Establishing Targets

After conducting your self-assessment, it is time to identify and research potential career pathways. People often jump at an available opportunity or into an active job search without having done the necessary due diligence up front to make informed career decisions.

This career exploration step is critical.  Establishing targets enables you to determine the fit between your goals and current marketplace conditions. Although the process is time-consuming, many MBA and MS students have reported that this stage contributed significantly to their successful career transitions.

Identify Potential Career Pathways

You may have already identified a few target industries or functional areas based on your interests, as a result of participating in career-focused educational events through the Career Management Center and/or CBS Student Clubs, or after considering your results from CareerLeader.  Consider alternative options that will also meet your long-term career goals, especially if your target roles are particularly competitive.  The Career Management Center recommends that you develop at least three related target areas to pursue; for example, if the functional or geographic area you wish to work in is more important than the industry, opening your search to several industries will enable you to be more effective in your job search.

See the following example of how one student approached the process of identifying several career options:

Sample Career Goals

Background Summary: Four years in marketing for a pharmaceutical company prior to business school.  Longer term goal to advance into a management role with P & L responsibility.

Target A: Strategic Consulting

Fit with Key Ingredients? Yes
Feasible? Yes
Industry experience: Transferable skills including Client management, Project management, Problem solving, Presentation skills

Targets:

Large strategy firms
Small/boutique shops
Marketing consulting firms

Target B: Internal Consulting/Strategic Planning

Fit with Key Ingredients? Yes
Feasible? Yes: Similar function, Industry experience, Similar skills utilized
Flip side/clients of external consulting firms

Targets:  

Pharmaceuticals (relevant industry experience)

Consumer products companies (related industry/also client industry of targeted consulting firms)

Target C: Finance

Fit with Key Ingredients? Yes
Feasible? Possibly
Depending on the industry and company, may need to strengthen quantitative/analytical skills

Research Career Options


Begin researching your target areas using the resources listed below.  Use your Key Ingredients and 20 Year Vision Worksheets to ensure your targets are truly aligned with your interests/goals. You will want to obtain as much information as you can before reaching out to your networking contacts so that you come across as better prepared and are able to gather more in-depth information.  (See the Networking section for information on approaching networking contacts)

The Target Fit & Feasibility Worksheet can be used to organize your research data.  Use the resources below to fill in the worksheet:

As you research your options, gather the following information for each target:

  1. Types of positions — where is your entry point?
  2. Competitiveness of marketplace — what is the marketplace demand?
  3. Recruiting practices — how do prospective employees get hired?
  4. Typical career progression — how and into what types of positions do people advance?
  5. Corporate culture — what is the workplace environment, and what are the predominant work values?
  6. Lifestyle considerations — are there any work/life fit constraints?
  7. Salary range — what are starting salaries?

You will also need to obtain information on:

  1. Industry trends — including threats and opportunities
  2. Key Players
  3. Financials
  4. Products or Services

Determine Feasibility of Targets

While you may have a number of potential pathways, some are more feasible than others. It is important to understand if these options align with your skills and experience, which you can do by researching marketplace conditions.

Important aspects to consider:

  • The skills and experiences most valuable in your next career step may be different from those that were valued in your present and past positions
  • Match your transferable skills and experiences to the targeted position and/or organization
  • Pinpoint specific skills and accomplishments that demonstrate how you can add value to the organization and go beyond generic labels like “communication skills” or “analytical skills”
  • Determine gaps in your skill set or knowledge, and either create a plan to address those gaps or create more realistic targets

Make use of the transferable skills and target fit & feasibility worksheets to enable you to validate your targets as well as help focus your outreach.

Create Target Company Lists

Once you have assessed the feasibility of your targets, you are prepared to enter the active phase of your job search.  Use the guides listed below to add to the the Target Company & Tracking spreadsheet and organize your search. Be sure to use a variety of targeted search methods including:  networking, job postings, and on-campus interviews as appropriate.

How do I find information on a specific industry?

How do I build a target list of companies and research them?

Speak with your fellow students, including ones in various programs at Columbia Business School: full-time, Executive Education, and MS programs.  Use the online CBS student facebook and student resume books accessed via the COIN homepage, as well as utilizing alumni searches on LinkedIn.  Download and search through the Student Employment Database to see where full-time second-years and recent full-time alumni did their internships and were hired after graduation.

For industry-specific resources, visit the Research section.

Click here to learn how to create daily job posting e-mails to keep you up to date.