Career Plans Essay

Business schools look keenly at your career goals because they know that students who are clear about their goals make the most of MBA programs. They are able to focus on relevant parts of the curriculum, make use of the on-campus activities to their advantage and by doing well in their careers become good ambassadors for their programs. You need to share goals that have captured your imagination and burn in your heart. Imagine you have just graduated from your dream school after two years of rigorous study. What kind of work would you like to do now? Think about responsibilities you want to shoulder, positions you want to hold, challenges you want to meet, skills you want to build, and contributions you want to make. Be specific – which industry, what role, what would you like to do and achieve? Reflecting on all this will take time. Be patient with yourself. Keep the questions in your head and pen down your thoughts as they pop up. Working this way prepare a career progress graph in your mind. Keep in mind the fact that your aim here is to fulfill your aspirations and leverage your strengths. When you sit down to write your goals in the essays, explain: How did the goals develop? How well are your goals connected with your professional background and personal strengths and abilities? How have you assessed suitability for the required career? Show understanding of the career you wish to get into. CAREER PROGRESS You would share your career progression through an essay. Some schools have an essay that asks for it. Or you would share it through the way you describe your work experience through the application form and the resume. In whichever way you share your career progress, remember that your objective is to demonstrate how your past experiences qualify you to seek the career you now desire, which you will share through the career goals essay. Your past is looked at keenly since it adds credibility to claims you make about the future you seek. Start by thinking about all the career-related decisions you’ve made till now. You laid the foundations of your career when you chose your undergraduate specialization. Think about what motivated you then. You learned new skills and your first degree qualified you either to get a job or continue further studies. What motivated you then? What were your career plans when you took up your first job? How have they changed over the years? While on your job, did you discover any new aspects of your personality or work style? List the areas in which you excelled and all the new skills you developed. Consider all the job changes and reflect on the reasons that made you want to change. What did you gain or lose in the process? Think of all the new assignments you undertook and how you handled them. How did you feel about changing your style of working to suit the demands of the new assignment? Were you comfortable? Did you falter? What did you learn from each experience of success or failure? Get the most significant answers from the above questions into your essays, application form or resume and strengthen your case for admission. All the Best