Day 64: Back to school

Back to school again after a 4-day break (essentially just a glorified long weekend).

That being said, not all of us were back today. Given that today's schedule consisted of a career coaching session by an external speaker, many classmates of mine chose to take an extra day of holiday instead of coming to class. I know a large handful of them were still in Borocay today (although they are probably back now as I'm typing this). Not a particularly bad idea I must say, squeezing that little bit extra out of what was already a very short break.

A couple of classmates of mine did a quick calculation regarding the money you "waste" by not attending classes/lectures. I think it came up to ~€130 per 1.5 hour class/lecture*. Given that today's session was roughly 6 hours, my classmates who didn't attend essentially forfeited ~€520 of their tuition. Whether that was worthwhile or not, only they can really answer.

The session today was by Daniel Porot (www.porot.com) and he's an INSEAD alumni. The talks centered around "Making a a radical career change" and "Networking and the art of the unsolicited approach". I must admit that there wasn't much that I heard today that I didn't already know (but I guess that is usually the case at such events).

One thing I did get out from it though was how to gather information about the job you think you want. Essentially you want to reach out to as many people that you know (or that you can get to know) who are in the position you think you want and then ask them the following 6 questions:

1. How did you get this job?
2. What do you like most about your job?
3. What do you like least about your job?
4. What are the key tasks/challenges that you face in your role?
5. What skills/talents does one need to perform those key tasks you mentioned earlier?
6. Could you give me the names of 3 people who like this job as much as you do?

As with most consultants (and I know this from first hand experience), you tend to tell things that your clients already know. Where I think he was most effective was in framing the issues and solution in a way that made it easier for us to remember what they are and to hopefully inspire us to act upon them.  I already knew that you should be asking these questions but I guess by the sheer force of repetition (and perhaps some slick framing), these 6 steps have drilled their way into my head.

Presented like a true consultant if you ask me. Additionally, he has a penchant for drawing multicoloured pictures on his tablet PC to illustrate his point. VERY much like a consultant then (~Partner level) with regards to the use of visuals high on dramatization but low on actual content (unless you paid attention to his stories). If you looked at the pictures alone, you'd think he was playing Pictionary with us.

Still, must be nice to be him. He gets to do something he really enjoys, gets to travel the world to speak about a subject he cares about passionately and gets paid for it.

Picked up my course packs today for P2. Boy do they weigh a lot! Time for the "fun" to begin in earnest tomorrow!



*assumes 25 classes at 24 hours per class over the course of a period. Additional talks/lectures assumed to be a negligible proportion and has the same cost/hour