Frog to Dragon: HEC MBA & Tsinghua MBA Blog


The quest for wisdom, from France to China, of an HEC MBA & Tsinghua MBA dual degree student (class of 2011)

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Archive for the ‘2. At HEC MBA’ Category

Posted by at 5 August , 2010

Walking out of HEC

Walking out of HEC

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since my previous post.
As I’m preparing my big move to China, time has really passed without me noticing anything.

Before I go and start the second chapter of my MBA experience, I wanted to reflect back on what I have learned and what I’ll take away from it.

3 classes I enjoyed:

  • Marketing (with J.N. Kapferer)
  • Corporate Finance (with P. Quiry)
  • Luxury Strategy (with V. Bastien)


Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by at 27 January , 2010

You may have noticed that I’m getting to blog a bit more regularly. Well, part of it is because many interesting things happen.

Yesterday and today HEC hosted the recrutment “Carrefours“. Carrefour means crossroads in French and is also the name of France’s largest supermarket chain. And indeed, the whole event seemed like a big marketplace.
In two days, about 110 companies came to recruit from a very broad range of sectors. There were consulting firms and banks of course, but also retail, transportation, automobile, energy, publishing, food, consumer goods, luxury, and the list goes on. There was even a video game company.
Unfortunately, most (although not all) of the companies that came focus on recruiting Grande Ecole people. This masters programme is clearly the one that HEC is famous for. It often brings frustration as we see recruiters all smile and, the second we mention we’re from the MBA programme, they start to look away.

However, persistence (and a sustained smile) is key, as well as good preparation.
Before the carrefours, I studied my plan of attack, I knew that I was interested in consulting or consumer goods (preferably more on the luxury side). So I shortlisted 10 companies, categorised in “must-see” and “if-time”, and went ahead.
While a few companies proved disappointing (I’m starting to really wonder whether I’d really like to go back to the consulting sharks nest), I came back with 3 companies that were interested in my profile, and where I could happily imagine myself applying to. One was in consulting, one in beauty, and one in luxury. I felt the highest connection to was the latter but it was a total pleasure to discuss with each of them.
So in the end, I’ve had a fruitful Carrefour. I’ve made contact with the recruiting representatives of likeable companies and I know they’ll remember me when I e-mail them. And most importantly, I’ve confirmed that my profile is attractive to my target industry. A career switch is indeed possible!

On another note, while I went to the Carrefours fairly light-hearted, mainly looking for information as I’ll finish my studies from Tsinghua only in June next year, we (of the September 09 intake) noticed many old faces from the September 08 batch who finished class in December. I didn’t want to ask to many questions but it seems like the job market is tough for those who just graduated…

 

Fajitas party!

Fajitas party!

So what’s the deal with fajitas? You may ask.

Well, I just wanted to (at last) comment on the social life at HEC, since it’s something that we’re most most proud of in our MBA.

Just two days ago, we received an e-mail from the president of the Latin Club about a fajitas party organised at the Piano Bar (it’s a bar with a piano) by the dorms. That came in as a total surprise out of some ideas that emerged during the week-end (which was the January 10 integration week-end in the Alps).

Here you go: fajitas, sangria, caipiroska, margarita, pisco…

Total succes! Latin Club! We love you! :)

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