It is not always possible to map out one’s future career path. Sometimes, you just have to react to changing circumstances, see where new options have opened up, and then decide which to take.
Huijin Kong, who has worked as a programme leader and counselor with the LinHart Group in Singapore for the last 18 months, did just that over 10 years ago.
Kong had never intended to enrol for an MBA soon after completing her BSc in finance and management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating in 2001, she had joined McKinsey, the international management consulting firm, as a business analyst but, hitting something of a roadblock, instead seized the opportunity to gain a much broader view of business and leadership.
“Due to the oversupply of junior consultants in 2001 to 2003, analysts like myself didn’t have the option of staying on for a third year or becoming an associate directly,” Kong says. “People advised me to go to business school to gain more perspective and balance.”
Huijin Kong.
When choosing the programme to take, Kong aimed high, targeting Harvard Business School in Boston, which is consistently ranked one of the best in the world. It is also where case studies were first introduced as a key part of the curriculum, and they still feature strongly today.