Taking a break for MBA preparation? Make the most of it

Many aspirants have decided to take a break from studies or professional life in order to prepare for MBA season 2015-16. For some, it’s their first foray into MBA preparation and for others, it is an exercise in repeat.

Management aspirants choosing to take a break from studies or work is not a new concept. But later on, when you go back to full-time work or face an interview panel such as personal interviews for B-school admissions, how do you justify your year break?

Hence, one needs to plan this right. Aspirants cannot be preparing for a 20-hours a day, seven days a week, for the next 12 months?

So here are a few steps to guide you through your gap year.

Step 1: MBA preparation

First, figure out how you plan go about preparing for the MBA entrance tests. You can either opt to join a coaching centre or self-study. Thereafter, set up weekly and monthly targets with a focus on your strengths and weakness. The sole reason on taking a gap year is to prepare full-time for MBA tests. So focus on it.

Step 2: Gap-year activities

Now comes the ‘justify your gap-year’ stage. There are various ways a candidate can utilise this year. But whatever parallel activity the candidate takes up, it MUST add value to the Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Let’s a take a look some such activities that can add value to your candidature:

Humanitarian Work

Spending time with a humanitarian organisation and social work is an ideal way to spend the next one year. While working for an NGO, candidates can have some meaningful and relevant experience. Such experiences enrich a person’s outlook and has the added advantage of bringing value to the CV.

Start-up/ Entrepreneurship

Start-ups and entrepreneurship is on everybody’s mind now. If you have any entrepreneurial idea or plan to launch a start-up in future, this is a good time to do all the ground-work and research. You can figure out the viability of the business-idea and develop a blue-print of how to launch the business.

Alternatively, you can also choose to work with a start-up. While start-up profiles demand a lot of time and energy, you can opt for internship or part-time set-up. This way you can get some valuable experience and show it on your CV.

Part-time work

One can also opt to work part-time. This also helps in being self-sufficient while preparing for MBA. For instance, if someone is good at writing or coding, they can it take-up for a few hours in a day. Various companies employ part-time or for a particular project. But one must take up profiles that align with their career goals.

Freelance

While freelancing, candidates can opt to work at their own convenience. Though time-bound, most freelance opportunities gives a certain free rein candidate’s with respect to time management. However, please make sure that the nature of work should either add value to your CV or align with your future goals or both.