Today’s blog entry is written by guest writer, Shashank Upadhyay, one of our Indian participants.
We have completed the so called OCR period! OCR (On Campus Recruiting) is actually a lot more than just a 2 week intense period of on campus company visits and interviews; it’s also a tough emotional journey that we as a class, along with the career services team, go through during this challenging MBA year.
Personally, I think that while job interviews with some of the biggest brands in the corporate world are important, a lot happens outside those 1 hour interviews which is equally, if not more, important for a person.
Firstly, there is the happy side of OCR: people getting job offers, moving to the second round of company interviews and some identifying companies and roles which they hadn’t really thought of before. But perhaps more important is how you react to all this – do you get complacent after getting that first offer or does it give you the self-confidence to reach out for even stiffer goals? Do you take the first job offer you get to be sure you can pay off your loans, even knowing it is not your dream job, or do you hold out and remain optimistic? How do you continue the level of energy and focus in the rounds to come?
For a lot of us, landing that dream job you have worked for and focused on over the last 9 months is the true test of your own strategy and what you have learnt.
On the flip side, however, how easy it is to beat yourself up over that one silly mistake made in an interview the day before, realising that it has cost you your dream job when instead you should be focusing on the task at hand and getting ready with the perfect smile and firm handshake to make a killer first impression in the next interview.
The way one handles a success or a setback tells a lot more about the kind of person one is. Although a lot is written and said on this topic, I think it’s a matter for introspection. A few months from now most of us won’t remember the interview we didn’t get through, but the reaction we had to that will probably remain the same in the face of the next failure.
I have seen people being very cautious and sensitive in celebrating their success around classmates knowing that some have not yet experienced the same success, a sign of maturity and the sense of being one as the class of MBA 2016. On the other hand, we have also had people who have yet to receive a job offer throw parties to celebrate a friend’s success in securing their dream job.
As the end of the program approaches, so these dynamics between those who have secured a job versus those who have yet to receive their desired job offer will surely become more challenging – we will need to be able to continue to find that balance of celebrating successes while helping and motivating those still interviewing, negotiating or waiting for final contracts and visas.
If IMD teaches you one thing it’s about understanding your reaction to events – do you use the learnings from experiences and continue to pursue your dream or do you just give up? The one thing to remember is that you always have a choice!
