Business school applicants need to have well-defined post-MBA career goals for both right after they graduate and longer term. They should be able to communicate their desired functional role, industry, and/or type of company and to show that they understand what they will do in the position and the kind of impact they will have. MBA programs also want to know that a candidate’s goals make sense for them, given their background, and that they have clear reasons both for needing an MBA to be successful and for targeting the program in question. So applicants clearly need to be focused and certain about their intended career path, but do they also need a backup plan?
While having a plan B in mind is always a good idea, what is less straightforward is how you might incorporate it into your MBA application process. During times of extended economic downturn, we have seen some MBA programs, including Harvard Business School, change their essay prompts to invite—or even require—applicants to discuss a backup plan for their career. For example, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business consistently asks candidates, “What are your post-MBA career goals? Share with us your first-choice career plan and your alternate plan.”
Some business schools, including NYU Stern and UCLA Anderson, ask applicants about backup plans in their admissions interviews. This is most common for candidates planning on going into more competitive industries, such as consulting, or into constantly changing industries, such as technology. The question might also come up when an applicant is proposing to enter a field that is not hiring because of a poor job market, or when a candidate is a career changer who might have trouble making the switch. Generally speaking, being prepared to offer backup goals in your admissions interview is just good practice. Once you have been accepted to your target MBA program, you will most likely want to explore multiple recruiting directions, and considering your options ahead of time will prepare you well to do that.
So, how do you come up with a strong plan B career goal? The key is to have an alternative plan that works with your key strengths, experiences, and longer-term aspirations as well as your primary goal does. And you want to be mindful of focus and flow. For example, if your main career goal is to become an investment banker, your plan B goal should not be something like product management in technology, because the skills and experience required for the two different directions do not overlap. As a result, showing clear strengths, qualifications, and reasons you need your MBA from the program for this secondary goal would be very difficult.
Instead, you want to identify a backup plan that aligns with your skills and experience thus far and that will position you just as effectively for your long-term aspirations. So, if your main goal is to go into investment banking, your plan B might be taking an in-house corporate finance role at a company. This alternative goal would still align with your professional foundation, and the reasons you are interested in earning your MBA from the program would be the same. Just keep in mind that overall, schools just want to know that you are capable of pursuing and achieving your career objective, even if it is a backup.
