每週MBA生涯解惑專欄：Career Goal Essay答疑

看板GMAT (GMAT入學考試)作者airturtle23 (三隻小豬)時間1周前 (2025/06/21 15:01)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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Monday Blue Buster 每週MBA生涯解惑專欄：Career Goal Essay答疑原文出自： https://tinyurl.com/2yx6thqx 很少看到有人在討論文件的工程問題，來拋磚引玉一下。 Q: 大家看看我的Goal 是否有大漏洞： I have a long term plan to build up my own software company in IT industry. China has so many talents of software engineering, but China dose not own world famous software companies. While, India’s software industry have boomed up and cultivated many well-known native software firms, such as InfoSys and Satyam. On the other side, foreign software and solution companies, such as SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, almost occupied China’s software industry. Ironically, they hosted their R&D centers in China and hired a bunch of Chinese engineers. I aspire to take the responsibility to alter the situation and foster a world-class software service provider from China. For this goal, first of all, I should build and sharpen my business capabilities before 35 years old. In Intel, I inspired my potential and learned a lot about various leadership styles, effective team work, customer orientation, and business operation. Especially, Intel’s open and global working environment cultivated me to be a pro-active and initiative guy with global thinking. However, only a UNC MBA program can offer me systematic business management trainings to improve my general skill-sets of international business operation. Secondly, I need a business co-partner, who are smart and passion. In a top MBA school, it will be easy to get this task done. Thirdly, I should find out the venture capital to support the setup of my business. So I prefer study in US for my MBA program, where it is relatively easier to get capital support. A: 根據筆者遇過眾多個案錄取Harvard MBA、Yale MBA w/scholarship、Cornell……等常春藤及top 20 mba獎學金的經驗，以及遇過眾多無美籍、無背景的個案，進入美國頂尖企業如：管顧、尖牙股、PE/VC等企業任職的經驗來看，這篇essay有遠大目標是很好的！尤其是輸人不輸陣及捨我其誰的精神，很令人景仰。競爭力也強，能在Intel歷練。對市場觀察也有大方向了解。但不知為何要從硬體轉軟體，也不知道最關鍵的”why you?” 還有很多細部問題。不解決是不會錄取的，也無法實現生涯目標。下面是問題與建議：而這篇除了無差別趨勢目標以外，主要是犯了絕大多數申請人都容易犯的謬誤，叫做「將錯就錯」--「因為我過去工作爬升遇到瓶頸......，所以未來目標就設定為OOXX」。這中間有幾大謬誤： 1. 只為了你自己，而不是為了社會或市場; 2. 你怎麼知道自己的潛力只有學歷與工作資歷？而其實有大量「海面下的冰山」隱藏技能，比重甚至比學經歷多出好幾倍; 3. 生涯目標從何而來？只能從學經歷往未來推論嗎？為什麼大陸軟體業被外商佔據，你就要開一家世界級軟體公司？兩者之間並無關聯。看起來跟全球其他成千上萬的申請人所追的趨勢（如：AI、FinTech、Healthcare）差不多嗎？如果有更遠大、更開放的生涯目標呢？ 4. 為何由你來執行此目標？熱情、性格、能力從何而來？畢業就業時會不會搖擺？（請見前文「拉普拉斯惡魔上、下篇」） 5. 把自己的生涯疑難這個燙手山芋丟給學校，但學校其實反而希望你去救他的就業數字. .....等問題。從學校排名條件來看，申請人可控條件63%中的50%都跟就業有關，佔了8成左右。剩下的13% gmat/gre除了m7以外，多半可以不用考。（權威排名之條件如下： https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/business-schools-methodology ）由此可知，學校是在模擬就業。而career goal essay最關鍵的是「生涯雷射」--為什麼是你？又能夠做到你文中所說的目標？有何過去足跡能證實未來真的能「喊水會結冰」？首先是語氣平鋪直敘，沒有看到什麼熱情所在。原則上，在我們一生只活一次的寶貴人生裡，在面對「雖千萬人吾往矣」的非你不可生涯使命，應該會有強大的熱情出現在語氣之中。尤其在面對全球成千上萬申請人的競爭，沒有強大而堅定的使命動機召喚，是難以脫穎而出的，更別提實現快樂致富生涯了。