Q&A Highlights from the chat!
1. How much should a career goal align with current industry of an applicant?
ARLee Consulting - It helps that career goals are somewhat aligned with your current industry since this makes you more "employable" post-MBA. However, many MBA applicants precisely decide to do an MBA to change either industry, function or geography.
MBA Prep School - When it does align there is an advantage to the candidate because it shows they are already progressing in the industry they want to go into in the long-run. That said, MBA programs realize that the degree is for career changers and that means it is a-okay to write about moving to a different industry. Management consulting is often a good post-MBA goal with an eye towards building expertise in another industry. You should explain how you will break into the new industry.
it would be great if you could mention a few successful client examples of when they have been able to articulate a different industry as a post MBA goal than what they were doing at the time of the application.
ARLee Consulting - A former client was a lawyer wanting to go into PE. What he wrote in his career goals essay is that, realizing the career change would be very challenging, he would use Management Consulting post-MBA as bridge to PE. He also mentioned the current skills he had that make him a good candidate to make the transition. He was accepted to his dream school.
A Career Goal should be ambitious enough to show a clear need for an MBA. However, it should not be too ambitious to the point where the goal is unrealistic or non achievable.
MBA Prep School - I had a client write about moving from i-banking to the music industry. Music was her first love as she was a competitive piano player growing up. I just had lunch with her and she is working for Universal Music Group in their strategy function following her MBA from Harvard Business School! She convinced HBS ad comm and Universal that her financial acumen and understanding of business strategy combined with her passion for the music industry to make her a great hire.
3. Can the long term goal be totally different from the short term?
ARLee Consulting - It depends on what you mean by totally different. Short-term goal will be used to achieve the Long-term goal so somehow they must be connected. For example, in the previous example, Management Consulting and PE might come across as two complete different things, but in reality there is a lot you can leverage from your Management Consulting experience in PE.
MBA Prep School - As you’ll learn in the video we posted in the forum on this topic (
https://gmatclub.com/forum/career-goals ... 69043.html), I fall into the VERY ambitious category when it comes to long-term career goals. At
MBA Prep School, we work with clients to define their "Dream Job". The M7 want to admit candidates how are movers and shakers and want to lead and want to change the world. You then must persuade the admissions board that you have a career action plan for getting there.
4. How far out do you see when you write goals?
ARLee Consulting - Some applications directly ask about career goals 5 or 10 years down the road. If they do not specify, you can address (a) immediate post-MBA goals and (b) long-term goals (5-10 years post-MBA). This being said, it is perfectly fine to go beyond 10 years, especially if the goal you have set for yourself is very ambitious and it will require longer to be reached.
MBA Prep School - The Dream Job is well into the future - 10-15 years. But we don’t recommend you specify how quickly you’ll get that CEO title. It may be that you’ll become a CEO at age 38 (i.e.,10 years after business school). Then again, most CEOs are older than that and you don’t want to end up sounding arrogant.
5. Is it ever advisable write different goals for different schools?
MBA Prep School - I have had only a couple clients in my admissions consulting career write different career goals for different schools. I believe in the power of authenticity -- Wholeheartedly own your career action plan and you’ll end up being admitted to a program that believes in you and believes their school can help you to achieve your professional ambitions!
ARLee Consulting - I would recommend you to stick to the same goals in all applications, as best goals are those who are genuine and you really want to pursue. However, you can "tweak" your same career goals depending on the school. For example, there are schools who want candidates to directly address how they will impact society. So in this case, I would go one step further and tailor your goal to show impact on society.