Best MBA Careers To Balance Work And Life

The fact that many people struggle to achieve a good work-life balance is no secret. Similarly, the fact that the worst work-life balance is found in top management positions within corporate America is also well known. This is a significant barrier to those considering an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree. It is a high investment degree that does lead to greatly increased salaries (an average of $45,000 per year increase, in fact), but also one that leads to increased responsibility and, almost by definition, increased working hours. Nevertheless, there are some roles out there that attract interesting salaries, but still allow people to strike a good work-life balance and not have to compromise on their important family and social time. So what are the best MBA careers to balance work and life?

1. Social Media Manager

Social media managers are responsible for the development of a strategy that increases the presence of a brand on the various social medial platforms. These include Snapchat, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and many others. The goal is to develop strong marketing campaigns, to implement them and to monitor and adapt them. This means having direct interaction with customers, analyze results, and improve strategies based on this. Their closest working relationship will be with the customer service department, which will have direct interaction with customers via social media.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Manager

SEO managers make sure the website of the organization is properly optimized and attracts a lot of organic traffic. This means leveraging traffic that comes from the various search engines, such as Yahoo!, Bing, and Google, and aiming to turn this into paying customers. They have to have strong analytical skills and be ready to perform detailed research. Usually, they will also hold responsibility for search engine marketing (SEM) and for pay-per-click (PPC) management.

3. Content Manager

Content managers are responsible for making sure that every online presence of the company has fresh, engaging content. This includes creating downloadable assets, writing blogs, creating YouTube and Vimeo videos, and more. They manage a team of editorial assistants, videographers, photographers, graphic designers, and writers, holding responsibility for the strategic focus of distributing and amplifying business content in an effective manner.

4. Marketing Analyst

Marketing analysts determine how successful any marketing campaign has been. They need strong analytical skills and market research skills. Most marketing analysts head marketing teams and develop strategies that are data driven. The role is very much on reviewing efforts, rather than implementing efforts.

5. Marketing Manager

Marketing managers work hand in hand with the marketing analyst, only their role is to develop and implement new marketing campaigns. These campaigns are designed to increase brand presence and awareness, using a variety of different tools. Because we now live in a digital age, marketing managers work closely with the SEO manager and the content manager, to ensure that any online marketing campaigns are properly distributed online.

6. Data Scientist

Data scientists crunch numbers, determine what they mean and how they can be used to improve the functioning of an organization. Data, and particularly big data, now comes from a wealth of different sources, and the role of the data scientist is to ensure that this data is properly collected and analyzed, after which this will be translated into reports that are easy to understand by management.

7. Talent Acquisition Specialist

Talent acquisition specialists rely heavily on the human resources (HR) skills gained during an MBA degree program. Also known as “headhunters”, they are responsible for finding talent that could help improve the organization, and put packages in place to attract them to the company.

8. Recruiting Coordinator

Recruiting coordinators work closely with the talent acquisition specialist. However, their role is to make sure that the talents that are headhunted by the talent acquisition specialist are eventually recruited, writing up their contracts, and more. Recruitment specialists also regularly offer consultancy work to HR departments for larger organizations.

9. College (Supply) Teacher

Those who have completed an MBA degree may want to consider teaching at community colleges. Teaching positions offer excellent work life balance due to having fewer working hours (although a large amount of at home preparation is needed) and a lot of time off. Supply teachers only work when there is a shortage of permanent teachers. As a result, some may find that they have a fantastic work balance, others may find that they have too much time at home, and others still have too much time at work. The nature of the supply teacher is such that they never know when they will be in work, after all.

10. HR Manager

None of the positions mentioned above are classed as the top earning positions that someone with an MBA degree could achieve, although they do attract very nice salaries. However, this slight reduction in salary does mean an improvement in work life balance. A more traditional position for someone with an MBA, and a very highly paid one, is that of the HR manager. While this is a role with a lot of responsibility, and there is therefore a chance of having to work longer hours, it is also the senior executive role in any organization that is most likely to be able to work nine to five.

A lot of the roles above have a digital nature. One of the reasons why these are the positions that attract the greatest work life balance is because they are roles that can be done remotely. As such, there is no need for these professionals to be cooped up in offices for 60 hours a week. Rather, they can do their work around their other responsibilities, while having minimal time inside the office itself. Another reason why some of the positions above have such good work-life balance is because they are affected by the seasons. This means that some of them will work tremendously hard during certain times of the year, but have a lot of free time during other times. The downside of this is that income is also seasonal. However, those who have completed an MBA degree have the strong financial skills needed to manage their own money and ensure that what they earn during the busier periods is sufficient to see them through the quieter periods.