One of the perks of a 1 year MBA program is the quick return to the job market.  Of course, this comes with some negative side effects as well.  For anyone looking to make a career change, this poses particular challenges due to a lack of time for internships.  My job search process was far from perfect and I thought it might help some of you who are starting to think about what you want to do post-MBA.

I am American and was planning a return to the US after school.  I worked for a Public Accounting firm prior to school, but was hoping to make a shift into Strategy or Marketing for a large corporation in consumer products or retail.  To my fellow MBA’s, this would be considered a “double-jump” (role, industry…. triple jump would add a new location to the mix).   Here is a brief summary of my timeline throughout the year:

• Sept-Dec: Spruce up resume, mock interviews with sector consultants, develop strategies of marketing myself with the career services group.
• Jan-Feb: I sent out 50+ applications and custom cv’s/cover letters to companies posting MBA internships and full time positions.
• Feb-July: I started getting in touch with companies I really liked using either Oxford Alumni, LinkedIn connections, and contacts of my fellow classmates.

Based on my past failures, here are a few recommendations on how maximize your time spent on the job hunt:

• Prepare: Get your plan together before you even start school.  Our first recruiting event (J&J) was during induction week!  Banks and Consulting firms roll in shortly after… do anything you can to get that CV ready and start doing mock interviews to make sure you have your pitch nailed down.
• Only Talk to PEOPLE: I sent out over 50 applications to online job postings (company websites, careerbuilder, etc).  I got 3 automated reject emails and absolutely no response from the others.  Don’t waste your time on these, they don’t work.  Do use these resources to find cool jobs at companies you like, but then find any way possible to find someone within the organization to submit your application in for you.  I had closer to a 50% response rate when I went this route and landed quite a few interviews this way.
• Be Relentless: A had to contact one company every week for 3 months before I finally got an interview set up.  Being persistent (in a tactful and non-annoying way) shows you are really interested.  This company told me they were impressed how hard I worked to get to the interview.
• Keep Your Head Up: This is going to be a very depressing and emotionally depleting time of your life.  You will hear “no thanks” more times than you can count.  Keep your head up and press on, taking time to be depressed is just wasting time when you could be landing a job offer.
• Prepare, Prepare, Prepare: I know I said it before, but this is how you land the job.  Getting an interview is hard, you’ve got to capitalize once you finally get an interview.  There are lots of resources available at school.  I talked to Professors, Alumni, Career Services experts.  I read articles, case studies, books, and annual reports.  I knew EVERYTHING about the companies I interviewed with and this made a huge difference in getting an offer.

You’re dream job is out there.  You took the risk/time/debt to come to Oxford.  Use the vast array of tools, networks, opportunities, and reputation Oxford has to offer and you will find what you are looking for!

As a Fitizen, recall your last trip to the gym.  As you entered the gym, you headed straight for your favorite treadmill.  You probably struggled through a lonely gut wrenching 30 minutes.  It was early in the morning, so you flicked between channels on the TV hoping to find something enjoyable to watch.  You thought you were making progress towards your goal of completing a marathon, but couldn’t remember how well you ran last week.

Would you be more entertained if you could play your favorite music videos or catch up on your favorite TV programme when it was convenient for you?  Would you have been more motivated if you could see your workout history for the past month?  Would you be having more fun if you could race your friend across town on the treadmill?

If you were at a gym with Fitizen you could do all this.  Now imagine walking into the gym again, but this time the TV screens attached to the fitness equipment were an extension of yourself. You could watch reruns of your favorite TV shows, browse a selection of your favorite music videos, read your morning newspaper, or virtually race with your training team on a course that looks just like the London marathon you are training for.  When you finish, your workout data is loaded automatically to a website that you could review at work and get tips on how to progress faster.

This is Fitizen.

——-

One of my favorite parts of the MBA program thus far has been the Entrepreneurship Project.  My team thought up the idea of Fitizen.  While we didn’t decide to go forward with our plan, it was a great experience learning what it is really like starting up a new company.  It was also an amazing opportunity to network with real venture capitalists for some of our classmates.  In fact, a handful of the groups were asked to come for follow up visits to discuss real funding for their business plans.  It doesn’t get any more exciting than that at a business school!

