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It would be great if I can get a critique of my ST and LT goals.

My passion for products that paved way for the Internet era and interest to know how a market grows around such products, have motivated me to seek out a business position in the tech industry. I believe I am made for the role of SVP of Product in a major hi-tech company, where I can establish the company's strategy and direction for the product portfolio. This will involve working and empathizing with different cross-functional teams, which include operations, sales, and finance, and engage them appropriately in the decision-making. To do this, I require the knowledge of how business is managed across functions of a company.

After getting a MBA degree, I aspire to work as a consultant for a top firm such as Accenture. I hope to leverage the professional experience I have with the knowledge gained through MBA to work with hi-tech and IT industry clients, providing solutions for business problems, such as risks of acquisition, weak operational performance and low market share. My career as a consultant, solving issues faced across different functions in the industry, will help me understand the various nuances of managing different functions, thus helping me transition into the role of SVP smoothly.

I am a Indian male currently working on supporting and improving IT performance for the supply chain management system. So I m looking for a career switch here.

My ST goal is what I want to post-MBA and I would want to stick to it. It is the journey from ST to LT goal that I want to have better handle on.

The reason why i believe a career in PRODUCT 20 years down the lane would be plausible is because the way management consultant gets to work in different various functions. It is said that working as consultant for a year i equivalent to working as a manager for two years because of the diversity and load of work done by the consultant. I beleive working as consultant will help make up for the years I missed out working in the business role. I plan to work as a consultant for a a decade at most most preferably in consulting for product development and management as seen at Bain and Accenture. After 10 years I would like to move to Product management somewhere in the chain of hierarchy in the Product division of a company..

I have provided some links that convinced me that these companies do have the opportunities for consultants to get the experience of product development.

https://www.accenture.com/us-en/service ... t-overview
https://www.bain.com/consulting-services ... ement.aspx
https://m.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDo ... vation.pdf
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240 ... 0976281022

You have the experience of seeing many such goals and hence your opinion on this would help.

Thanks for sharing your question. Your approach to your ST/LT goals is very thorough and thought out so I commend you on that. My main comment is that 10 years in management consulting is a long time period. Not sure you necessarily need to be that specific on your timing in the app. I only bring this up, because having some actually product experience as opposed to just advisory work is not quite the same. So moving over to the product side earlier might be a better path into your LT goals. So basically your path is correct just need a little more thought into how long is necessary to stay in consulting. The path makes sense however on its face.

Hope this helps!

Dozie@VeritasPrep wrote:Thanks for sharing your question. Your approach to your ST/LT goals is very thorough and thought out so I commend you on that. My main comment is that 10 years in management consulting is a long time period. Not sure you necessarily need to be that specific on your timing in the app. I only bring this up, because having some actually product experience as opposed to just advisory work is not quite the same. So moving over to the product side earlier might be a better path into your LT goals. So basically your path is correct just need a little more thought into how long is necessary to stay in consulting. The path makes sense however on its face.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the reply.

Just to clarify the section of my post that is italicized is the ST and LT goals that I plan to use in my essays.

The other info about the 10 year work time as consultant is just to set the context. I will not be mentioning it in my essay at all. Or do you think mentioning the number of years in ST goal would help my essay?

Also does my goal seem plausible in the eyes of an adcom member or would it make them reject the essay ?

Thanks for the clarification. I would say listing the years is not really necessary the AdComm will have the years they considered ST and LT in their mind so you are fine here. I think your goals will be received fine I would say consider mentioning design consulting firms like IDEO as well as sort term options as these firms align well with future product roles. I think your focus is more on the tech side so this may not be as ideal a fit but I think some of the firms you listed will be strong alternatives if you're exclusive to the tech side of prod mgmt