Good Day Everyone,

I graduated dental school 7 years ago, but I have always been fascinated by Marketing. I have bootstrapped 3 businesses(2 failed, 1 is an event business so it's an on-off thing), and have been working in event management and operations for a nonprofit for around 3 years now. My goal is landing an Assistant Brand Manager position at an FMCG multinational, or a marketing position at a telco. I have been applying since graduation, but the only time they called me back they offered me a sales position, and the interview didn't go well, as I didn't have enough SARs(situation-action-result) under my belt back then.

I have looked on linkedin, and almost all Assistant Brand Managers in my country(Egypt) hold Bachelor degrees in Business from the American University in Cairo, and a lot of them had internships during their undergraduate education. The only one I found who made a career shift into brand management, got a full time MBA from EADA(Barcelona) before making the transition.
Now, I'm afraid an MBA would be seen as overqualification, as they mostly hire those fresh from undergrad. Also, I can't apply for internships as an MBA student, as all internships here are geared towards undergrad students. Also, I'm afraid I would be too old for the position, as I would be 30-31 by the time I'm done with the MBA. Are those concerns valid?

If my concerns are invalid, I am comparing MS in marketing vs. MBA with a marketing concentration vs. Graduate Diploma in Management from LSE. Which way should I go?

[Edited by novocaine on Jun 14, 2017]

I would think that a strong MBA would prepare you for management-level positions rather than assistant manager positions. Maybe you should be aiming higher and looking at accredited MBA programs? AUC is a great school and has a well-regarded MBA.

Hi Laurie, the thing is I'm switching from nonprofit operations to for-profit marketing or consulting, so I'm not expecting to get my first foot higher than an entry-level position.

Assuming that you want to work in Egypt, then an MBA from a good European school sounds like a great idea. Look at the accredited schools with strong MSc programmes in marketing/branding/brand management: in the UK for example that means Bradford, Cranfield, Lancaster, Manchester, Nottingham Trent, Oxford Brookes, Southampton, Warwick, Westminster and so on. HEC, ESADE and Bocconi are also well worth considering.

Thanks Duncan. You believe an MSc. in Marketing/Brand Management won't cut it, right?

[Edited by novocaine on Jun 19, 2017]