Student interview/intra descipline

Student Interview/Intra Descipline

An interview with a Business Administration senior, proved to be an important learning experience. As he responded to my questions regarding his professional goals and his plans, if any, to attain them, I learnt a great deal. I learnt the importance of planning ahead, of viewing life as a series of stages in which each stage had to be driven by a specific goal and revolve around the accomplishment of that goal. Indeed, the interview taught me that were I ever to succeed in my chosen career, I would have to plan ahead just like my interviewee does.
The first question I asked my interviewee was where he saw himself ten years after graduation. His response was immediate: “ I see myself as the CEO of a company I started from scratch and, quite possibly, at that point, I would be in the process of taking my company public.” Needless to say, my first thoughts were that the response was overly-confident, even arrogant, and unrealistic because it was extremely ambitious. His response to my next question, which was if he had any plans to achieve his goal, proved my first reaction wrong. He had a very detailed, thoroughly worked out plan in mind and as far as I could see, if he applied it, he would succeed in achieving his goals.
The interview motivated me to reflect upon my own goals and professional ambitions. My plan had always been to work for a year in the United States so to gain experience, and then move back to my home country where I would start my own company. I had chosen to major in business finance with this plan in mind because, apart from the fact that I like this field of study, I believe that my home business market needs business finance majors. The important thing is that this was the extent of my professional plan. The interview made me realise how weak and incomplete this plan really was.
Following the interview, I began to reflect upon my long-term career goals much more thoroughly and even asked myself some of the questions which I had asked my interviewee. Where do I see myself ten years after graduation and how will I get there? At that moment I realised that I saw myself as the founder and CEO of one of the most reputable business finance consultancy companies in my home country. I further realised that if I achieved this goal, I would be able to achieve a much more important objective which is to make my mark in my country’s business environment and, as such, contribute to national economic development and growth. To get there, however, to be able to achieve this goal, graduating from university and working for one year in the United States was simply not enough.
To achieve my ambitions, I have to apply myself to my studies and learn as much as is possible and while learning, always reflect on the practical, real-world implications of that which I was studying. In addition, I had to make a much greater effort to obtain summer internship positions and acquire practical training. Following graduation, I have to find a position in a financial consultancy company and work there for a period of five years, so that I can learn all that I possibly can. Only then will I be in a position to open my own company, fortified by both my academic knowledge and my professional learning experience.
In the final analysis, I would like to remark on the fact that even though the interview was really supposed to teach me about another person, my interview subject, it taught my a great deal about myself. It forced me to reflect upon who I was, what I wanted to be and how I would get there. It was, in other words, a valuable learning experience.
Top Five Questions
1. Where do you see yourself ten years after graduation?
2. How do you plan to achieve your goals?
3. What are the possible obstacles you believe you may encounter?
4. How will you resolve these obstacles?
5. Are your ambitions and goals driven by the desire to make money or to make a name for yourself in your chosen field?