The Personal Statement that got me into Columbia

Unabridged and unadulterated, below is the personal statement/statement of academic purpose I wrote as part of my admissions application to the Columbia masters program in Information and Knowledge Strategy.  I was pretty pleased with it, if I do say so myself, and I dare say it helped me get into the program.  Judge for yourself:

I recognize that it may not be obvious from my resume why I would be interested in knowledge management generally, and specifically in Columbia’s Masters in Information and Knowledge Strategy.  I will admit that mine is perhaps a strange path.  I’m definitely a career-changer, looking to significantly alter my trajectory.

I came to New York to study acting, and pursued that for about ten years.  While I was taking acting classes and singing lessons and voiceover lessons and auditioning, I worked mostly full-time day jobs, usually as a secretary or assistant. 

A couple of my early jobs gave me valuable exposure to business processes, because I worked in very small companies (an owner plus me in one; an owner, an accountant and me in another).  In those environments, I learned to be a jack-of-all-trades; to look for ways to overview an entire business and find ways to help it operate more efficiently by creating documents, systems or processes to automate or streamline whatever I could.  I had a lot of responsibilities, and I learned a lot, but didn’t see where I could apply that experience (plus, I was still focused on pursuing acting).

My next substantial job brought me to the field of law, working as a legal secretary at a small law firm (approximately 20 employees total), where I supported three partners and an associate.  My four years there were another wonderful learning experience, as I gained broad exposure to many aspects of the law and legal processes.  In fact, during that time I brought a rent overcharge case against my then-landlord, pursuing it pro se and doing my own legal research, writing and filing my own briefs, and even arguing twice in New York State Supreme Court.

I found that I had a certain affinity for the law, but after my four-year odyssey with the legal system, I had no desire to become an attorney.   I won my case, and therefore had some money on which to live, so I quit working to pursue acting full-time.  Ultimately, that proved less than successful.  Although I was getting some steady voiceover work, I was soon low on reserves and feeling disheartened.  Shortly after returning to work from my “sabbatical,” I began working as a legal secretary at my current employer.   In this job, I have seen numerous opportunities to improve processes and efficiency but have rarely been able to find an audience for my ideas.  I simply don’t have the credentials to back them up.

It wasn’t until February of this year that I discovered the existence of the field of knowledge management.  I was visiting with a long-time friend who works at an AmLaw 100 firm.  One of our conversations segued into a discussion of her firm’s intranet and knowledge management department.  I was surprised and excited to learn that much of what that department does encompasses the types of ideas that have occurred to me over the past three years. 

Finally, something fit.  This was a field where I could utilize all my abilities: I’m intelligent, analytical, organized, and detail oriented; I’ve discovered that I’m a systems thinker (I hadn’t known there was a term for the way my brain works); I’m a problem solver and a figure-out-er; I anticipate needs and potential problems, and plan ahead to avoid or minimize future difficulties; I’m good at finding more efficient ways to do things; I enjoy exploring technology and software (everywhere I’ve worked, people have always come to me with their questions about software).  Knowledge management would take advantage of all these skills and would allow me to perpetually challenge myself.   I finally have an answer to a question I’ve always dreaded: “What are you passionate about?”

In March, I saw an ad on LinkedIn for Columbia’s Masters in Information and Knowledge Strategy.  I immediately clicked through (proof that internet advertising does, at least occasionally, work), and signed up for the online information session.  Much of what was said in the session dovetailed neatly with what I’ve been researching and contemplating for the last few months.   The role of a knowledge management professional was described in exactly the way I’ve been conceiving it in my head for the past several months.

I plan to use the MS in Information and Knowledge Strategy to enter the field of knowledge management, and ultimately to take on a role such as Knowledge Management Director or Chief Knowledge Officer, perhaps even establishing a knowledge management initiative at my current firm.