OwenBloggers: Jared - MBA 2009

How To Survive Business School, Get A Great Job & Live Happily Ever After

As business students, most of us come in with some degree of accomplishment and are generally proud of ability to solve problems on our own. Unfortunately, the downside to that is that we are often reticent to admit we don't know something or do need help.

That brings up an interesting truth that reveals how it is that you can really make things happen for yourself, not only here at Owen but in the rest of your life. It may lack the detail and grandeur of the advice of some of the people who came before me here at OwenBloggers, but you'd be amazed at how important it will become to you.

That piece of advice is if you want something; ask for it.

Seriously, you would be amazed at the number of times a problem can be solved by simply soliciting help from someone else. For instance....

• If you want to get a job in a specific industry or with a specific company; ask your CMC coach.
• If you want to figure out how to take the anxiety out of your finance assignments; schedule some time with the TA.
• If you want to do something amazing to make your mark; ask a student leader you admire to help you set up that opportunity.

The single greatest attribute of Owen is that opportunity everywhere. It's in your professors' offices, its in the alumni database, its in the space between what you want and whether or not you are ultimately going to get it.

Asking for it might be scary, but only at first. Once you realize that everything you ever wanted is here at Owen and that if you are willing to work for it, there are people all around you that want to see you get it.

Technorati Tags: advice, business school, happily ever after, MBA, mba blog, OwenBloggers

Let The Games Begin!

No, not the Olympic Games, the CMC games - though they are quite similar. For instance, while The Olympics has events like the 100 meter dash and synchronized swimming, the CMC games feature events like the full time resume drop and synchronized anxiety attacks.

Every year, 1st and 2nd Year MBAs march into the stadiums of career management hoping to take home the gold...or at very least, a decent internship or full-time offer. Owen is no different. In fact, I just fond out that the first round of post-internship offers are going around so kudos to all of our Class of 2009 comrades who were lucky enough to snag one! No doubt, the incoming first year class is also hard at work, preparing their resumes for those first brave steps along the CMC's carefully laid out timeline.

The search for internships and full-time opportunities, particularly in a tougher job market, can make for some competitive moments, even in Owen's collaboration-heavy business school culture. I know from my own experience that being the last one in your respective circle of MBA friends not to have an offer locked up isn't fun. However, I do know from that experience that everyone does get there in their own time and the only competition, its ends up, is the race you run with yourself.

Take it from those of us who took the marathon route to our internships:

1) Use the CMC Team - Often Owen MBAs forget that they walk by the single most valuably-personal feature of Owen every single day. Just behind the CMC doors lie a group of people that, even though they may be busy, would rather you try to squeeze in 5 minutes of questions than worry yourself to death over what you're doing come June.

I'm not going to lie to you, they aren't going to hold your hand the entire way through the job application process but they can show you a wealth of opportunities to keep your pipeline full, even when you think its impossible.

2) Manage your job search like a sales pipeline - In a job search, you want to make sure you have plenty of opportunities at various stages of maturity. Some might be about to give you a decision, some might be in the early stages of your networking efforts, the important thing is that you never stop sourcing new opportunities until you actually sign an offer. If you don't know how to do this, then find a 2nd year - even if its me - that can help you set up ways to continually feed your pipeline.

3) Don't be afraid to ask for something you want - This goes far beyond just your job search, think of it as a rule of thumb for Owen. Though we may not have the opportunities on a silver platter like some business schools, you would be amazed at how resourceful the CMC, the administration, the alumni and your professors can be. The only thing you have to do is figure out what you want and then ask. Trust me on this one; if you want something bad enough, and are willing to help your team work for it, this place can help you in ways you wouldn't imagine.

Just like the Olympics, we come from many different backgrounds and we want the same thing, though it may be in different forms. The thing you have to keep reminding yourself is that the road to victory is never like you first imagined and, in the end, its the journey that you'll end up learning the most from.

Technorati Tags: Career Management Center, MBA Jobs, Owen, OwenBloggers, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University