the road less traveled vs. the road to happiness
One of my recurring reads on the web is geekmba360.com… It’s a well-written blog about post-mba observations from the business & technology world. Recently a post appeared on the site entitled “Five alternative careers for MBAs.” Through it, the author shines a light on places MBAs don’t often surface (non-profits and public education, for example), but would likely benefit from the injection of managerial expertise/potential. (Please hold your “MBAs are responsible for the global financial collapse” comments for another time.)
This got me thinking, and comparing the notes of the author with those of my own, both from recent experience and recent conversation.
The author implies a respect for people who chose “alternative” career paths. At the end, s/he posits that soon, jobs in the federal government are not “alternative” any more because more and more MBAs are taking them. It is perhaps a tongue and cheek sentiment (there’s a smiley face at the end of it), but it’s worth tapping on this point.
My feeling is that pursuit of alternative career paths for the sake of being alternative is foolish. People should pursue things that they *want* to, hopefully because they are paths which are likely to lead them to roles of greatest influence – not merely because there aren’t many others that do.
One of the most positive outcomes of the current financial crisis is that many of my classmates ended up in jobs they might not have tried otherwise this summer. This was partially a function of there being fewer traditional jobs available (banking, consulting, etc.) but also a function of what I think was a re-evaluation of priorities that many people did when examining summer prospects.
It’s been my experience so far this summer that most of the people who are in banking and consulting are on a scale of unhappy to miserable, while those in other fields range from nonplussed to completely enthused by their jobs. This crisis has forced some people to take risks that might lead them to careers of more personal enjoyment and meaningful external impact than otherwise would have been possible.
And if that ultimately means that all 900 people in my class end up “herding” toward jobs in the federal government. Well – I could think of worse outcomes… for them and for the country.
chugging along
It’s already mid-February. Whew. Not sure how that happened. Hell week came and went. The week after hell week came and went. I’m still working on the recruiting process, and will refrain from reporting my status until it’s all over.
For friends, on the whole, it was a pretty painful week. Lots of dings. I know a few people with offers already, but by and large the majority of my circle of friends is still looking. The summer search has shaped up to be much more competitive than I was expecting, and, it seems, a lot more competitive than most people were expecting.
The admissions office posted a blurb the other day saying that 77% of MBA2009 candidates who were looking for jobs have received offers already (for full-time). So it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s definitely an arduous process.
hell week
I’m staring hell week in the face right now. “Hell week” is not what the school calls it. There are various nicknames for the week ahead, but to the school, it is officially known as DIP – Dedicated Interview Period. The RC’s (first years) have been let out of class this week in order to interview for summer internships. Everyone corrals into area hotels and puts on their best “why me” and “why you” in the hopes of landing the perfect summer internship.
It’s hard to tell what the perfect summer internship is, though in this economy, and with the palpable sense of stress on campus, I’m quite certain it must be amazing.
I’m trying to take the week in stride. I’ve done lots of preparation, but at the end of the day, I’m pretty much at peace with the fact that a firm is either going to see me as a fit or not and if not then I don’t want to be at a place where I’d have to change myself to fit in. (This could also just be a defense mechanism kicking in.) About 45% of RC’s get job offers from interviews this week. That means more than half of us will still be looking come next weekend. I’m not sure which camp I’ll be in, but I do know I’m looking forward to getting in front of some really great opportunities this week and trying hard to land something.
Fingers crossed…
belize
Earlier this month I trekked to Belize with a few guys from my section. There were a few girlfriends with us as well as a few people in and out from other sections. We stayed in a condo on the beach on Ambergris Caye, which was about a 20 minute flight (in a 10 seat plane) from Belize City. Ambergris Caye is home to San Pedro Town which may better be known as “Last night I dreamt of San Pedro…” from the Madonna song “La Isla Bonita.”
The town is cool, very “island” and what seemed to me to be mix between Miami and New Orleans, only tiny. There are few cars and fewer paved roads on the island. Most people get around in golf carts. For better or worse, I was made “driver” for most of the trip. Most of my pictures are posted on Flickr (link) and I think they tell most of the story, but I’ll fill in with a few highlights. (I was also traveling with a new HD Flip camera, and am waiting for the new iLife to arrive so I can cut down a video of the trip…)
First of all, the food on the island was fantastic – mostly, I suspect, because it was all prepared fresh (not a lot of frozen/processed food on a remote island, it turns out).
Belize is a place for activity. The beaches are not actually the greatest in the world, so the motivation to sit around and do nothing (while still great) is not as I’d imagined. Of the things we did:
Snorkeling – The waters off Belize are home to the second largest barrier reef in the world. I am not a certified diver, but it turns out you can have almost as good an experience just by sticking your face in the water. We did two drops for snorkeling, the first at Hol Chan, where we swam for about an hour observing a ton of different fish and two huge rays (a leopard and an eagle). Awesome.
Then we went to Shark Ray Alley where our guide summoned several nurse sharks over (in the range of 4-5 feet each) and we were able to touch and hold them. Not sure this was the best idea, but in the moment it was pretty exciting.
Zip lining- We took a day trip to the mainland and did some zip lining through the rainforest. This is where you climb up into the tree tops and, sitting in a harness, go gliding across lines from platform to platform. Truly exciting and at times a little nervewracking.
Cave tubing – I’d never even heard of this before Belize. There are miles of cave systems in Belize with rivers running through them. We got into one such river on innertubes and took it through about a mile of cave. It was pretty cool. The darkest natural dark I’ve ever experienced. Also bats. It’s sort of like the lazy river at the waterpark, except the opposite. Exciting, natural, and spooky.
