How did your time at Imperial impact you?

I specifically joined Imperial because I wanted to build a technology business. My rationale? The Executive MBA programme ranked well for entrepreneurship and the wider College is developing incredible technologies. And it proved to be true. I developed fundamental skills on the course, which accelerated my personal and professional development. I practiced these new skills with by supporting two spin-outs: LoMaRe and Monolith.ai. The Imperial ecosystem is second to none for anyone looking to set-up a technology business.

What has been your most significant achievement so far?

Our most satisfying moment happened a few months ago when we realised that we're now employing 15 people and enabling them to have great lives whilst also doing work that they are interested in. It was a humbling moment when we realised a greater sense of purpose for our business ambitions.

Building Quix has not been easy, and we couldn’t have achieved it without significant support from a huge group of people. I have to thank my co-founders - they are talented, passionate, motivated, and brave beyond words. And we couldn’t’ have achieved it without the support of all our financial backers and angel investors, who supported us with such strong conviction and speed.
 
I'm passionate about applying technology to solve real-world problems and have enjoyed every moment of bringing Quix to market. My door is always open to anyone who wants to discuss their ideas - just reach out, I’d love to pay forward some of the support I have received!

First of all, I would like to congratulate you all again on securing a place on the FT MBA program! Many of you I have now met through the welcome webinars but for those who haven’t, hello! I, Chloe Chambers lead on the FT MBA Careers program delivery with Andreia Ferreira (Head of FT MBA Careers).

I am aware that many of you are still working and may be preoccupied with wrapping things up, handing over and even negotiating if you plan to return to the same business or a new position upon graduation. That said, despite the business you may currently be working through, please note the below suggestions as to what you should be focusing on from a career’s perspective right now.

One last thing – for those who will be new to London, start planning all the things you want to see and do!  Our cohorts are normally a very sociable bunch, so look forward to making new friendships and discovering a wonderfully exciting city during your MBA Journey.

Chloe Chambers
Careers Consultant – Co-Lead FTMBA Programme – Lead TMT Sector

The Healthcare Sector Team at Imperial College Business School Careers is here to help you navigate this complex industry and support you through your job searching process from goals definition to offer negotiation. My name is Andreia and I am the Careers Consultant leading on the careers provision for this sector together with Toby, the Employer Relations Manager responsible for liaising with employers in the healthcare space.

We believe this is a great moment to enter the industry and we are here to support you by bringing together our career development expertise, strong employer connections and opportunities to get involved in ground-breaking work being developed across Imperial College.

Is this the right sector for you?

Our experience tells us that students seeking our support during the summer or at the beginning of the academic year are in one of these three situations:

• You are passionate about the healthcare industry and joining business school after completing a scientific degree or developing a clinical focused career. You are now asking yourself how to shift into the management and commercial side of the industry.
• You have studied business or analytics and identified a passion for the healthcare sector along the way. You are now asking yourself how to expand your understanding of the industry and how to best position yourself.
• You are exploring the healthcare industry as one of the industries to develop a career in your area of speciality, such as marketing or finance. You are now asking yourself how to stand out in these recruitment processes.

If these are the kind of questions you’ve got on your mind, I’d be very happy to explore your individual situation and discuss some immediate actions for you to take in a Career Welcome Meeting. The team is also putting together an online module giving you lots of information on key employers you should be targeting, how to tailor your CV and Cover Letter to this sector and how to start preparing to succeed in interviews and assessment centres. Stay tuned!

How do we support you?

As a Careers Consultant, I’ll support you as you define your career goals, research the industry, expand your network, tailor your applications and prepare for interviews. You will be able to book 121 career appointments with me and you will also see me delivering workshops and small group sessions. All of our sessions are regularly updated to reflect the changes in the industry and developed in collaboration with industry experts and alumni.

On the Employer Relations side, Toby puts together a programme of events that provide insights into the industry and lead into fantastic networking opportunities. There are different types of events (careers fair, recruitment presentations, panels, etc) and generally speaking you will see some of the larger recruiters in the Autumn Term, events to help you develop your commercial awareness in the Spring Term and a focus on smaller recruiters and direct entry roles in the Summer Term.

