How MBA Students Can Choose a Career

What career should I choose?

MBA students come to business school for a change, either to transition into a new career or accelerate the path of an existing one. Furthermore, MBA programs have incredible resources across their programs, in the form of relationships with employers, alumni networks, world-class faculty and career development and placement resources. With all these resources at their disposal, MBA students are well positioned to achieve their short-term career goals, but provide a toolkit for long-term career development enabling them to be well-prepared for the future of work. To do this right, focus on developing in business school these four skills

MBA students go to business school to make a change to their career. Whether that’s to completely change to a new one, or to accelerate the pace of change with an existing one, the ultimate outcome is to identify a career and to take steps toward that career. While some students come in knowing exactly the career they hope to transition into, others are unsure, and some want to use the time in business school to explore and experiment. 

Business school is the perfect time to explore career options. Not only do you have the time to reflect and explore, but you have so many resources at your disposal to help you navigate this process. But how do you know what career to choose or what path to consider? Is Finance a better path for you than Marketing, or should you become a Product Manager? How do you find the career that is best for you?

 

4 Research Backed Ways MBA Students Can Use To Choose The Right Career 

As career driven professionals, we’ve all wondered if we have chosen the right career.

Researchers and scholars have been studying for decades how to find a rewarding and fulfilling career, and  what the best research tells us is that we often look for the wrong things in job searches: While we strive to be happy and fulfilled, many times we choose jobs thinking they will keep us happy and fulfilled only to have our expectations fall short. In the workplace, many of us are unhappy or unfilled. The majority of the U.S. workforce (51%) is not engaged, according to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace report. 

The good news is that we have been studying human beings for a long time, and there is some good research and data around how people can choose the right jobs and careers. As MBA students begin to think about exploring career opportunities that resonate with themselves, while also taking into account the new world of work that we now are in, here are some recommendations based on research on how they can strategically choose the right career path unique to them.

1.Choose work that is engaging

In our careers, I’m sure we’ve all had times when we worked on something where we were so immersed in it that we looked up and were surprised to see that hours had passed by. I also know that we’ve all had times where we’ve had to do something where the time didn’t seem like it could move fast enough. In the most basic of breakdowns, what you do in your day job each day and each hour, and how engaged or motivated you are in the work you are doing is a critical aspect of finding the right job. 

If you’re going to spend 40-50 hours a week 52 weeks a year doing something, it is much more engaging and rewarding when the work holds your attention, in the good moments and the challenging ones, than work that is mundane, or boring.  Finding work that is engaging is critical to satisfaction. 

But outside of just a gut feel of “feeling engaged” what does engaging work actually look like? 

Research suggests there are four key factors to finding engaging work:

• Autonomy: Self determination theory teaches us that autonomy is one of the basic needs. In all aspects of our life (including work) we want some form of freedom to decide how we do and perform our work (what we do, and when do it.)
• Clear tasks: Working your way through tasks with a clearly defined start and end helps you to feel like you are working towards something and making progress, which provides motivation. Clear tasks also provide a sense of achievement, which has been linked to being a critical aspect of overall well-being.
• Variety: Having variety keeps us on our toes and fresh. When you get thrown a new assignment, it helps you stay engaged versus going on autopilot  
• Feedback: We want to know how well we are doing, or where we can improve, so we can course correct and adjust. Multiple studies have shown that high levels of feedback in a job lead to both increased motivation and general satisfaction at work.

Questions to Consider

• In your most recent role, what was a project you worked on that excited you? What specifically about it was exciting?
• In your most recent role, what was a project you worked on that you didn’t enjoy? What specifically about it was not appealing?
• What are the types of projects and assignments that you proactively ask for?

 

2.Choose work that helps others

There’s strong agreement within positive psychology that having a “sense of meaning” is crucial for driving overall happiness in your life.

Unsurprisingly, this translates to the workplace: according to hundreds of studies, feeling that your work contributes to an important cause is one of the most important factors for job satisfaction. Other research in psychology suggests that helping others is one of the most reliable ways to boost your own mood. Even small acts of generosity trigger changes in our brain that make us happier. 

Tom Rath, author of Strengths Finder and Life’s Great Question also agrees. In Life’s Great Question Rath writes, “A growing body of evidence suggests that the single greatest driver of both achievement and wellbeing is understanding how your daily efforts enhance the lives of others. Scientists have determined that we human beings are innately other-directed, which they refer to as being “prosocial.” According to top research who reviewed hundreds of studies on this subject, the defining features of a meaningful life are connecting and contributing to something beyond the self.” 

