Source: U.S. News
By Jordan Friedman,
May 9, 2016.
Most employers are receptive to reputable degrees, but some still need to learn more about online education, experts say.
Recruiters say a school’s reputation and accreditation are typically more important than the way the MBA was earned. (TOM MERTON/GETTY IMAGES)
The answer: The 36-year-old, who’s now in between jobs, pursued his MBA online through the Kelley Direct program – not by traveling to the school on the weekends, as some interviewers initially assume given that he lives about a two-hour drive away from the campus.
Urtiaga says interviewers generally seem accepting of his online degree given the strong reputation of the school. Still, he sometimes needs to answer questions about the pros and cons of online learning and the real-world benefits the online program offers.
“Oftentimes, you can see their faces change as you go through the conversation,” says Urtiaga, who completed his MBA last year and is now pursuing an online master’s in strategic management as part of a dual degree program at Kelley. There’s still a bit of a stigma, he says, but people usually come around when they hear some of the format’s virtues.
Recruiters say most employers accept job candidates’ online MBAs from respected schools, especially now that the quality of an online MBA education at many institutions is equivalent to one on a physical campus. But in some cases, experts say, there’s still the need to educate companies about the legitimacy of many online programs.
A significant portion of employers won’t even ask about the format in which the degree was earned, says Adam J. Samples, regional president of Atrium Staffing in New Jersey. Others will only dig deeper if they have a specific reason to – as in Urtiaga’s case, where they see he worked while pursuing his MBA.
In the latter scenario, for instance, a potential employer might ask why the student chose the online route to an education and how the program works, experts say. What’s most important, however, is the reputation of the institution and its accreditation.
“I think more and more employers don’t have a knee-jerk negative or positive reaction when they hear the word ‘online,'” says Richard Garrett, chief research officer at Eduventures, a research and advisory firm for higher education institutions.
Samples says in the first half of his 12-year career, employers he worked with generally expressed concerns with online degrees. They were unsure, for example, whether students were learning vital business skills gained in a classroom setting, such as group collaboration.
But that perception has changed as well-known schools embrace online learning and meet high academic standards – though there’s still some hesitancy over online MBAs from for-profit institutions, Samples says.
Employers’ growing acceptance of online MBAs is good news for online learners as business administration remains the most popular graduate degree pursued online, according to a 2015 survey by Aslanian Market Research and the Learning House.
“I think it’s an exciting time,” says Mike Schmeckebier, associate director of graduate career services at Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, of the growing acceptance among employers. “In five to seven, eight years, we’re going to look back, and we’re going to identify this time as really the turning point of when this was really coming to fruition.”
Experts say most employers now understand that an online education not only provides essential workplace skills and student-faculty interaction but also allows students to apply course material directly to their job, and vice versa.
But not all hiring managers are familiar with online learning. And, at some larger companies, earning an online degree can make the hiring process more difficult.
For instance, Schmeckebier says, at big firms with established hiring processes, it may be questionable who – a campus recruiter or a recruiter for more experienced candidates – would do the hiring for an online MBA student who’s also working.
“They fall into this kind of gray area,” Schmeckebier says.
That’s not to say that big firms won’t hire candidates with online degrees, he says, but doing so occasionally requires additional work from the company’s end. Schmeckebier believes schools with online MBA programs should dedicate more time and resources to educating employers about online programs and creating proper recruitment channels.
When it comes to a resume, it isn’t necessary to state that a program was completed online, experts say. If the company is curious, they’ll ask.
Kristen Zierau, director of executive recruiting for Clarke Caniff Strategic Search, says recruiters at the executive search firm first ask hiring mangers if they are open to candidates with online MBAs.
“I think most of them are very receptive,” she says, “especially if they received it while working full time.”
