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Section 1. Discussion of my Career/Life Vision
I have two dreams:
first is not to lose what I already have, second- to receive what I deserve. At
first glance they are too simple, or even primitive, some may complain they
reflect passive style of life, inability to compete, fear of difficulties, etc.
Yes, it’s true, but not at all. I do not want to lose health or family
happiness in career race, but I also do not want to be a smart gay, who
deserves better, looking at others, making money or career. This make me
aggressive and vigorous: if I see goal and road to it, I do not want recognize
obstacles. How may some problems in MBA courses be obstacles in my career
? Any course was created by human, they
were taken by thousands of students and any knowledge is just a combination of
recorded words and signs. Such simplification is a great tool to understand
life in its all complexity and perfection. This gave me a tool to create
personal mission statement: “To receive what I deserve and to give back what I
can“. This includes everything: hard
work toward obtainable goal, enjoy of everyday life, care about others. This
also includes a proper evaluation of my abilities and life vision in future.
It is both hard
and easy to project own life in years. It’s hard because only God can do that: just recall recent tragedy
in
Am I ready for
this career ? Whether my values, inner
harmony, family happiness, recognition,
would confront with selected career path
Or maybe, they will help me to clarify necessary steps in reaching
long and short term goals ?
Lets look at my
results in Career Orientation Inventory
from “Career anchors” by Edgar H. Schein. Even inexperienced eye could
recognize my career orientation: independence. Three anchors which match this criteria have very close
values: Autonomy, Entrepreneurial Creativity and Lifestyle.
Unfortunately, I can’t employ the last
anchor, because still have to follow already existing rules; hope that it will
be possible in future. The first and the
second, nevertheless, really belong to
me. Some might argue that I have to find unique, one career anchor, but if all of us would be concerned only with
results in theoretical researches, without taking into consideration real life,
these results will be useless. The most important for me in finding close
career anchors is an opportunity to establish
place for maneuvers: from relatively independent work for a big company
to own business, to lifestyle, may be again to a company.
Best confirmation
of this point of view is my past experience: I started as a scientist,
developing own dissertation (A), later when economic conditions in Ukraine made
it difficult to provide scientific researches, I created own business, which is
still successful (EC); and finally I worked and studied business at one of the
biggest Ukrainian companies. You may
argue: why do not concentrate at one direction ? But I feel potential to apply more
effectively, for example, Entrepreneurial Creativity, after study in IMC.
Moreover, it may
seem questionable, but these career anchors reflect my personal values too.
Lets look through McKinsey’s career leaflet: Problem Solving
Ability, Aspirations, Leadership, are
essential qualities, necessary for potential employee. Can I work for this
company with my career anchors ? I think, I must. This conclusion seems very simple now, but
without serious analysis it would remain somewhere in the field of
abstract ideas. It doesn’t mean that I would not go by above mentioned way, but
knowledge why your choice is right is sometimes even more important than
the choice itself. By definition of Michael Williams, in his “Career planning” article, I am at the very important stage of career path, because I decided to “change beliefs, assumptions and perceptions
about roles, jobs, work itself” and to make “a crucial move, around the age of
35, which may have far-reaching consequences for the rate of climb to the peak
, the level of the peak itself and possible subsequent stages”. This
established an additional evidence for correctness of my direction: to explore
new career opportunities with existing experience, knowledge, skills
and proper evaluation of own values.
Bruno
Parkinson An engineer by
training, Bruno served as CEO of a midsize construction company before coming on board in McKinsey's
Because I am first
year student, I still can plan education. Selecting of most marketable
specialization requires an outside advice.
1.
Which specialization is preferable for the
company ? Which directions of self development to be chosen ? E.g. financial
analysis, web promotion, e-business, engineering, etc.
Answer’s summary. One of the most demanded skills in consulting
firms is SAP programming ability. SAP is a software package for
integrating financial, HR and accounting
transactions. It is also essential to be
really good in a certain field.
