how they talk about themselves and how they represent themselves in the job market.”

A flexible, award-winning Online MBA

Building on the College’s reputation as a leader in cutting-edge distance learning for more than 50 years, the Online MBA uses the latest technology to offer a flexible program designed for working professionals.

“The Online MBA program was the catalyst to my career success,” said Lindsay Neff, an Online MBA alum. “I gained a holistic understanding of the business world and accelerated my professional growth.”

Through the 42-credit program, students learn the fundamentals of business while gaining proficiency in five competencies: innovation, finance, leadership, data analytics and using business for a better world. Nearly 40% of the total credits students take are electives, allowing them to customize their experience to fit their career interests. Students can also choose to deepen their expertise in a competency or add a credential with one of the College’s certificate options.

In addition to the flexibility of taking courses online, students can choose from five start dates and have the option to earn their MBA in just 21 months or take up to five years. Students are often able to apply what they’re learning to their job right away as they work toward their career goals.

“Towards the end of my MBA program, I used the knowledge I learned from a career development class (among other classes), to pursue an exciting job opportunity,” Neff said. “The program prepared me for the next step in my career, and I was offered the position at a top-tier salary.”