MBA in Marketing in US

Question

Hey guys,

I am planning to do my MBA in Marketing from the US.
I have done a 3 year degree course of Bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication (total 15 years of formal education) and have 4 years of work ex in event management.

I have yet to give my GMAT, am preparing for the same.

What colleges should I be targeting?

Hitesh Vijan Community_Mentor · Answer

Some pointers I would like to tell you if you do MBA from a average school specially in Marketing. While I am not quite as familiar with the MBA course, I do know about the market and have several Indian friends who received a business degree. I am assuming this scales to the MBA job market.

The job market is lower for Indians, especially in the marketing field. However, this isn't necessarily due to racism, but rather cultural and communication differences.

Marketing is all about understanding and being able to communicate with the customer. Therefore, recruiters are looking for candidates that have an excellent understanding of this market. All other things set aside, a recruiter forced to choose between someone who grew up in America and someone who grew up in India for a consumer marketing position will almost always take the former.

It also depends on how clearly you can communicate in English. I have been around Indians extensively over the past 5 years, both professionally and as friends, and unfortunately I still sometimes have trouble understanding everything they say, particularly over the phone. Indian accents tend to be rather thick, and the unfortunate truth is that a recruiter may pass on someone with a thick accent, regardless of qualifications.

Not all hope is lost however! I have noticed that within the tech industry there are many more employees of Indian origin, and you may have more luck within those companies. You also may be able to get a good position with an international company, or a business that is not on the consumer side. However, if you are looking to join an American consumer marketing powerhouse (such as P&G) I am afraid you may not have a lot of luck.

I hope this helps! Good luck!