A lot many mid career professionals are now looking at one year management programs to boost their career graphs. But does taking a call of doing an MBA a simple one for a mid-career professional? When someone is in the late twenties or thirties, a lot of family responsibilities fall onto one’s shoulders. For some, it’s a newly built home and thus a corresponding home loan. For others, it is about getting married or just married status. It is time when parents begin to grow old and sometimes develop health issues. For still others, it is about starting a family or a spouse’s job. And then there are dilemmas of kid’s school and so on.But in all such situations, a little planning and family support does the trick.
To begin with, the financial aspect needs to be carefully managed. Education loan can be a huge burden, continuously weighing down on one’s mind. In such scenarios, if you are married and your spouse is earning, prefer not to leave jobs together. Rather encourage your spouse to continue working. It will keep the finances in check.
If you are single, as far as possible, unless your spouse can move along with you, it is not a good idea getting married just when you are studying. Although waiting for a year would be difficult for both the people, but where you trust the other person, it will be worth the wait. Else, even when you are married you are mostly away. Marriage brings in additional shared responsibilities and thus you both need to be together for some time to start appreciating these.
For cases, where your spouse decides to come along leaving his/her job, it is extremely important that your spouse has some plans for himself/herself for that next one year. Often once the program gets into full force and you become engrossed totally in assignments and exams; it is frustrating for your spouse.
For people with dependent parents, having a health insurance for them should be part of your mandatory checklist. It is the next one year when you would be away. Securing against such crisis situations saves hassles and panic at a later stage. For people with children, find out what kind of facilities are available on campus for the kids. Is there a school nearby? How about a hospital? Is there a separate room for kids? Is the campus close to a market? All these questions though seem trivial, but go a long way in a pleasant stay the next one year.
One year MBAs are rigorous programs. More so that many people go abroad for that one year. While these are important milestones, you don’t want to miss on some other personal milestones, commitments and responsibilities. Parents’ and spouses support go a long way in helping you succeed.
(The author of this article has written a book ‘My Beloved’s MBA Plans’ on this subject of one year MBAs and the encompassing dilemmas.)