How to Think (and Write) About Your Career Goals
What do you want to be when you grow up?
You were probably asked this question all of the time as a little kid. Thanks to your business school applications, youll have to answer it again. Only now you must envision where youll be in your career ten to twenty years outafter youre armed with an MBA. Youll also have to detail the path you intend to take to get there.
But how do you go about explaining your short- and long-term career goals if youre not really sure what you want to be doing in the first place? Maybe youre pursuing an MBA in hopes that the classes and people youre exposed to will help that light bulb go on in your head.
Thats perfectly fine, and youre certainly not alone. Heres a little secret: the AdCom doesnt expect you to know exactly what you want to be doing decades from now. And no ones going to hold you to what you write in your essay. However, your answer to the career goals question is still important. If an applicant doesnt appear to have given any serious thought to his or her own future, that could be a red flag.
If you already know how youd like your career to progress, thats wonderful. But if you arent sure about what you want to do, our advice is to spend some significant time thinking about what kind of career would make you happy. More importantly, consider whether or not your dream career is realistic based on your skills and past achievements (combined with what youll learn at business school).
If your goal is something general like running a company, you need to keep working. Vague responses such as starting a firm, being a CEO or launching a nonprofit wont differentiate you from other applicants. Think about (and include in your essay!) exactly what kind of company you want to run/launch, WHY you want to do what you want to do, and how youll get there; those details are more likely to set you apart.
Well leave you with this bit of career-related inspiration:
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