As a graduate, I will be presented with diverse options. These include getting a job, enrolling in a graduate school or volunteering among others. It is apparent that the decision that I will opt for has the potential of shaping my life course in the future. In this respect, it becomes unchallengeable that each graduate should have the ability to engage in an informed opportunity analysis to select the best option among the available. When conducting an opportunity analysis, one needs to consider various aspects that characterize every option. This should include evaluating the benefits and threats that each option presents. With such knowledge, one can easily endorse the option that would eventually result in the highest satisfaction. Furthermore, one should look at his or her background and aspirations to be able to select the best option. The paper presents an opportunity analysis plan in which I intend to compare and contrast between the options of getting a job vs. going to a graduate school.
Based on self-analysis, I will opt for getting a job instead of joining a graduate school after graduation. The decision is informed by the considering that getting a job will open up more opportunities for me while empowering strongly towards attaining my inspirations. It is apparent that joining a graduate school is also a calculative and promising option; however, getting a job appears ideal in my case. Particularly, I will try my best to get a job as a junior finance analyst. Financial Analyst career would provide me a good platform and experience that I need to attain my dreams. Through pursuing this career, I would be in a position to utilized diverse skills and knowledge that I have acquired through my undergraduate program. This is because, through the experience of the field that I am studying, I would be in a position to pursue a graduate degree confidently since I will have had prior experience. Through the diverse analysis that I have conducted regarding finance, it is evident there are many opportunities that exist that require financial assistance. This is due to changes in the economy where there are diverse opportunities that I can choose.
My decision is initially informed by the consideration that getting a job will only act as a platform on which I can successfully study a graduate program with ease struggle in the future. For example, it is unchallengeable that after venturing in the career world, I will be in a better position of choosing the best graduate program to pursue. This is because I will have first-hand experience of the real situation that characterizes the work environment. In essence, I will understand and go through aspects that challenge and undermine service delivery in the field of finance. Furthermore, I will be at a position of identifying a gap in the field, thus selecting a program that would empower me towards filling this gap in the future. In contrast, joining a graduate program freshly after graduation presents as a riskier undertaking. Unlike the case initially noted for the first option of getting a job, it is apparent that I can easily make a mistake while selecting a graduate program to pursue because I will be less informed. My decision on which program to study in this case will purely be based on the opinions and feelings of the others but not first-hand information and experience. This significance of ensuring that I made the appropriate decision on which program to study is unchallengeable considering the distressing effect of pursuing a wrong course.
Furthermore, getting a job first will empower me financially. Apparently, pursuing a graduate course requires adequate financing and support. This means that enrolling for a graduate course directly is not an ideal option for me especially considering my financial base. Such a decision would easily be characterized with serious financial crisis and distress that may affect my performance. In this context, I endorse the idea of getting a job that will offer me a chance of accumulating enough finance that I can use to fund my graduate program in the future. With adequate funding, I am guaranteed a comparatively smooth learning experience, a situation that is central to better performance (Mark 41). Moreover, getting a job will offer me more opportunities such that I will be at a higher chance of securing a scholarship to study a graduate program. For example, I will understand areas that businesses have serious needs while understanding their strategic plans. Often, businesses are willing to educate their employees as a career development plan; the opportunity that I can constructively utilize.
As a junior financial analyst, I expect that I will be in a position to conduct various duties. This may involve the preparing of diverse documents and business portfolios that should be well organized for further analysis by my superiors. Through the skills that I have, I look forward towards being entitled with the role of collecting data from various clients’ portfolios that will be essential in helping me develop business models. This is because I am looking forward to working with diverse clients that want business models developed through the potential that they have. My decision not to directly venture into acquiring a graduate degree is the interest that I have come to acquire in pursuing a field experience of the studies that I have pursued about analysis.
It is, however, clear that despite various benefits that characterize an option of getting a job in preference to enrolling in a graduate program; the option also presents some challenges. The main challenge is that I might easily get lost in the career world, thus lacking time to develop my academic life. This essentially means that I might get a very demanding and overwhelming job that enrolling for a graduate program in the future might be tricky. A rational argument discrediting the idea of getting a job first is that it would be appropriate for one to finish up with academic life before venturing into the career world. However, I am intending to work on this challenge by ensuring that I remain vigilant to my progress and goals while balancing my undertakings. Based on the presented analysis, it is evident that getting a job is a better option for me rather than enrolling in a graduate program.
Work Cited
Mark P. The Portable Financial Analyst: What Practitioners Need to Know. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2004. Internet resource.