What I learned. I will combine my experience and engineering
education with financial concentration in IMC: may be it’s a way to be
marketable in two or more fields.
We are studying a team work in MAD classes, how they are related to life ? I am novice in a
company. What could be my place in a team, what I should be ready for ?
2.
Give
me examples of a team work both in early
and later stages of Your career, Your roles and participation in a team ?
Answer’s summary. He does a lot of coordinating and
communicating with both the clients and the rest of the team, and delegates
responsibilities to analysts and less senior consultants.
What I learned Team work is unavoidable part of job. Because
I am individualist, I must learn how to work in collective.
Almost all companies underline importance of creativeness,
leadership, etc. What does it mean in reality ? How can I evaluate my
“brightness” ?
3. Does something except qualification,
necessary for a career in the company ? I mean if a
person is a TOP-100 MBA holder, does it
sufficient for Your HRM dept.? Or I should evaluate my abilities
Answer’s summary. One must
have strong analytical skills. “Quantitative skills especially are a big
asset, as there is less of a need in consulting for purely qualitative
analysis.” One must like to learn and work hard, and be able to think fast.
Above all, interpersonal skills- especially with clients.
What I learned It’s difficult to demonstrate all above
mentioned abilities to potential employer, so I have to develop the last one,
interpersonal skills: to be able to sell myself. I have to learn how to
persuade employer by resume, CV, in interview.
Looking for advantages in a job market includes also non
academic approaches. Which exactly ?
4.
How
did You rich that position, should I make specific contacts with company’s HRM
Dept.
Answer’s summary. “It’s even necessary to know name of a
person, who will read you resume.” He got job through on-campus
recruiting.
What I learned
I will not make mass resume mailings, but will concentrate on the area
of interests and learn about particular company, before applying for a
job.
World today is really
small, and recent graduate has to find not only right position, but even also
“right region”.
5. If I work in Moscow office, would I take part in
company’s international projects ? Give me examples. Tell me about geographic
distribution of company’s activities:
most, least important, profitable or perspective regions; where could I work with my WSOM degree and
education ?
Answer’s summary.
What I learned I may work in different parts of the word,
where my skills will be in demand, so the task is to make them portable.
All of us have different experience, opinions; what I should
be ready for ?
6. From Your point of view, what was most
difficult on different stages of Your career ? In which fields, e. g.: low professional level
of team members or governmental
restrictions ? Give me examples.
Answer’s summary. Beginning of
career was the most difficult, when he “consulted to Sperry & Hutchinson
Green Stamps as McKinsey engagement
manager.” The owner of company was not interested in services, but job should
be done, otherwise he wouldn’t receive salary.
And he persuaded client. Most valuable experience: never tell client you
need that job, but client needs that job
done by you. Travelling a lot is still
difficulty.
What
I learned Always be self confident and persuasive,
regardless of situation, do not expect from job permanent successes and
rewards.
Start is always complicated task. How to
make it most effective for me ?
7. What position
should I apply first ?
Answer’s summary. Read requirements and weight own abilities.
Companies rarely offer middle management
positions right after school.
I know what I want now, but what I would want in years, assuming that I am already
McKinsey’s employee ? Does his desires
relate to my values ?
8. What aspirations do you have for yourself
over the next 5 or so years —
professionally and personally?
Answer’s
summary.
“Someday I hope to use what I have learned to start my own business,
perhaps in low-tech manufacturing or in software or Internet services.”
What I learned Many people dream about own business, working
on multinational company. If I want also to start own company, it’s simply an
indicator of entrepreneurial creativity.
Summary
of interviews. I received confirmation that my career aspiration may
be realized, if I’ll make maximum efforts in self promotion. It means that I
already have necessary skills and will obtain other during education at IMC,
but, while interviewed persons were offered job at campus, I must look for
employment in my own. This search will not be easy, because my
former specialization (engineering and entrepreneurship) are too narrow and my future concentration
(finance, without work experience) is too
weak for a job in a leading consulting
company. The perspective, however is good, because individuals who see business
as a whole, are also in demand.
