The triple jump is the most difficult thing an MBA student can pull off. For many, it might well be the hardest challenge they'll tackle over a lifetime. Just a select few attempt it -- and even fewer succeed. It is the ultimate act of reinvention.

    Instead of leveraging the MBA to make one or even two career changes -- such as securing a promotion or moving from a small financial services firm to Morgan Stanley (MS) -- triple jumpers shake up three variables all at once: country, job function, and industry -- and they do all of this in a highly compressed timeframe.

    At first blush, it may not sound like a particularly bold move, but imagine switching from product marketing for a semiconductor firm in India to strategy consulting for a hospital in Canada. For triple jumpers, the traditional hurdles of academics, networking, and job hunting are compounded by language, visa, and cultural barriers. Post-graduation, they must compete against students with more years of in-country and industry experience.

    Few B-schools encourage the practice. Applicants candid enough to tell admissions that they want to change countries, disciplines, and industries all at once are likely to be rejected by many schools. Triple jumpers are simply too risky: The odds are not exactly in their favor, even when using a summer internship to ease these unusual career moves. As schools know too well, unsuccessful graduates usually turn into unsatisfied alumni. Few business schools want to graduate jobless, disenchanted students who could ultimately hurt their rankings.

    A rare exception is the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. It supports students bold, or simply crazy, enough to face the daunting odds of making a triple transition. Rotman's location in a country with a pro-immigration policy makes it a more accommodating environment. But it's still a risky proposition, with few guarantees. "It is a difficult thing to do, but it's not impossible," says Leigh Gauthier, Rotman's director of careers for full-time MBAs. "I do believe that the MBA is a very good way for a young professional to start a new career. We want to support that, but we don't paint a rosy picture that it's going to be a cakewalk -- that you can do it with no problem."

    Gauthier compares the MBA version of triple jumping to the Olympic one. "You take a pause from whatever you're doing in your life, and you're 100% focused on your studies and your career and your training," she explains. "You're doing everything you need to do to achieve your goal in a finite period.... It's tough to do, but very inspiring to watch."    

    三级跳是MBA学生最难完成的壮举。它甚至很可能是许多人一辈子都最难克服的挑战。只有极少数人尝试这样做，而大功告成者更是少之又少。这是一种彻底重塑自我的行为。

    不是利用MBA学位完成职业生涯的一项或两项改变——比如，确保获得晋升机会或者从一家小型金融服务公司跳槽至摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)——三级跳健将要同时改变三个变量：国家、工作职能和行业，所有这一切都是在一个高度压缩的时间期限内完成。

    乍一听，这似乎不算一个特别大胆的举动，但试想一下，从一家印度半导体公司的产品营销工程师转身变为一家加拿大医院的战略咨询顾问是怎样一番情景。三级跳健将不仅要面对学术、人际网络和求职等传统障碍，还要跨越语言、签证和文化障碍等壁垒。毕业后，他们必须跟拥有多年行业经验的东道国学生竞争上岗。

    很少有商学院鼓励这种做法。如果哪位申请人足够坦诚地告诉招生官员，自己打算一次性地改变工作国家，职能和行业，他或她很可能会被许多商学院拒绝。三级跳健将面临的风险确实太大了：就算他们往往利用暑期实习来减轻这些不寻常的职业变动带来的冲击，成功的天平也未必就会偏向他们一方。商学院非常明白，不成功的毕业生通常会变成心怀怨怼的校友。几乎没有哪家商学院希望自己的毕业生因找不到工作而变得心灰意冷，因为这种情形最终会损害它们的排名。

    一个罕见的例外是多伦多大学(University of Toronto)罗特曼管理学院(Rotman School of Management)。它支持足够大胆（或者说简直疯了）的学生去直面成功几率令人气馁的三重转型挑战。罗特曼管理学院位于一个移民政策宽松的国家，或许是出于这一原因，这所商学院拥有一种更具融通性的氛围。但这依然是一项危险而且几乎没有保障的提议。“这件事的确难度很大，但并非不可能，”罗特曼管理学院全职MBA项目就业服务中心主任莉•高蒂尔说。“我坚信，MBA学位是专业才俊开启全新职业生涯的绝佳跳板。我们想提供支持，但我们不会描绘一幅美丽的画卷，让他们觉得这样做是小菜一碟，不会碰到任何问题。”

    高蒂尔认为三级跳的MBA版本与这项奥运赛事本身非常相似。“你给自己一直在做的事情按下暂停键，然后全身心地投入你的研究、事业和训练之中，”她解释说。“你正在做一切需要做的事情，以期在有限的时间内实现目标。尽管很难做到，但它的确是一种鼓舞人心的尝试。”  

