Wednesday, March 6, 2013

When To Use MBA After Your Name

Earning an MBA takes perseverance and a lot of hard work. Once you graduate, you may want to advertise your hard work by listing your credentials after your name. Sometimes, however, this can seem awkward or pretentious. Learn when it's appropriate to list you degree your name and you can spread the word about your achievement without worrying about offending anyone. When

Getting New Clients

List your MBA after your full name when aiming to attract new clients. This might be where you want to list your MBA concentrations , too. When you first contact a potential client, you'll want to show that you're highly educated and qualified to handle their business, so sign your full name with your title afterward. If your business competitors aren't sharing their degrees with the clients, you're going to be the one who seems most qualified. On the other hand, once someone has become your client, you don't need to continuously tell them you've got an MBA. It's not necessary to include your credentials after your initial correspondence as clients they may start feeling like you're being pretentious. By then you may be on a first-name basis anyway, and your accreditation belongs after your full name.

When Applying for Work

Your resume is the ideal place to list your credentials and go into depth about your degree. Include it right after your name at the top of the page in addition to your more in depth information listed in the education section.  Often there are so many job candidates that employers only devote a few seconds to each resume. Make yours stand out from the top. Whenever you're sending a cover letter to a potential employer, you can include the MBA after your full name in order to set yourself apart from competition. However, as with regular clients, once you've exchanged several messages with the potential employer, it may be wise to drop the credential, even if you're still not on a first name basis. If you've gotten to the job interview stage of the process, they're going to remember your degree, and they may find a continuous reminder to be pretentious.

When Demonstrating Your Credibility

When you're aiming to attract new clients or apply for work, you can add MBA because you're establishing your credibility. If there are any other circumstances in which you want to demonstrate how qualified you are for the task at hand, feel free to list your credentials after your name. Suitable circumstances may include:

  • Publishing an article or study relevant to your career field
  • Attending a conference
  • Giving a guest lecture
  • Leading a workshop

In these circumstances, go the extra step and list the university at which you studied in order to earn the degree. The quality of the university may help lend you even greater credibility, and it's a great conversation starter if you want to compare and contrast programs with other people holding master's degrees.

When Everybody Does It

If you frequently see people in your industry including MBA after their name in emails, on business cards and in company profiles, feel free to follow suit. One example where your MBA accreditation is expected to be on display is if you teach college courses, since not all associate college professors have advanced degrees. However, remember to keep in mind that people with whom you interact on a regular basis, such as return clients, don't need to continuously see your degree. Also, your title should appear after your full name and never after your given name only. You finally earned that marketing or accounting MBA online . Whatever your area of specialization, your MBA is an achievement that only a few people share. Feel free to write MBA after your name whenever it's appropriate, you earned it.

About the Author: Darryl Sobczak is a contributing writer and a human resources consultant. He regularly writes about business etiquette on his blog.
 
 
 
 

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