snbury
Hello everyone. I am considering applying to INSEAD 2 or 3 years from now and have some questions regarding the career path leading to an MBA.
Currently I work with a very large MNC in Shanghai after a 3.5 year stint in Singapore. I will be in Shanghai for a total of 1 year working on market development and will return to Singapore after this. My options are to stay with this very large company in a job that might peak-off in terms of development and advancement or possibly joining a much smaller firm in the same industry (mining) but with increased responsibility and work that would be more senior to my current level.
However, for both options I would probably not have anyone reporting to me.
Can anybody shed any light on the above? A lot of my mentors inside and outside of the company I work for tell me I should stick to a Blue Chip, Tier 1 company as it would be very difficult to move to a small firm and then back again to a Blue Chip. But I feel for the purpose I properly preparing myself for an MBA as well as for a future as a leader in management it might be best to go for the smaller firm with the increased challenges and responsibilities.
Thanks for your feedback.
I think you have to think less about the career path leading to an MBA, and more about the career path you want incorporating your MBA and what will happen afterwards. What do you plan on doing right after you finish your MBA? How is INSEAD going to help you get there? Why is the MBA, and INSEAD in particular, so critical to your plans? These will be key questions you have to answer as part of your application and your interviews. If you know that, then you should also be able to answer the following: 1. What tools and experiences do you need for your post MBA career. 2. What connections and network will help you post-MBA 3. How can you go about building these, within and outside job option D/E/F. Once you have those answers, then you should be able to investigate further which of your two paths are better, or if it's better to take another path you haven't been considering.
The key is to weave a whole story around it. Example - I am in X industry and Y position at Z company. I want to get into A industry and B position at C company. To make this switch, I need an MBA to break the cycle and make industry and geographical contacts. But I have identified P Q and R transferable skills or network because of overlap. So, I will focus my time and energy for the next 3 years in developing these skills and network, both within my job and outside my job, by participating in industry groups, attending conferences, etc.
If you're planning on staying in the same industry and same career path, then the question is "why not an emba?" if you just need more business acumen. If you're just going to INSEAD because you're chasing letters and a reputation, then you'll get kicked to the curb fairly quickly. You need more than that.
For the record, INSEAD measures you on 4 criteria - academics, international outlook, leadership potential (includes, but not limited to, career progression), and diversity contribution. You need to determine how your current profile fits in to these and see where the gaps are compared to the typical INSEAD accepted profile. If there are other schools you are considering, you should be looking at their criteria. But the right answer will come when figure out your path, figure out which of these schools fit in to your plan, and then the criteria you're getting measured against should fit in with the direction you're heading.
22 Apr 2010, 00:16
