This blog documents my MBA student life at Ryerson University, Canada (2010-2012). It was an attempt to demystify the MBA experience, help understand MBA topics & encourage MBA wannabes. I have a Pre-MBA blog about B-School application process (and a few other blogs) as well. I used to blog actively in the past and interact with readers regularly, but life got very busy after my MBA. Good luck. Take care. Cheers! Gerry.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
David Maister's Laws of the Job Search
From the link: http://davidmaister.com/articles/3/44/by David Maister 1982
This was written in 1982 for MBA students who came to me with questions about career choices. It has since been reproduced around the world in a variety of books, magazines and journals, including in a few editions of What Color Is Your Parachute? I used it as the basis for the chapter, “No Regrets,” in True Professionalism (1997). This is the original version.
- You can’t decide what you want from a job until you’re clear on what you want from life.
- Some people have been too busy “succeeding” to figure out what success means to them. Don’t look for a job until you’ve thought it through.
- First figure out what you want in life. Then go look for it.
- It’s easy to fool yourself as to what you really want from life.
- There are a lot of people around you who will tell you what you should want from life: parents, teachers, friends. You don’t have to accept their answers. Don’t get stampeded.
- Ban the word “should” from your job search.
- We all want to impress people. The tough part is figuring out precisely who we want to impress and why.
- You can’t impress everyone simultaneously. Different people are impressed by different things: money, status, intellect, character, contribution to society and so on, forever. What do you want to be admired for? By whom?
- We all want respect and prestige. But in whose eyes? It ain’t necessarily those of other students (because six months from now you won’t see most of them ever again).
- The key to what you really want lies in something that you don’t like to admit. “I don’t like to admit it but I need to be the center of attention.” OK; find a job that will let you show off. “I don’t like to admit it but I really want to be rich.” Fine; go out and get rich. “I don’t like to admit it but I’m a snob.” That’s all right; go work with “upper class” people.
- Play to your “evil secrets”; don’t suppress them.
- You are a lot less flexible than you think.
- Some people are big-city types: others are happier in small towns. Which are you? It’s more important than you think.
- Changing jobs is easier than changing family, and a lot less painful.
- Your happiness will be determined much more by what job you’ve got than by what company you’re working for or what industry you’re in. Most people choose an industry, then choose a company, then choose a job. It’s the wrong order.
- You can’t figure out what you want in life by going to interviews.
- The more interviews you attend, the more confusion you’ll feel.
- The more confusion you feel, the worse the decision you’ll make.
- The goal is to get the right job offer, not the most job offers.
- There is nothing as pathetic as someone getting depressed about being turned down by a company they didn’t want to go work for anyway.
- Don’t sell: buy! You can either buy yourself a job or be bought by one.
- If your new job doesn’t work out, the divorce will be a lot more painful for you than for your employer. So you should be a lot pickier than they are in deciding whether to “get married.” Don’t sell: buy!
- Nothing impresses an interviewer more than someone who knows what they want and why. Don’t sell: buy!
- What do you really need to know about the job you’ll be doing to be sure you’ll be happy? Don’t be afraid to ask. Check it out to be sure. Don’t sell: buy!
- You’ll be happier if you like and respect the people you’ll be working with: bosses, peers, subordinates, customers. Do you know who you like and respect? Is it these people? Don’t sell: buy!
- People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care. Enthusiasm and the hard work it inspires counts for more than an extra piece of ability.
- Don’t worry about whether you’ll be good at it: If it turns you on, you’ll be good enough. If it doesn’t, you won’t.
- Your “strengths” are irrelevant; what you like is critical.
- Don’t plan too far ahead. In five to ten years, you’ll be a different person who will want different things from life.
- Do it because it will make you happy now, not because it will (if it works out) make you happy tomorrow.
- Don’t serve any pure apprenticeship, something that you’ll hate and will do only because it will lead somewhere. If you hate it, you’ll never get through it.
- All job choices are risky, so think about how you’ll feel if it doesn’t work out. If you’ll able to say, “I’m glad I tried it anyway,” then consider the job. If you can’t imagine saying that, don’t bother pursuing it any further.
- David Meister.
Does your first job decide your future job or your future career path?
So here are some questions:
"Does the first job you take up immediately after graduation decide what future career path you shall follow later on? Does your first job influence your future?"
Perhaps the answer is yes. To an extent. Once a person gets started on a job or in a position, he or she tends to develop a bond with the work and with the people at the work place. This bonding tends to make people continue on the same path in the future, as well.
It is perhaps like dating. Once you start dating a person, or once you start having positive feelings towards a person, you form a connection - a bond. And after that, it is not easy to break up, LOL. That is why people are cautious in the beginning.
Which is exactly the reason why you should pick and choose your connections wisely. Go for quality. Go for value. Go for producutivity and efficiency. I am glad that I found a good place to do my internship and that I shall have a chance to perhaps continue in the chosen field - Management Consulting!
There are MANY career paths that MBAs can choose after graduation. But there is no doubt - Management Consulting is one of the most presitigious career path that MBAs can choose. Working for a Management Consulting firm is impressive - anywhere in the world. I am so glad to have entered into the profession now.
Gerry.
"Does the first job you take up immediately after graduation decide what future career path you shall follow later on? Does your first job influence your future?"
