How does ESSEC prepare us to excel in a Finance career?

By Kailash Satyanarayan, Global MBA Ambassador 2018-2019, Finance major

A career in Finance interests candidates from different backgrounds and specialties. The sheer competition is always a concern for MBA candidates who are trying to break into this industry. With this in mind, how does ESSEC provide the right career guidance for participants in the Finance major of the Global MBA to not only break into the industry, but also excel in it?

Career Services

Every career starts with a plan. Here at ESSEC, the plan has been broken further into 5 key steps.

Many of us came into the Finance major of the Global MBA wanting to use a specific skill-set. In my case, it was about combining strategy and finance. Our regular meetups with the Career Services team have helped us to perfect our pitch, challenge our CV, unlock and leverage our existing network, discover how to create a new network in our chosen industry, interview with HR professionals and acquire a lot more skills. Through this 5-step methodology, I have been discovering further not only about the industry but also myself.

Along with the career services, the Finance majors also benefit from tailored finance and consulting workshops run by professionals from these fields. Targeted for the complexities of these industries,  these workshops have equipped us with the skills, both technical and soft, to break in. We worked extensively on perfecting our cover letters, cracking case interview methods, formulating structure in our fit answers and many more skills.   

Mentoring

Once we understood what our career goal was, we would need guidance on how to move into that sector. From breaking into a new industry in France to moving beyond France to opportunities all over the world, each of us is allocated a mentor aligned with our individual career objective.  These mentors are senior leaders (directors, VP’s, senior managers..) with significant experience in our specific field. My mentor is a Director from a large international bank. The mentoring program facilitates a two-way learning process - it’s not only about going through my career objective and challenging its viability, but also about gaining a strong network on either side and learning from one another.

Growing the network

Now that we have learnt these skills, how can we have the face-to-face interaction with the company? To cater to this, ESSEC organizes career fairs to help participants understand the various industries and build their network. We had one in January where we had over 120 companies attend the event on campus over 2 days. From banks to consulting firms, tech firms to retail chains, this career fair gave us access to companies with whom we could build our network and the opportunity to introduce ourselves to potential employers. All of the skills that we have learnt in the career services workshops are put to use when we interact with employers.

Along with the career fair, there are a number of individual company visits which happen throughout the year. Their aim is to give information about the company both in a formal and informal way.

With all this career guidance, ESSEC not only equips its participants with the knowledge and skills for the job search, but also to grow to become future ambassadors of the school for the long term.