For startups & companies with small budget or small duration projects, a new era of work pedagogy is evolving which is about getting “MBAs on Rent”.
In US, a number of job sites have cropped up to match MBA graduates and B-school students with companies seeking short-term help on projects
Advantage of this model – The companies get trained talent to help them with marketing, financial analysis, research work, surveys for a fraction of amount what they would have to pay to consulting firms. For the MBA graduates & students, such freelance projects can sharpen their professional skills before they get into a full-time job. Such assignments also provide them good cash on the side or sometimes full time job offer from the employer.
Difference between a Freelancer and a Consultant?
Both freelance and independent consultants work for clients on a project-by-project basis without any formal direct association with the client. However, a freelance consultant is someone who works for himself with multiple clients; whereas an independent consultant can be someone who either works for himself with multiple clients or for a company those contracts out to multiple clients. Independent consultants aren’t always freelancers, but freelancers are always independent consultants.
In US, startups are the frequent users of this “Rent an MBA” service but recently big companies like American Apparel Inc. and Ogilvy & Mather have become users, too. According to Ryan Holiday, the marketing director at American Apparel, last year they offered $1,400 for about 20 hours of work and got a Harvard Business School grad to do it. “It’s the kind of expense that goes on a credit card,” says Mr. Holiday, noting that he didn’t need to seek multiple approvals from higher ups before hiring the consultant.
The response for this new arrangement is also been amazing. HourlyNerd, a global online marketplace that connects companies with independent business consultants for project-based work (backed by Shark Tank famed investor Mark Cuban) has signed on more than 2,700 M.B.A. consultants from top-tier business schools and coordinated about 150 projects since its September debut.
For MBAs as well, this model is more satisfying as it offers a level of ownership to them rather than being just an employee