We would also like to encourage you to consider taking an active role in our student-led clubs, leverage the connections across Imperial College and get involved in the Imperial MedTech Society or the Enterprise Lab if you are keen to explore innovation and entrepreneurship. But don’t stop there, London is a fantastic hub for innovation in the healthcare space and Imperial College London plays a leading role in this space in initiatives like the MedTech SuperConnector.

What to focus on during the summer?

As you prepare to start your programme at Imperial College Business School I would like to encourage you to:

1. Complete the Careers Primer and assess your individual situation and identify your gaps. Continue developing your commercial awareness and building your professional network in a tailored way to address those areas of development and get ready to hit the ground running when September comes.
2. Research and create your list of target employers early on, making sure you make a note on their application deadlines. It might be that your preferred companies or roles are not available until later in the academic year but you don’t want to regret missing an early deadline or overlooking a graduate or development programme. These opportunities don’t come around very often!
3. Create a strong CV and spend time tailoring your applications. Use VMOCK and the knowledge acquired from the online modules, your research and discussions with your network.
4. Start preparing for the upcoming selection processes. Interviewing skills are key but you will most likely also need to work on aspects that are not easy to grasp overnight like online tests if applying to large employers and case interviews if considering consulting

Finally, I really encourage you to take the time during the summer to reflect on what you want to achieve not only after but also during your year at Imperial. It’s a very competitive space and getting involved in extracurricular activities, hold leadership positions on campus or gain experience in the industry can make a huge difference to your development and how your career unfolds.

Andreia Ferreira
Head of FTMBA Careers Programme and Health Sector Lead Career Consultant
 

Introduction to the Finance Sector

Every year, several hundreds of our Business School students are looking to join the Finance Sector post-graduation and you may be one of them! The Finance Sector team, which is part of the Careers Department, is here to help you successfully go through one of the most competitive recruitment processes. Luke, Sophie and I will support you through the year to navigate, research, apply and prepare to enter this fast-moving market. Anita, Our Employers Relationship Manager manages the Business School’s relationship with Finance and Fintech employers. Her role is to connect students and employers, and to provide insight into the world of Finance through employer and student led events.

Our key Team messages are:

1. Don’t hold back on your efforts when looking for a job in Finance
2. Always include a plan B and C in case you do not get the job you had in mind
3. Networking is your best option to position yourself for competitive roles
4. Never get tired of upskilling your finance skills and reading financial news as Commercial Awareness is one of the top skills that finance employers are looking for in candidates!

How do we support you?

As the recruitment deadlines for Finance graduate and internships programmes start earlier every year, applications will start to open from this July, so we focus a lot of our support during Autumn Term.

Our flagship events, called Finance Super Saturdays, are run at the beginning of September (4th and 11th of September this year 2021) and presented by professionals from the industry. These 2 days, covering Careers on the Buy and Sell sides, will give you an amazing overview of the Finance world and help you discover which areas would be more suitable for your profile – registration opens in August.

At the beginning of October, we run our MSc Finance Careers Week, this is when we invite employers and professionals across the Finance Industry to give you a more specific taste into the kind of role, responsibility, and type of employers you may be interested in. For example, last year Moody’s Investors Service gave a workshop on credit rating, Bloomberg offered skills-based sessions, and we also ran a Women in Finance Panel inviting key female leaders in the Finance industry.

During Spring term, you will get the chance to join activities which aim at opening your career prospects such as the Alternative Careers in Finance panel and increasing your networking efforts with the Alumni Spotlight sessions and Panels.

We also be offering the continuous support through the year, especially on topics related to Finance Technical Interviews through Webinars and small group sessions for example.

