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MBA INSIDER: SAMPLE APPLICATION ESSAYS Ohio State (Fisher): Essay 1
As an executive recruiting professional, I am often asked to evaluate our recruits by their ability to work well with teams. Our firm's Fortune 500 clients clearly recognize the intangible value of teamwork. In fact, when conducting reference checks for top business candidates, as I often do in my line of work, a staple among the reference questions is: What is your definition of a team player, and do you consider this executive to be a team player?
If I were posed those questions within the framework of my own viability as an MBA candidate, I would begin by suggesting that in the most basic sense, a team player embodies the greater vision of an organization; and that vision is put into context and refined by an individual's ability to excel within his or her respective area of responsibility. Once the organization's vision is defined, individuals can begin working in conjunction with others to translate their joint expertise into actions that support that vision, in other words, serve as a cog in the wheel of that vision. Further, I would venture to say that a primary function of a team player is to work in support of this greater vision by foregoing personal agendas in the interest of resolving conflict. From that definition, as I often do during my reference checks, it follows then to ask if I consider myself to be a team player, and to further ask how that teamwork has been demonstrated. The answer to the first question I believe is a definitive, "Yes." I am a team player by my own definition and in addition, a leader in my workplace and in my prior academic environment. As an example, my employer's vision is: "To provide executive search solutions that positively impact the growth and profitability of our premium clients." Over the past two years, I have worked diligently in support of this vision during one of the most difficult periods in our firm's history. Having gone from a team of 15 to three, I am pleased to have contributed to one of our firm's most profitable years to date. I attribute much of that success to my willingness and the willingness of others to roll up our proverbial 'sleeves' and pitch in. For some of us that meant hand-washing dishes in advance of client visits, or picking up a search engagement from someone else when it had begun to lag. Many days, we forewent our job descriptions, and instead we each allowed the business vision to define what was required of us. The outcome was incredibly rewarding. Not only did our firm grow as a result of our high-performance team- doing more with less, but I also developed as a professional. It is this cohesion that led to exponential changes in the way we do business and ultimately superior business performance. We continue to solve problems together today in a way that did not occur before and quite frankly, it's fun. In much the same way, Ohio Dominican University's vision is grounded in the Dominican motto, 'To contemplate truth and to share with others the fruits of this contemplation.' Again, in concert with my definition of a team player, I worked in support of that vision in conjunction with others by establishing an endowment that will someday fully fund a scholarship for individuals who are working full-time while completing their college education. Other students talked about this kind of award, and recognizing an unmet need, I did the heavy lifting to see it through. It was that voice and leadership I believe, that later propelled me to be selected as ODU's [deleted] speaker. I attribute much of my success there to a unique Ohio Dominican convention; study groups. University officials believe in study groups so strongly that it is a weekly four-hour academic requirement. I can honestly say that without [deleted]'s background in business law, or [deleted]'s creativity, we would never have arrived successfully at the conclusion of some of our study group projects. I recognized early on that our diverse backgrounds enabled us to share with one another, 'the fruits of our own contemplation' and in doing so, allowed us to proactively identify solutions to conflicts along the way. It has been said that the vision of The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business MBA program is as someone put it, to help individuals "create economic value." It is my commitment again to personally execute in my own respective sphere of influence and to contribute to the greater organization in the manner that is consistent with that vision. I spend a great deal of time now observing talented professionals that I admire in my position as an executive recruiter. Though I have demonstrated my ability to work with and/or lead in professional and collegiate settings, I am looking forward to earning an MBA where I might become among the caliber of those that I am now responsible for recruiting. I am eager for the day when I will be evaluated in my ability to work with teams in the context of an executive career and perhaps my own professional reference will be able to attribute my ability to work well with others to my own initiative, and in part to my education at The Ohio State University.  Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | AUGUST Learn about your online education options |
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