MBA 590: Creating a career that counts

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -Confucius

…..and just like that, a typical MBA class 590 would begin with a quote. Designed to help you introspect and enumerate your career goals over an 8-week period, the MBA 590 class is a must for every student pursuing MBA. No matter where you are in terms of developing your career goals, this class helps you either focus and structure your planning or simply affirms your belief in your goals (believe me that is equally important during a job search)

Aptly named ‘Creating a career that counts,’ this 8-week long class logically breaks down your career choices into a coherent path that optimizes your potential. The first three weeks focuses on creating your difference-making agenda through motivational focus, difference-making talents & identifying “best fit” role, culture & industry. During the next two weeks, we create a networking plan to test and explore various career options. The networking plan evolves through a series of tasks ranging from developing a relationship network map, to creating a brief 5-minute bio, to effective utilization of a LinkedIn bio. The following two weeks are spent developing an engagement strategy, which includes interviewing, evaluating and negotiating for work to advance our agenda. During the interviewing phase of the class, professionals are called in for mock interviews. Students are encouraged to tackle difficult interview questions and to develop frameworks for highlighting their strengths and accomplishments. The final week of the class directs us towards continuously improving your market-relevance. During the eight weeks, there are several guest speakers who talk through their journey to becoming high performing individuals.

Our coach/mentor during the course, Dave Kreischer, has provided executive and career coaching for clients who are launching or re-launching their careers. He specializes in developing insightful individual and cultural assessments, identifying and optimizing key motivations and leading talents, and developing strategies for creating and managing a career that counts.

Personally, working with Dave has helped me gather my thoughts more clearly and improve my alignment with my career objectives.

I would recommend that all MBA students take this class as early in their program as they can. The sooner you realize your difference making agenda, the sooner you will align all your activities (classes, projects, networks) with your overall career objectives.