I had an uncomfortable and embarrassing experience regarding the value of the MBA that I had recently completed.

I was interviewing a candidate together with my boss and his boss. So, it was the three of us versus one interviewee. This interviewee had also recently completed his MBA. The uncomfortable bit was that he was my course mate and he was now effectively being interviewed to be my subordinate.

What really embarrassed me was that he carried himself very poorly during the interview. And when it came to salary, his words were, "er, around $4,000.... but negotiable." Clearly lacking in confidence and conviction. And at $4,000....? under-selling himself by too much. I was hoping that he would be requesting in the region of $6,000. Then I can go to my bosses to say, "See, the market rate for MBAs (without experience) are in that range. We need to review my package."

Needless to say, he didn't get the job and my boss and I never discussed the value of my MBA ever again.