Some things to think about if you are considering the Finance Sector:

• What do I really know about this specific area/role in Finance and who could I talk to investigate if this area/role is really for me? – think about reaching out to our Alumni Community.
• What are my finance skills and knowledge and especially my gaps? – consider taking on specialised courses like Wall Street Prep.
• What can I learn between now and September to upskill myself and be more competitive? – Technical skills and strong commercial awareness are in high demands for most finance related positions.
• What Plan B or C could I consider as an alternative or as a steppingstone toward my career goals? – think about other departments, roles, and employers.
• What other activities (extracurricular, students club, leadership role) can I consider during my programme to make my profile more competitive? – Employers are putting a lot of emphasis on team working and leadership skills that are often developed outside of the curriculum.
• What kind of position would be most relevant to your profile and what are the recruitment deadlines and processes? – consider between an internship, an experienced / direct hire role or a structured program.
• What do you know and more importantly, what don’t you know about your target companies? – think outside the box, do not rely only on company’s websites.

Describing himself as ‘theoretically retired’ David Poole (MBA 1998) has never been so busy. And that must be saying something given he has an Imperial MBA, a PhD from SOAS, University of London and managed an incredibly successful marketing consulting firm; “famous for our creativity and strategic insights, winning every major domestic and international award for our work.”

He has just published his first book entitled ‘Entrepreneurs and SMEs in Rwanda’ influenced by his experiences of providing support to businesses in Rwanda. This sparked his interest in the country's efforts to kick start economic development through entrepreneurship and SME sector creation. He chose to write a book to share his key insights as he felt the findings had “serious implications for other developing economies”.

Tell us about your book

The book deconstructs myths around entrepreneurship and SMEs, and explores how a more free-market capitalist approach to the economy has failed to address the economic challenges facing countries like Rwanda. I researched many accomplished and aspiring entrepreneurs, to identify the factors associated with successful entrepreneurship, which uncovered the unintended consequences of the entrepreneurship and SME development prescription.

What is the background as to how your book came about?

After selling my business to a US listed group I went back to university and completed an MSc in Development Studies at SOAS. By an odd twist of fate, I subsequently found myself leading a team of volunteers teaching business skills to handicrafts enterprises in Rwanda. This led me to explore the government’s ambitious economic development plan, Vision 2020, which in turn led to a PhD at SOAS that sought to explain the reasons for the mismatch between the government’s economic plan and real enterprise landscape that had emerged.

What lessons from Rwanda’s entrepreneurial journey can be applied to the wider world?

I think there are implications for both developing and developed economies. The book exposes the policy myths around entrepreneurs and SME development in Africa and reveals the counterproductive consequences of the policy. Based on false premises, the Rwandan enterprise paradox is an unsurprising outcome and the lessons learned have implications that go way beyond Rwanda.

Although the narrative journeys explored in the book are located in a low-income economy, they expose the mythology surrounding entrepreneurship more generally and resonate completely with the behaviour and attitudes of entrepreneurs in developed economy contexts.

Looking back at your time at Imperial, how did it influence your career?

I launched my business, DP&A, on April Fool’s Day 1991 – an ironic nod to the fact that it was probably the most foolish thing I had ever contemplated. Four years later it was proving to be reasonably successful but I was concerned that my primary skills were in marketing. I was increasingly asking myself whether I had a broad enough set of business skills, or whether I would ultimately have to hand over the reins to someone else. Following advice, I embarked on the Imperial MBA.

Throughout the programme I acquired a wide range of highly relevant skills that helped me to drive the business forward.

One particular insight had a dramatic effect. In the early stages I knew every client and was intimately involved in developing strategies for their businesses. As the client base expanded, this became increasingly difficult. I found I was trying to be involved in everything and consequently spreading myself too thinly across both my business and the client base. The MBA helped me to realise that there was no one best way to run a business and that creating hierarchical management structures merely gave the illusion of control.

There was one particular light bulb moment when exploring organisation theories and metaphors. I realised that my business and my own role could also be seen metaphorically and I came to use the idea of a circus (please don’t laugh!). Instead of trying to be at the centre of each and every act, my evolving role had to be that of circus ringmaster. I had already recruited immensely talented people and my job was now to create a supportive context in which they could perform to the maximum of their ability. My function was to guide and support their personal development and challenge them to go to even greater heights. It was a turning point for the business. We were soon the largest and most respected independent business in our sector. Without Imperial this would not have been the case. We were famous for our creativity and strategic insights and were known throughout the industry as the best place to work, renowned for training and developing people.

