req to evaluate profile : (job hopping vs international exp)

venkat8103

Hello Stacy,
Thanks for all the help that you provide for numerous individuals through this forum.

I am an MBA aspirant and planning to apply 4 B-Schools in later part of this year.

Please evaluate my profile and let me know my chances:

I am indian and currently in india.

Acads : Good
(X- 70.5% XII- 88.3% and graduation- 79.56%)

Graduation: Bachelor of technology in Computer Science& Engineering (From a not well-known college)(was our college topper in Graduation)

Work Experiance : 4 years (by Jul 2007) in IT (worked as developer and tester)

International Exp : nil

GMAT : preparing now, will get 700.

Extracaricullars : Moderate

(Member of Toastmasters club, participated in various Quiz programs at college level)

Community service : Little

(Went to a blind school to engage the blind kids in playing games and operating computer etc
and conducted various progams for a slum area kids in thier school).

I am looking to get into Top 20 schools(leaving first 5).

(Top 5 will be difficult for me i guess:))

i am targetiing for top 10-20 ranked colleges.

(Kellog, Yale, Duke, Queens in canada,LBS,INSEAD and ISB in india)

Please let me know my chances (given that i get a score of 700 in GMAT and i am sure, i'll get 700).

and another very important thing in which i require your valuable suggestion is:

i am into 4th year of working now and i am in my 3rd company( 2 jumps already).
All these 3 companies are well known MNCs in IT space.

And now, i have an offer from an US company and i have my visa ready too!

So,if i go to us now (to join my 4th company in 4 years), will it be an extreme disadvantage on my app?

or otherwise getting 1-year international exp will outweigh the flop-side (4 th company in 4 years).

So, please suggests me whether i can go ahead and fly to US to join new company or not.

till now, all my 3 companys are big brands in IT.

Please tell me this kind of job hopping will cause extreme trouble or nothing to worry much about it?

Appriciate your help.

Stacy Blackman · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:17 am Post subject:

I do not see any real reason why you should not be able to gain admittance to a top 20 school. Your main challenges will be:
- clear career goals - proving why you want/will benefit from the MBA
- differentiating yourself

The job change question is tricky. 3 jobs on 4 years is a lot and you do not want to seem like you lack focus. The key will be proving that these transitions make sense for you given your career goals. You need to show that each job has built upon the prior one and has been important in terms of reaching your longer term goals. If you can develop that story for this new job, than I recommend going for it!

venkat8103

Thanks Stacy for your inputs. I value your comments and the time you spent for me.
Could you pls help me on the following things.

1) The job change question is tricky. 3 jobs on 4 years is a lot

Do u mean its not a good sign at all ?

2) If i can differentiate myself that in each of the new role, i did different kind of work therby gained different domain knowledge etc.

will it be ok?

3) In B-Schools, do u ever see people with an average work exp of 1 year per 1 company ? (atleast 20-30% people doesnt fall in this category ?)

4) I heard that in USA,As most of the postions are contract based, people work for 6 months in 1 company and next 6 months another company etc?
how far this is true?

Thank u very much.

Stacy Blackman · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:21 pm Post subject:

1) The job change question is tricky. 3 jobs on 4 years is a lot

Do u mean its not a good sign at all ?

There are no absolutes in this process. I have worked with clients who had more than 3 jobs in 4 years, and who were laid off multiple times. They have still been successful, because they explaine dtheir transitions well and had good reasons for making the decisions that they made.

2) If i can differentiate myself that in each of the new role, i did different kind of work therby gained different domain knowledge etc.

will it be ok?

3) In B-Schools, do u ever see people with an average work exp of 1 year per 1 company ? (atleast 20-30% people doesnt fall in this category ?)
You absolutely see people with this type of background.

4) I heard that in USA,As most of the postions are contract based, people work for 6 months in 1 company and next 6 months another company etc?
how far this is true?
I would not agree that most positions are contract based, but there is certainly a lot of movement. This does not need to be a bad thing; you just have to explain everything thoroughly and show how it all fits into the story about your career progression and goals.

Thank u very much.

venkat8103 · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:45 pm Post subject:

Its very clear to me now!

Thanks a bunch.