1. Have a broad idea of the department you want to work in

It can be difficult to know the specific roles available to you at a company without insider knowledge. The roles advertised on job sites may not always make sense to you at first glance. When you get into the Pharma industry, you discover the diverse range of roles available. It’s therefore a good idea to know the department you want to join, but be open to moving around later on. You are likely to discover roles that are attractive to you once you enter the company. Think about whether you still want a scientific element to your job. In this case, it would be worth considering functions like Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Operations or Environment, Health and Safety. In sales and marketing roles you also need to understand the science behind the drugs you are selling, as well as the wider healthcare industry. Or, you could opt for pure business roles. This is what I did, as I wanted to use my business skills but still be working in a science context. In this case, you could explore areas like HR, Finance, or other roles in Business Operations.

2. Think about why you want to work in Pharma

There are obvious reasons why you might want a job in 'Big Pharma', including pay, prestige and opportunities for development. Keeping a link to my science degree in some way was part of my motivation to work in a science-led organisation. The employer will want to know that you have a bigger reason for wanting to join them, linked to their purpose. This is usually customer-focused which ultimately centres around serving patients, contributing to healthcare, and improving lives. Reflect on the bigger picture reason why you want to work in Pharma and how you can express this when you apply.

3. Build your commercial awareness

It’s time to do some research! Before you apply for a job in big Pharma, look up their recent work. Use their website and Google articles about them. Find out about their product pipeline, commercial performance and overarching strategy. Building your commercial awareness is important as you are entering an industry where you will be expected to demonstrate this no matter what your role is. You can also look up other business activities such as their Corporate Social Responsibility work. Once you do this research, use it in your application! Mention your interest in a particular area in your application and your interview.

4. Prepare to demonstrate your soft skills

Get ready to demonstrate your soft skills using your academic and work experience to date. This is especially important if you are applying for a pure business role, but it’s important in any role you apply for. Even if the role requires more technical knowledge, you are still working in a business environment. Common soft skills they will look for are team-work, leadership, handling difficult situations, decision-making, overcoming obstacles, time management and organisation. There is a bit of preparation to do before applying for a job in big Pharma. The first part of it involves understanding your own aims and motivations in applying for a specific role within that industry. Then you need to prepare for the application process itself, which involves some research and reflection on your experience to position yourself well. Remember, these companies look to see if you fit with their culture as well as technical knowledge. If you are applying for a business role, it is often just transferable skills and cultural fit that you need to demonstrate. In any case, commercial awareness is key to showing your competence and suitability for the industry.

If you are ready to take your career outside the lab and want to know how to start, watch my webinar on How Science Graduates Can Get a High Paying Job Outside the Lab Even if You Have Little to No Work Experience.

I’ll be honest with you, until the start of my MSc Management programme in September 2021, I wasn’t sure what I had gotten myself into. I had accepted my offer, completed my pre-study modules in the summer and scrolled through the programme web pages more times than I could count. And yet, I still felt out of my league.

I did my undergraduate degree in psychology. What little business-related knowledge I had was from working at my family business before starting my studies at Imperial College Business School. I had no clue how I would fare approaching a new line-up of modules and topics I have never touched on before.

It would come as a pleasant surprise that the MSc Management programme is, well, quite manageable.

Everyone takes the first step together

Imperial constructed the MSc Management programme for students with little to no academic background in business or management. Rest assured that the programme’s infrastructure will fill in any gaps in your knowledge and provide you with plenty of opportunities to put your skills to practical use. For students who come from a business background, you might be more suited to the MSc International Management programme.

Keep in mind that you and your peers start the programme from the basics together. The mandatory core modules in the Autumn and Spring terms are there to lay out the foundations of your journey at Imperial and for your future career path.

However, keep in mind that the skills and experiences you have collected so far will not be wasted. If anything, your background – whatever it may be – will more likely be an advantage than a disadvantage.

What demonstrated this point to me was being part of my syndicate team. A syndicate team is the people you will work with on group coursework during the first term. You meet your syndicate team early in the programme during induction week, where you will have the opportunity to get to know each other through a series of activities.

Many teams, if not all, will realise from the get-go that the composition of their members is very diverse. Everyone in my six-person team originated from a different country and studied entirely different subjects for our undergraduate degrees.

 A group of diverse backgrounds and experiences  

Group coursework seemed intimidating at first, especially early on when we had yet to gauge each other’s skills and knowledge. However, we were quickly able to turn our diverse backgrounds into an advantage when generating ideas and dividing up work according to each person’s strengths and interests.

