ESSAY 1
I got my Bachelors Business Administration degree in 2007. Since then, I have worked for a number organizations. My experience working across different cultures has been remarkably educative and exciting. I have gained invaluable skills and developed essential networks relevant to my work.
While I have had an exhilarating experience, I have faced with several setbacks as I pursue further career and personal development. One of the reasons I have decided to acquire a graduate degree in business is changing dynamics in the job market. Employers are seeking individuals harboring experience, skills and who are highly educated. Millions of my collegues have the same level of education as I do, therefore, limiting my competitive edge. Many more individuals are pursuing graduate studies. I have, therefore, decided to go back to school to ensure my job security as well as career development.
Another factor that has played a part in my decision to go to graduate school is my desire to acquire specialized knowledge in the marketing field. It has become necessary for any top marketer to update their skills and knowledge in the field, due to changing markets. A graduate degree provides me with an opportunity to become skilled at adapting to the dynamic markets.
I intend to operate my own business in the near future. Graduate school is sufficiently suited to equip me with entrepreneurial skills that are necessary to run a business successfully. A graduate degree will improve my ability to innovate and compete in a market where my competitors have been thriving for some time.
Criteria for Business School Selection
When considering Business schools in the US, I have had a variety of guides. These have helped me choose the appropriate business school for my needs. My top three criteria for Business School selection are; the presence of experienced faculty, an innovative graduate program and presence of a career guidance program.
It is essential to me that my instructors and professors have the right credentials in terms of their educational background and experience in their fields. This is due to the fact that a top graduate program ought to have the right teaching staff in order to maximize on the duration spent in the school.
Innovation is crucial for me since it enables an individual to advance in a field where almost all players have the same level of education and experience. A graduate school should impart on a student the values of innovation in his or her field. In my field of work, innovation is essential since consumers have access to a significant number of innovative products. Employers are also looking for individuals who are innovative. I, for that reason, consider innovation as an essential part of the graduate program I choose.
Career development is one of the reasons I am considering graduate school. A career guidance program ensures that I get the relevant material to make the right decisions for my career. The presence of a career guidance program is, therefore, vital for my specific purpose.
Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business is one of the oldest and largest graduate schools in the world. The Zicklin School of Business satisfies all the three criteria. The professors are experienced in their specific fields, the graduate program has components of innovation and the school has a career guidance program for its graduate students.
Why I Chose My Most Recent Job
My current job involves the management of residential property in New York City. I have been a property manager for Charles Coutinho LLC since November of 2011, after working for more than a year as an assistant property manager. My job entails the oversight of up to 215 units in 8 apartment buildings. I am responsible of ensuring that the properties are up to standard while improving their efficiency. It is also on me to ensure consistently high occupation rates.
I had varied reasons for taking up my current job. Having worked as an assistant for more than a year, my interests in the intricacies of the job had grown. As an assistant, my duties were basic. I, however, had a desire to take up the premium role of the manager which put me in a position to make crucial decisions concerning the properties I managed. Therefore, when the opportunity presented I ensured that I got the job.
Another rather obvious reason why I took up my job is the better pay. The income bump ensured that I was able to sustain myself while still saving for other uses such as graduate school.
However, perhaps the most influential factor that led me to take up the role of property manager is the challenge and the opportunity to develop my career further. The job involves challenging tasks such developing and instituting policies that affect the properties I manage. The job also requires me to maintain a significant number of relationships with both my superiors and juniors. This task is challenging as some instances require me to make decisions that potentially affect either or both of these groups of people. I have, however, found that the challenges contribute substantially to my development as a manager. They force me to find the best solutions for the problems facing my properties as well as my juniors.
Professional Challenges
I have faced a formidable deal of challenges in my field of work and personal life. These problems have, nevertheless, helped build my character. In retrospect, the most daunting challenge that I have faced is adapting to new jobs and markets for which I was not trained.
My undergraduate training focused on marketing. It was focused on the different aspects that make a marketer. However, when I started working, my first job was at an insurance firm in Ukraine as an executive assistant and a translator. This job required immense adjustments and adaptation, since I was not trained for the tasks I was assigned. I had to adjust my expectations and learn new skills to help me perform in this particular job.
