Gov't Experience

Question

Hi Alex,

I am currently at a large investment bank and am looking to differentiate myself by working for the government. The work I would be doing would be business oriented: my responsibilities would include anything from performing due dilligence to help merger oversight for large international mergers, or evaluating potential technology projects for government sponsorship/investments etc. My question is, how would bschools look at this type of experience. Being that we are regulating business transactions, as opposed to making them, would tha put me at a disadvantage to people with more experience in the corporate world? Perhaps, government jobs aren't as prestigous as PE/HF type jobs? Or would bschools appreciate that I am learning the legal/political side of deals, that I am doing meaningful work/ public service for a pay cut (in that our ultimate goal is to protect the consumer and maintain a regulated economy, insuring no monopolization etc) and am somewhat different than other applicants. What if this transitioned to me working in industry for a company/indsutry that I regulated...I am aiming for a top tier school, so I'm really intersted in knowing what those specific schools would think of this experience, or if there are any specific top MBA's who tend to appreciate this type of work (my guess would be that more finance oriented MBA's would care less than other programs.)

Thanks for all the great advice and I look forward to hearing back to you.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

To be blunt, the worst thing you can do is to make career decisions driven by "what the adcom wants" -- if your resume reeks of being manufactured (i.e. the adcom gets a sense that you're doing it for the sake of b-school admissions and not because you'd actually like it, you'll come off as rather superficial and calculating - which is worse than anything else).

Practically speaking, if you'd do the gov't work regardless of your b-school plans (i.e. it's something that you feel you want to do regardless and is in your own best interests even if you don't go to b-school), then go for it. Otherwise, don't waste time trying to take jobs (whether it's gov't, corporate, sheep herding in Kazakhstan) in the hopes of "differentiating yourself" because it WILL come off as manipulative and calculating -- don't think you're the only person to have tried that and don't think that adcoms can sense it a mile away.

Again, if the opportunity is compelling to you, go for it! If not, don't. Treat this job opportunity on its own merits - and not on how it will be seen by an adcom. I know that you may feel b-school is some transformational thing that will give you the permission to take your career to another level, but the fact is paradoxically most folks who are at these b-schools would've been just as successful in whatever career path they took without the MBA (there's a reversion to the mean in the medium- to long-term and most folks end up in similar life circumstances/standards of living as they would have without the MBA).

What adcoms want are independently minded and accomplished young professionals --they're looking for compelling individuals, not "differentiated schemers". In any top b-school, there's a healthy mix of conventional and unconventional individuals.

Look, I can sort of understand where you might be coming from - hoping to have more reason to take (or not to take) this opportunity -- but that really should be driven by what YOU really want to do, what is meaningful to YOU, and not necessarily how others may perceive your choices (whether it's an adcom, your peers, your parents, your neighbors, etc. -- regardless of who it is you're trying to use as external validation - it's the same psychology). Yes, it can be hard to figure out whether this opportunity (or any other job) is what you want without defaulting to "what will others think of my decision" -- but the reality is the only gatekeeper to your own success is you and you alone (as cheesy as that may sound).

In short, what you need to do more fundamentally is to discount the value of b-school -- it's just a pit stop -- a luxury. It's not what will make or break your career. If you treat it as such, it'll free you up to do what you want career wise, and down the road you may very well end up being an even more accomplished or compelling individual than you would have if you had simply tried to manufacture your career choices to impress some "adcom" that you feel holds the golden key to your success.

sinkorswim · Answer

Thanks alex, I appreciate your opinion and your 'bluntness'. Perhaps, I should be more specific in my intent for this question, in order to avoid your life lesson of not going into something just for getting into B. School or for 'differentiation' purposes. In certain cases I think it may be relevant/important to think about future opportunities before taking a job. For example, let's say a given individual currently works outrageous hours at an IB, and this given person knows that a top tier MBA degree (or some other form of graduate degree) is nearly essential to enter the line of business they eventually want to enter based on contacts in the industry, evaluating people's profiles etc. Now this person doesn't feel ready to go right to school and would like to build up work experience while working less hours to prepare for gmats, applications, interviews etc. One potential opportunity (regardless of 'external validation') this person is looking at is in government- a job related to the person's career path, where they can learn a lot, get solid exposure etc. This might be a job they'd seriously consider solely on it's own merits, but knowing that it would hurt for b school they might favor other opportunities they have. Again, part of picking a job is naturally considering where it may lead. To you point, I agree that certain types of people will be succesful with or without an MBA and with whatever other points you're getting at in your post, but in certain professions a top MBA makes it significantly easier. Now, the question really is simply, how does b school look at government experience (ignoring the fact that one shouldn't take a job to get into b school, but keeping in mind that this is something to consider when picking a job for a short amount of time while getting ready for b school.) The statistics i think could be misleading because i can't imagine too many people working in gov't would want to enter bschool, so im wondering if you have any insight? Thanks again in advance. Please no need to re-emphasize the life lesson on not picking a job for bschool as I understand what you're getting at and appreciate the point-

(not surewhy im talking in third person when its clearly about me and this is an anonomys thread haha)

(not surewhy im talking in third person when its clearly about me and this is an anonomys thread haha)

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Let me say this again. Decide based on the job's own merits.

Asking "what do adcoms think of gov't experience" is sort of like asking "do women prefer red or blue on a man?"

Some like red, some like blue, some are different, and for others it will depend on the man.

There isn't some categorical "they like it" or "they don't like it" because it's a subjective process. They don't pretend to be objective. It'll come down to each individual's own personal biases. You can't really predict that. Some adcoms have a soft spot for Germans. Others may like guys who've played rugby. If you were to elicit an honest no-BS, no-spin opinion from a sampling of adcoms with this question, you'll like get a bunch of shrugs. Because it's not some cut-and-dried or even "we tend to..." sort of thing. It really depends on the individual, and even then, it may or may not register a strong opinion (or it may - if some adcom has strong political views about gov't).

I know sorta where you're coming from because the IB type environment with a bunch of highly neurotic Ivy league reformed nerds tends to create this culture of over-thinking and under-doing. Guys who tend to think way more than they should, and taking the "think before you leap" to an extreme - over-thinking the consequences to the point where you become overly cautious and inert -- and being completely unable to trust your instinct. Yes, there is value in setting goals, planning and such -- but there's also a point where it causes you to become indecisive and cautious to a fault - and more often than not, this is a bigger tendency for people like yourself in IB than it is for others.

You're over-thinking it hoping to make a "right" decision and the fact is there isn't one. If this opportunity FEELS like something you should do -- do it. If not, don't. If you can rationalize either decision (to go into gov't or not), then it's likely a gut call on your part.

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