    Students' experiences attest to the extreme difficulty of making major life changes on three planes at once. Here are the stories of a few successful Rotman triple jumpers:

    Partha Dev

    Country jump: India to Canada

    Industry jump: Semiconductors to healthcare

    Function jump: Product marketing to internal strategy

    Partha Dev is an exception in a workforce plagued by discontent. "I'm doing what I love and what I'm good at, which is very rare," says the 33-year-old. But it wasn't easy. The former product marketing engineer and native of India says moving to Canada and making the leap from semiconductors to healthcare was the hardest thing he's ever done.

    For Dev, the single biggest challenge was convincing Canadian employers to take a chance on someone with limited experience in the country and in the healthcare industry. "My personal opinion is now the interviews are not about selecting a candidate. It's about rejecting a candidate, because they really want to find the best, and they are always looking for a reason to reject you," he says. Dev spent roughly a year applying for jobs.

    During his search, he filled out some 70 job applications through Rotman, more than 100 external applications, and endured 40 often-grueling interviews. He estimates he was among the last 15 students in his graduating class to land a job, which he found several months after earning his MBA degree in June 2013.

    Dev credits his MBA internship with healthcare IT firm Agfa for his current job as an internal consultant for Baycrest Hospital and Health Services. "When I went for the interviews, it was definitely a huge plus point because everyone knew of Agfa.... If I hadn't done the internship, it would have been impossible to have made the switch; it showed my passion for the industry, and a lot of the interview questions focused on the projects I worked on for Agfa."

    It's a testament to Dev's determination that he didn't give up under the intense financial pressures on MBAs to secure jobs immediately after graduation -- that pressure is often more intense for international students, he says. Fortunately, Dev was able to sidestep India's exorbitant interest rates, which range from 14% to 15%, by saving for his MBA before coming to Rotman. However, he still graduated with about C$47,000 in loans from the Royal Bank of Canada. Dev watched some of his peers settle for jobs to pay the bills. "A lot of students come for the dream job, but then it becomes the reverse. They have to take a loan to get an education to get a great job, and then they take whatever they can to repay the loan," he says.

    Although Dev says he wouldn't want to relive the triple jump, he's very glad he did it. "Getting what you really want or being close to what you really wanted is what makes a $100,000 MBA worth it. Otherwise, why pay all the money to do the same thing which I was doing before the MBA?"   

    MBA学生的亲身经历证明，一次性改变三件人生大事简直难于上青天，但在罗特曼管理学院的毕业生中，还是涌现出了一些成功的三级跳健将，比如以下这三位：

    帕萨•德夫

    跳国家：从印度跳至加拿大

    跳行业：从半导体跳至医疗保健

    跳职能：从产品营销跳至内部战略规划

    33岁的帕萨•德夫在牢骚满腹的劳动力大军中堪称一个异数。他说：“我正在做我喜欢、而且也擅长的工作，这种情形非常罕见。”但这一切来之不易。这位曾经做过产品营销工程师的印度人透露说，移居加拿大，然后从半导体业飞跃至医疗保健业，是他做过的难度最大的事情。

    于德夫而言，一个最大的挑战就是如何说服加拿大雇主冒险试用一下像他这样一个既缺乏加拿大工作经验，也没有从事过医疗行业的外国人。他说：“我个人的看法是，现在的面试其实不是在挑选候选人，而是想法子拒绝候选人。因为他们真的想找到最佳人选，所以总是在寻找一个可以把你拒之门外的理由。”申请工作几乎花了德夫一年的时间。

    找工作期间，他填写了70份罗特曼管理学院提供的求职申请表，超过100份外部求职申请，还经受了40次往往令人如坐针毡的面试过程。德夫估计，他是他们班最晚找到工作的15名学生之一—— 2013年6月获得MBA学位后，历经数月磨难，他才找到了一份称心的工作。

    德夫目前在贝克列斯特医院和健康服务公司(Baycrest Hospital and Health Services)担任内部顾问。他说，这份工作应归功于攻读MBA期间在爱克发医疗信息技术公司(Agfa)的实习经历。“每次面试时，这段经历绝对是一个巨大的加分项，因为每个人都知道爱克发公司。要是我没有做过这份实习工作，我绝对不可能完成这种转变；这段经历表明我对医疗行业抱有激情，许多面试问题都集中在我在爱克发公司从事过的项目上面。”