Even though my second job was in the field that I had trained for, it was in a different market; the USA. Here, I had to learn how consumers in this culture think and spend. Cultural differences provided a number of challenges. Consumers here were different from those in Europe. I got my second job in the USA was in the real estate field. It required me to acquire a new set of skills by undertaking a series of training and certification examinations. Another challenge arose when I got the managerial position. I had to learn fast how to perform at a level in the organization I had not had before.
That said, I can confidently say that this particular challenge has enabled me to develop and become more flexible in my career. It has also opened up my mind to the limitless possibilities for my career.
Reasons for My Success
Success to me refers to the aspect of developing in life despite facing challenges. Many aspects of my character have ensured my success in the various jobs I have had. They have enabled me to tackle difficulties and emerge unscathed.
The main reason that I have been able to succeed in my career is my perseverance and endurance. As part of my upbringing, perseverance was compulsory. I was taught that enduring difficult events and challenges would always have positive results. I have, consequently, ensured that I endured any difficulties that I faced during my educational and career advancement. Endurance leaves an individual stronger than before. I have also learnt to carefully choose my battles and let go any that I felt I could not win or did not want.
Another significant factor to my success has been education and training. Education, and in particular my undergraduate training has allowed me to explore opportunities in different professional areas. It has also opened my mind to critical and innovative thinking. Also, employers are more willing to employ individuals with degrees rather than those without degrees. Professional training such as realtor certification training has facilitated the expansion of my career in various fields.
I also credit my success in several of my jobs to creativity. I have found that innovation and creative thinking increases the value of an individual in an organization. For instance, I have been able to improve efficiency in my present job and hence add value to the company by means of profits, through creative thinking and innovative strategies. Hence, creativity has given me an edge over other people and ensured my success.
Need for Character and the Ability to Think
The statement by Bernard Baruch is particularly true in more than one sense. It also applies to every individual and covers the past, present and future of professional behavior. I can also identify with Mr. Baruch having studied and worked in more than one culture. The importance of individual’s character and his or her ability and willingness to think surpasses time, culture, technological development and field of work. I have observed and learnt that for one to succeed in the field of business or any other competitive field; they require these two key aspects. Even though there have been cases of success where the individuals were lacking in character and thinking capacity, the same cases have shown that for one to maintain a certain level of success they ought to think and uphold their character.
In my understanding, character is an individual’s mental and moral values. Character is what describes an individual in society. It separates one from the other billions of people in the world. While a character is known to be one of the most crucial factors of success most people do not strive to develop it. Moreover, most people who want to develop their character are faced with daunting challenges. I am one of these people. In my professional life, I have worked hard to develop my character. I, however, have consistently been met with challenges that have left me questioning whether it is worth the trouble.
For instance, in Ukraine, to get a job in any good company in the past, one had to bribe their way there. I was, as a result, faced with a dilemma; bribing for a job would compromise my character while not bribing might have left me with no income to support myself. I chose to build my character and accept a job that most graduates might have deemed beneath them. This sacrifice has since paid off as I am at a better professional place than my colleagues back in Ukraine. Consequently, I have succeeded in my career by growing my character.
The capacity to think might be relative depending on his or her IQ. However, the ability to think can also be improved by learning. This is the main purpose of school; to equip an individual with enough skills to think by themselves. While this aspect of thinking limits one to level of education, it is the willingness to think that is an individual’s choice. Millions of people have the ability to think and solve most of the problems facing society. However, most are unwilling to do so. Willingness to think presents a new dynamic to the statement by Mr. Baruch. Even though technology has made tasks easier, one has to be willing to think in order to benefit from the technological development (Cowan, 2011). Technology does not replace thinking. My individual experience has taught me to always think carefully and at times fast before doing anything. Even though thinking slows down work at times, I have found that it makes work easier and improves efficiency.
My understanding of the statement by Bernard Baruch is that technology development should not replace the need to uphold character and the role of thought in any profession.
References
Cowan, R. (2011). A social history of American Technology. New York: OUP
