3 Life Lessons to know before you seek that MBA degree!

As the founder of CrackVerbal and a leading MBA consultant, I keep getting asked a few questions. Over and over again. Year after year.

The students change, but the questions remain the same. And all these years, my answers have remained the same too. 

I am reproducing here the 3 questions, along with my 3 life mantras to go along with it.

Question # 1: Should I even work or just wait another year & go for an MBA?

You are probably still in college. You probably seriously started thinking about your career a couple of years ago. And whatever little you know is through what you have had.

Try getting into a job that expects you to be on time, meeting tight deadlines, and be professional.

That’s it!

You will realize that it is all-together a different ball-game.

Welcome to the real world!

I seriously think, you, or anyone in a similar position should give it a shot and get your hands dirty on the job-floor (literally speaking).

Hey! It’s not that bad. You will get an SMS alert about your salary credit at the end of the month.

Lesson No. 1: A truck is going to hit you enroute to office, nothing worse can happen by working in a real-job. And really nothing in the world is NOW or NEVER, except an old song by Elvis.

Question #2: Doing an MBA would give me a kickass job that pays me a LOT. Right?

Everyone under 20 might dream of this ephemeral job that gives you a chauffeured Merc, a summerhouse in Khandala, and a fat enough paycheck to take vacations in the French Riviera. To boot, the grapevine adds, they get to work just 40hours a week.

The route is as simple as it gets: crack a 99.9x %ile in CAT, and get to IIM-A. Or score an obscenely high GMAT score (> 770) and land an admit at Harvard or Wharton or Stanford. Once that is done – then work in a top-notch consulting firm or an investment bank that gives you a $100,000 joining bonus.

That’s it.

Period.

As seductive as the above formula sounds - none of the above really happens!(even if it does, the probabilistic value of the person reading is article being one is too low to be counted to have any relevance).

Most of us end up going to “average” B- schools and end up usually becoming corporate plumbers - cleaning the corporate pipes of the syndicated gunk. And that’s okay!

Stallone did pizza delivery and Brad Pitt was a limo driver before they struck rich.

So it is OKAY to get into a dead-end job if that is what you get first.

But hey! I know what kind of job you are eventually shooting at and I don't think it is a bad thing to start off with.

But welcome to the real world!

Lesson No.2: Be realistic. I wanted to be a pilot in school but settled for B.Sc. after 12th.

Question #3: But aren't all post-MBA jobs going to be really challenging & something I would love to do?

Will the guys who "love EVERYTHING about their job" please raise their hands? Hello?

Anybody home?

Silence?

You get the drift? :)

Once again, Welcome to real world!!

The truth is every job has its share of janitorial duties. EVERY job.

I know of Ivy League grads who are stuck in jobs with a great pay but with social lives equivalent to that of an Yeti.

People earning in 7-figures who crib about how they "hate their job".

But hey, they are sticking on because they still want to reach to that elusive job which they feel will give them what they want. And it’s okay to play the waiting game.

Lesson No. 3: If you love challenges climb Mount Everest. But most jobs involve a lot of routine stuff but how you get ahead depends on how enterprising you are.

If you have come all the way here, it mean you liked reading this, and the message resonated with you. I would love to hear from you in the comments section! :)

You can mail me on [email protected] or follow me on twitter @arunjagan