The first graded assignment of the MSc Management programme was a group project for our Marketing Decisions module. The assignment gave us the freedom to create a product – either something completely brand new or a build-on to an already existing product or service – and to formulate a marketing plan for it. Each of us volunteered to undertake a section of the marketing plan we’re most interested in and split off to complete our tasks.

Incidentally, the product we decided to develop required psychological research to support the validity and benefits of our offering. I was happy to take up the role of digging further into the psychological theory behind our product, given my familiarity with scouring through research papers.

While I had enjoyed studying psychology during my undergraduate years, I realised that I did not want to enter the medical or academic fields as an occupation. Instead, I discovered great satisfaction in this project, where I was able to conduct psychological research for marketing purposes and see how these concepts could be incorporated into our product.

It was a relief to realise that my research skills and my background in psychology have not become irrelevant just because I am now at business school. In fact, the two subjects blend into each other very well and consolidated my decision to pursue the marketing specialism of the programme later in the academic year.

An integrated approach to business school

By choosing to study at Imperial, you don’t merely go to lectures, do your coursework, and take your exams. Imperial integrates opportunities to take an extra step into the core of its programme, which will translate into habits and experiences you can apply beyond your time in university.

Being assigned to a syndicate team is one striking example of this. Nowadays, collaborating with an international, cross-functional team is more often the norm than the exception. In addition, being able to flexibly communicate through a hybrid of in-person meetings and online video calls has only become more prevalent as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is understandable to feel unprepared and anxious. Like most team-based projects, you will all get a little lost together sometimes. At other times, you will also figure out many things together.

Recognise that everyone, including you, has something to bring to the table.

Hi everyone! My name is Cherrie. I am in my second year of MSc Strategic Marketing (online, part-time). In this blog, I will talk about why I decided to study a Master’s programme at Imperial College Business School for a career change.

Here is a bit about my background. I studied accounting and management for my Bachelor’s degree in Hong Kong. I chose accounting as my major because it is a fact-based and influential subject in business. However, I did not want to work in audit firms nor in banks like my peers did. Instead, I was late to realise that I prefer to work in a more people-facing and creative role.

So, I went into sales. I liked being in the front office and impacting a company’s bottom line, but I craved more strategic exposure. At the end of the day, sales is a revenue-driving function, but marketing is the engine behind that creates demand. I was very keen to learn more about marketing. After four years in a sales role, I decided to search for a marketing Master’s programme that suited my needs.

When I was researching for a programme, my priority was to find one that was practical, part-time and gave me exposure to the international business environment. I wanted the programme I chose to add value to my current skill set and contribute to my career development. While there are lots of different marketing Master’s programmes offered by prestigious universities around the world, I was particularly drawn to the MSc Strategic Marketing (online, part-time) at Imperial for a number of reasons:

Relevant programme content

The programme content is highly up-to-date and incorporates what is happening in the global market. As we have seen with COVID-19, the world can change overnight, and consumer behaviour transforms with it. Marketing is about being relevant and identifying consumer needs before they do.

As I was doing my research on the programme, I saw case studies of today’s global businesses used in programme materials to help students understand key concepts and theories. The programme also covers many practical hot topics such as customer relationship management (CRM), analytics, emerging technologies, and innovations that businesses need to bring value to customers.

International business exposure

We live in the 21st century and it is not too ambitious to think globally. On MSc Strategic Marketing, I was thrilled to learn how diverse all the trends and insights covered in the programme are. The faculty demonstrates extensive knowledge about the topics and how they evolve distinctively in different cultures. Because it is an online programme where presence in London is not required, the cohort is truly diverse. It provides a great learning opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds, in different time zones, and with different experiences.

To me, this exposure is one of the most important aspects of the programme as I learn a lot from my peers. It always amazes me how we all come from different backgrounds but share similar passions, learn and empower each other, and grow together throughout the journey!

Part-time study format

Being able to continue working while studying for my Master’s was also essential for me when I was looking for the right programme. Essentially, as most of the programme material is online, I can arrange my own time to study the programme content that fits into my schedule. Juggling between study and work is never the easiest thing to do, but the online format of MSc Strategic Marketing helps make life easier for a full-time worker like me.

Career progression

After a few months on the programme, I secured a media consulting role, and I have been working at the company for nine months already! We provide advisory services to global advertisers to help them develop bespoke internal media management workflows and processes. Given the programme's practicality, I could apply the data analytical skills I learned from the programme material to media performance evaluation for clients.

The marketing concepts and key trends discussed in class allow me to share insights with clients from different industries and regions. As I am currently working on projects spread across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America regions, the exposure of working with fellow students from different cultures also enables me to better understand and meet client needs, and as a result, enhance rapport with them.

