Beware the Ides of March

March 16th, 2006 • Business, Random Musings

Yeah, I know I’m a day late with the title of this post but I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday. I’m now in the throes of figuring out what I want to do after graduation in May. I’m exploring a lot of different options but I had an interesting meeting/interview last night. The person I was talking to posed this question:

“So what do you see yourself doing in five years?”

So I pondered the question and answered with a resounding:

“I don’t know.”

After some muddling about and me mentioning that “it depends” and “I can see myself doing this ["this" being the job I was meeting for - I won't discuss the specifics just yet] for a while as long as it keeps being fun.” This person then says:

“Wow, that answer isn’t like any MBA I know. Most MBAs have their paths plotted out. Even if it is the wrong path. It’s good that you are comfortable enough in an interview to be uncertain about what you want to do.”

I thought that comment was quite funny. Shouldn’t everyone be open and honest in an interview in terms of their wants, desires, and long term goals? Sure, you might want to get the job but isn’t it more important to get the right job? If I haven’t been in an industry before (like the one I was talking to this person about), how can I know that it is the right fit for me for long term happiness? I don’t think there is any way for me to know that. But maybe others are just more aware of what they want than I am. I seem to do better stumbling through stuff until I find something really fun and exciting to do.

My thought is to always be open and honest when you go through the process of finding a new professional home. It will only help you in the end and it will, hopefully, keep you from going down a career choice that doesn’t make sense for you.

So the search continues. What to do, what to do? Time will tell.

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