The basic objective of career self-assessment is to decide what you want to do and where you want to do it. It can be as simple as answering a short list of questions or as involved as completing a series of interest and skills inventories and other career tests.
If you cannot easily articulate the field, job, and type of company you want and give a series of solid, detailed reasons why this career path and company is a good fit for you, you need to explore further before moving on to the next step.
CareerLeader ®, specially designed for MBA candidates by two former Harvard Business School career services professionals, provides a wealth of information and career guidance, based on 26 different business career areas. The process takes a few hours and the cost is very reasonable at $50 for five years of use.
The Riley Guide also offers a variety of on-line self-discovery tools, including career- based intelligence, skills, aptitude and personality tests.
Explore Business Careers
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of career paths open to candidates with an MBA. The links below will provide detailed information on many common job titles in the business world. Once you have narrowed your choice to a few consider conducting a few information interviews.
After narrowing down the possibilities some information interviewing is in order. This means sitting down with someone with 5 or more years experience in your chosen field and asking questions about their background, career path, and day-to-day activities and challenges. Use your networking skills to find people with whom to conduct information interviews. The CMC also provides information interview contacts through the mentor module of eRecruiting. Mentors have already agreed to assist students with their job search, which makes the initial contact much easier. Consider registering as a mentor yourself to offer assistance to undergraduate students.
Gain Exposure and Experience
Exposure and experience in your desired field can be obtained in several ways.
Internships MBA students are eligible for internships, and can get elective credit for them if they have completed at least 15 hours of core or beyond core classes. If you have already found an internship please complete an MBA Learning Contract, add a separate page describing the position, have it signed by the MBA Office and your employer and take it to your faculty sponsor for approval. Bring the fully signed contract and job description to the CMC Satellite Office in Constant 1011 and you will be registered for the appropriate class.
International students on an F-1 visa should follow these special instructions.
Students seeking assistance to locate a suitable internship should make an appointment with CMC Liaison, Penny Pickel, by calling 683-4388 or dropping by the CMC Satellite Office in Constant 1011.
Classes The flexibility of the MBA program at ODU allows you to concentrate your studies in a specific career area. If you choose not to concentrate there are still many opportunities to take classes that are directly or indirectly related to your career goal, both in the business school and in other ODU colleges.
Current job Investigate the possibility of taking on new assignments at work that relate to an aspect of your chosen career field. Perhaps there is an opportunity to participate in an interdepartmental project or be transferred or "loaned out" to a department whose work more closely matches your goal.
Membership in student and/or professional organizations Every career has a professional association and many offer memberships to students for a fraction of the normal rate. Almost all associations offer professional development and/or training opportunities to members. Yahoo offers a comprehensive list of associations. Once you find a suitable organization, gain additional skills and exposure by being an active member. Attend meetings and conferences and volunteer for committees and other leadership roles. There are also students groups on campus, such as MBAA and the Propeller Club, for those students interested in Ports or Maritime Management.
Special career events The Career Management Center offers a number of events each semester designed to educate students regarding various careers, as does the MBAA and other student groups.
Develop Professional Career Correspondence
Often the decision of whether or not to invite you to take the next step in a relationship with a potential employer, the interview, will be based entirely on one or two short documents. This leaves no room for less than perfect paperwork! The Career Management Center offers a resume and cover letter professional seminar live in person, live via the web and pre-recorded on-line.
Cover Letters Cover letters should be simple, clear, and to the point. Unlike resumes, they should reflect your personality. Read your letters aloud. Do you sound like a capable professional who is not only qualified, but also genuinely interested in the position? Do you sound confident, but not cocky? Likable?
References Ask 3 or 4 professionals to be your references. Using the same header as on your resume, create a reference sheet that includes name, up to date contact information, including email address, and relationship to you. eg. former manager. Send this with your resume only if specifically asked, but always take a copy with you to interviews. One reference can be a professor, at least one should be a current or former direct supervisor, and one can be a co-worker. Make sure that they are prepared to give you an outstanding reference. Give each reference a copy of your resume so they can speak intelligently about your past experience as well as the quality of your work.
Thank You Letters Thank you letters should be sent after information interviews, job interviews, or any time that someone has offered you substantial assistance. They can take the form of an email, be printed on your business letterhead, or be hand written on a pre-printed thank you card. Be sure to keep the card professional, with a simple thank you on the front and blank inside. Thank the person for their time, insights, advice, contacts they gave you, etc. In the case of a job interview you can also reiterate your interest in the position and mention anything you forgot to say in the interview or want to make clear.
Identify Potential Employers and Positions
There are two types of career opportunities. Those that are advertised and those that are not. Many people concentrate all of their energy on the thousands of jobs posted in newspapers, trade publications and on the Internet or the training programs offered by large corporations that hire a specific number of newly minted MBAs each year. These represent about 20% of the total number of opportunities available and it would be foolish to ignore them. However, that once a position is advertised there is automatically a lot of competition. Therefore, a job search strategy that also includes efforts to uncover the 80% of positions that are not advertised is bound to be more effective.