As you think about your career, consider how a potential career allows you to use your to serve others. This could be on a customer, like someone who works in sales or customer success, and helping customers by answering their questions and teaching them how to use your products or software. This could be serving others like employees, such as in being a people manager. As the renowned Professor Clayton Christensen once since, “management is the most noble of professions if done well.” And finally, helping others could mean directly impacting the organization or community, either as an executive, or perhaps even working directly with your customers as a small business owner.

Questions to ask yourself

• To what degree do you find meaning and happiness in helping others?
• What’s an example of when you helped others in your most recent job? What did you do, and how did that impact you?

3. Choose a career or work that you are good at

According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Martin Seligman, achievement is a central component to well-being. As human beings, we strive for some kind of achievement – we all know that it feels good when we achieve something that we’ve put a lot of time and effort into. Whether it’s solving a problem, working on a project, or mastering a skill, when we work at something and invest our time and energy into it we tend to look for and appreciate when we achieve some kind of positive result.  

With this in mind, consider finding a career we should find jobs where we can do just that – use strengths to achieve positive results and make contributions – and on the flipside, when we are doing a job where our skills and strengths are misaligned, we’ll probably be less happy. It’s important to note it’s probably not reasonable to expect to be good at every aspect of your job. Afterall, achievement is a series of steps of learning, growing and developing. On the other side, nobody wants to be in a job when they are constantly failing and not capable of achieving anything. Finding a job or career which allows us to use our strengths is not only good for enjoying our job, but also good for our overall well-being.

According to research at Gallup, people report being able to use their strengths in their job, are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their work, and three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life. Finally, Gallup recently asked job seekers what was most important to them in deciding whether or not to take a new job, and the most important factor was the “desire to use their strengths at work which even beat out increased income and job stability.

Throughout my career, I have worked in different industries and in different roles, but throughout each of them I have found myself most engaged and most impactful when I am using my strengths. For me, my strengths lie in collaborating with diverse teams, training, teaching and coaching other people, and presenting and speaking in front of small and large audiences. Knowing that I feel engaged as well as productive and impactful when I use these skills, I have always looked for roles and projects that utilize these strengths, and more often than not, when I get assigned these projects, I not only deliver great results, but truly enjoy the work. 

Questions to ask yourself:

• What are your strengths?
• What are some examples of things people ask you for advice about?
• What are the types of projects where people ask you for guidance on?
• What’s the best thing you ever did in your last job?

 

4. Choose a career that provides opportunity for learning and growth

We know what we are interested in right now, but we aren’t always good at knowing what we’ll be interested in the future. Multiple psychology studies have shown that we’re bad at predicting what we’ll enjoy in the future. What you find interesting as a 22-year-old graduate might not keep you engaged 10 years later. Furthermore, for many of us, learning on the job is something that we not only look for in our career, but also helps drive overall job satisfaction. In research by LinkedIn, they found that employees who spend time at work learning are 47% less likely to be stressed, 39% more likely to feel productive and successful, 23% more ready to take on additional responsibilities, and 21% more likely to feel confident and happy. Earlier, one of the core tenets of engaging work is the idea of variety, or the ability to do different or new things. Getting the chance to learn and acquire new skills and take on growth opportunities allows us to use the multitude of skills that we have, push our boundaries and experiences, and demonstrate competency in our work, which keeps us engaged and interested in what we are doing.

Early in my career as a management consultant, I was in a career that was constantly challenging me with learning and growth opportunities. While there were times when this was scary (showing up to a healthcare provider without ever having worked in a hospital was pretty daunting) I loved the pursuit of learning a new skill or industry, and felt engaged as it kept me on my toes. And when I was able to master a topic, or skill, it felt exciting and interesting to continue. Over the six years I worked in consulting I got to do so many different things, and while I ultimately decided to leave the industry, the endless opportunities for learning and growth were two of the reasons I stayed as long as I did,

Questions to Ask yourself

• In your most recent role, what did your role start as, and where did it finish?
• What are the skills you learned in your last job that you didn’t have when you started?

Conclusion

It’s important to remember that everyone is different and has their own unique life to live, and thus choosing a career is deeply personal, based on an individual’s unique circumstances, interests, and priorities. With that in mind, research suggests that finding a career that aligns to some of these four measures allows for humans to feel happy and fulfilled. Consider these factors as you decide on your career while in business school:

– Is the work engaging? 

– Does it serve a need, others, or both?

– Does it leverage my strengths and skills?

– Does it provide opportunities for learning and growth?