Self-reflection and confusion...

I’ve been feeling very reflective (introspective?) lately. I tend to get like that right before I make a big change (graduation from college, starting first job, changing jobs). So it should really come as no big surprise that I’m starting to reflect on my experiences and trying to figure out the way I want to approach my b-school experience.

The Office of Career Development has been having career workshops in certain cities. They also recorded one of their sessions for the people who were unable to attend one of the workshops. The basic idea is that the more students can get done in the summer before B-School, the better Fall A will be. I like that idea.

Anyway, the first step listed is to conduct a self-assessment. Now, I thought I did before I applied to school. I recently took the CareerLeader test and it said I had a very high interest in marketing and marketing management. I thought “great, I want to go into marketing, this test says it’s a good match, all is good”. Well, I have a lot to learn. “Brand Management” is a term that is apparently used to describe a variety of different functions, dependent on the industry. I worked in tech for several years, so I’m used to the term “Product Management”, which is also different.

So, in order to really learn what it is that I think I want to do, I decided to talk to people in the following industries: CPG companies, healthcare/pharma, tech, and services (ex: a bank or an online retailer’s marketing efforts). I’ve also started contacting some students/alumni in these industries (who are VERY receptive, by the way), and have still discovered I’m even more confused about the differences than ever. I’m hoping that I’ll learn a ton over the summer, so I am not quite as overwhelmed when I start in the fall.

As part of this introspection, I started thinking of my first job out of college. I was excited at the opportunity more than I was the company and industry. And while I was hand-picked for special assignments, I kept thinking that I wanted to do this type of work for something different. I’ve realized that in addition to being excited about the opportunity that may be presented to me, I need to feel passionate about the industry I’m looking to join, the company I’m hoping to join, as well as several of that company’s brands. I don’t want to necessarily choose something that’s a potential bad fit just because of the "opportunity". So, when I network with companies and go to their receptions, I’ll keep this in mind.

I think my mantra will be a couple of lyrics to that Rolling Stones song: “You can't always get what you want, and if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need”. I'll amend that to be "you can't always get what you (think that you) want..."