ODU Job Resources eRecruiting is ODU's own electronic job system. Registration is free to students and alumni and can be completed online. Each spring and fall employers come on campus to conduct interviews with students who will graduate within a few semesters. The CMC sponsors two general job fairs each year and we also keep track of other local job fairs that may be of interest.
Accessing the hidden job market Make a list of 10,20,30 or more companies for whom you want to work. This can be done by industry type, geographic location, or any other factor that you value.
Use CareerSearch from on-campus computers. CareerSearch is an online database of companies and contacts in every industry in every geographical location in the U.S.! CareerSearch access is FREE to Old Dominion University students only.
The Internet is a powerful research tool, but information overload can be overwhelming. Check out the Riley Guide's Research section to organize your research. Other specialized Internet sites for MBA career research include Business Week, MBA Style magazine, and the MBA Association.
Responding to Job Postings Respond to jobs posted in the newspaper or on-line using the method the ad suggests, making sure to give them all the information they require. Generally this means you will be sending a resume, and possibly a cover letter, through the mail or via the Internet. Once received your application, and hundreds of others, will be scanned by either a junior HR person, or by artificial intelligence, and only the top few will be passed along to the person with the power to hire you.
Even with great experience and a wonderful resume, this numbers game limits your chance of being the successful candidate. To greatly increase your chances, apply through the suggested means AND find out who runs the department for which you want to work. Can your network help you meet this person? If not, simply send or take them a cover letter and resume, on fine bond paper, expressing your interest in the position. Your cover letter should tell them that you have applied through the regular channels, but that you also want them to know that you are ready, willing and able to fill the job and what you could bring to their department. Do your research and be specific in what you offer.
Systematically contact your list Now that you have a list of potential employers and have found the names of appropriate contacts within each company, connecting with these individuals in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd is your next step. Assuming that you have no means of networking your way to them, a traditional cover letter and resume, with appropriate follow up, is the next best approach. In most cases this should be mailed. Email is too easy to ignore, especially from strangers.
It is also important to follow up each resume with a phone call to be sure that your documents were received and to ask for an appointment to discuss possible positions within the department.
Interview
A job interview is a two way street. It provides you the chance to market yourself to the employer and the employer to market their company and the position they have to offer. They also allow both parties the opportunity to gauge the "fit" between them.
The only way to do well in an interview is to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more! The CMC offers interviewing professional seminars, live and on-line that can be viewed at any time to help students develop interview skills.
Many employers conduct behavioral interviews, asking you to discuss past professional experiences in order to judge how you will handle future challenges. Some companies hiring MBAs are now using case interviews. These are basically role plays. The interviewer provides you with a problem to solve and you are expected to ask pertinent questions to gain the information needed to create a logical plan of action/decision and articulate and defend that plan/decision. QuintCareers.com offers a great deal of information on case interviews.
Tests Some employers routinely test prospective employees. These may include aptitude, personality, psychological, skills or medical tests, including drug tests. Collegegrad.com offers information and advice on testing.
References, background and credit checks There is a big difference between a reference check and a background check. The first normally entails a phone call to your references, usually from an HR staff person, and your past performance is discussed in general terms.
A background check is done by a professional investigator, usually either a contracted private detective or a corporate security expert. They work from questionnaires or applications forms that candidates complete, and possibly fingerprints. Often candidates are eliminated from the competition not because of something that the investigator found, but because they did not tell the full truth on their application/questionnaire. Misrepresenting oneself on these forms is also cause for dismissal if the information comes to light after the candidate is hired, regardless of performance. Full disclosure is the best policy.
Many employers also check your credit history. The federal trade commission offers advice to employers concerning what they can and cannot do that candidates should also be familiar with.
Follow Up It is important to follow up after an interview. A thank you note demonstrates your ability to follow through on projects and can be the one thing that separates you from another candidate.
Evaluate Offers
Congratulations on receiving an offer of employment! The next step it to get all the information you can in order to make a realistic evaluation of the offer. The weight you give to each factor listed below depends on your personal situation and value system.
Money
Base salary
Commission
Bonuses
Raises
To decide if the compensation being offered is fair you need to do some research. Check out what others in the field are earning by using on-line salary information and/or local business salary data.
Benefits can add up to 35% to your compensation package
life and disability insurance
medical and dental insurance
vacation and sick leave
specialty leave such as maternity/paternity
pension or investment plans, stock options
paid education and advanced training/professional development
Other considerations
Work hours, flexibility
Travel requirements
Corporate culture, ethics and values
Physical environment
Work from home opportunities
Opportunity for advancement
After careful evaluation of your offer you have 3 choices. An offer that does not come close to meeting your basic requirements should be declined and an offer that exceeds your expectations should be accepted. All others should be negotiated.
There are several things to remember during the negotiation process:
1. You hope to work with this company and these people, they are not the enemy 2. You plan to accept the job, the offer just needs "tweaking" 3. You must negotiate based on what you are worth to the company, not on your personal needs
Colorado College provides an excellent summary of the evaluation and negotiation process. and the for those who need more, the Riley Guide offers a wealth of additional information on the subject
