Tim Burton, 14 December, 2021
Your career is in good shape, but you’re ready to change things up. We understand that to develop as a leader, you’ll want a wide range of career shaping experiences. Let’s explore what career development experiences are a part of the QUT Executive MBA, MBA and Digital MBA courses.
It's not uncommon for us to see our MBA students being promoted internally or externally midway or when finishing their MBA studies. For example, 53% of the 2019 graduating cohort moved into a senior leadership role either within their organisation or externally 12 months after graduating.
So what are the career development opportunities apart of the MBA experience?
Executive coaching
Executive coaching is central to our MBA curriculum, in which you’re allocated a leadership coach to discuss your progress and ongoing efforts to develop your key leadership capabilities. Your leadership journey begins to deepen when you're partnered with a mentor with whom you can discuss perspectives of leadership, challenge your notions of what leadership is (or should be), reflect on experiences, and discuss how you're developing and will continue to develop your leadership practice into the future.
Develop as an entrepreneur
You’ll be able to develop your entrepreneur mindset whether to create your own business or create an intrapreneurial approach in your workplace. Our MBA courses investigate entrepreneurial capabilities. You’ll also be able to develop your own startup concepts with QUT Entrepreneurship.
You’ll have the opportunity to join an international study tour to MIT Sloan School of Management where you’ll explore the latest developments in innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital disruption. This is invaluable experience in one of the world’s most innovative hubs.
According to MIT, 30,000 companies have been founded by MIT alumni, employing 4.6 million people and producing annual revenues of $1.9 trillion, equivalent to the world’s 10th largest economy.
Move in to management consulting
Management consulting is still a strong career opportunity avenue for students, although very competitive. We have recently had several companies present on such opportunities on campus.
Industry connections
With a range of networking events, you’ll be connected with prospective employers. These career building experiences offer you a real-world issue and the opportunity to develop collaborative consulting engagements with businesses and non-profit organisations. Some industry connection events include:
- on campus industry presentations
- career workshops
- career mentoring scheme.
We also hold employer showcase events, where we have seen Nous Group and Infosys Portland present on campus as they are actively looking at hiring potential MBA students.
One of our recent events, Kick-Starting your Board Career was delivered in partnership with Kerryn Newton, CEO of Directors Australia, Jason Titman, Managing Director and Founder at Integr8 Group, and Nadine Bates, CEO, and Co-Founder at Like a Photon Creative. The event was facilitated by our MBA student Michelle Hughes. This event gives students and alumni a practical approach to engaging with industry and developing their network.
Career consultants
Develop your career with one of our career consultants. With a career consultant, you can receive personalised career development coaching.
Our career workshops showcase how you can leverage social media to achieve your career goals, networking, and relationship building for career success, and most recently career re-focus and working through complexity and change.
QUT’s Digital MBA challenges me to think beyond the traditional concepts of business and leadership and given me the knowledge, skills and the mindset to succeed in the digital age.
Within weeks of commencing the course, the perfect career opportunity presented itself. The Digital MBA equipped me to grasp the opportunity and successfully transition into an exciting new career.
Gemma White, Manager Technology Delivery, BHP, and Digital MBA associate
Mentoring program
Through our formal mentoring program, you’ll be matched with alumni over a six-month timeframe. This successful program gives you an opportunity to connect and learn from an alumni who only knows too well the journey you’re on but also how their own career has changed since studying an MBA.
Ideas factory
Our Ideas Factory initiative is a one-day workshop where you'll have the opportunity to respond to a defined industry challenge to identify the key issues, develop potential solutions, and present your recommendations while working alongside the organisation. These workshops are held 3-4 times a year in conjunction with our other networking and professional development events.
Ideas factory: Creating a positive business solution out of personal hardship
