Slip sliding away

Listen carefully. You hear that? That is the sound of my MBA career coming to a close. I became more keenly aware of this on Thursday night when I went out to Franklin Street and found very few people to hang out with. Most of my classmates have left town either for the beach or to visit loved ones before coming back for graduation. It’s a bit frustrating that so many people in my class have solidified their plans for post graduation and I still haven’t found anything yet.

 

My phone interview on Thursday with the internet division of a cable television network went well. We began with the casual small talk and I mentioned in passing an item I saw on that company’s web page. The interviewer asked if I am a long time user and I told a story about how I lost an umbrella last month and used that company’s web page to find out when it rained last to help me figure out where I could have left it. I then mentioned having recently installed a software product made by that company and told her what I like and don’t like about it and how it compares to that product’s main competitor. She said what I told her reflected what the consumer focus groups have been telling her over the years.

 

She then told me that while she really liked what I had to say, she unfortunately had to tell me that the product manager position for which I was applying for had already been filled. This didn’t come as a total surprise because about 20 minutes before the interview, I had gone onto the web page to take a look at the job description and saw that it had disappeared. She then told me about a product analyst position that was still available, gave me a brief description of how it compares to the product manager position, and told me to look it over and give her a decision by Friday as to whether I was interested. I thanked her for her time and promised her a reply by the next day.

 

I am actually quite familiar with the product analystposition. I saw it in the previous week when I looked on the web page. I remember thinking that the job description made it sound a bit too technical and it reminded me of many of the topics I had encountered in the more math-oriented classes that I didn’t like. I thought about it over the next 24 hours. I realized that the position may require me to use some of the more difficult and harder (hard skills, as opposed to soft skills) skills I have encountered in the MBA program but the entire point of me going to business school is to do things I wasn’t able to do before. Being able to succeed in this position will certainly be a powerful way of illustrating that I came out of the MBA program more prepared than when I entered it. Besides, if I am unable to do something like use a time series illustration to help push forward a business, not only do I deserve to get fired but Kenan-Flagler should revoke my MBA.

 

On Friday morning, I emailed the interviewer and told her I am interested in the product analyst position. I feel like I wouldn’t be telling you the whole story if I were to self-censor this post and refrain from telling you I was a bit disappointed that the product manager position had already been taken. One of the thoughts I had after I got off the phone was that perhaps I should have looked at the web site earlier. Or perhaps I should not have waited two days after seeing the job posting before contacting my contact at the company whom I interviewed with last year for the summer internship. Or perhaps I should have scheduled the phone interview earlier instead of waiting all the way until Thursday (I was given multiple dates to choose from and chose the latest one). But one of the things I have learned from this process is to not cry over spilled milk and to trust God almighty and His timing.