The nights were filled with entertainment at bars, clubs, or at the condo. Stories that will likely persist for quite some time.
A great trip for me, and a highly recommended destination for you…
readjusting
The readjustment to life at school post winter break has been a little rougher than I’d expected. My calendar has been filled wall to wall for the past week, and while I can’t say it’s bad, it’s definitely exhausting.
Going from spending four weeks being lazy to running life at 100 mph while applying for jobs, reconnecting with friends, adjusting to new professors and course content, and otherwise trying to stay on top of things is a bit of a stretch. Already the summer seems to be fast approaching which means the job pressure has been ratcheted up high, and with the economy the way it is, lots of people seem to be on edge. (Although, on the flip side of that, many of my friends have decided to forgo the typical recruiting circus and are doing more relaxed network job searches).
I’m planning to write more here about my new classes and other things going on this semester in the coming days. Apologies for the relative silence of late.
(PS – if you’re an R1 admit from this year, congrats… have talked to a few of you on twitter already. If you’re weighing whether or not to attend your admit weekend, I’d strongly encourage you to do so. I made many good friends that weekend)
the palatability of hard news
Watching all the coverage of the inauguration of Barack Obama today, I couldn’t help but wonder about something.
When I left television, the ability to lure advertisers into buying time in hard news was rapidly diminishing. Now that we seem to have a rock star type personality (as in, people can’t stop watching him) in the White House, I wonder if hard news and politics will see any sort of bump in attractiveness to advertisers.
Just a curiosity.
Apologies for not posting for several days. Am finally back into a groove at school (though I expect to be back to the usual overwhelmed holding state by this weekend).
Wishing best to the R1 applicants who are getting decisions tomorrow. I have to call a few admitted students to congratulate them once decisions are released – looking forward to that – and strange to think there’s a new class waiting in the wings already.
the importance of boredom
I came home for Christmas this year (as I do every year). I was unusually bored. It could be that I was procrastinating working on the job search. It could also be that many of the friends I had here are either not here any more, married, or both. More likely is the fact that I went from life at 150MPH to life in a slower lane when the semester ended.
At first this was frustrating.
Thinking about it now, though, I’m realizing that in two weeks, as I’m just finishing my first day of classes of the 2nd term, I’m probably going to wish I had boredom on the calendar. Wish I was back here right now. Funny to imagine.
I think it’s important to be bored every once and a while. It clears the mind. Forces you to decompress and relax. Boredom also causes you to appreciate the busy time, the time when you have tons to do, and helps you realize what parts of the busy time are most meaningful.
cover letters
The current bane of my existence is the set of cover letters I’m writing for internship applications. Given the economy, it seems that the job hunt is the thing that is causing the most stress at school. I have friends who are applying for literally dozens of jobs in the hopes of snagging just a few interviews. On the one hand, I see the strategy there. On the other hand, I wrestle with knowing there are just a handful of places that I really really want to be this summer and I feel like I’d be better served spending most of my time and effort trying to get in the door at those places (say by writing a handful of really good cover letters rather than dozens of mediocre ones – which is what I know would happen for me). And then there’s the other hand, which are people I know in reruiting who say that cover letters don’t get read that closely anyway and to focus more on the resume and interview prep.
it’s the people, stupid
I was watching one of my favorite movies, “Stand By Me” while working on cover letters and resumes tonight. The movie ends with this quote:
I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anybody?
I used to think that was a pretty interesting quote. I partially agreed with it. I suppose it captures something about the truth in friendship that occurs at such an age. Thinking about it tonight, though, I realized I had an answer to the question asked. Yes, yes, I do.
I can go on about this more later, and I will, but I really do feel very fortunate to have come to school this year and to be in the section I’m in. I’ve made incredible friends in a short amount of time, and there are friendships that I’ve no doubt will last a lifetime. I’m not sure if it’s the connection around the shared experience, the genuine commonality around intellect and drive, or just luck – but there is a bond among people here that is truly great.
I gave a toast at a dinner party the a couple Saturdays ago. I had always said I perceived half the value in the mba program to be in the education and half the value to be in the people you meet (the network). I said at dinner that I’m starting to believe it may be weighted more heavily in favor of the people, after all.
This should surprise anyone who perceives HBS as having a stigma of arrogance or obnoxiousness. It did me. That stigma simply hasn’t presented itself (at least not in the level I thought it would – because surely you can’t rid the world of jerks entirely). But it has confounded me how genuinely good the majority of people are at school.
Anyway – long way of saying that I do feel like I’ve had friends as good since I was 12. I have them right now.
snapshots in time
It is funny to think about life in increments. For instance, what was I doing last year at this time? I was stressed out about completing b-school essays, most of which I was still unhappy with, and most of which were due the first week of January. I was also stressing about producing a major component of the back to back republican and democratic presidential candidates debates, which also happened to be airing… yes, the first week of January.
Flash forward to this year and I’ve been through an entire semester already. And towards the end of that semester, prospective students with interviews started showing up in class. The cycle moves quickly and soon there will be another set of admits. Weird.
Currently, I’m staring down the barrel of the resume drop deadline for formal recruiting: which is the first week of January. Stressful, ya. But I signed up for this and I’m not really sure that I can complain. It’s a great position to be in.
Whenever I find myself in these types of spots – uncertainty on the horizon – I always find it helpful to look backward before looking forward. Think about where I was 5 years ago today. I had just started my first job. I was thrilled about being at a television network. I couldn’t have imagined ever leaving. And yet here I am, in an entirely differrnt place, completly enthralled by what I’m doing. That gives me great hope. Despite whatever worries me about what’s next, 5 years from now I will hopefully look back at today and think, why was I ever worried?
