- Experience shared by David Vinagre (MBA 06)
Name: David Vinagre
Nationality: Spain
Industry: Before - IT& Telecom
After - Banking
Function: Before - Engineering
After - Retail and Commercial Banking
Position: Before - Wireless Engineer
After - Management Associate
CEIBS MBA experience is completed… Those 17 months are gone by so fast. It has been a unique experience. From the personal side, living in China has been an excellent opportunity to understand emerging markets. From the academic experience, CEIBS is definitively a top business school. In addition to these, professionally, CEIBS MBA has allowed me to switch my professional career from Engineering to Banking Industry. Determination, involvement in finance activities and networking was key for this success. Here are some tips which I am sure will be of help.
3 RULES: NETWORK, NETWORK and NETWORK.
If you are educated and humble, people is willing to help and give advice. From classmates to people joining CEIBS activities, in addition to alumni association, they are a great source of information and advice. Alumni can be great mentors on how to break into the industry, give you feedback on the way you introduce your profile and help you emphasize the strongest point and how to defend your weakest profile points.
CONSTANTLY BUZZ WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.
MBA is a great opportunity to hear stories in different industries. High qualified students with diverse background as well as speakers and alumni get-togethers allow you to further understand different job opportunities. It is important to know what you want as soon as possible. A continuous buzz on your desired future work helps people to give you concrete advice and allow people to get you in touch with the right people.
GET INVOLVED IN ACTIVITIES RELATED ON YOUR TARGET INDUSTRY.
MBA experience is a perfect time to spend time on the activities you would like to do in the future. Starting from Club activities to presentations related to the industry, both are a great source of information. Furthermore, I would recommend to do research on the industries you are interested in to further understand the structure and the insights. I would suggest to get involve in some project with some company outside school to try to get experience and give consistency to your profile. During the MBA, I got involved in two different projects with two PE about wind energy and carbon trading industry.
SUMMER INTERNSHIP IS KEY.
I do believe that for a career switcher, internship is very important. Not only to get some experience and get a further insight of the industry, but it gives you the opportunity to be consistent on your speech when you are applying to a full time position. In my case, I worked during the summer in Madrid in a Commercial Bank Department. It was an extraordinary opportunity to get some experience and get further insight on the industry.
BE REALISTIC.
I do believe that for a career switch is important to be realistic on the real possibilities you have. Application requires a long time to prepare them appropriately, so it is important to try to maximize your time. In the middle of the credit crunch crisis, and not having done a summer internship in Investment Banking, the possibilities to get into the IB Division from Goldman Sachs are low… Never say never, but...
KNOW WHICH YOUR COMPETIVE ADVANTAGE IS.
It is important to know what are you good at and which are your weakest point. Understand the profile and the other people applying. Guess what companies are looking for it and where they are looking for it. Personally, I have been hired by a bank trying to expand its operations in emerging markets. Definitely, CEIBS experience was a key differentiator to get the job.