Section 2. Discussion of my Strategy to Develop my Abilities
The reasons, why I
have chosen following abilities: negotiating and persuasiveness as the most
important for achieving my career goal are simple:
-
first
of all, they are closely related, therefore developing one ability, to the
certain extent I will develop other.
-
It
is possible to develop them everyday and be sure about the reached level. For
example: education in business school is a perfect opportunity to do that,
while particular fails (in negotiating topic of a project, persuading someone
in own point of view) do not influence
overall performance. In real life, however, failing to sign a contract
leads to negative circumstances.
-
All
my life will depend on these abilities: whether I will work or talk to
children, apply for a new job or discussing current political situation in
country.
-
My
current levels in negotiating and persuasiveness are really low and should be
improved.
In addition,
because of my style of thinking, I can easily obtain concrete knowledge,
evaluate situation and implement solution,
but work with people requires much bigger efforts. I understand that
consulting companies like McKinsey require ability to manage collective, and
this should also be my learning priority.
However, in my experience, group management required mainly abilities to
understand feelings of collective and direct its effort toward common goal.
This can also be interpreted as skills in negotiating and persuasiveness.
Developing of
skills in negotiating and persuasiveness will be done simultaneously in
different directions:
-
In
everyday communication, discussing social, political, business cases with
classmates. This include artificial stimulation of negotiating a certain
problem and persuading ( or not) in own point of view, casual conversations at
different topics, even not related to education or business.
-
Careful
study of situations, where people demonstrated (or not) ability to negotiate
and persuade one another. This include political news (for example, Israel-
Palestinian problem), business cases, historical precedents.
-
Learning
from others, looking how they
demonstrated these abilities in everyday life. ( for example, from Mr. Marer,
both in lectures and presentations)
-
Receiving
feedback from professionals in IMC and elsewhere.
-
Predicting
situations, where these abilities should be demonstrated and preparing for
them. For example: to persuade employer in my skills and qualification, I
should demonstrate proficiency not only in basics, but also in company’s
business: its products, financial situation, etc. Information about partner in
negotiations will always increase probability of success. This strategy is one of the most complicated
and includes development of related skills: in planning, in pattern
recognition, in efficiency orientation, in oral communication, etc.
Generally, I
can’t separate development of my high priority abilities from action steps in
reaching career goals, because they fulfil the same function: moving
forward. Of course, for reaching certain
goals I will have to employ quite different skills, for example, one must
complain that for building business network I need networking skills, empathy;
for obtaining proficiency in finance- system thinking, attention to detail,
etc. But receiving knowledge or qualification, making business are impossible
in total isolation from people, without negotiating. It means that I will have to develop this skill, regardless of content of learning plan.
It is even more useful in my learning plan to create opportunity for developing
related skills, (which were mentioned above: networking, attention to
detail, etc., ) while the most important
to leave aside, for separate work. The reason is simple: to see current level,
to understand strategy and to control development. For example, working at creating own business
network, I may also separately analyze how good was I in negotiating with
people, how effective was my persuasiveness. It is very important to understand
that high priority ability must be
developed accordingly to certain plan or schedule, every day or moment. It
means that I should not to look for opportunities in learning plan to work at
persuasiveness, but I should create these opportunities, implementing goals and
sub-goals. Otherwise it makes no sense.
For example: one may site: “My high priority ability is networking skill
and my sub-goal is creating business network. It’s a great opportunity in
learning plan for self development.” No, you may fail in both. Why ? How can
You create something real lacking necessary specialty?
I plan also to be elected in Ukrainian Parliament. In this
case it is even impossible to separate process of reaching this goal from
developing abilities in negotiating and
persuasiveness.
Section 3. Learning Strategy for Achieving Goals and
Sub-Goals.
