Career Skills Seminar
Assignment
Evrim Kirimkan
Master in Financial Management
31 January 2005
Introduction
Life is always easy as a child. You bear no responsibility, are easily entertained, and do not have any worries about long term commitments or other such things. The only thing you have to worry about is doing your homework. Your future career is also unambiguous. For instance, when I was a child, I always wanted to be a fireman. There was no worrying about the pay, where the job would be located, or whether I would be accepted or not. I wanted to be a fireman, have a red truck, be a hero and that is it. As you get older, however, this simplicity starts to fade away and things start to change.
Today, if someone were to ask me where I see myself in five, ten, twenty, or fifty years’ time, my answer may seem rather surprising. This is because I have no idea. For the moment, I am at a stage in my life where the decisions I will make in the next few months will have a crucial impact on my future career. Although the actions I have taken in the past, as well as the choices I will make in throughout my life, will undoubtedly play a supporting role to the formation of my career, this coming year will surely provide me with a large part of the answer to this question. In the following, I will attempt to describe what my career goals are, my strengths and weaknesses, and how I plan on building my career. As these questions are still haunting my mind, it will seem more like a ‘brainstorming’ session rather than providing a clear answer to these questions.
The ‘What’ Question
I mentioned earlier that I have no idea where I will be in a few years for now. That may be a little bit exaggerated, as I am at Vlerick Management School for some sort of added value. Before starting my Master in Financial Management at Vlerick, I really did not know what kind of job I wanted to start with. However, studying in Gent this year really has had a positive impact...