Expert: David A. NewMyer - 8/19/2010

Question
I would like to know your view concerning my plans in building my Airport Management career (Airport Manager).
Am intending to study Airline and Airport Management(including 1 year work experience) at Thames Valley University in LONDON and hopefully add it up with a MSc in Airport planning and Management.
1. Most of my friends are telling me to take a degree in Business Adm or Management Studies (even if i want to be an airport manager) because "my choice is too narrow"
2. Am 26yrs old and would be 31yrs by the time i finish achieving both(Degree and MSc). Do i still have the chance to pursuit my dream job (Airport Manager) by that age?
3. If getting a job in the aviation industry is hard like some people claim, what are my chances of competing for managerial positions of other business fields with an airport management degree apart from the Airport industry?.

Thanks very much for your time.


Answer
Hi, Joe:

Thank you for your question, I will try to assist.

The question you are asking (which is:  Should I pursue a specialized graduate degree or a more general one) is a question that comes up quite frequently.

My answer in almost all instances centers around the particular indvidual involved.  In other words, the correct answer depends quite a lot on you, on your career goals and on your prior education (as well as future education goals).

First of all, you (and your career goals):  What do YOU want to do with your life and your career?  Not, what do your friends want you to do, or your parents or your siblings....  So, do some serious thinking about what interests you and what kinds of things you want to work in, work on, work around and so forth.

Second, your prior education/work experience is important in that, you are asking me about an undergraduate degree AND an MSc (apparently both in Airport Management and Planning???)....but, I do not know what you have been doing prior to this?  Did you work, go to school a bit or what?  This might be important to add into the whole equation of what to do.

Third, if you do an undergraduate degree in one subject area, such as Airline and Airport Management, it is normally a good idea to "branch out" a bit at the MSc level and do something DIFFERENT.  Now, different in this case can be an MBA in Aviation or an MBA in Aviation Management rather than an MSc in Airport Management and Planning.  The advantage of the MBA in Aviation (or Aviation Management) is that the MBA portion of such a degree forces you to take general business management coursework required of ANY MBA plus specialized master's degree coursework in aviation...which is a good thing for your future career ANYWHERE IN AVIATION, not just airport management and planning (which is a relatively small portion of the entire aviation industry).  And, if worse comes to worse, you will have an MBA degree, which you can take anywhere.  The downside to pursuing an MBA in Aviation is that, as with ANY MBA, the pre-requisites to getting into such a program can be many (you need to ask in advance to make sure that you take at least some of the pre-requisite courses in your undergraduate program).

This answers your third point above about looking for work inside and outside of aviation.

One thing that is attractive about the undergraduate degree program that you mention in your question is that it contains or includes 1 year of work experience.  I am assuming that this is some sort of internship or cooperative education work experience in airline or airport management work that is arranged by the university.  This is very good since it gives you something very marketable to put on your resume, in addition to your college education coursework.

As far as age is concerned, your age at the time you complete all this should be considered an advantage.  By then, you will be really well prepared educationally AND you will have some work experience AND you will be a mature young adult.  This should make you appear to be a more "steady" candidate compared to some young undergraduate with no experience.

I hope that this answer is of help to you!

Best wishes,

David A. NewMyer