    商学院毕业后，负债读完MBA学位的德夫面临立刻找到工作的巨大压力，但他没有放弃投身医疗行业的愿望，他改变职业生涯的决心由此可见一斑。他说，对于国际学生来说，这种压力往往尤为剧烈。还算幸运的是，来罗特曼管理学院读MBA之前，德夫攒了一笔学费，从而能够避开印度高得离谱的贷款利率（14%到15%之间）。但即便如此，他毕业时依然背负着加拿大皇家银行( Royal Bank of Canada)提供的约47,000加元贷款。德夫看到不少同学为偿还债务将就着找了一份差事。他说：“许多同学上商学院就是为了获得梦想的工作，但整个事情随后向截然相反方向发展。为了获得一份好工作，他们不得不负债接受教育。随后，为了偿还贷款，他们就随便找了一份工作。”

    尽管德夫说他不想重温三级跳的艰辛经历，但他很高兴自己终于做到了。“获得或接近你真正想要的工作，正是10万加元MBA学费的价值所在。否则的话，为什么我要掏这么大一笔钱去做上商学院前自己就已经在做的事情？”   

    Melita Cyril

    Country jump: Sri Lanka to Canada

    Industry jump: Finance to consulting

    Function jump: Trading to consulting strategy

    For Melita Cyril, 26, the challenge of triple jumping wasn't moving to Canada, or even trying on a new job title. Rather, it was breaking into the extremely competitive consulting industry.

    Born in Sri Lanka, Cyril completed her undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics (LSE) and joined Lehman Brothers after graduating in 2007. She then spent three years as an interest rate swaps trader at Credit Suisse (CS) in London. But when her then-boyfriend, now husband, accepted a job in Canada, she jumped at the chance to "start fresh" and start a career as a consultant.

    After unsuccessfully applying for a few jobs in Canada, Cyril decided to get an MBA at Rotman. "I was new. I didn't know anyone. I didn't have a network, and I thought this would be a great way for me to get to know more people and build my network in a new country," she says. Rotman's two-year program allowed for a summer internship, so she could dip her toes in consulting without making a commitment to the full dive.

    Cyril landed an internship with management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. The experience confirmed her new career choice. But breaking in wasn't an easy victory. Out of some 263 students in her class, Cyril estimates that at least half were interested in consulting initially. Roughly 60 students would apply for one or two consulting spots at each of the big firms. "It's highly, highly competitive," she says. "Some students do have a consulting background, and they want to basically switch to a different or bigger firm, which means if you don't have that background and you have something completely different, it is definitely more challenging." Cyril thought about turning back several times and prepared herself for careers outside of consulting. "I did have options B and C to go with option A," she says. "Sometimes it becomes a numbers game, and you're just unlucky."

    After graduating in May 2013, she accepted an associate consultant offer from A.T. Kearney. Looking back, Cyril has her own recommendations for MBA triple jumpers: "We, in general, have to work harder because there is a lot more to prove," she says. "So make sure you have a very good story and that it all adds up, so you can really sell yourself and sell someone on why you want to make this big jump."   

    梅利塔•西里尔

    跳国家：从斯里兰卡跳至加拿大

    跳行业：从金融业跳至咨询业

    跳职能：从金融衍生品交易跳至战略咨询

    梅利塔•西里尔现年26岁，三级跳对她的挑战不是移居加拿大，甚至不是尝试一份全新工作，而是闯入竞争极其激烈的咨询业。

    西里尔出生于斯里兰卡，在伦敦经济学院(London School of Economics )完成学士学位，2007年毕业后加入雷曼兄弟公司(Lehman Brothers)。随后，她又在瑞士信贷集团(Credit Suisse)伦敦分公司干了3年的利率掉期交易员。但她当时的男友（现在的老公）后来接受了一家加拿大公司的工作邀请，她随即抓住了这个“从头再来”的机会，转战咨询业。

    她在加拿大接连申请了好几份工作，但都以失败告终。西里尔于是决定去罗特曼管理学院攻读MBA学位。她说：“我初来乍到，人生地不熟，更谈不上什么人脉资源了。我认为上商学院是一个绝佳的途径，能够让我认识更多人，在这个陌生的国度构建人际网络。”此外，罗特曼管理学院的两年MBA项目提供一个暑期实习机会，这样她可以先在咨询业试试水，不用破釜沉舟地投入这个行业。

