The true value of an MBA in today’s job market: what employers, trainers and
newly hired graduates actually see

For decades, the MBA was the ultimate career accelerator. It promised transformation – new industry, new geography, new role and twice the salary. It was widely understood as a high-return investment that repaid tuition, opportunity cost and ambition in no time.

When I completed my own MBA at a leading business school in Switzerland, at a time when the degree still functioned as a strong signalling credential, finding a job was almost effortless. I submitted no applications. Seven companies invited me based purely on the career brochure, and I graduated with seven offers.

Today, the situation is starkly different. Many MBA graduates find themselves in a long, unplanned stretch of stress – six months, twelve months or more – without securing a role. The jobs they eventually obtain often fall short of expectations in salary, seniority or alignment with their intended career path. The return on investment that once seemed obvious has become uncertain. For many the expected career transformation doesn’t materialise and is merely a collective delusion.

A growing scepticism is emerging: that many MBA programmes have quietly become factories producing unemployed or underemployed graduates. Instead of launching confident leaders into high-impact roles, they release cohorts into a market with limited appetite for what they offer. This raises an uncomfortable question.

Are MBA schools becoming the equivalent of car factories producing vehicles that have stopped being cool? And is LinkedIn turning into the car-ful airfield – quietly filling up with unsold product, with MBAs nobody comes to collect?

Graduation excitement too often dissolves into the brutal silence of a market that simply does not pick up what schools so proudly manufactured.

What has changed, and what must change next?

Where MBA programmes fail – and why graduates pay the price

One of the biggest shifts is the softening of the curriculum across MBA programmes. Quantitative rigour has declined. Core disciplines such as accounting, finance, marketing and calculus no longer receive the depth or intensity they require.

Group work dominates – good leadership learning in theory, yet often missing the point in practice. It conveniently reduces grading effort for faculty while allowing students to produce a single ChatGPT-written essay. Everyone appears happy. But where is the learning? Strong students carry weaker ones, accountability blurs, and genuine competence is neither tested nor strengthened.

Assignments that once cost blood, sweat and weekends have become matters of minutes. AI is not the problem. The problem is the removal of the developmental struggle that forces people to think, argue, calculate, refine and thrive under pressure.

Meanwhile, trending topics such as sustainability and diversity increasingly overshadow the analytical disciplines from which sound managerial judgement actually emerges.

The result is a graduate who often presents well, speaks well and networks so-so, but lacks the intellectual muscle memory industry expects as a baseline. Is it really true that MBA actually means Mediocre But Arrogant?

Why the MBA badge ceased to impress future employers

Employers once treated the MBA as a green light for readiness. Today, it is more often a yellow light: proceed with caution.

Companies operate under sustained pressure – low growth, profitability constraints, fewer vacancies and near-zero tolerance for hiring mistakes. They no longer hire for potential. They hire for proof.

Three realities dominate.

First, technical competence and role–fit must be exceptional. Employers want people who create value immediately, not after months of guided settling-in.

Second, the market has polarised. You must either be a deep specialist or a generalist leader who structures problems, influences across levels and delivers reliably. The unanchored, “smart but vague” generalist has almost no space left. The bullshit jobs have already been taken.

Third, companies expect contextual intelligence. Understanding a firm’s strategy, priorities and internal dynamics reduces perceived hiring risk. Informational interviews, referrals and internal advocates matter more than ever.

For international candidates, employers must also consider cultural adaptation, communication fluency and visa administration. To hiring managers, this simply smells like risk.

Employers hire for immediate value and not for uncertainty.

The truth from the classroom – why many MBAs do not hold water

I see smart people, but only a minority genuinely impress me. Too few display the disciplined thinking industry still desperately needs. Fluency often replaces precision. An air of jovial confidence frequently masks confusion.

I see a great deal of self-doubt. Students arrive academically strong yet emotionally fragile – paralysed by comparison, overthinking and insecurity. In coaching discussions they often share how they can’t stop to compare and believe faking it resembles making it.

