Guide leadership roles outside of work?

[akshaykerur]

Hi Stacy,

Please guide me as to leadership roles I can take on outside of work.
I have finished my Masters from Syracuse University in Electrical Engineering with a GPA of 3.69.
I have 7 months Co-Op work exp along with 2 yrs full time work exp at Intel Corp. as a Design Engineer.

I am in the process of studying for my GMAT. But as of now I do feel I am not able to demonstrate a lot of leadership in my profile. My work doesnt have a lot of direct strategic or financial impact and I would like to address this both on the job and outside of work.

Couple you please give me some tips on what I could do?

Sincerely appreciated,
Akshay

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear Akshay,

There are many nonprofit organizations out there that need help in different ways. Think about what interests you, where you might like to get involved in the community, and then research some options. Often, there are opportunities to manage projects, events, volunteers and/or operations of these organizations. For instance, if you love animals, look into local animal shelters or rescue organizations that might need help.

Good luck!
Lisa

[akshaykerur]

Thank you so much for responding Lisa.

Could you also be kind enough to answer the following questions.
Like I said I'm a hardware engineer with a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. I have 7 months of paid Co-Op experience at Intel followed by 2 years of full time work experience at Intel.

1. Does my Co-Op experience count as full time work experience? I was away from school as a Graduate Intern and was paid and worked full time.
2. Does my Masters Degree count as additional work experience?
3. What is the best specialization for me during an MBA ( not taking interest into account for the time being) purely on the basis of my background as an engineer?

Thanks a ton,
Akshay

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear Akshay,

Your co-op experience does not count as full-time work experience as it was during your degree program. Your masters degree does not count as work experience either as it is education. The best specialization for you is the one that makes sense for your career goals. For example, if you want to be in an operations function post-MBA, then you should probably look at the courses in the operations, finance and strategy concentrations to see what makes the most sense. Likewise, some schools have industry-specific or topical concentrations like consulting or social entrepreneurship. So, you might find your concentrations vary a bit by school and your ability do focus on more than one.

Regards,
Lisa