It has been well documented that today’s young people will probably have three to five different careers during their working years versus one or possibly two careers (on average) for workers just a generation or two ago. In other words, nothing lasts forever is an appropriate byline for generation-next. While this may be true, students should pursue each opportunity as a career … not just a job. An MBA degree will insure that you are prepared for a diversity of career options. It is still the degree of choice for more than 100,000 people a year.

What are your short-and long-term goals? How will an MBA degree help you to achieve those goals? You have got to have a reason in mind for pursuing the degree. Furthermore, you should conduct enough of your own research to feel confident that the MBA will help you achieve your goals. The opportunity cost involved in attending a full-time MBA program is more than enough to make you be doubly certain about pursuing the degree. Opportunity cost is usually calculated by adding lost income to debt incurred for the two-year period of matriculation. Assuming you are ready, the career opportunities continue to abound.

The lion’s share of the new job opportunities can be found in the private sector of our economy, sometimes referred to as "Corporate America." As our nation has experienced phenomenal stability and growth over the past several years (witness the stock market), our economy has responded with additional employment opportunities.

The national unemployment rate has never been as consistently low as it has over the past five years. Yes, you could say we’re on a roll!

For the new MBA, there are some "hot" areas of opportunity, careers where the opportunity for initial employment and growth within the field are readily available. Marketing has historically been a popular concentration for MBA students, and the field offers a number of diverse career options. The process of getting a company’s product from manufacturing to the ultimate consumer is an increasingly popular area of employment. Managing the process is called channel management, and because very few companies market directly to their ultimate consumer, the links along the channel can pose some uniquely interesting situations. As the distribution outlets get larger (Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, for example), they become more important to manufacturers and can dictate terms and conditions. Managing this process has become an area of specialization in which the high demand continues to increase.

Along with our revolution in technology, we have moved from a manufacturing economy to a service economy (you are more likely to encounter some sort of customer service representative than you are a blue-collar employee). This change in our basic economy has created an additional need for people to do service marketing. What do we mean by service marketing? Selling access to the Internet, express delivery service, telecommunication services, banking, investing and other financial services are all examples of service marketing. In other words, you are marketing an intangible service versus a tangible product. The skills required to succeed in this career field are very specialized within the marketing discipline, but opportunities are plentiful.

The average age of America’s citizens continues to climb upward. The concern over this significant faction of our population has created an entire career field. The technological advances in the development of new drugs, and the medical advances in treatment interventions for various diseases, have made pharmaceutical marketing and sales an area of tremendous growth. Consider how many new people Pfizer will need to hire just to get its new product, Viagra, to its clamoring customers.

Another growing field for MBAs is consulting. If you have professional work experience before pursuing your MBA and want to continue to work in the area of your experience or something closely related, you may be a prime candidate for a career in consulting. You don’t need any particular area of concentration; but you do need a passion for working in a particular field. The big accounting firms' spin-off of consulting groups, as well as the traditional consulting firms (McKinsey, BCG, etc.), are all experiencing double-digit growth and employment opportunities are plentiful.

Additional areas where career opportunities appear to be plentiful include financial services, specialized banking and operations management. Most companies have some kind of investment portfolio and the careers involved in managing and investing those funds are exciting and rewarding. As the country moves toward mega-banks, the breadth of services they offer becomes more and more specialized. Some areas within the bank may work exclusively with commercial developers to provide construction financing for new ventures, while others work with small business clients to provide factoring services, and still others work to develop new marketing opportunities for expanded credit-card services. Operations is another significant growth area. No matter what the business, operations people are always needed to help produce the desired results. THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, second semester issue, always publishes a list of the largest employers expected to hire for opportunities in these and other areas.

The public sector of our economy (the not-for-profit organizations) offer career opportunities as diverse and challenging as those found in the private sector. The knowledge base and skills set typically acquired through MBA study can be used quite effectively in most organizations within this sector. In recent years career opportunities for MBAs have been increasing in areas like foundation management, arts management, higher education, association management and community and economic development.

Many of you have determined that quality of life issues, environmental issues, etc., are more important than salary and other compensation. The importance of doing something with socially redeeming value has moved many of you toward careers in some of these public sector areas. Often not-for-profit organizations will be smaller than many for-profit organizations, thus offering an MBA the opportunity to use broader skills and obtain diverse and valuable experience because jobs are not as narrowly defined.

Since the fall of communism and the emergence of Eastern Europe as one of the new growth sectors in the worldwide economy, international career opportunities have experienced tremendous increases. Look further to other parts of the world for historic events which have created additional opportunities, such as South Africa and the entire African continent, the Pacific Rim, Western Europe, and Brazil. Most national companies are now doing business in the international arena and need employees to staff these areas. Access to international opportunities is predicated on your degree of readiness. For example, becoming fluent in a second or even third language will be a great start. An international internship is also great preparation. Also, you should study the region of the world you’re interested in all you can, to make yourself somewhat of an expert. All of these factors, coupled with your obvious ability as an African American to relate to Second and Third-World cultures, will help to maximize your career opportunities in the global arena.

Starting salaries have certainly kept pace with the increase in career opportunities. New MBA’s with three to five years of post baccalaureate work experience prior to pursuing a full-time MBA program can expect salaries in the $60k to $70k plus range with plenty of additional perks. Of course, compensation will depend on the job and the industry you choose, so conduct your own research and select the opportunity that is going to help you reach your goals.

The next millennium holds great promise for those prepared for it. An MBA degree offers a level of preparation sufficient for you to position yourself for a variety of opportunities. The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) both have Web sites on the Internet that provide a wealth of information on MBA careers. The Web addresses for the aforementioned organizations respectively are www.gmat.org and www.nbmbaa.org. Career opportunities abound for MBAs. Make sure that you take full advantage of the current market.