Management Consulting may not be for me after all...

One of the early activities in the MLT program is to take a career assessment survey. I've taken one of these years ago at my first job and was surprised at some of the assessment. I thought for sure it was going to peg me as a soft spoken person who is very detail oriented, but when I got my results the survey pegged me as a pretty gregarious person, with a big picture outlook, and who is not afraid of making difficult decisions. Not surprisingly, the assessment said I wasn't a very good listener. I remember the line verbatim, "Be careful in a meeting with her. She may very well appear alert and attentive but she is probably not listening." lol

The organization also had an expert come and talk to us in more depth about the assessment and the guy said based on my profile that I'm probably more reticent when I first meet people and that I'd make a good people manager due to my honesty, and my eventual outspoken-ness but that I have to work on warming up to people faster. That was five or so years ago, and the assessment was pretty spot on. Fast-forward to now, I have a hard time dealing with details, I'm known in the department for being honest and pointing out potential weaknesses in our strategies, and I enjoy talking and being the center of attention.

This recent assessment hadn't changed much since then. It still pegs me as someone who is outspoken and honest, someone who has a hard time listening instead of talking, and someone who prefers to deal with the big picture. The survey also says that my top values are monetary gain, autonomy, innovative thought/strategy, creativity, and ability to pursue interests outside of my career. In addition to the career profile assessment, it gave me a list of careers and a score on how much I'd like the work. What surprised me is that I scored a 96 in venture capital (I'm thinking this is due to my affinity for innovation) and only an 88 in Marketing.



What surprised me was the 37 in Management Consulting. I'm assuming I scored low in this area because autonomy is one of my most important values.






That said, I should probably conduct some informational interviews with management consultants. I'm not going to strike it off my list of possible career avenues just yet, but the assessment has me thinking more seriously about brand management.

Management Leadership Tommorrow

I got in!

Shortly after I had my epiphany, I met a woman at a Harvard Club event for aspiring MBAs. We talked for a bit and she mentioned that she was in the MLT program. I had heard about it on CNN, but hadn't given it much thought. She offered to give me an informational interview, so I took her up on her offer. I liked what I heard, and I applied back in September

Applicants were not meant to be notified until the first weeks of December, but they sent notification the day before Thanksgiving. I was happy to be able to share some good news with my family. So far, I've only told four of them about my MBA plans (my mom, dad, sister, and uncle). The others will find out in due time, but I didn't want to tell everyone until I was sure. I had tentative plans to apply to law school a few years back and once folks caught wind of that, they started nagging me. I decided that law school wasn't for me, and I still have aunts and uncles asking me why I no longer want a JD.

I'm very excited about the program. It's intensive, but I'm looking forward to the network I'll build and the partnerships I'll make.