Making a career change takes courage and time. It is an important investment when it comes to selecting a post-graduate programme to facilitate the change. Speaking from experience, I wanted to make it right from the beginning. I wanted to make my investment worthwhile and see the immediate result in my professional career. Just over one year into the programme, I have no doubt that the knowledge and skills I am gaining in Imperial College Business School will take me a long way in my career development.

My name is Aakriti Jhunjhunwala and I live in Kolkata, India and work as an Equity Trader and Investor. Currently, I am studying the Global Online MBA at Imperial College Business School which is a part-time programme.

At Imperial, I serve on the Student-Staff Committee for my cohort and also as a Senior Analyst for the Student Investment Fund. Apart from full-time work and part-time time education, my day-to-day life includes being a newlywed, a caretaker for my family and a fundraiser for a local non-profit organisation. I know that this all may seem like a lot, and sometimes it is! However, it is also extremely rewarding.

In the last few months, I have learned how to hone my multitasking skills to derive the best of the once-in-a-lifetime experience Imperial offers all its students. By employing a well-crafted plan of action, a few good habits and a whole lot of passion, I believe anyone can achieve the coveted work-life-study balance.

The Global Online MBA programme

The Global Online MBA is a part-time, online programme designed for professionals to pursue while continuing work. The programme length duration is from 21, 24 or 32 months, with each year being divided into three terms, each being roughly 12 weeks long. Each term we are given two modules (aka subjects/classes) which are in turn are split into manageable weekly sub-sections across the term. Depending on which module is being taught, the assessment includes group presentations, periodic quizzes, individual essays and class participation.

Academically, the time required for the Global Online MBA is approximately 20-25 hours a week. However, if one can find a way to take out a few more hours a week, then they can explore the diverse extracurricular opportunities that Imperial offers – ranging from Student Council, Career Clubs, the Imperial Enterprise Lab or professional development opportunities. I highly recommend this added time investment as it provides unique holistic development and a chance to meet extraordinary people from the larger Imperial community.

So how does one do it? Work 40 hours a week of work plus  20-25 hours a week of study plus a few hours a week of extracurricular and regular life? I promise it isn’t impossible! Here are five tips that have helped me manage my workload immensely:

1. Plan and set a routine

The first thing I recommend for success on a part-time Imperial programme at Imperial is to set yourself a plan of action. Now this plan will look different for everyone based on their circumstance, commitments, and preferences. That’s completely okay, as long as you have a routine that works for you.

The reason is that as the term progresses, the number of things to get done increases exponentially. Therefore, it is always good to get into a good rhythm early on that will allow you to stay on top of things. Personally, I prefer to do a little bit of work during the working week, especially administrative and extracurricular work. However, the bulk of my academic learning happens over the weekend.

I clear out my weekend in accordance with that week’s module load, well in advance. This means reducing socialising and lazy Sundays, but having a study plan in advance allows me to have mental clarity. I approach the weekends with purpose and motivation, rather than relying on my mood and impulses to direct me. With practice, the routine becomes easier to execute.

2.  Schedule ‘me time’

The next thing I like to do is to schedule ‘me time’ into my routine when I relax alone by doing nothing. This is very important because there is a very real possibility of burnout when we are trying to juggle work, life, family and studies all at once. If we don’t take time to periodically recharge ourselves mentally, then the toll of the workload will eventually catch up on us!

I suggest that you make a commitment to unwind and take this as seriously as you would take any work commitment. And I meant it when I say take it seriously. Put it in your calendar and when that reminder notification flashes, switch off from all responsibilities, relationships and devices and just be. There are no aims or goals for ’me-time’. You can do whatever relaxes you and helps you rejuvenate mentally. I think that even minutes of time every few days can contribute significantly towards long term success in the programme.

3. Set expectations from the onset

If you are doing a part-time programme, chances are you have a number of people in your life that will be affected by your studies indirectly. For example, there may be family members, managers, supervisors, colleagues and friends to consider. It is a good idea to have an honest conversation with these people at the start of the programme to align expectations. Things you may wish to discuss are programme timeline, exam dates and day-to-day work commitments.

Having these conversations early on and finding mutually acceptable conditions with all stakeholders allows you to not feel stressed or guilty later on when the programme becomes demanding. Similarly, you can also consider discussing your availability and limitations with your classmates, especially your syndicate group with whom you will work closely during the first year on group projects. This transparency builds trust and trust is integral to harnessing an amicable and productive working relationship.

