MBA Global Career Forum

Nov 19-30, 2007, Feb 18-29, 2008

Organizer: http://mba-exchange.com/

Schools: Chicago /Columbia /HBS /IMD /INSEAD /Kellogg /LBS /MIT /Stanford /Wharton

Timeline: see the diagram on top

Early Birds - What 2 Expect?

As I'm counting down my last month before going back to China for a not too long break, provided the Swiss visa being issued soon after 8 weeks processing, more & more interactions with future clasmates thanks to the internet and stuffs like Skype, MSN, facebook, etc. Of course, the best is still face-to-face in a nice place for a meal & a drink. That's what i'm looking forward to - meeting up with John & Sanjay, plus our guest of honor, Glenn from the 2004 class tonight at an interesting Mexican restaurant.

Talking to Emeka this morning (very early in Nigeria:-), we've exchanged some thoughts about the career. It's now the recruiting season (2 weeks) for class 2007 in Lausanne and with a record year in 2006, we'd like to see what'll happen to the current class and of course, to us in 2008!

Record Year for IMD MBA Recruiting

When the MBA class of 2006 graduated on November 30, a record 91% had already received or signed a job offer. Many of them relied on the recruiting activities organized by the Career Services team. Some 60 companies came on campus and generated 60% of the 180 offers that have been received so far.

Everyone has changed at least one factor of their career: whether it be function, industry or geography, and over 30% have managed to change all three! With industry still typically offering the higher salaries, the year at IMD has changed the goals of many of our graduates, who found themselves accepting jobs in sometimes unexpected areas…

Tina Revsbech, Danish / Maxim Kuzyuk, Russian / Kim Nguyen, Swiss/Vietnamese, read their full stories here: http://www.imd.ch/news/Record-year-for-IMD-MBA-Recruiting.cfm

Advice to Future Participants:Tina, Maxim and Kim are unanimous: start the search early and do your research! So all early birds, there're something to expect:-)

The Notes of Bainies

Arriving at Flutes at the Fort 5 mins to 7:30 pm on Friday, we (3 IMD 2008 MBAs) were warmly greeted by a group of Bainies. The partner was quite impressed that we came as a group and sharp on time, asking whether this is a prerequisite to get into IMD. Most probably:-)

Though I didn't find the flutes there, it's a nice, unique place at the very heart of Singapore yet you find yourself surrounded by greenery, feeling a bit closer to the stars also because it's at the fort.
It's a celebration initiated by Bain South East Asia with its office located in Singapore for a group of 25 newly admitted MBAs. We were still surprised to see 15 Bainies out of the 80 staff of Bain SEA joining us. What a privilege! No flutes, no band of Bain, I did catch the sound full of resounding notes from them:

1！exclamation mark — every employee is energetic, passionately sharing about the strong company culture which is very unique among the top consulting firms.

2 = equation mark — each formula must lead to certain results and that's what Bain always strive to achieve for their clients, starting from day 1, to make companies more valuable by delivering targeted results. As their logo "True North" stands for a clear focus on client results.

3 ∞ positive infinity — by adopting a "generalist approach" for developing Associate Consultant, Consultant, Manager, Partner, you will not be constrained in one industry but have many opportunities to work on all sorts of projects, including Pro bono work, externship, etc.

4 * — though Bain is famous for its strong culture, each consultant has to carve out his/her own career path, under the guidance of mentors. So there's unity in culture but not uniformity in career development.

5 ∆ — a triangle is one of the most stable and balanced shapes which symbolizes Bain's promotion of work/life balance.

Above are just what I've taken away from a short night cocktail with Bain and hopefully it's not misinterpretation or misleading. Thanks to all Bainies & I've truly enjoyed the notes conveyed without flutes!