Career Diversity

Job searching is almost like shoe shopping. You walk into the shoe store and point out the type of shoe that you want, the color, and your size. The salesperson goes to the back of the store to check and see if they have a perfect match. They know their inventory better than you do, so no matter how much you want a particular shoe, if they don't have it, they have to tell you "Sorry, we don't have a match!" If that happens to be the case, all you can do is:

1. Try another store that may have a similar type of shoe or
2. Look for a different type of shoe in the same store

When a particular store doesn’t have the shoe that we want, we rarely look at it as a negative reflection of our physical self. We don’t say to ourselves, “My foot is too big” or “My foot is too average.” In the same way, when jobs don’t work out, we shouldn’t say to ourselves, “I’m not unqualified” or “I’m just too average.” Most people look at rejection from a job as a bad thing when in reality it is just a data point. Employers are looking for fit and as an outsider looking in, you can never possibly know as much about the company as an insider regardless of whether you read the websites, talk to employees, and even visit the office.

When a particular job (or shoe) is in high demand, oftentimes finding the perfect match is matter of persistence and luck. If you don’t land the job you’re looking for the first time:

1. Try another company (perhaps less brand name) that may have a similar type of job and better fit for you or
2. If you really like the company, look for a different type of opportunity within the same company

Have you ever bought a pair of shoes that didn't fit? Even if you have to walk barefoot for a while, know that there is a perfect match out there for you. There is nothing more painful than a pair of shoes that don't fit, so be patient and keep shopping.

Jullien Gordon
The Personal Development Guru
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When it comes to letters of recommendations, there are two criteria that application readers consider:

1. The CREDIBILITY of the recommender and
2. The recommender's ABILITY to speak to your ABILITY

A lot of people go for CREDIBILITY. If I can just get the CEO to write me a letter, I'll definitely get into to business school.

Wrong!

First, your letter of recommendation doesn't get you into business. But, it can keep you out if it's bad or from the wrong person.

Second, you want to try to combine CREDIBILITY with ABILITY.

One of my classmates worked closely (ABILITY) with President George Bush (CREDIBILITY) before going to Stanford and George Bush wrote his letter of recommendation.

Now imagine if another applicant to the same school got an identical letter of recommendation from President George Bush and the only thing that was different was the name. How would an admissions officer perceive that?

The both received letters of recommendation from a CREDIBLE source, however, since the letters were identical, that writer did not have the ABILITY to speak to each of their unique ABILITIES. If this scenario actually happened, both applicants would probably get denied because they chose CREDIBILITY over ABILITY.

When considering who you want to write your letters of recommendation:

1. Think about ABILITY first. Who can speak specifically to your unique ABILITIES.
2. Based on that list, who are the most CREDIBLE people in your eyes and why

At the end of the day, a letter of recommendation that can speak to your ABILITY from a less CREDIBLE person is more valuable than a letter of recommendation from a CREDIBLE person who can't speak to your unique ABILITY. A great letter of recommendation writer will have both.

Jullien Gordon
The Personal Development Guru
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Most people think that business school is just for:

1. people who are interested in working in corporate America or
2. people who were business majors in college

That's not the case!

Master in business administration is really a misnomer. A better name for it would be an MLM or Masters in Leadership and Management. The skills taught in business school help students lead and manage teams. It could be a team of two or a team of two thousand. It just so happens that the dominate institution in the world today are businesses and therefore they take all of the talent coming out of the top business schools across the world.

Nowadays, MBAs are taking their skill sets to various types of organizations beyond just businesses. They are leading nonprofit organizations, government programs, social enterprises, and educational institutions.

At Stanford, they called people without a business background "poets". If you look at Stanford's class of 2010 profile , you'll see that 46% of students majored in the humanities or social sciences, 35% majored in engineering, mathematics, and natural sciences, and ONLY 19% majored in business related fields.

As minorities, our parents typically only respect medical and law degrees, but I encourage everyone who considers themselves to be a leader to consider pursuing a Masters in Leadership and Management (aka an MBA). It is perhaps the most valuable and flexible graduate degree there is.

Jullien Gordon
The Personal Development Guru
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The MBA application process isn't cheap. You should set aside almost $6,000 to prepare for the process. At the end of the day, the investment is small. In most cases, your salary will almost double after business school. Download this Excel document to craft your own budget.



Jullien Gordon
The Personal Development Guru
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(click to download)

I'm a huge proponent of business school because the experience is like no other. The diversity of people, classes, and opportunities is surreal. The possibilities in business school are infinite; MBAs are more likely to start companies, travel to multiple countries, and meet global thought leaders than I think any other grad programs allows.

The two greatest lessons I learned in business school weren't from classes; they came from my classmates challenging me to be my best and me challenging myself. My MBA taught me:

1. how to think bigger and
2. how to communicate complex ideas

For all those being admitted to B-school, congrats!!!

My MBA Action Plan is the tool I created and used to keep me focused on the reasons I chose to go to business school and what I wanted to get out of the two years. I hope this tool blesses you and helps you make the most out of your MBA experience in the same way it did for me.

Jullien Gordon
The Personal Development Guru
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