As per MBS' application procedure, I wrote three essays (each less than 500 words) that answered questions designed to determine my suitability to their MBA program. These essays, along with my resume, my GMAT score (710!), and my referee reports, got me admitted into MBS. A further interview got me the scholarship. Here are those three essays.

Q. What are your career objectives?

A. It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

I got through an accelerated undergraduate programme by building on my interests, namely computers, reading/writing and music. After graduating I turned down journalism and software programming jobs to work as a teaching assistant, aligning my love of teaching with my desire to do a doctorate in Computer Sciences. Not getting funding for higher studies was a defining moment in my life that was, in hindsight, positive because when I started looking for a job I realized that what I really wanted to do was to use computers, not just programme them. Consequently, in the course of my next two jobs, I actively shifted my focus from primarily programming software to primarily working with clients, helping them apply technology to solve their problems. I then took the focus-shift a step further and migrated to my company’s media department in which one of my main responsibilities was to use the Digital Asset Management software I had helped develop over the previous year. It was then, in that middle management position, that I realized I lacked practical management know-how.

To acquire some of the core management skills I needed, I moved away from the technology sector to manage and teach at the local branch of an international educational franchise; all the while retaining a handhold on IT by teaching IT Management at a local college. When I had learnt all I needed, I finally moved into the field which I now aim to develop and work in for the foreseeable future: large-scale IT integration into small and medium enterprises that, more often than not, lack technology awareness.

I now work as an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration consultant/analyst whose primary objective is the introduction of ICT into Pakistan’s development sector. However, my abilities as an advocate of organizational change (at the operational, tactical and strategic levels) are limited in scale. My short-term career objective, therefore, is to expand and extend my current abilities to become a technology-savvy manager capable of analyzing organizations, figuring out how best they can use technology to enhance their work, and then implementing these changes as efficiently as possible. In other words, I aim to upgrade myself to the level of an ICT strategist.

My long-term goals involve the creation of (mostly open source) development-oriented software catering to the development sector of Pakistan in particular and the region in general.

Ultimately, my motivation is to get ICT to do for the development sector now what it did for the business and financial sectors in the 80s and 90s: i.e., enhance the development sector’s efficiency, effectiveness and transparency -- three qualities that the sector, particularly in Pakistan, lacks today. So, my core career objective is to make technology work, to make it work well, and to make it work where it is most needed.

Q. What strategy do you envisage adopting to ensure fulfillment of your career objectives and how does graduate education management fit into this plan?

A. I have been and am continuing to employ a strategy built around three phrases to ensure the fulfillment of my career objectives. The phrases are separate but interrelated and have together led me to the conclusion that, at this point in my career, I need to do an MBA from Melbourne Business School (MBS).

The first phrase is “work smarter, not harder.” When applied to my career, this principle means that, while on-the-job management training works (though it takes longer and relies on a number of external factors), it is smarter and more beneficial in the long run for me to take time out to learn management full-time rather than piecemeal. The MBA ROI calculations on the MBS website express this mathematically. In other words, doing an MBA is smarter since I will be more focused, more determined and will have prioritized my life around learning instead of earning.

The second phrase, “learn what you need, when you need to learn it,” is a principle I have applied throughout my career. Whenever I have felt the lack of a certain set of skills, I have taken steps to ensure that I learn those skills as quickly as possible. My having left the IT field for a year to run an educational franchise is an example of my applying that principle to its fullest. In my present situation I have found that I lack core management skills such as finance, marketing, organizational behaviour, and business strategy. Additionally, I lack advanced, technology-oriented skills such as technology management, organizational change, and innovation. These skills can be learnt on the job, but, as I explained in the previous paragraph, it makes sense for me to do an MBA instead. These skills can also be learnt as part of any MBA, but my next paragraph will explain why I specifically need to do my MBA from MBS.

My final strategy phrase adds the words “learn it well” to the second phrase. That is, learning the skills I need is all very well, but unless I learn them in the best possible way, their true impact (i.e., the rate at which they will propel me up the ladder) will be lost. This is where the MBS MBA fits into my plans. With faculty that includes professors such as Peter Weill (a specialist in aligning IT with business strategy), Selwyn D'Souza (teacher of the Managing New Ventures course), John Bailey (an expert on entrepreneurship and innovative corporate strategy), and Patrice Auger (whose research interests include business process digitization and e-commerce strategy), MBS offers the exact combination of core management and technology management expertise that I eventually aim to be a part of.

To sum up, an MBA is exactly what I need at this stage in my career -- it is more efficient than learning skills on the job and this is the right time for me to do it -- while the MBS MBA is the most suited for my area of specialization.

Q. Describe a recent situation or job in which you felt you had some responsibility and tell us what you learned from that experience.

A. Last year, an Islamabad-based English rock band called Corduroy released its debut album, titled ‘The Morning After’. This was a first on many levels for Pakistan: the first mostly-English album to be released by a Pakistani band (only one of the eleven tracks was sung in Urdu); the first “underground” album released at this scale by a band that had not been signed by either of the country’s two record labels; and the first time that a band had done all this entirely on its own (from recording and producing the album, to having its covers printed and CDs pressed, to marketing and selling it to retail stores). I was the band’s drummer and assistant manager and was in charge of Noise Gate Productions (NGP), the production company created to market the band.

Releasing ‘The Morning After’ was not easy. We first wanted to finalize our songs by playing them repeatedly in front of a live audience. This we accomplished by making a deal with a local coffee shop at which we performed every Saturday night for about seven months and by playing at various concerts, some of which we organized ourselves.

The next step was recording our songs. Since recording studio fees here are very high, we chose to create our own makeshift studio and record everything ourselves. This took considerable planning, budgeting and sensible purchasing because all of it was to be financed personally or by playing at paid concerts. Once recording started, we had to learn music production from the ground up. Although it took a considerable amount of time and effort, this year-long endeavour taught us not only music and music production but also rudimentary finance and accounting; simple budgeting and forecasting; flexible people- and process-scheduling; and how to do all this while continuing to hold a regular job.

We also had a production company to run. NGP was responsible for designing the CD cover (done from Dubai), printing it (done in Islamabad), having the CDs pressed (done in Karachi) and then packaging and marketing the album across Pakistan (done from Islamabad). The last task included not only sales, distribution and accounting when it came to retail stores, but also marketing, press liaison and packaging the band as a sellable product to people in the mass media. Once again, we taught ourselves most of these tasks, though we did get plenty of advice from friends in the music industry and websites such as GetSigned.com and Galaris.com.

Our successful album release, extensive press coverage, sizeable sales figures and a nomination for best album at the annual Lux Style Awards are all testament to a job well done. Although I have since left the band, Corduroy has gone on to release a music video and get signed by Pakistan’s newly created third record label, all despite numerous naysayers claiming it wouldn’t work. In the end, the most valuable lesson I learned is that hard work and believing in what you do can indeed pay off.

[Last updated: 12 May, 2007]