    西里尔在管理咨询机构科尔尼公司(A.T. Kearney)获得了一个实习机会。这段经历让她进一步坚定了这项新的职业选择。但要想登堂入室绝非易事。西里尔所在班级大约有263名学生，据她估计，其中至少有一半人起初都钟情于咨询业。大约60名学生将向每一家大型咨询机构申请一个或两个咨询岗位。“竞争太惨烈了，”她说。“有些学生确实拥有咨询业背景，他们上商学院其实就是为了换一家待遇更好，规模更大的公司。这就意味着，如果你没有这种背景，你就必须具备某种完全不同的竞争力。这种要求当然更具挑战性。”西里尔打过好几次退堂鼓，准备从事非咨询类的工作。“除选项A以外，我确实制定了选项B和C，”她说。“这种选择有时沦为数字游戏，你只是不走运而已。”

    2013年5月毕业后，她接受了科尔尼公司提供的一个助理咨询师岗位。回首往事，西里尔现在想给打算尝试三级跳的MBA学生提一些自己的建议。“一般情况下，我们必须得更加努力才行，因为你要证明的东西比别人多得多，”她说。“因此，务必确保你有一个足以打动人的好故事，你需要完成一个积少成多的过程。这样的话，你真的就可以兜售自己，让别人信服你为什么想完成这么大的跨跃。”   

    Alex Yeo

    Country jump: Singapore to Canada

    Industry jump: Retail to consulting

    Function jump: Operations to management consulting

    When Alex Yeo, 36, entered Rotman, he had a clear goal: to do what was best for his husband and their infant son. He was less clear on how to get there. He had several options -- he could return to McDonald's (MCD) China where he'd been the vice president of restaurant solutions, move to another company within the retail industry, or make a leap to management consulting.

    Conversations with alumni and industry professionals along with a summer internship in consulting helped him make up his mind. "I could always go back to retail and retail operations and strategy if I wanted to, whereas going to consulting opened up more post-MBA options for me," he points out.

    Yeo visited Rotman's career center and attended interview and resume prep sessions hosted by the school's Management Consulting Association to get up to speed. He compares the process of making the three-way switch to training for a triathlon as a causal athlete. "It's not like you don't have the skills. You have the base skills, but it's a different order of competition," he says.

    For Yeo, the gambit worked. After graduation in May 2014, he'll join McKinsey & Co. as a management consultant in Toronto. "That choice for me was definitely a lot of hard work, but because it's the right choice, it made the hard work worth it," he says.

    His advice for MBAs attempting a triple jump? "Be clear about what you want in terms of is this really the right fit for you. Be clear about the obstacles and gaps you might need to overcome," he says. "It's really a journey.... You don't have to make all of that jump after your MBA; your MBA gets you there, but it's really the first step."   

    亚历克斯•杨

    跳国家：从新加坡跳至加拿大

    跳行业：从零售业跳至咨询业

    跳职能：从运营经理跳至管理顾问

    迈入罗特曼管理学院之际，现年36岁的亚历克斯•杨拥有一个明确的目标：毕业后从事一份最有利于太太和还在襁褓中的儿子的工作。他当时还没有想清楚通过什么渠道抵达这个目标。他有几个选项——重返麦当劳中国公司(McDonald's China )做他的餐厅解决方案副总裁；前往另一个国家，继续从事零售业；抑或，跳跃至管理咨询领域。

    与校友和业内人士的交谈，以及在一家咨询公司的暑期实习经历，帮助他下定了决心。他说：“如果我想的话，我随时可以重返零售业，继续从事零售运用和战略业务。而进入咨询行业可以为我的后MBA职业生涯开辟更多的选项。”

    为了熟悉咨询业的详细情况，杨去了一趟罗特曼管理学院就业指导中心，还参加了该校管理咨询协会组织的面试和简历准备研讨会。在他看来，从事三个层面的职业生涯转变就像是一位业余运动员参加铁人三项训练。他说：“这跟你不具备任何技能那种情形还不一样。你拥有一些基础技能，但这完全是另一个级别的竞赛。”

    于杨而言，这种策略产生了效果。等到2014年5月毕业后，他将加入麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Co.)多伦多分公司从事管理咨询工作。他说：“这项选择确实让我付出了大量艰辛的努力，但因为这是一项正确的选择，所有一切付出都是值得的。”

    他忠告那些打算尝试三级跳的MBA学生，“要搞清楚你想从事何种工作，这种工作是否真的适合你。还要明白你或许需要克服哪些障碍，需要弥补哪些差距，”他说。“这的确是一段漫长的旅程。获得MBA学位后，你不一定非得完成所有这些跳跃；你的MBA学位让你拥有了改变职业生涯的机会，但这其实只是万里长征的第一步。”（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