Learning a Few New Lessons
Like many people, Ivan wondered if his career would be more satisfying if he had an advanced degree. While more education is often the right move, it’s important to figure out what you hope to accomplish by going back to school. Real-life author Naomi Sandweiss helps Hunter plot his course:
Turning his gaze from his black Labrador retriever to a lone surfer pulling into a perfect tube, Ivan Hunter wondered how he could escape his unhappy job at Moreland Drugs and start to enjoy his life again.
Earlier that morning, the L.A. resident awoke from a recurring nightmare: Before him is a perfect wave, but his path is blocked by a sea of prescription drugs and antacid tablets. The ink on the bottles of pills is blurred, but Ivan can still make out his company’s slogan: “Have you taken your medicine today?”
“That’s it,” Ivan told himself. “I don’t care what it takes. I’ll cash in my IRA, sell my Jeep, return to school--but on Monday I’m giving notice.”
Two weeks later, Ivan hadn’t given notice at the L.A.-based company but was preparing to meet and have coffee with Naomi Sandweiss of Claremont, who has co-written a book to be published in March called “How to Get a Job in Southern California” (Surrey Books).
Her first suggestion: Hunter might find it helpful to read in her book the chapter titled “Should I Go to Graduate School if I Can’t Find a Job?”
Ivan confessed he hadn’t a clue about whether to take a few courses at a community college or spend $60,000 and two years earning a master of business administration.
“Do you need the credential, or are you just looking to pick up new skills?” Sandweiss asked.
Ivan bit into a biscotti, a less-than-subtle way to avoid the question. He wanted to own his own business, he told her. But he wasn’t certain what type of business or how to prepare to run it.
She told Ivan that he had choices: an executive MBA program that meets two evenings a week for two years, or individual courses that teach students how to write a business plan, which are available through UCLA Extension.
Sandweiss told Ivan about internships, online courses and suggested that he use his home computer and modem to find materials on schools across the country and to consult the U.S. News & World Report’s Graduate School Ranking online at https://www.usnews.com/usnews/fair/gradmain.htm)
Sandweiss wished Ivan success with his “transition.” He lingered, ordered another latte and read her list of suggestions: Visit the campus; ask for permission from the admission’s office to sit in on classes; talk with students; ask the school’s career-planning and placement office what last year’s graduates are doing with their degrees.
The following week, Ivan surprised himself. He had made an appointment for later that afternoon with Otis Baskin, dean of Pepperdine University’s George L. Graziadio School of Business Management.
Inside Baskin’s office, Ivan told the dean that while he didn’t have a specific career goal in mind, his dream was to start his own business.
“An MBA provides a student with a great deal of information about business careers and business opportunities,” Baskin said. “This knowledge will help if you do go ahead and open your own business, and it will also provide you with the professional credential of preference should you later decide to pursue a corporate career.”
As Ivan wandered about the campus, he mulled over their conversation.
He thought: “Two nights a week for two years and I’d have an MBA. . . . Tuition sets me back $30,000. . . . The Westwood Village campus is less than 10 miles from my apartment. . . . Baskin said I’d have a good shot at getting admitted. . . . Most of the students are also in their mid-30s. . . . I could even start the program as soon as late April.”
Ivan headed to Point Mugu to get some air, walk and further ponder his options. The sea looked so inviting--there were some clean lines at the point--Ivan grabbed his board and waded into the surf.
Baskin’s advice swam around in Ivan’s head as he waited for a wave:
“We’re not going to teach you to be a financial analyst or marketing specialist, but we are going to teach you to be a highly skilled manager.”
A gull dived into the water a few feet away. Ivan was now certain that at age 35 there was no way he’d be interested in submerging himself in books, exams and term papers for two years. Just the titles of the required classes were enough to scare him away from the program: “Price Theory”; “Managerial Finance”; “Legal, Political, Ethical and Regulatory Issues of Management.”
Baskin’s probably right, Ivan told himself. “An MBA may be ‘the professional credential of preference,’ but not for me.” He smiled.
He may have lacked a plan, but at least now he was certain of two things: He was eventually going to quit Moreland Drugs and he was not going to business school. As he dried himself off next to his car, Ivan recalled Sandweiss’ last words of advice: “Don’t go to graduate school because you don’t know what else to do.”