4. Prioritise quality over quantity

Even with the best multitasking skills and perfect discipline, you are bound to lose out on some things due to the sheer limitation of resources. You will find yourself in a situation where a final exam, a networking event, a club meeting, a work presentation and a friend’s wedding are all scheduled in the same week. In this situation, I have found that the best thing to do, apart from advance preparation, is to prioritise quality over quantity. We may be better off giving our time to fewer activities but being fully present and deriving the most from the activities we are partaking in.

I meet fewer people, fewer times, but focus on making those connections strong. If we make the hours that are spent at work really count and limits distractions and procrastination, then the smaller number of hours won’t matter. Similarly, if we are truly enjoying the hours we give to our friends and family, then we don’t have to feel guilty about the hours we are not able to spare. Quality time invested and quality work done makes the work-life-study balance much more achievable!

5.  Start small

My last tip is for those among us who aren’t the most disciplined workers and suffer from the most human lapses such as procrastination and distraction. My advice is to start on small tasks to get the work done. At the end of a long day at work, when I come home and face the prospect of completing an entire module, I will often tell myself just to watch one lecture video, just complete one part of the assignment. Most of the time once I have started the work, I will continue to do more work.

Some other hacks include starting with the most appealing task or the easiest task and moving on to tougher tasks once you are in a productive flow. Even on days that you’re not feeling it, getting a little done goes a long way towards staying in the work mindset. The aim should be progress, not perfection, and sometimes have to trick ourselves to make that progress.

The Global Online MBA takes hard work and commitment. But with the right tools and support from friends and family, you will quickly see the rewards of doing an MBA.

As a Weekend MBA student at Imperial College Business School, I am studying my MBA while also working full-time.

I have had a varied and highly successful career. Having worked in both Germany and Turkey I am now Head of Marketing Activation for GROHE UK, a leading global sanitary brand that is a key business in the LIXIL group.

It was a big decision for me to commit to a part-time MBA while also having a (very busy) full-time job. However, I wanted to develop myself both professionally and personally and felt the MBA was the right step to take for my future.

My experience studying a part-time Weekend MBA

The Weekend MBA is a unique programme format that gives you the opportunity to keep your current professional responsibilities and get your MBA degree in 21 months. This is a serious commitment that you need to align with your employer and your partner and/or family.

Just before I started this journey, my husband gave me a book called ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. This book shines a light on how to implement good working practices and habits in order to succeed. Throughout the Weekend MBA you will need to develop a good routine and bring consistency into your life – more than you already might have or do.

In the first year of the Weekend MBA, you have once-a-month Friday – Sunday classes. The rest of the time you are required to self-study while continuing with your daily job. This means you need to juggle work, schoolwork, and the many deadlines for both.

There are times where it can get tough. Especially when deadlines draw near. Overall you are expected to put in 20 hours a week of additional self-study but be mindful that this can go up to 30 hours around deadlines.

This may sound intimidating, but you are never alone. You know that your cohort is in the same situation. You also regularly communicate with your syndicate team with weekly calls, even if it is just to lend each other a friendly ear.

There are some key actions that help me to maintain my work-life balance and I believe it could help you if you are considering a part-time programme as well:

1. Be consistent

Be consistent and try to do something every day. Whether that means getting up a little earlier, skipping an episode of your favourite Netflix show, or using your commute to study, try to do something every day. This will help limit the risk of the reading or assignments from piling up. There is nothing worse than feeling overwhelmed with work - so spread the workload!

2. Create a schedule

Plan your own assessments and your group assignments deadlines well. You can have up to six people in your syndicate teams. Sometimes people are in different time zones and all have busy lives as well. It is important to set milestones for deliverables and set expectations and clear accountabilities from the beginning. Plan it thoroughly if needed with your team – and build in a couple of days as a buffer. You never know – life can get in the way!

3. Invest in your network

Have an open mind to learning new things and meeting new people. Two years go by fast. We have a very diverse cohort that is representative of the different backgrounds, professions, and experiences throughout the wider Business School. There are numerous opportunities to meet new people and learn new things. Don’t hesitate to approach people and try new things.

4. Enjoy ‘me time’

Lastly, don’t forget to look after yourself and spend time with your loved ones. I try to squeeze in some Pilates and go for a run during my busy schedule. I need to have some 'me' time to refuel for the next big project at work or school assignment. Make sure to spend time with your family and friends who will be your biggest support. Somehow you will find the time to do activities that bring you joy!

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times, but it’s also a lot of fun. I have learned so much already. If you remember why you are doing the MBA and what you are hoping to get out of it, it will feel easier.

And when it does get too much then don’t suffer in silence, talk to your family, syndicate team, or even the programme team. Everyone is there to support you and it’s worth it!