As the health care sector in the U.S. continues to expand, the field is demanding more recent MBA grads.
“Jobs in the health care sector have become more complex, which require more experienced staff and an MBA is a way to fill that need,” says Jeff McNish, assistant dean of career development at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “The pressure to maintain or manage costs through business practices has become more important than ever and the MBA is in greater demand than ever before.”
As a sector, health care represents more than 17 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, according to the World Bank’s data. According to the bank’s data, the sector has grown by four percentage points over the last 20 years.
The Darden assistant dean says the school has responded by adding more health care electives to match the industry’s growth.
“If a student were to engage me about health care, I would enthusiastically encourage them. It’s an industry that will offer a lifetime career, and it’s dynamic and of strategic importance,” McNish says.
Career development experts say b-school grads are in demand across all facets of heath care from biotechnology, pharmaceuticals to health care systems and providers. Here are a few health care careers that usually require an MBA background.
[Learn how to enhance earnings with an MBA specialization.]
1. Corporate development associate: Maniesh Joshi, who finished his MBA last year at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor’s Ross School of Business, took a leadership development rotation program job at Medtronic, an international medical device company.
Under the program, the 29-year-old rotates between product development and business strategy roles. Joshi is currently working in Minneapolis as a downstream marketing manager for patient care products.
Joshi says he picked Ross because it offered a heath care management concentration under its MBA program.
“I did look at a dual M.H.A or M.P.A at a few schools, but I concluded that the two-year MBA program with the specialization was the best fit for me,” the Michigan native says. “I targeted schools with a health care offering.”
Joshi says the changes in the health care sector need MBA grads for their analytical skills and to bridge different cross-functional teams.
2. Heath care consultant: Jobs in consulting earn the most among other sectors or fields, career development experts say, even when it comes to health care.
Salaries in the consulting sector offered the highest pay to full-time MBA graduates from the class of 2016, according to data submitted to U.S. News by ranked b-schools in an annual survey. Graduates in consulting received an average salary of $126,919 — much higher compared with those who took a job with a health care employer, who received $102,296 on average.
[See the 10 MBAs with the highest return for grads earning $100,000-plus.]
“In the last five years, a lot of consulting jobs have grown because a lot of firms need help in advising. More advisory services are definitely hiring our students,” says Phil Miller, assistant dean of MBA and M.S. programs at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, where 25 percent of MBA students pursue a career in health care.
Miller says some recent grads can earn as much $150,000 as a health care consultant and that doesn’t include signing bonuses.
3. Strategic project manager: “I didn’t want the travel of an external consulting organization,” says Denise Bowen, who completed a dual MBA-M.H.A. degree three years ago at the University of Washington and now works as a senior manager for strategic project management at Providence Health & Services.
Bowen says she knew she wanted to work in strategic development for a health care provider as a type of internal consultant, even though nonprofit health care systems typically pay less than for-profit firms. Work-life balance and the culture of an organization were more important to her, she says.
Experts say health care systems and hospitals tend to offer less in pay.
4. Hospital administrator: Career development experts say this role appeals to a certain subset of students who usually have a dual MBA-M.H.A. degree.
“Occasionally you will get a few MBAs in hospital administration,” Miller says.
Experts say students interested in hospital systems are more driven to that type of path because of its altruistic nature.
[See how to calculate the return on investment for an MBA.]
“Those students tend to place a lesser value on compensation as opposed to the quality of work they’re doing,” says McNish from UVA’s Darden School of Business.
5. Pharmaceutical brand manager: McNish says the traditional path for an MBA grad entering the health care field used to be as a brand manager at a pharmaceutical company. “And that’s still true.”
An MBA grad from Carlson School of Management, as an example, can expect to make “anywhere from $110,000 to $125,000 in broad ranges” as a brand or product manager, says Miller, the dean from Carlson. “If you take any interest in the health sciences or human population health, the people who pursue this field find a lot of meaning in what they do.”
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5 Top Jobs for MBA Grads in Health Care originally appeared on usnews.com
