Jadax wrote:
Hi guys I wanted to get the ball rolling on this:
Some info on me:
Male
Age: 26 (27 in August)
Undergrad: 2:2 (honours)
Degree: BEng Electrical & Electronic Engineering
University: UK
Nationality: India
Work Experience: 9-months post-graduation (present). More technical than I think should be, which is why I'm worried.
On the side - Working with a 1 other person and her marketing consultancy start-up. Full disclosure, she is MSc Marketing, moved to India and started it. I joined and now have management responsibilities (handling client business for 2 cities), but not sure how to word this positively for me since I didn't start the 'company'. Considering starting my own start-up to compensate for low undergraduate grade.
Work Placement: 3 Work placements/internships.
6 months PJM Interconnection (Operations Development Engineer), 6 months Ballinger (Electrical Engineer) (Philadelphia), 2 months Tata Consultancy Services (Project Management Trainee) (South Africa)
Placements at PJM/Ballinger started off as technical (being internships), given more management control (3 clients at PJM, 1 at Ballinger).
Placement at TCS was more to not waste time, ended up being fully technical with (bs) client interactions etc.
Random Info: Travelled to 7-8 countries so far (grew up moving every 3-4 years). Internships in USA/South Africa.
Other than this, random stuff all uni students do: peer mentoring programme (1 year long), volunteering at local Gurdwara (sikh temple), ngo volunteering 3 months in South Africa, Summer ngo volunteering in India while studying, uni cricket/football team etc. etc.
My Aim: Long term - want to pursue MBA to help me build this business idea I have (listed above). I say long term because I believe I don't have enough experience for MBA yet, nor a good undergraduate grade.
Short term - join consultancy firm, get experience in management consultancy so I can use this down the line in my business.
Issue: With my current profile I don't expect to get into any respectable business school. With my current employment not geared towards management (big issue in India once you join technical role) I feel I need to do something to get myself out of this rut. Thinking of applying for MSc Business and Management or MSc Strategy and International Business.
How does my profile shore up for future MBA student? Is it recommended that I pursue an MSc to increase my employability in the fields of business I want to move into, or should I stay where I am and apply for MBA 1-2 years from now.
I want to bolster/improve my profile so I can achieve the goal I set myself 4 years ago, but realise I need to do a lot more - what's the most important?
Well, it's really early to say because you are at the beginning of your career. It's totally fine that you have taken a technical path at first, but what will be important is that you have as much success as possible in this technical path - meaning getting better jobs, more responsibilities, more promotions, greater achievements than all of your peers. There's no real shortcut here to be taken. and you are right about seeking that way to management. again there's no "silver bullet" or "Secret sauce". You have to keep your eyes open, work as hard as you can, and SEEK out leadership roles.
That, and doing as well as you can on the GMAT. So go to it!
Best,
JF