The job hunt begins...

I am more than half way through my course, its just about time to start looking for a job. I am targeting Management Consulting or Business Development role in ICT(Internet,Communication,Technology)sector.To crack Management Consulting in Continental Europe appears a yeoman's task, contrary to my expectations all MC firms require knowledge of a European language. I am concentrating my efforts in the UK,Singapore & Dubai for MC. For ICT sector there are possibilities in Continental Europe without a European language, however the economy is still on crutches and things should get better in coming months.

Recently we had a workshop on 'Working in Belgium & Europe', I must say the taxes in Europe are quite high(close to 50%),however the social benefits are equally good.I don't mind staying in Europe if something like-able works out.

Vlerick has a good alumni network, but it is concentrated mostly in Western Europe. The school keeps organizing alumni get-together, company presentation & few career fairs, however I think Vlerick should put more efforts in attracting international recruiters.

The last day of classes and ensuing days...

We finished our classroom lectures last week for good,however we have other engagements till April end to keep us busy namely; exams,China Trip,module on 'Doing Business In Europe,Business Plan and few other things.

The last day of the classroom lecture left a bitter-sweet taste, on one side the joy of not attending long lectures anymore whereas on the other side the sadness of not seeing my friends in the classroom anymore. I know, it's not exactly the way I am making it sound that but still I had a feeling of partial 'Graduation' on that day.

We start for China one week from today, everyone is excited about the trip. Most of us are staying for few days in or around China after the study-tour ends.Our Chinese classmates have been quite helpful in letting people plan their respective trips,they are also conducting an orientation session for us. The schedule of two weeks of China study-tour is a mixture of classroom lectures, industry visits, networking events, historical tours and lot of PARTYING(unofficial).

After the China trip we have other engagements till end of April. In May,we start with our 'In-company projects'(internships) for two months. I have managed to get my project with Microsoft, Belgium office. In July, we have to do a six week long 'Give-Back' project, a CSR initiative from Vlerick. Have not finalized anything as yet on that.

Sayonara till the next post.....

Crazy days of MBA

I have been inactive on this blog for last few weeks because of an insanely crazy schedule at the school. I have been spending all days of the week at the school with a maximum sleep of five hours a day.My puffy eyes could vouch for that.I am contemplating to keep my belongings in the school locker and be there 24/7. The amount of work has gone up through the roof, on top of that the pressure to look for in-company project, job-search(would write an article on this later) & give-back project has exacerbated the whole schedule.

At the end of March, the whole class would go on a two weeks study tour to China. Vlerick has a sister campus in Beijing, it's a tie up with Peking University. Peking University has a Full Time MBA course in collaboration with Vlerick called BiMBA.I am looking forward to the China trip, it would be a new experience and a good break as well.

The seniors warned me about the Spring term saying that I would be inundated with work in that term, but I shouldn't lose focus and try to priortize what is more important for me. I am trying to do exactly that, it's not easy but not impossible either. MBA definitely forces you to learn priortization of work.

Sandi Cesko visited Vlerick.

Mr Sandi Cesko visited Vlerick last week.He is one of the most successful business entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe.His best known venture is Studio Moderna,which is a leading direct marketing company and consulting service in CEE region.There is a case study written on Studio Moderna by Harvard Business School,which was interesting to read.

Mr Sandi shared his journey,challenges alongside and the anticipated future for Studio Moderna.He seemed like a very modest man with excellent understanding of the market in its context.Studio Moderna intends to expand globally now and it is the next big challege for Mr Sandi and his team.

Group on International Relations in Vlerick

Few of us in the IMBA class felt that we not only need our management knowhow but also good understanding of developments around us particularly geo-political to give us a all round perspective.We got together for the first time in the residential Social Skills Workshop and had our first meeting. We discussed about Afghanistan, Middle East and other issues.It was an enriching discussion.

We had our second meeting recently and seeing the enthusiasm we decided to make the meeting a weekly one.The group has members from many backgrounds such as politics, journalism, sales and marketing and technology and many countries that makes the discussions quite engaging.

We also intend to invite few political commentrators during the remaining part of the course to get more insights into current geo-political developments.

Post Study Visa for students in Belgium

I have been doing some research on Post Study Visa for students in various countries in order to understand it better because Belgium does not have any unfortunately. US, UK, France, Netherlands, Australia etc provide 1-2 years of "Post Study Visa" to all Masters students with varying degree of flexibility.

To my surprise this thought never crossed school's mind even when the school is pushing so hard for internalization.I am trying to speak to the school management and the alumni association to highlight and push this issue further. One of the reasons I see for this issue is the relatively small number of foreign students(non-EEA) in Belgium.

Negotiations - a different perspective

This has been due for a long time. We had an amazing course on 'Negotiations Skills' by our Program Director, Dr David Venter. Dr Venter was one of the twelve negotiators in South Africa to facilitate the transfer of power from Apatheid regime to democracy.

Before this course, I never thought that 'Negotiation' is like an art that could be mastered by practice. Dr Venter is an amazing speaker and with his real life examples he made the course very interesting and engaging.

Key learnings from the course:-

- Before the negotiation, do a through home-work on the problems at hand, other party(ies) involved and your own bucket of options.

- Enter the negotiation with your 'Aspiration Base'(Where to start the negotiation), 'Real Base'( upto what point can you go in negotiation) and 'BATNA'

- Make the first move.

- Approach it with the idea 'Win-more' 'Win-more' .

We practised many simulated 'Negotiation' problems and it was really possible to apply the above learnings in practice.

Cacophony in the breaks...

Normally a lot of non-Belgian classmates including myself make VoIP calls to people back home or else where in the breaks of the classes.The other day during a break I was sitting in the class working on something and I realised there was a virtual cacophony of languages in the class auditorium,which I had never noticed before. Somebody was speaking Spanish,somebody Russian, somebody Bengali and faintly I could hear some Greek too.

It was quite a change from all in English discussion to a cacophony of langauages :) Internationalism at its best!!!!!

Language - How important role it has?

Lately we have been interacting with a lot of companies,Vlerick alumni and other recruiting partners and one thing that has come out clearly in the discussions is the necessity of fluency in Dutch/French for about half the companies. Before starting in Vlerick I was aware of the language factor but my assessment was that about one fourth of the companies are particular about local language.

Most of my classmates are taking classes for Dutch/French alongside the course including me. I must emphasise that firms that have typically European operations are more particular about local language than those that have global operations. However knowing the local language comes handy if you plan to work in Europe. The requirement of fluency in local language definitely makes it more challenging for non-Europeans to find suitable jobs.

Lets hope for the best.

Networking - the core part of doing MBA

Before coming to Vlerick I was quite cognizant of the importance of networking both during the course and after the course. I remember from an interview of Joseph Stiglitz that the three core parameters for a candidate to choose a b-school should be 'Networking,Networking and Networking'.

After starting in Vlerick I must say I have realised more closely how important networking is. I am glad Vlerick emphasises a lot on the importance of networking and provides students many opportunities to meet the alumni, industry people and entrepreneurs. Vlerick has innovated a 'Mentor-Mentee' concept in which there is a mentor for every two students. I have talked more about this on my previous post.This program seems to be working nicely. We had our second mentorship session today.

Looking forward to a promising new year with many networking opportunities.