例如：”As a seasoned healthcare practitioner, whenever I see somebody dies from unethical healthcare malpractice, I feel furious and am eager to make change…...” 或 “When I witnessed some elite MBA alumni asked their previous colleagues to say something good to their previous bosses, and wanted to go back to work in the same role, I felt frustrated and am determined to develop powerful career management tools to help these people find their callings……” 長程目標有大方向，但方向太大了。講到大陸與印度趨勢都很好。不過以上狀況都無關緊要。主要問題有幾大點：一是大陸與印度有這些趨勢，但只是總體經濟面。跟您個人生涯的關係為何? 要有細部的個人動機結合。二是為什麼這樣的趨勢要由你來執行這樣的目標? 有什麼個人興趣、個性與能力，或特別經歷與其他競爭者區隔? 為什麼十幾億人要由你來執行，而不是別人? 你跟別人有什麼不同? 這篇essay主要問題就是：幾乎可以套在其他十億人身上，沒有很強的個人獨特性與區隔。從上述的排名邏輯可以了解，學校其實最擔心、也最想要看到的，其實是「申請人就業不要搖擺」！而當出現原始文件的「創立能與頂尖外商抗衡的軟體公司」如此大哉問生涯目標，卻又沒有明確的性格特性、能力與來源，就會讓招生委員出現「方形西瓜」的錯覺--每個人都可以提出如此幾乎是天方夜譚的遠大目標，卻沒有看到任何為何非你不可的原因描述，以及任何執行策略與細節，卻把問題丟給學校。這樣學校是不會輕易買單了。而全篇career goal essay其實最重要的就是你的個性特性，尤其是「來源」，才能將你的「拉普拉斯惡魔」具象化--也就是除了知道北斗七星現在的形狀，還要知道它一萬年前是什麼形狀，七顆星各自的軌跡為何？就能推導出一萬年後的形狀，而且不會搖擺。這樣才能讓學校放心就業數字。並且，會出現「生涯雷射」—從以前到未來兩點之間，最短的距離是直線。這樣你的出身、到生涯動機與目標，才會比其他申請人專注，並且出現「甩鞭效應」，輕輕一甩就能把目標物擊飛。 “The reason why I love programming is because it comes from fundamental logic ……and I’ve been accidentally yet profoundly trained with such fundamental logic since young to defend my freedom from my controlling parents……” “The reason why I’m naturally called to be a luxury real estate salesperson is because since young I’ve suffered from my family members’ Compulsive hoarding, and space is like air for me, which was rare since I was little…… ” 三是沒有明確的細部目標與具體實踐方式。內容講的方向很大，有什麼細部目標與計畫，能一步一步將大方向目標完成? 必須要有 break down細目，以及動機目標，跟你的獨特關係。 “As a programming enthusiast, from an engineering perspective I found that even the most established algorithm has blind spots……and I was fortunate to detect one of the most hidden bugs, and won the gratification letter from the oo iconic brand thanking me for helping them optimize the algorithm……” “……and that’s why I heard my calling that I have the gift and potential to build a strong brand that surpasses the existing ones……” 四是定義模糊。 software太多了，要講出是哪種software，然後為什麼是這種software？市場在哪？為什麼會有這市場? 可能因為某某趨勢或市場需求～您的公司要多大規模？資金來源為何？為什麼非得這樣做不可？當前業界狀況如何？你所看到的願景又是如何？為什麼你覺得這種願景會實現？...等等這些基礎條件要先定義好之後，跟您現在的能力與資源有何差異？找出中間的gap以後，才會具體知道需要加強哪些部分：是需要marketing? 還是需要finance? 還是需要entrepreneurship? 必須要把這些細目都定義清楚，才會發現是否欠缺MBA訊練。而需要的是MBA的哪些部份？又為什麼是UNC？非UNC不可？ UNC強項並不在entrepreneurship，而是在general management 與consulting。但跟你的目標與現狀，都還沒有任何證據能夠結合。必須要將這些證據明確列出，才會有面試機會，並且進而錄取，甚至拿獎。第五是對生涯未來有預設前提。為什麼會出現一個轉折點在35歲？而不是33歲或38歲? 需要有個理由或證據，不能無中生有。然後回到定義模糊的問題。你所指的business capability是哪些？要有明細。你可以說需要有managing people and leadership，能夠帶領企業團隊。那麼你目前的管理能力已經具備甚麼規模？是哪方面？是vision？還是managerial economics？strategic planning？quantitative analysis ？還是motivation skills？還是coordination skills？delegation？還是pitching and fundraising skills？還是project management？reward management？還是 empathetic leadership？還是哪個具象的領導力面向？為什麼會需要這些領導面向？跟生涯目標有什麼關係？又跟學校有什麼關係？為什麼非你不可？