MBA Skills: What You'll Actually Learn and Why It Matters

Earning a Master of Business Administration (MBA) does more than give you distinguished degree credentials to add to your resume and LinkedIn profile page. The skills gained from an MBA also boost hiring opportunities and career choices by providing students with the highly sought-after skills today's recruiters are looking for.¹ Graduates of reputable MBA programs are in high demand precisely because they come with the latest top-level expertise.

Read on to learn what skills an MBA program teaches you and how the Online MBA program at CSUMB prepares graduates for career success.

The job market for MBAs is highly competitive. Due to a tightened job market and reduced demand for business consultants and technology roles in the post-pandemic economy, there are fewer openings for recent graduates.² To stay competitive, recent MBA graduates must clearly highlight the skills and experience they bring to potential employers.

Employers value strong communication and leadership skills in MBA graduates. MBA programs help students develop these skills through targeted coursework focused on business communication and leadership tactics.³ In addition, simultaneous work experience or internships and practicum studies provide hands-on learning opportunities, offering demonstrable examples of success while helping students build their professional network.

First launched over 100 years ago, the MBA degree has been an advanced educational choice for those who want to expand their skills in critical areas of business practice, including leadership, management, entrepreneurship, and innovation.⁴

Leadership and management are macro-scale MBA skills needed to move a project or business from concept to completion. The skills are complementary, with top leaders often relying on the best managers and vice versa.

Leadership is the ability to inspire and guide people within an organization or business. Leaders excel in developing and presenting a vision for the organization. They can articulate actionable plans that encourage others to invest time, effort, or capital to achieve those goals.

Management is the ability to control day-to-day processes that bring an organizational vision to life. Successful managers oversee employees, monitor resources, and assess organizational outcomes.

Harvard Business School's Professor Howard Stevenson defines entrepreneurship as "the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled."⁵ In practice, this means working with a growth mindset and continually seeking pathways to expand or improve operations. Among the skills an MBA teaches you is the ability to develop and pursue innovative ideas that add value to the core mission.

Communication and effective teamwork are critical MBA skills for any work environment. In the business setting, effective communication is characterized by the ability to give, receive, and share information, either verbal or written, in a clear and appropriate manner. Employees also need to communicate successfully with stakeholders across functions. Timely, accurate, and respectful communication can ensure that everyone involved in a project is fully informed and able to do their job without undue confusion.

Many business leaders would love the ability to see into the future. Until that becomes possible, organizations rely on detailed market evaluation and analysis to determine opportunity, value, risks, customer purchasing behavior, market rivalry, and other factors that may affect growth. Business analysts use applied data and other research to create actionable strategies for future operations.

This may involve using emerging technology like machine learning and AI, industry-specific data analytics, business analytics, and information systems.

Professional recruiters want to see more than just the name of a reputable university or business school next to an applicant’s MBA degree. While strong references from professors and supervisors can influence hiring decisions, recruiters are especially interested in candidates who have completed coursework that develops both hard and soft skills relevant to today's complex, technology-driven business landscape.

As Mark Lobosco, Vice President of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn, has described them, "Hard skills are about doing specific technical tasks, like tax accounting or graphic design … soft skills are more about the way you do them, like your ability to creatively solve problems or work within a team."⁶

Hard skills are developed through job experience, education, and training in a chosen area.⁷ They're specialized proficiencies involving up-close, practical knowledge, such as those for a specific industry or line of work. MBA programs provide students with a portfolio of hard skills, such as the following:⁸

• Financial forecasting and analysis
• Data analysis
• Brand storytelling
• Social media for growth
• Market research
• Budgeting

Soft skills are strengths and traits that develop over time, and through a variety of life experiences. They're less quantifiable, which makes them harder to acquire, and considered harder to teach than task-based hard skills. The strength of a person's soft skills can depend on lifelong experiences, innate personal qualities, and emotional intelligence (EQ), not just pure IQ. According to a recent Forbes article, employers look for soft skills, including the following:^{9, 10}

• Problem-solving
• Project leadership
• Critical thinking
• Teamwork
• Research
• Integrity

Employers are often willing to offer on-the-job training for specific hard skills if a job candidate can demonstrate they have the important soft skills a role requires.
As an MBA student and graduate, you'll be expected to have both types of skills in order to gain access to leading, lucrative job opportunities. While pursuing an MBA, concentrate on strengthening the hard and soft skills that recruiters and employers value. Prospective MBA program applicants should make sure the programs they're considering can build and hone both types of skills.

Rudy Ruano enrolled in CSUMB's Online MBA program to learn skills that would take him to a new phase of professional growth. Ruano came into the program with experience in state and federal government jobs and soon found that adding this graduate program to his resume gave him access to new opportunities.

He began working for NASA through the space agency's Pathways Internship program. "A degree in Business Administration was one of the options," Rudy explained. "Being in progress in the program opened up opportunities I didn't expect."

"The MBA program is transforming the way I think and work," Ruano observed. "It's helping me develop a mindset grounded in both efficiency and effectiveness—learning to manage time wisely, solve problems with intention, and make decisions that drive real impact. I carry that mindset into every project I take on, making the investment in an MBA even more valuable."

Rudy Ruano expects to graduate with his MBA in the fall of 2025.

Kelli Bercier graduated in 2024 from the Online MBA program at CSUMB while working as a senior project management analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance. Not long after graduation, she was promoted to Strategic Initiative Specialist. She credits her MBA experience with giving her the added skills she needed to advance at work.

"The CSUMB MBA program has significantly broadened my perspective, allowing me to see businesses in their entirety. The strategic thinking skills I developed have enabled me to analyze business situations and devise effective strategies on a much broader scale, considering the entire company and its global capacities and impacts," Bercier said. "I transitioned from having a general understanding to a deep expertise in business decisions and their implications for the rest of the company. With this enhanced professional knowledge, I have gained confidence in communicating and negotiating business strategies, which has facilitated the development of my professional relationships."

California State University Monterey Bay's Online MBA teaches foundational MBA skills and entrepreneurship, along with additional competencies like supply chain management, business analytics, and sustainable business. Students enjoy an immersive, holistic online learning experience that teaches the hard and soft skills today's employers want.¹¹ During the program, students will:

• Take rigorous courses led by expert faculty
• Directly apply newly acquired skills in a current role
• Build real-world career skills while working toward an advanced degree

The Online MBA program is an ideal pathway to professional growth because it delivers a robust combination of theoretical and practical skills in a flexible learning format. Students engage in real-world experiences, including business simulations, consultancy projects, and a responsible business capstone project.

You have the unique chance to achieve your short-term goals while you gain the sought-after skills, knowledge, experience, and career-boosting connections you'll need to bring your long-term goals to reality.

CSUMB's accredited Online MBA program provides a rigorous yet flexible 100% online learning experience that delivers the hard and soft skills you'll need to reach career success. Centered on the theme of Responsible Business and committed to instilling an entrepreneurial mindset, the curriculum includes valuable opportunities for in-depth study and group projects. You'll explore global perspectives and sophisticated technologies as you view all facets of business administration through CSUMB's five-point lens of Profit, People, Planet, Ethics, and Equity.

Join us today to start gaining the skills that make a difference. For program details and application information, schedule a call with an admissions outreach advisor.