Summer Term: Weeks Three to Six (scp, job hunting)
It’s been a while since I have posted and I have a lot of ground to make up (The 2014–2015 class kicked off their pre-course this week!). I hope to catch up and wrap up within the next two weeks, so stay tuned.
Strategic Consulting Project
Got started with the SCP and it looks quite challenging. The project is centred around the multi-channel capabilities of UK based retailers. Multi-channel refers to the multiple ways in which consumers get information and eventually shop for products. Most consumers expect retailers to support this and retailers have been scrambling to respond. Hence we are trying to figure out which retailer is doing it the right way and who needs to catch up. As part of the project, we frequently attend meetings with Gartner analysts and with experts in the retailing sector and this is quite exhausting and time consuming. There are also tons of academic papers and research reports to digest. We are also relying very heavily on classmates who have retailing experience (great way to get all the dumb questions out of the way). Oxford is home to the Oxford Institute of Retail Management and we are leveraging their expertise as well.
One thing that has become clear is that there is going to be little or no time to job hunt. Hence if you think the SCP will afford you a lot of time for job hunting, think again. Nearly every SCP team that I have spoken to has been surprised by the intensity of the project. There is also a presentation and a report of 15,000 words that you will need to submit as part of the SCP evaluation process. This may or may not be separate from what you will submit to the project sponsor and will vary from project to project.
Job Hunting
I have had a few emails from prospective students asking me about job prospects post MBA. It’s a fair question given that most of us quit stable jobs and come here with the expectation that our careers will get a boost. Well I have to say that I have been disappointed by the small number of employers who visited campus this year. Things started off well during the first term, but then it tapered off during the next two terms. I would have expected the opposite as recruiting generally picks up as you get closer to graduation. Now I have to note that the following observations apply to the middle 80% of the class. If you are in the top 10%, you will have no trouble finding a job and if you are in the bottom 10%, you will struggle no matter what the school does. Also if you are interested in consulting, you don’t have to worry as most of the big names (Mckinsey, BCG, Deloitte, ATK, LEK) will visit the school. SBS is also quite strong in entrepreneurship and in the social sector. But for everyone else, it is quite hard. Apart from Amazon, which recruits at pretty much every business school in Europe, we really have not had any big names visit. What’s disappointing is that most employers will visit Oxford and hire the undergrads but not the MBA’s. Right now we are about four weeks from graduation and I would estimate that around 10% of the class have jobs. To some extent this is due to the diverse class profile. A sizeable percent of the class, especially those from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia want to return to their home countries and look for jobs there. It’s typically the Europeans and the Indians who are looking for jobs in the UK and in Europe right now.
The visa issue is a major problem as many jobs will require that you have work authorization to even apply. This was an issue even with some employers such as Uber, and Wipro who visited the school to recruit. Some of these issues are not the school’s fault but the school is doing little to address issues that are within its control. For those looking without the school’s help, having someone inside the company who can refer you is pretty much the best way to get an interview. Hence if you know people who are currently in a company that you would like to work for, I would advise you to start networking with them as soon as possible. If you don’t know anyone, you will have to network hard once you get here. I also think it’s wise to apply to the consulting companies who visit the school even if you have no interest in being a consultant. First, you will have a good backup plan if all else fails and second, you will gain some valuable interviewing practice. Consulting companies recruit fairly early and the case interview format that they use is also used by every MBA employer out there and hence, the sooner you prepare for it the better. I will have more thoughts on the jobs situation in future posts.
