Where are they now: an interview with alumnus Uday Broca

Uday returned to India following his Global MBA, where he accepted a position in the executive search industry working across Asia. Read the interview below to learn more about his career path, and get some insight into what he thinks is helpful for current or future MBAs to keep in mind!

Could you briefly describe your current role and responsibilities?

I work as a Principal in the Automotive and Industrial practice with Hunt Partners, a premier retained executive search firm across Asia. We conduct leadership searches at the CxO / Board level. My primary responsibility is to take ownership of a search mandate from the time the firm wins the business. I work with the Partners, subject matter experts and research teams in defining a search strategy which includes a target list of companies, must haves for candidates, level of seniority and compensation range. Once this is done, I engage with prospective candidates in both selling and explaining the role as well as assessing their candidature. Through multiple rounds of assessment, I dig deeper into a candidates fitment for a role including their key result areas, significant achievements, reporting structure, job changes and personal motivations.  A final shortlist is then shared with the client, following which multiple rounds of interviews, compensation negotiations and logistical issues are dealt with. I have revenue, business development, search closure and practice building targets on a yearly basis.

Was there anything in particular about the Global MBA that helped prepare or qualify you for this position?

One of the main things that the Global MBA has helped prepare me for this job is giving me knowledge across a wide range of topics. This has helped me look at business from a holistic perspective, which is very important especially since I talk to senior business leaders on a daily basis. Another important learning has been the ability to quickly learn about something new, whether an industry or a function in a limited time frame. The numerous case studies done during the Global MBA has definitely prepared me for this. Some important set of personal learning would be time management, multi-tasking and dealing with ambiguity which is a daily occurrence in my job. Finally, the cross-cultural know how and experiences has greatly helped as well. I am currently running searches in North America, Europe, India and South East Asia and my interactions with these regions during the MBA has greatly helped me succeed in these diverse searches.

What advice would you give to current our future MBA students who are beginning their job search?

One of the key things that I'd like to share with current or future students regarding the job search is to really understand what makes one tick. It is essential to really understand yourself both on a professional and personal front. You need to know your strengths, weaknesses, what makes you happy, what do you really not like doing. Another important facet is being realistic and setting the right expectation. I mean its all well and good that everyone wants to become a strategy consultant at Mckinsey, but you need to figure out if that is really what you want and are you really the best man for the job. Which brings me to the next point, you need to figure out what differentiates you from the countless other MBAs from premier institutes and once you've figure that out, how do you combine all the above in telling your story to a prospective employer. Apart from this, use the time to take all the advice in the world from other students, professors, career services, ex bosses, family, everyone possible! Network, network and network, use the Alumni database as much as you can, afterall you've paid a lot of money to be a part of it.