I see weakened fundamentals. Many struggle to interpret financial statements, think quantitatively or produce estimates within a 20 percent margin of error. A lack of real-world understanding, curiosity and professional empathy in case discussions regularly disqualifies them in structured interviews.

I see dependency on tools. AI accelerates production, but it does not replace thinking – and that is an imminent threat to success.

And yet, the potential is enormous. When schools take students seriously, students rise to the occasion. When taught to be curious, think rigorously, speak clearly and manage their presence, they quickly become inspiring.

But this requires programmes that train MBAs like corporate athletes. Forget the year-long burst of fun. Becoming an MBA is more than winning a drinking game or claiming victory in a tug-of-war at the MBA Olympics.

Some programmes stepped out of the comfort zone – with success

They have done something simple, uncomfortable and decisive: they engage seriously with industry, startups and organisations. They ask leaders what they truly seek from MBAs and build programmes to deliver on those answers.

Exposure goes far beyond coffee chats and canapé evenings. Students do not sit and listen to senior people talk about excellence; they are placed in situations where excellence is expected and absence is noticed.

These schools form real partnerships – we teach, you hire. There is no hide-and-seek during the programme. Presence is required, performance is exposed, and those who do not belong are asked to leave rather than graduated with softness. I have seen programmes turned around this way within a year. It can be done. The tough market is no longer an excuse. Welcome to the real world.

The Must-Master Skills that separate successful MBAs from the forgotten ones

The MBA premium no longer comes from the badge. It comes from capability. And five skills separate those who succeed from those who quietly disappear.

First, master the analytical basics. Accounting, finance, marketing and calculus are not optional. They are the price of entry. An MBA who cannot interpret financials or produce a rough estimate within a 20 percent margin of error is not worth the premium.

Second, build world-class problem-solving capability. The ability to structure problems and test assumptions is what separates leaders from passengers.

Third, develop professional presence. Presence is vocal, physical and mental. Speak with clarity. Hold the room. Drop the jargon. Stop the self-deprecating narratives.

Fourth, live like a corporate athlete. Durable performance, needed for the MBA job far more than peaks here and there, requires discipline, consistency and a lifestyle built to withstand pressure.

Fifth, build a functional network. Not a decorative one. A network that works when things get hard.

How to actually get the job – the method that works where LinkedIn does not

Forget LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an address book, not a job market. Applying online has the success rate of posting a letter without an address. Jobs are secured through people, not platforms.

Activate your network deliberately. Speak to people early. Build a clear view on where a company is going and how you can contribute in the short, mid and long term. Get to know those who will hire you well enough that they want you to succeed internally.

Learn to make phone calls. Many. A ten-minute call dwarfs one hundred online applications.

Then earn the offer in the interview by doing what most candidates cannot: structure problems clearly, demonstrate business judgement, show presence and build trust.

One year in: the reality check every MBA should hear before graduating

“Companies today optimise for risk minimisation. You must show role–fit, competence and contextual understanding. The MBA does not speak for you; you must prove that hiring you is safe.”

“The process is relational. A director I had spoken with referred me proactively. In another case, although HR had rejected me, speaking directly to the CFO reopened the process and led to an offer.”

“Inside the organisation, competence alone is insufficient. Integration matters more. Weekly check-ins, feedback and learning colleagues’ working styles accelerated my contribution.”

“One year in, the MBA is an enabler, not a guarantee. It creates opportunity only for those who communicate clearly, build trust deliberately and learn faster and work harder and more consistently to meet the needs of a fast-evolving environment.”

Conclusion and offer for graduating students

The MBA is not obsolete, but it is no longer automatic. The premium remains for those who earn it through analytical rigour, structured thinking, presence, stamina and trust-based networks.

The environment has changed. The path to success has not. It remains rigorous, disciplined and deeply human. Those who embrace this reality will not only secure the job – they will thrive far beyond it.

We engage directly with MBA students and recent graduates navigating a difficult job market. If this article resonates and you would like to share an experience or ask a question, you are invited to respond via the short form below. It takes approximately three minutes. Your answers will be treated confidentially and will never be published with your name.