What it´s like to finish an MBA in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic
Spoiler alert: it´s not particularly pleasant. I don´t think anyone who decides to invest thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — on such a degree ever expects not finding a good job right afterwards. Things certainly did not follow the plans.
But, let´s not despair just yet: I have also found some good ways to cope with this challenge.
By sharing my personal story and how I am dealing with it — I am still at least sane — I hope I can help other graduates spread around the globe who are living a similar situation.
Last year I decided I wanted to move from Brazil to Germany for good. I saw the MBA as a great opportunity to, not only get management knowledge in a very international context, but also to help me settle down and find a good position in the German market.
The aspirations of those who decide to do an MBA are varied. Each one has a personal story and trajectory, but there are some general goals: change industries or country (or both), get a career boost, climb to a leadership role, get a salary increase, build strong professional networks.
For those reasons many young professionals such as myself decide it´s worth to spend a lot of money, to quit our jobs, study for the GMAT, maybe move to the other side of the globe, and to not work for one or two years (which means having no income and having to live out of savings — or loans).
So, off I came. Packed my belongings — which included a very fluffy dog and a couple of suitcases —left my beautiful sunny country and started the journey.
Last year was truly one of the bests of my life. I´ve made incredible friends, learned so much about topics I never thought I could enjoy but did, worked with people from 19 different nationalities, had amazing food and enjoyed the summer and the parks.
I felt really welcomed and good here. The Plan was working out, and I was very optimistic.
Then, in the beginning of February, things started to change. We were supposed to go on an international module in Shanghai, and that got postponed because of the situation in China. It was the first sign that something weird was going on.
And indeed it was. Last month I had my last classes, already in a fully online format. And then it was over. No more classes, only thesis to go.
There was not much of a closure. I saw my best friends over the screen on our very last day but it was just not the same. There was no going for dinner together to celebrate, no party, nothing.
Now, I am sitting home working on my thesis and writing dozens of job applications in the middle of this mess we are in.
Doing an MBA is a high risk choice because it requires very high investments. The reason people like me and my classmates believe it is still worth to face the risk and to invest that much is because we see high opportunities of return. Of course, you learn so much. But the thing is, you still need a return on investment. And it turns out that with the current crisis, this return might not come for a couple of years.
However, to be very honest, when I considered the past years´ good economic outlook, I didn´t think it was that high of a risk. When I decided to come study in Germany, I never — not even for a second — was afraid of not finding a very good job afterwards.
I had every reason to believe that such a strong economy like the German could not be that seriously hit that it would give me such a hard time finding a position.
Well, maybe I was naive. Because I´ve learned now that, in our globalized economy, it does not really matter the country you are in that much when something like Coronavirus hits. Surely, the German job market is going to recover much faster than the Italian or Spanish, but it will still suffer tremendously.
So, all in all, like I said the whole situation is not very pleasant to be in. But we have to face it.
How I decided to tackle this:
- I accepted the reality: this was the longest and hardest part of the process for me. Accepting meant coming to peace with many terms, such as:
- it will take longer to find a job
- there is no way of trying to predict how long. It is a useless task. It will take as long as it needs
- it will probably not be automatically the dream position I once thought. I may have to open my options even more and look for new industries or even roles.
- I might even have to consider a salary decrease when compared to pre MBA levels
- I didn´t stop applying: not so easy when it comes followed by complete silence or automatic generated emails saying processes are on hold indefinitely. But consistency really is key and it helps me to feel like at least I am doing my part. It keeps me going.
- I am taking care of my physical and psychological health: every morning after I walk my dog I exercise at home, be it Yoga or an Aerobic class in the TV. I am sleeping on regular times and I have been eating very healthy.
- I am trying my best to avoid burnout: I do daily job search and applications, but never for 10 hours in a row. Doing it too much on a single day has a counterproductive effect on me and I found it hurts the quality of the motivation letters I write — there is such an amount of motivation one can have over a day, anyway.
- I am adding to my routine things that make me feel good and light: that´s coming here to write, for example. Or calling a friend during lunch time. Doing thesis and job search every day can be very draining if not followed by stress-relief activities.
In the end, I do believe all this time will make us more resilient. We are facing historical uncertainty levels in the market and that has strong emotional responses. It generates fear, desperation and anxiety. But it also builds courage and make us more prepared for life.
Moreover, I also believe that such a high investment will pay up. Yes, it´s going to take longer and maybe the road is not as straightforward than we imagined.
But, then, which road ever is?
And let´s not forget :we learned in our programs all about failure mindset, resilience, crisis management and VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity).
Suddenly, here we are, being tested on all of those.
Well, challenge accepted. Let´s put this degree to work and show that it was, in fact, already worth it.