According to
Learning Style Inventory I prefer Abstract Conceptualization as a learning mode
and my learning style is Converger. I find these descriptions correct and these
learning styles appropriate for my education in business school. Somebody may
complain that in studies I need to be sensitive to people’s feelings, commit
myself to objectives, organize information…In general- to develop Accomodator,
Diverger, Assimilator learning styles. Theoretically it’s true, but in
practice, Converger is an excellent style for receiving a good grade.
Unfortunately, life after graduation is expected to be more complicated. I
am going to be a business consultant and
this profession requires complex approach. My great weaknesses are Reflective
Observation and Concrete Experience: styles which require development of
personal and interpersonal skills. These skills however, are essential in
consulting: understanding client, recognizing problem, being a leader. This means that in business school I have to
focus not only on pure educational process (attending lectures, making projects,
preparing for exams), but also on improving own learning style, trying to do it
more balanced. This is rather
complicated task, because of the reason mentioned above (Converger is quite
good for academic study), but I understand, that I will have to bring into
company not only my diploma and qualification, but also ability to learn in
different situations and from different sources.
Adaptive Style
Inventory shows similar results, indicating my Abstract Conceptualization’s
mode, which is also prevalent in different learning situations: in acting,
deciding, valuing and thinking. This is both frustrating and stimulating sign
for me. Frustrating, because I really do not act appropriately in those
situations; stimulating, because I understand own strengths and can
build learning style on them. I can learn to communicate ideas more
effectively by associating with people-oriented individuals, like Divergers; to
experiment actively and take risks,- from Accomodators, etc.
I believe that
Convergers are the bests in reaching planned goal. They are strong in
problem-solving, decision making and deductive reasoning. For establishing
concrete action steps and their gradual implementation these features are most
important. But learning cycle consists not only from Abstract Conceptualization;
working on my goals, I will also develop learning style. For example, creating
business network requires learning by doing and by listening: carefully
observing, understanding and influencing people. On the other hand, I will also
rely on my strength in learning by thinking, acquiring new knowledge and
specialization in finance. Because my career goals are rather complex: to reach
a reasonable position in leading consulting company and to obtain political
power in my country, my learning style will be developing together with
completion of certain action steps. While this stage of my career requires
Abstract Conceptualization’s skills, other stages will require also Concrete
Experience, Reflective Observation and Active Experimentation. This means that
I receive another opportunity to develop learning style from necessity to reach
a concrete goal.
Making final
decision about my learning style is similar
to plan goals and sub-goals in 5 years: it is appropriate today, but
should be moved into direction of Active Experimentation at second year of
studies (looking for an internship, job), into Concrete Experience at the first
year of work, Reflective Observation
in five years. This, however does not mean that I will be
changing learning style during all these periods, I will rather rely on
such my strong abilities as logical
thinking, systematic planning, intellectual understanding of situation in
developing particular and appropriate in current situation learning style.
How will I decide whether certain style
fits to certain situation ? Employing Abstract Conceptualization.
Section 5. List of Courses.
Second Semester
1. MBAC 410 Strategic issues and applications –2, 1
credit (Required)
2. MBAC 425 Operations management (R), 3 cr.
3. MBAC 422 Managerial and career skills –2 (R), 1 cr.
4. MBAC 426 Economics (R), 3 cr.
5. MBAC 424 Marketing (R), 3 cr.
6. MBAC 413 Human value in organizations (R), 3 cr.
7. BAFI 403H Financial management-2 (Elective), 3 cr.
8. MGMT460
Managing in a global economy (Thematic Elective), 3 cr.
Total 20 credits
Third Semester
1. BAFI 441H Advanced money and banking (E), 3 cr.
2. BAFI 431H Risk management (E), 3 cr.
3. LHRP 408H Leadership in multinational
organizations (TE), 3cr.
4. Project management (E), 3 cr.
5. International tax concepts (E), 3 cr.
6. Corporate governance (E)
Total 18 cr.
Fourth Semester
1. MBAC 440 Management Assessment and Development-2, 1
cr.
2. MGMT 498H Action learning (E), 6 cr.
Total 7 cr.
Section 7.
Conclusion.
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