Social Services Work Experience - Advice Needed!

[edyoung924]

For a year and a half, I have been working as a social work coordinator for undocumented youths at a nation-wide program. My work involves managing MSW interns and masters-level temps, audit preparation, government contract compliance, logistics, and program analytics. I am interested in an MBA focusing on social entrepreneurship and (or, through, rather) real estate development. I am considering applying in the fall of 2014 and have not yet taken the GMAT. GMAT score aside, to have the best shot at a top-20ish school, would it be more beneficial to continue with my current position or to search for something in RE development? Will working in social services hurt my chances, considering it is not real "business" experience.

Thanks!

[Jon@Admissionado]

IF you are doing good work, and have good achievements social work can be as good or even better than real estate. Actually every industry is good, what is more important is how successful you are in the industry.

[CriticalSquareMBA]

I agree with Jon - impact is more important than industry. Your story is strengthened as components work together, not because parts of it say the things you want it to say. Keep in mind, if you do end up switching industries and jobs, that you focus on the impact you will have. If you go from a job where you have responsibility and accomplishments to one where you'll be starting at the bottom of the food chain, that might not help you.

As a side note, social service is never viewed negatively. Don't downplay your experiences or industry - there's as much to be said about social service as there is about investment banking or consulting or any number of other industries!

Bhavik

[MBAPrepAdvantage]

Echoing what the others have said, working in social services is viewed positively especially if your goals are related as working in social entrepreneurship. Your leadership roles, underlying values and tangible impact are most important. Also, how are your social entrepreneurship and real estate goals tied together? Is there a possibility of doing something community service-related within real estate that is relevant to these goals?

Best of luck,

[edyoung924]

I suppose one issue is that while I have a very tangible impact, there is no room for advancement without having an MSW. I work for a group that does macro-level social services, almost totally funded by federal grants. I do service coordination/logistics between my agency about about 300 subcontractor agencies as well as performance analysis, contract compliance, RFP/FOA response preparation, and co-author issue and research white papers which are used for federal policy development and best-practices guidance for the Department of Health and Human Services as well as CBP/ICE and DHS. Is that enough and/or relevant at all? Previously, I worked for about a year as a registered lobbyist for a small business development non-profit.

Ultimately, I'd be interested in working for a group like Mercy House or some other non-profit developer focused on program-friendly/enriched low-income or mixed-income/mixed-used development, redevelopment, or urban revitalization. The issue I've run into is my lack of business acumen and experience and, aside from probably being very useful in that sort of work, a lot of opportunities I have found will substitute an MBA for experience. So, that's how I arrived at my interest in B-schools.

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hey there,

There's more to impact than advancement and I think you're really set on that aspect. As for the research papers - YES! They're absolutely relevant! Thought leadership is a hard skill set to come by for most applicants and can show that you're much, much more than just someone in the social arena.

I think you have a lot of experiences to pull from to put forward a compelling story.

Bhavik