例如：要有international economics、marketing research及consumer behavior能力，才能知道市場在哪; 要有financial accounting與corporate finance，及investment management，才能知道如何企業籌資; 有innovation management、IT product development and project management，甚至還要pricing、channel management、managerial accounting、international product marketing，才能知道如何開發新軟體產品，成本為何？定價為何？通路為何？以及如何行銷...等。您下頭講到的這段就相當接近: In Intel, I inspired my potential and learned a lot about various leadership styles, effective team work, customer orientation, and business operation. Especially, Intel’s open and global working environment cultivated me to be a pro-active and initiative guy with global thinking. 不過沒講完，要再往下延伸。例如：要把customer orientation定義更精細完整。 customer orientation的目的是為了satisfy particular demands，並且capitalize feasible profit。然後跟學校課程結合：所以你需要UNC的consumer behavior course，來知道消費者到底在想什麼？以及 market research來找出市場需求...等。後面這段有點抽象： Especially, Intel’s open and global working environment cultivated me to be a pro-active and initiative guy with global thinking. However, only a MBA program can offer me systematic business management trainings to improve my general skill-sets of international business operation. 不太知道你的pro-active and initiative定義是什麼？為什麼會需要這些特質？又為什麼這會需要MBA訓練？可以換一種更具體的講法，例如： Grown from a public servant family that nurtured me with bureaucratic parenting treatment, I’ve developed superior rationale to not only defend my freedom against such arbitrary parenting treatment, but also made me capable of building large-scale, million-layer structured logic framework to substantially boost CPU efficiency by 8.7%, while reducing thermal redundancy by 6.3%. As I’m the first person in the big family to graduate from college, I aim to achieve greater impact to honor my family, and I plan to expand my impact from CPU to related softwares, so as to achieve better software-hardware integration. As Steve Jobs once said, “If you want to build your own software you must build your own Hardware.” I hence need Hass’ signature Applied Innovation courses, including International Business Development (IBD), Design Sprint for Corporate Innovation, and Design, Evaluate and Scale Development Technologies to equip me how to assess international user behavior, and develop user-centered programs... 這些Essay並不只是在寫什麼故事，而是你的真實人生使命，並且能夠實際與MBA課程結合，才能將使命與管理工具結合，發揮到極致，而使產業烏托邦能夠實現。不然即使念完名校，也沒辦法派上用場。最後一點是外求於人。找co-partner沒問題，但是這個人似乎比你的能力更為強大？若是這樣，你本身的價值將會相對降低。又這樣的co-partner如果真的要這樣找，何不直接飛到學校附近旅行幾天，到學校酒吧喝幾杯，交交朋友就行了。不需要念個MBA這麼大投資。簡單講是需要具體細項目標與執行方式，並跟個人獨特性與生涯方向結合; 再解釋學校的細項特性來做結合。這樣才能超越學校，讓學校來追你。 Sincerely, David Lee -- 李大衛生涯管理中心 David Lee's Career Management UNESCO聯合國教科文組織御用「SWLS快樂測驗」滿分 NSHMBA美國最大MBA徵才會（現擴大為Prospanica）首位華人顧問新網站上線！www.mbacareerfitter.com 預約免費初談email:davidl@mbacareerfitter.com YouTube頻道：https://www.youtube.com/@DavidLeeMBACareerFitter -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 101.10.49.139 (臺灣) ※ 文章網址: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/GMAT/M.1750489277.A.740.html ※ 編輯: airturtle23 (101.10.49.139 臺灣), 06/21/2025 15:52:20