Investor's Business Daily

January 3, 2007 Wednesday
NATIONAL EDITION
Find Your Personal Brand

BY GLORIA LAU

LEADERS & SUCCESS; IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS; Pg. A03

You might be several years into a lucrative career as a consultant, investment banker or accountant, but feel you chose the wrong path.

So you apply to business school. You target a new career goal and summarize it in your applications.

But as industry expert Chioma Isiadinso tells clients, that's not how it should work.

"You may say you want to be the Donald Trump of real estate in Africa, but the question is, "Do I believe it?' " said Isiadinso, who runs the admissions consulting firm EXPARTUS® in New York.

"In any competitive environment, you need to differentiate yourself, but your story must be credible and compelling," she said.

This is where Isiadinso comes in. She's a former admissions director at Carnegie Mellon University and former admissions board member at Harvard Business School.

Top business schools accept just 10% of applicants. So you need to learn how to brand yourself before you apply to these programs.

"We want clients to represent themselves, but we do the upfront work," she said. "We help them think long and hard and then articulate their goals, what they're passionate about and what skills they have. For some, there's a huge gap between the skills and the goals."

Starting Back Up

A year ago, Isiadinso had an Ivy League-educated client. He was a trader at a Wall Street firm, but wanted to attend business school and become a consultant to inner-city entrepreneurs. Isiadinso helped him find a New Jersey firm that worked with city startups.

"After a year of working there, he applied to business school and, this time, he had something tangible to speak to," she said.

Typically, EXPARTUS® clients pay $10,000 for five months of guidance before they send in business school applications. The firm says it has a 90% success rate among clients applying to business schools for the first time.

A blue chip background isn't enough when schools are looking for well-rounded folks.

"You can't be a generic consultant from McKinsey or a vanilla investment banker from Goldman Sachs," Isiadinso said. "It's not going to (guarantee) you admission."

She helps each client compile a story, including what leadership role he's held in the workplace and community.

Raising Herself Up

In the case of recent Harvard Business School graduate, this meant highlighting her fundraising efforts for a New York City nonprofit that helped the homeless access medical services. "Without Chioma, I would have minimized the impact I had on that organization. I'm a very humble person and wouldn't have wanted to play up certain things," said the student, 28. "She gave me the confidence to talk about the money I raised."

Back then, she had a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale University and was working as a junior analyst at JPMorgan.

"I knew I wanted an MBA, but I didn't have immediate resources around me," she said. "There are many people who have fathers or uncles who went to Harvard Business School. Companies like EXPARTUS® level the playing field."