For a $200,000 MBA program, statements like ‘find your true passion’ has no particular meaning. Life experience has shown that chasing happiness has a financial cost. Less stressful and happy jobs have a low pay. So we take the pressures of the ‘popular’ job on the chin and assume that it is normal to feel down in our daily routine. This is a myth that has been propagated by previous generations, masking it in the form of ‘paying one’s dues’ and ‘you have to put in the work’ and ’10,000 hours of BS’. You won’t become great spending hours in a job that you hate.
Weekend Retreat: Soul Searching
Planning for a post-MBA career requires solitude that you are unlikely to get in your daily grind. Dedicate a weekend to get out of the routine. Preferably, travel to the countryside where the cues for obsessively checking your email and social media alerts are at a minimum.
Carry a notebook and book a room with an inviting view. That would encourage you to get out. Go for a walk. Spend most of your time outside and dedicate 3-4 hours in the evening for planning.
What do you want from your career?
The answer will not be in black and white. You are evaluating a potential post-MBA career based on the limited work experience you have. There are no infinite internship opportunities. You have to rely on the different aspects of your current work experience, extra-curricular and volunteering to find the activity that gave you true joy.
I had a client, who was happy organizing weekly activities for her team. I asked her why.
She shared that this was the only time it felt like play, although this was work if you ask another professional who hates organizing events. She had to contact everyone in her team, coordinate their schedules, list out their interest areas and find activities that everyone would feel like participating.
Skill: Evaluate the diverse personalities in the team and assesses their needs, desires and motivations. She had to persuade those who are disinterested in such events to participate.
Potential post-MBA Job: The interest would translate to Project management and Sales roles. At the time of reaching out to me, she was a programming analyst, staring at a screen doing the ‘mundane’ work of evaluating the code for an insurance giant.
As part of building the narrative for MBA application, we can find meaning out of the most meaningless job. The truth is that some jobs are a mismatch for your true talent. Don’t hang on to it. The small window in your life – the mid-20s to early 30 is the only time, you would be able to take the risk without any worry about permanent damage to your earning capacity. Take it.
List 5 Activities in your job, extra-curricular and volunteering that makes you happy
Start with “I am happy”
Example: Applicant ‘A’
Example #1: I am happy when clients share their appreciation for my attention to details
Example #2: I am happy when the non-profit I am serving bring tangible change in a community’s life – be it offering a new life skill, improving their food habits or transforming their daily tasks through technology.
Example #3: I am happy when the task offers me complete autonomy
Example #4: I am happy when the project requires solving problems that have not been solved before
Example #5: I am happy when the interactions offer a strategic insight into where the company is heading
What makes the Applicant ‘A’ happy?
1) Autonomy
2) Attention to details
3) Impact in community
4) Unique problems (creative)
5) Projects with strategic goals
Career Planning
This is the tougher part. You have to list job titles that match at least 3 of the 5 happiness activities listed above.
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