If you are considering applying to the Oxford MBA program but are intimidated about surviving the year with a family, fear not!  It turns out that Oxford is a fantastic place to raise a family AND learn a little about business at the same time (probably even have a little fun too).  There are several reasons I am convinced that this is the best business school in the world for parents to study at:

• The 1 year MBA:  Lets face it… you have a family to support and taking two years to study for an MBA is just not practical.
• The Students:  The average age at SBS is a few years older than most other b-schools.  While there are still probably only another dozen or so students with children, there is definitely a sense of maturity amongst the rest of the class.  I get the impression that people are genuinely interested in how we’re doing and have always been accommodating when working out team schedules.
• The School:  From day 1 the School has made a point to include families in almost every major event.  With even the first hint of a conflict due to a family obligation, the staff has always bent over backwards to work out a resolution.
• The city:  While Oxford is an hour train ride to the city, there is really no reason to head into London unless you are up for some sightseeing.  Oxford has anything a young family could possibly want – parks, libraries, walking trails, playgrounds, beautiful architecture, you name it.  You get all this and don’t have to worry about the noise and crowds of a big city… what more could you ask for
• Europe:  Living only an hour from the airport makes our 3 week breaks all the more enjoyable.  The cultural and educational opportunities of living in Europe cannot be matched in North America.

I would go on but I have my monthly appointment at the pub with the “Old Men and Daddies Club.”

sub fusc - of a dark/dusky colour, refers to the clothes worn with full academic dress in Oxford. Generally, this means, for men: a gown, cap, and white bow tie (for men) or black ribbon (for women).

matriculation in Oxford - one of the many occasions to dress up in “sub fusc” and parade through the streets to to entertain the tourists!

This weekend was the formal matriculation ceremony and one of the many old traditions that are only really done at Oxford and that other lesser known British University to the North of here.  Back in the old days, students were required to sit for an intensive exam in Latin to prove that they were worthy of being admitted to the University.  Luckily, that tradition has been retired, but all students are still required to “matriculate.”  Starting at about 8am, each college marched down the High Street, past Radcliffe Camera, and up to the Sheldonian where all of the freshers were presented to the Vice Chancellor.  The details of what happened next are highly secretive and I could tell you, but then I’d have to, well you know…

I am really a member of 3 entities here:
1.  Saïd Business School - I have all of my classes here.  They teach the MBA programme and are responsible for everything related to teaching and supporting our learning.
2.  University of Oxford - The University as a whole basically just watches over everyone.  They review the departments (including the Saïd business school) to make sure the programs being taught are the best in the world.  They also oversee anything related to grading.  For instance, they proctor our final exams and make sure we are dressed in the traditional sub fusc (tux with white tie for men with a cap and gown) for all University events, deal with disciplinary stuff, etc.
3.  Oriel College - Every MBA student applies separately to a college after they are accepted to SBS.  I got into Oriel, one of the older and  prettiest colleges (I may of course be biased).   The college is responsible for housing of most students – basically dorms (we chose to get private accommodation instead), social events, sports teams, and most importantly, they are the ones who give us a degree when/if we graduate!

This week I had induction and introductory events at the Business School.  It was mainly “meet and greet” today and a chance to learn more about the year to come and meet as many classmates as possible.  I was blown away by our group…… not as much by their backgrounds which were impressive themselves, but more that everyone was so welcoming and excited to meet new people.  I think it may be the fact that 95% of us come from countries outside the UK and need to find new friends quick, but either way I already feel a sense of camaraderie building in the group.  I can already tell I will have a lot of new friends at the end of the program.  So far I’ve met a handful of bankers, a few entrepreneurs, consultants, accountants, LOTS of social entrepreneurs/charity workers, and a professional football player from the Canadian football league (Canada has American football?) to name a few.  Our group has 240 students from 48 different countries.  Most people have heard of Kansas but don’t know much about it – amazingly I have only had one Wizard of Oz reference and nobody has said “You’re not in KS anymore.”

SBS also hosted a family luncheon this week.  It was a great chance to finally meet everyone’s spouses and children.  The SBS wive’s club have already claimed the name “Ladies of Leisure,” and have begun planning outings around Oxford and more importantly, trips to IKEA to make our new accommodations feel a bit more like home.  Hosting the event was a really nice touch to end off the week.  I think most of us will sleep better at night knowing that our loved ones are enjoying their time here as much as we are.