In recent years, many Russian managers have left their places of work and forked out thousands of dollars to study for M.B.A.’s at renowned business schools abroad and newer schools at home. Now that these graduates are ready to get back to work, will their degree help them get a top position with a plum salary? HR professionals say that these days demand for M.B.A.’s in Russia is limited— and that above all recruiters are interested in an applicant’s practical experience.

An M.B.A. degree from a prestigious Western business school usually brings its graduates in the United States and Europe excellent career prospects and paychecks. However, the situation in Russia is quite different. Svetlana Graudt talked to a number of Moscow and St. Petersburg recruiters about the value of business education on the labor market today.

Receiving an M.B.A. degree may be at the top of the to-do list of many careerists in today’s Russia, but recruiters are not too optimistic about the chances of M.B.A. graduates getting the dream job they expect. They say there are very few specific requests for the holders of an M.B.A. degree. Pavel Ishanov, C.I.S. regional manager with The Russian Connection & ExecuSearch International, says that an M.B.A. degree is mainly a supplemental addition to key requirements requested by his clients.

Meanwhile, most employers favor Western M.B.A.s to the Russian homegrown variant, with preference given to the top ten business schools, such as Harvard, Stanford, or London Business School. “Russian business schools are not viewed as providing a serious education,” says Andrei Osadchy, a recruiter at Penny Lane Personnel. “A more conservative human-resources director would even give preference to a graduate of the economic faculty of Moscow State University.”

Denis Kuzin, a human-resources manager for a large wholesale pharmaceuticals company that owns a chain of pharmacies in St. Petersburg, agrees: “A Russian M.B.A. often means a good second education in business. If you are looking for a job in a Western consulting firm or a big Western company; for example, one of the Big Five companies, an M.B.A. degree from a Western business school will carry more weight.”

On the other hand, Alexander Tolkachev, a principal with management-consulting company A.T. Kearney, argues that his company makes no distinction between a Russian and a Western M.B.A. “We look deeper into the generally wider and longer business experience of Russian M.B.A.’s — what's really there, how it's been polished and ‘pressed into diamonds’ by a fundamental business education. In their behavior, Western M.B.A.’s are more pattern-based; you need to have a closer look at the maturity of their business judgments and their ability to implement well-presented analytical conclusions,” says Tolkachev.

But will an M.B.A. alone get you that dream job? Interestingly, most recruiters agree that today, preference is given to practical experience over a degree, as opposed to the early- and mid-‘90s, when M.B.A. graduates were hard to come by. “In Russia, we were looking specifically for M.B.A. graduates with consulting value-adding skills in 1996-97. Since 1998, we have been placing emphasis on industry and life experience along with a business and general Master's Degree education,” says Tolkachev.

Due to the current unstable economic situation around the globe, the demand for M.B.A.’s seems to be decreasing. That means few graduates will succeed at finding the salary they believe they deserve, as opposed to five years ago, when the world economy was stronger.

“At the time of the world economy’s growth in 1996-1998, graduates from the top Western business schools were guaranteed employment and a salary of about $80,000 to $90,000 a year. Very few of those Russian graduates returned to Russia, the conditions in the West seemed more attractive to them,” says Yury Kotler, senior consultant at Ward Howell International, an executive-search company. He added that “Now the demand for M.B.A.’s is falling. There is a need for other qualities. You will be paid for the result you deliver, for your abilities as a manager and for your experience. An M.B.A. degree is only a secondary criterion.”

Pavel Ikshanov of Russian Connection concurs, “In Russia your salary doesn’t depend on whether you have an M.B.A. degree or not. It’s easier to get a position in the company, but I haven’t noticed that employers pay extra money for an M.B.A.”

Having spent thousands of dollars for business school fees, graduates are looking for ways to return their investments. While the luckiest candidates can get a 100 to 150 percent salary increase, many come back to Russia only to find that few companies are willing to come up with top dollar for their services.

“Sometimes, salary expectations of graduates of foreign M.B.A. programs are just too unrealistic,” Inna Sumatokhina, a consultant with 3R, a recruiting and executive-search agency, said. One of her clients is a Russian graduate, who, upon his return from an American business school where he specialized in management consulting, discovered that he was unable to find a job because of high salary expectations. Now he is ready to settle for $1,500 a month.

Penny Lane’s Andrei Osadchy said that an M.B.A. graduate who wants to make up for expenses incurred while studying won’t be offered a lot of money if he or she doesn’t have concrete industry experience.

But if a candidate’s experience is right and his or her C.V. is the best there is, where can an M.B.A. graduate go for a job and remuneration he believes he deserves? Osadchy says that M.B.A. graduates from top foreign business schools are best off applying for positions in investment banks or large Russian companies seeking contacts with foreign investors, such as Severostal and Russki Alumini.

Similarly, in the United States— according to M.B.A.-placement statistics found on the www.businessweek.com Website— 30 percent of graduates are recruited by consulting companies, another 30 percent go to financial services, such as venture capital, private-equity and investment firms, with the remaining 30 percent working in other areas, such as hi-tech and marketing.

One may remain hopeful, however, that an M.B.A. graduate will be happily employed after graduation. For example, INSEAD, one of the world's largest and most influential graduate business schools in Fontainebleau, sixty-five kilometers outside of Paris, offers the following statistics on its Website www.insead.com: “75-80 percent of students report that they have at least one job offer at the time of graduation. And three months down the line after graduation 95-98 percent of students report that they have accepted a job offer.”

According to Tolkachev of A.T. Kearney, M.B.A.s can expect to be hired for positions of investment directors, VS on corporate finance and strategy: “Demand for M.B.A.’s exists in Russian companies, both at the ‘clean-up’ stage, when poor performers are asked to leave the company, and within ‘growth-strategy’ patterns.” M.B.A.’s are necessary for some positions, he added. “Most multinational companies in Russia require an M.B.A. degree for their top management positions, for which Russians are being hired, because the contracts of most expats who used to occupy those positions are not being renewed.”

Kotler reiterated the usefulness of M.B.A.’s: “Business education is not just useful, it is necessary for a top manager. The previous generation of managers was not able to receive business education abroad because leaving meant missing out on important business developments [at a time when business was new and changing fast].” In his opinion, “The new generation of managers should go for an M.B.A. degree. This will add to their value. Knowledge always costs one money and effort. If you stop studying as a businessman, you will be behind your competitors, and this is death for your company.”

Going for an M.B.A. degree takes a lot of effort, time and money. Are the sacrifices worth the result? “It depends on what your goals are,” says Ikshanov. “Going to a business school just for a degree is not worth it. It’s the knowledge that has high value. A degree is not like a new decoration on your army uniform.”