Short-term Career Goals for Non-Finance Background

Question

Hello,

I have 2 years of professional experience in the tech/data science space and have no finance background. Recently I have been reading a lot about how short-term career goals should be feasible/reasonable and how admissions officers really evaluate if you can in fact land a role in your expressed short-term position. However, I also know that many people apply to MBA programs to switch careers. I would like to break into investment banking/private equity/venture capital post-MBA, so would these short-term career goals in fact be unreasonable for me? For investment banking, I would like to focus on TMT and believe that I have transferrable skills, but would private equity or venture capital be too out of scope for me?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you!

bb · Answer

So, nobody can tell me what you do what you cannot do. Also, would you write in your essay and what you end up doing doesn’t have to be the same but it does help to have realistic goals that match with you end up writing.

Admissions like boring people who have boring goals and ideally not even switching careers. Of course, why would you get an MBA if you were not switching careers so obviously most business school students end up switching industry or function or geography or multiple of these elements.

Ideally, do you want to find somebody with your background who is in business school or graduated recently and who pursued your desired career track. If you can prove to admissions that what you’re trying to do has been done and is reasonable and feasible and realistic, then your story is a lot stronger and you sound like you know what you’re talking about. At the same time, investment banking and private equity are usually networked off campus with a few exceptions. There are often preferences in specific tracks and also specific schools that different shops recruit from. Usually you’d have to be an M7. The best source of information would be one of the current students who is recruiting for your target industry… they can share the challenges and the realities. If you can get them to chat for 30 minutes, it will save you months of research so I would try to reach out to some folks. There’s lots of ambassadors and students listed on school websites. As long as you’re respectful and truly interested, menu would be willing to talk to you before school starts in a few weeks.

PS. What the admissions team wants to avoid is having someone chase jobs and Lien nothing at the end. Then being unhappy that the business school did not help them and be a disgruntled alumni.

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MBAGuide · Answer

Hi ksan I can tell you what B School adcoms dont like. They don't like that the applicant is treating the MBA as the first step in the direction of switching to an entirely new domain. An MBA should not be the first attempt to improve one's skills or take advantage of learning opportunities. Most successful applicants to top MBA programs show the initiative to gain additional experience by taking on projects that take them out of their comfort zone. Motivation to move into a new field and develop professionally can be demonstrated by examples such as seeking internships, projects, or shadowing industry leaders in entry-level jobs (in PE /VC). If a post-MBA goal is tied to evidence that you have gained relevant experience (even though it may not be thorough) and have gone the extra mile, the credibility of your goals increases significantly. At the same time, you need to be pragmatic. Since you are targeting VC or PE let's say, you should demonstrate that you know the current state of the industry PE in the target region and, if applicable, that you have a network in this area. For example, the recent downturn in deal-making and fundraising caused by the rise in interest rates and inflation in the U.S., and exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has had a significant impact on the PE industry, as well as on recruitment. The financing of leveraged transactions, which is an essential aspect of PE, has been affected as banks have had to withdraw their support. Therefore, business schools will expect you to realistically assess how you can use your background to gain a foothold in the PE industry in a particular field or region. It goes without saying that thorough research and a solid plan for how you will achieve your goals will make all the difference. Feel free to seek further advice. Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, ex INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer) MBAGuideConsulting LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com

admitStreet · Answer

ksan , 1. While it's true that the purpose of an MBA is to transition either (or all of) your sector, function, geography and/ or company (unless you are funded by your company), it's important to highlight any transferable skills from your current and past experiences which can help you with your post-MBA plans. Based on the initial info you have provided, IB with a focus on TMT (where you have experiences) sounds interesting. 2. The key part of a PE/ VC role is to advise companies/ Founders, i.e. extremely smart people who know their business in-depth. This means, to provide valuable advise (i.e. something they don't already know and can actually follow to better their business), a strong understanding of business fundamentals and know-how of on-the-ground stuff becomes crucial. For this reason, I personally feel entering PE/ VC without prior business experience would not be ideal. 3. A Consulting or an IB role can be a great stepping stone to later transition to PE/ VC, as these roles involve deep analysis and understanding of businesses along with frequent interactions with various stakeholders. Entrepreneurs could also be good at PE/ VC roles as they have been there and done that. There are many successful transition stories with these arcs. 4. Recruiting for PE/ VC, IB (and also consulting) generally happens within circles, so make sure to reach out to alumni and employees at these firms to form a network. Initiating these conversations can also help you understand the details of these sectors and can offer good talking points for essays around post-MBA goals and motivation. Hope this helps some. Feel free to reach out for a 1:1 chat. Regards, Arvind HEC Paris MBA alum, Admissions interviewer W: https://admitstreet.com | E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com

Short-term Career Goals for Non-Finance Background

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