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Working the network: how to turn your MBA team projects into job offers

9 October 2015

The article at a glance

If learning in a bubble is what you’re after from your MBA experience, then the Cambridge MBA may not be for you. …

Category: News Programme news

Making the MBA work for you

If learning in a bubble is what you’re after from your MBA experience, then the Cambridge MBA may not be for you. A highlight of the course is being able to put learning into practice, whether that’s through regular networking sessions and the chance to make personal and professional contacts, or through the live projects that are a core part of the course.

The Cambridge Venture Project and in particular the Global Consulting Project, core parts of the MBA curriculum, offer so many avenues to network within clients of your choice – multinational firms or non-profit organisations anywhere in the world – that many students are offered full-time employment there after they finish their studies. Meet two students who did just that…

Nataliya Kozak
Nataliya Kozak

Nataliya Kozak (Cambridge MBA, 2014)

Product Marketing Manager, Large Publishers EMEA, Google

Why Cambridge Judge Business School?

I was working in new product development for Liberty Global in Amsterdam, which was okay, but over time I began to ask myself: “You have 30 more years of working – so what really makes you happy?” I wanted to take a step back and reflect – and the MBA was a brilliant opportunity to do that, to meet different people and be inspired by them. I came to Cambridge because as well as that fantastic wealth of knowledge and 800 years of heritage, it has more intimate class sessions. Many MBA programmes have such large cohorts that you never get to meet half of the people in your “class” – at Cambridge classes are much smaller and more intimate and you really get to know everyone.

What did it give you?

I had ideas about going in one of two particular directions – I came wanting to follow a particular course path but, such is how you reflect and change within an MBA, I ended up taking another route. I took the Culture, Arts & Media Management concentration – if you’d told me I’d be doing that I’d have laughed in your face! The MBA gave me a way of looking at things from a different perspective – it made me more strategic and gave me the ability to always keep the big picture in mind.

How did it land you the job?

I first approached Google to ask if I could work with them during my MBA. I’d heard about the Google way of working and wanted to experience it – it was said to be innovative, and so it proved. Five of us worked on the Global Consulting Project, measuring impact with Google’s Online Partnerships Group. We worked in strategy and marketing but the experience was much more about the company than the direction, and it was amazing. The culture was so different from what I’d known, and the people so smart. And when we made our final presentation, to some very senior people in the organisation, they were committed enough to the development and progress of Google that they were actively listening to this group of students, taking their comments and ideas seriously. The real value was in experiencing the culture, wondering at the start if I and Google would suit each other – and it’s only over a period of time like the Global Consulting Project that you can really work out if this is for you. And it was – I applied for an internship and was successful.

What do you do there now?

I am now product marketing manager looking after publications and I love my job, and working for Google, which is as exciting as I had hoped. The MBA gave me the confidence and the opportunity to do this. The programme was so intense that, looking back and reflecting afterwards, it gave me a sense of belief and confidence. I managed to pull that off so now, when faced with the unknown, I have faith I can manage it, and that nothing is impossible. That confidence came from the MBA.

Laura Duggan
Laura Duggan

Laura Duggan (Cambridge MBA, 2014)

Operations Strategy Manager, Addison Lee

Why Cambridge Judge Business School?

I was a consultant in customer experience but the nature of that work is visiting companies – I wanted to be part of an organisation rather than a visitor. I needed to build up my industry experience but wanted to enter an organisation at a level where I could shape what it was doing. I didn’t feel I had enough of an edge to do that and decided the MBA would help me get it. I came to Cambridge partly because of the brand but also because the programme is very collaborative and I wanted to be in a class where I could learn from those around me – and there were some very smart people on my course.

What did the MBA give you?

As well as the hard skills, the course itself was a journey of personal growth that changed the way I thought, increasing my self-awareness. It plugged those gaps in my CV, and gave me a great global network of contacts.

How did it land you the job?

I did my Global Consulting Project with the Carlyle Group, researching business models for global expansion at Addison Lee. I was drawn to the group anyway because it was going through a period of change and that appealed to me. The operations director gave me feedback on the work I’d done and we continued the dialogue, spending about two to three months talking about the business and how I would fit into it, and I got my position from there. It was a nice way to get a job – they got a proper insight into who I was and what I could do, and I saw how they worked. It wasn’t like the typical recruitment process, which can be a bit “box-ticky”.

What do you do there now?

I’m the Operations Strategy Manager, supporting the operations aspect of a vast change programme. If someone had told me I would be the Operations Strategy Manager at a minicab company I’d have been surprised because it’s not where I had expected to be, but I’m really happy. I’m at the level I wanted to be, with freedom and responsibility to help shape the organisation’s future. I’m not just a cog in a wheel – and it was my MBA work within the company that got me here.