Weakness Essay

UNC (Kenan-Flagler): Essay 5 |

Question: Describe your career progression, highlighting leadership positions and reasons for changing career paths. How will your professional experience when combined with an MBA degree allow you to achieve your short-term and long-term goals? |

My career progression has been fairly straightforward. I have taken a relatively routine path from auditor to senior financial analyst. I have worked for three companies: [Company 1], [Company 2], and [Company 3].

The change in career path, from audit to corporate finance, was intended to move me closer to the operations of a business. While audit presented its own unique set of challenges, it never gave me a sense of my own effectiveness or value. Looking at the wave of accounting scandals, it is understandable why I felt neither effective nor valuable. Despite all the work I was doing, I may as well have been a rubber stamp. As a Financial Analyst, I have been much more involved with the operations of a business, and my work has had clear, measurable impact. One example was putting together an analysis that lead to operational improvements, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. The analysis displayed the potential savings to the operations folks, based on a previously un-mined data source, and convinced them to take a chance on a savings program. Another example was putting together reporting that highlighted aggressive logistics practices for an under performing Brand. My work helped lead to intervention by the Brand's CFO, and reduced costs by millions.

The move from [Company 1] to [Company 2] was driven, as mentioned above, from my desire to get closer to operations, which I achieved. The move from [Company 2] to [Company 3] was driven by my desire to get into the Healthcare industry. I wanted to get into healthcare because I believed, and still believe, that the healthcare industry gives me the best chance to use my career to make a difference in my community. I...