Perhaps the answer is yes. To an extent. Once a person gets started on a job or in a position, he or she tends to develop a bond with the work and with the people at the work place. This bonding tends to make people continue on the same path in the future, as well.
It is perhaps like dating. Once you start dating a person, or once you start having positive feelings towards a person, you form a connection - a bond. And after that, it is not easy to break up, LOL. That is why people are cautious in the beginning.
Which is exactly the reason why you should pick and choose your connections wisely. Go for quality. Go for value. Go for producutivity and efficiency. I am glad that I found a good place to do my internship and that I shall have a chance to perhaps continue in the chosen field - Management Consulting!
There are MANY career paths that MBAs can choose after graduation. But there is no doubt - Management Consulting is one of the most presitigious career path that MBAs can choose. Working for a Management Consulting firm is impressive - anywhere in the world. I am so glad to have entered into the profession now.
Gerry.
It is now SHOW TIME! Time to put all MBA knowledge into practice...
I am very excited about starting my 3 month Consulting Internship. Monday, 7th May 2012 shall be the first day of my internship. Can not provide details online.
This internship is my chance to rise and shine. To prove to myself and the world that I am a capable individual who can produce good results and add value to companies. Having spent more than a year studying various subjects, this is a chance to implement what was learnt.
I hope to implement my knowledge in the follwing areas, as part of this internship:
Cheers!
Gerry.
This internship is my chance to rise and shine. To prove to myself and the world that I am a capable individual who can produce good results and add value to companies. Having spent more than a year studying various subjects, this is a chance to implement what was learnt.
I hope to implement my knowledge in the follwing areas, as part of this internship:
- Business Development
- Marketing
- Economics
- Strategy
- Entrepreneurship
- Organizational Behaviour
- Healthcare Management
- Ethics, Sustainability and Social Responsibility and
- Management Consulting
Cheers!
Gerry.
"MBA Drinks" Networking Event Party, Toronto, 4th May 2012. www.MBAdrinks.com
I had a chance to attend one of the the "MBA Drinks" event yesterday. A party for MBAs in the Toronto and surrounding area. It is a MBA Networking and Social Event organization. Check out www.MBAdrinks.com
This is an excellent initiative for students from Business Schools to meet, interact and form professional networks. I was there for a few hours and met students from the following business schools:
How did I like it? Well, it was fun. To start off, I was impressed by the organizing skills of the event managers. Good job, people. Very well done. It is not easy to inform, invite and bring together people from different business schools under one roof on a weekend.
I saw lot of MBAs. Talked to a few. But most were busy dancing! There was loud music. It was a fun event. But it was not one of those well light quiet sessions. It was a night club type event, held at the C Lounge, in Toronto. I spent a few hours, exchanged business cards with a few MBAs. Spoke to some about topics of interest to me. It was good. As always, it is hard for me to meet people of exactly my wave length. I like be "all business, all the time". I like to eat, drink, talk and walk business, so to speak. But some of the people I meet do not absolutely want to talk about business / career / future when out at a party. Well, to each, his / her own! I have no problems with that. But I tell you one thing - I always feel guilty during such events. I feel that I should rather be with my books, in the library or in my room, studying! Doing something productive. Of course, networking is productive too. There is benefit in networking, but it is all about value versus cost! And how you perceive it.
Gerry.
- Ivey, Western U
- Schulich, York U
- Rotman, U of Toronto
- DeGroote, McMaster U &
- Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson U.
I saw lot of MBAs. Talked to a few. But most were busy dancing! There was loud music. It was a fun event. But it was not one of those well light quiet sessions. It was a night club type event, held at the C Lounge, in Toronto. I spent a few hours, exchanged business cards with a few MBAs. Spoke to some about topics of interest to me. It was good. As always, it is hard for me to meet people of exactly my wave length. I like be "all business, all the time". I like to eat, drink, talk and walk business, so to speak. But some of the people I meet do not absolutely want to talk about business / career / future when out at a party. Well, to each, his / her own! I have no problems with that. But I tell you one thing - I always feel guilty during such events. I feel that I should rather be with my books, in the library or in my room, studying! Doing something productive. Of course, networking is productive too. There is benefit in networking, but it is all about value versus cost! And how you perceive it.
Gerry.
4th May 2012: My Internship has been finalized!
I am happy that I have found an internship opportunity! It is going to be Management Consulting Internship in Toronto, ON. I shall work as Associate Consultant (Healthcare Management Intern) in a Consulting Firm in Toronto. Looking forward to doing a good job and adding value.
Happy that I am nearing my graduation from the MBA program, step by step. Internship is a mandatory part of MBA program. Of course, there are other alternatives like Language training and Overseas exchange program, but Internship is the option that adds the most value to the resume, immediately after graduation as this means that you have hands on practice and you are market ready, upon graduation as an MBA!
Cheers!
Gerry.
Happy that I am nearing my graduation from the MBA program, step by step. Internship is a mandatory part of MBA program. Of course, there are other alternatives like Language training and Overseas exchange program, but Internship is the option that adds the most value to the resume, immediately after graduation as this means that you have hands on practice and you are market ready, upon graduation as an MBA!
Cheers!
Gerry.
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