Career & Dreams

Welcome to your working life (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) – a sizzling year of doing what you love, the freedom to decide how you want to work and the authority to set your pay. You are passionate about your contribution and the people affected by your outputs. You decide on the working hours, the location, the boss (or no boss) and the  methods for delivering results.  You crunch the numbers to achieve your targeted earnings and benefits.

For thousands of employees, this is fairytale thinking in their career and organisation. They gave up the prospect of a fulfilling career, several jobs ago.  They are micro managed to the point of exhaustion.  They run in pay circles with their organisation.

Against this reality, my challenge to you this year is to go big in your career – dust off those dreams, revive lost aspirations and embrace the callings in your life. Make a big deal about doing what you love or finding what you love, for the first time in your career. The rest of your working life will be spent there.

To quote the poet, Kahil Gibran, “work is love made visible”. Organisations are gradually moving towards greater workplace freedoms. Do not wait for HR. Be the champion of change this year. Engage line management, participate in forums and propose business solutions. Strive to align the value of your work and potential financial rewards (hopefully the latter is higher!). You may want to negotiate higher pay in the current job, explore other positions in the marketplace or unlock value by starting a business.

It is easy to read this article and do little or nothing, based on your past experience. Some individuals feel trapped in a corner or a rut and believe there is no point in trying to change the course of their career. In the process, they become serial whiners defending a mediocre existence. Don’t sell out on your talents and the opportunity for a richer life. I urge you to go big in your career this year. Make a commitment to building your career in 2012, one working day at a time.

(Originally in Star Workplace, as Dust of your Dreams and Go Big this year, January 2008)

Meet George. In 2004, he completed a three year degree at a leading university. He joined the job hunting crowd, looked at dozens of positions and got interviewed for three. In the end, George went for the world class company that offered competitive remuneration, extensive training and opportunities to travel abroad.

He put in the hours and performed well. Honestly, he had little interest in the job, the training or work. George travelled a bit, mostly to crappy locations. He knew that life would get better as he climbed the ladder, while others job hopped.

After two years, George was promoted to a supervisor position, with a 20% pay increase, four weeks additional training and more travel. While he was proud to show off his new business card, he wasn’t too happy about managing five staff. He was bored, but got the job done. Fast forward to 2007 and he moved up to the manager rung for the local operations. George found little meaning in his day to day work, but he survived from one payday to the next. He was travelling a lot more, and soon resented spending weeks away from his family.

George was ambitious and believed that if he reached the next level, he could be happier in life. However he needed more than a degree and George sweated two years in MBA classes. He graduated cum laude. George continued working hard, patiently waiting to reap the rewards.

When the senior manager retired in 2010, George was in the running for the top job.

He easily beat the competitors, packing in the qualifications, experience and relationships for the position. George was appointed as Senior Manager – Africa & Middle East. He’d made it – the status of a position in a top company, a corner office, a plum remuneration package & bonus scheme and first class seats to exotic destinations.

Six months later, George had a heart attack and during his stay in hospital, pondered over what really mattered to him. He’d realised what many talented professionals still had to learn: he built his career by ignoring his passion, chasing qualifications & skills, climbing the ladder for more perks and doing a terrific job at something that he doesn’t want.

Are you climbing the wrong corporate ladder?

For 2011/2012, you should be tracking the job developments in your sector, using this rough guide:

Sectors adding jobs: public sector, energy, finance, tourism, ICT and personal services

Sectors losing jobs: clothing, manufacturing, construction and mining

Bear in mind that companies in these sectors may behave differently; you could find an IT company retrenching lower level staff and a construction company iring specialists.

Is your sector adding or losing jobs?

Europe increasingly popular among African and Middle Eastern MBAs

• International survey found that Europe is increasingly popular among African and Middle Eastern MBA candidates
• Germany displaces France to become 5^th most preferred MBA destination
• Top European business schools arrive in Johannesburg to recruit African candidates

According to the latest QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey 2010, there has been a 19.9% rise in the number of MBA candidates from Africa and the Middle East selecting UK, Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland as their preferred study destination from 2009-2010. In the same year, the number of candidates choosing the US as their preferred study destination dropped considerably from 71.1% to 60.4%. Germany has also become the fifth most preferred destination for the region’s MBA candidates, displacing France.

Ross Geraghty, managing editor of the TopMBA Career Guide says: “What is surprising about these MBA study destination preferences is the disparity between MBA applicants in different regions. The US is no longer dominant and more and more European countries are at the top of people’s lists. Germany has risen to prominence in recent years, especially among candidates from Africa and the Middle East.”

Nick Barniville, MBA director at ESMT European School of Management and Technology believes Germany’s high employment figures play a significant part in its popularity: “With its growing number of high-quality MBA programs, Germany is a prime destination for MBA candidates. The chance for employment after graduation is high. Over 90% of MBA students who graduated in December 2009 were in employment by March 2010. Over 60% of these graduates found employment in Germany.”

To meet this growing demand for European MBA programmes, some of the world’s best business schools in Europe such as Vlerick, ESMT, IE, IMD and ESSEC Business School among others from around world will be travelling with the QS World MBA Tour to Johannesburg on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 to meet and recruit some of the country’s best candidates. Candidates can register on www.topmba.com/mba-tour. Registration is free.

For more information, contact: Barak Cerff barak@qs.com, +27 (011) 867 3466

QS World MBA Tour               

The QS World MBA Tour is the world’s largest series of recruitment and information fairs for business school applicants. In 2010, over 60,000 MBA candidates registered to visit 85 events in 66 cities in 42 countries.

The QS World MBA Tour offers a unique opportunity to meet admissions officers of the world’s most influential business schools at venues around the world. Now in its seventeenth year, the Tour will consist of 83 events across 42 countries over five continents during 2011. 

QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey 2010    

The QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey 2010 is the largest survey of the mindset and aspirations of MBA applicants ever conducted. The results provide detailed insight into the status, attitudes, goals and ambitions of MBA applicant worldwide and how they, and the employment and education markets for young professionals, are changing.