Do you have a favourite memory from your time at the Business School?

I was surrounded by an outstanding cohort of fellow students and initially felt quite apprehensive about whether I was up to the intellectual challenges the MBA would present. The gradual dawning that I could not only cope but was in many ways already on the right track was incredibly motivating.

One memory really sticks out. During the entrepreneurship modules we were analysing a case study on why one business didn’t go to plan. The overall class feedback was that it was due to poor planning, but I disagreed. I remember getting really agitated about the idea that you could plan, in absolute detail, for every eventuality - what I now know is the need to act contingently. You can never forecast and plan for everything you will encounter when starting a business. At some stage you have to stop planning and just ‘get on with it’. The problems will present themselves soon enough, and when they do you can take remedial action to fix them. I remember using the analogy of building a boat. You can spend all your time trying to figure out where the boat might leak, but you will never find them all. At some point you just have to put the boat in the water. The leaks will then show themselves and you can plug them.

Above all this helped me realise and confirm the fact that an entrepreneurial journey was the right thing for me.

Introduction to the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Sector

Imperial College Business School Careers has a sector offering covering Technology, Media, and Telecommunications in response to the market’s huge demand for dynamic candidates in this space and our students wanting to apply!

I am a Careers Consultant focusing on this area in conjunction with Sodrul Hussain who manages the Business School’s relationship with TMT employers. Sodrul gains exposure for students and connects them to the opportunities available and provides insight into the world of Tech through university, employer and student led events. I support students to navigate, research, apply and prepare to enter this fast-moving market.

Together we regularly convey the message that ‘You do not need to be technical, to work in tech!’ Technology crosses into many predominant industries, think Fin-Tech, Ed-Tech, Med-Tech etc and therefore we see students applying to a large scope of roles!  You could work in a non-technical role within a tech sector, i.e. Marketing at Google, Operations at Amazon, or Business Development for a start-up. Equally, tech roles within a non tech business are just as common and impressive candidates are in strong demand – think Data Analyst at Unilever for example.  

At this point in your journey, some questions to ask yourself are

• Who am I targeting? Consider Start-ups, SMEs, Large Organizations, Tech Giants
• Am I technical or non-technical and if so, where are my skills and knowledge gaps that I need to address for the job role or function I want to secure?
• Am I looking for an internship, an experienced / direct hire role or is a structured program more for me? Am I considering all options?
• What do I know and more importantly, what don’t I know about my target companies? Think big picture, down to product level. Am I commercially aware?
• Am I aware of recruitment deadlines and processes where relevant?
• Who do I know in the sector? How can my network (consider Alumni now too!) help me and what do I want to learn from some informational interviewing and research over the next few months? Which tech events can I attend?

Knowledge is power and in tech, your genuine motivation, energy, and commitment to the sector is hugely important. It must be authentic. TechRepublic, Wired, Computer Weekly, The Economist, MCA, ZDNet, and the FT are all fabulous resources to help you build your confidence and credibility in preparation for applications and interviews. Our students also run a TMT Club which is definitely something to be a part of if you are steering your career in this direction – it connects you industry experts, events and alumni that you may otherwise not know about. Check out more information here

Typically, recruitment within this sector is vacancy driven and structured programs can be harder to find. This reflects the fastmoving, reactive and dynamic nature of this world. Options are endless within TMT, but at all levels this is a competitive sector and the preparation and research on your part has a paramount influence on your success. We can’t wait to work with you on this!

Chloe Chambers, Career Consultant TMT Sector Lead

The Student Investment Fund is a student-run fund that allows students to manage a real £100,000 portfolio of assets, equipping them with essential skills for careers in investment. To help members develop their knowledge and skills, the Fund regularly invites guest speakers to share their experiences.

The most recent visitor to the Fund was Gregory Schibl, who volunteered his time to speak about his experience with trading and venture capital (VC) before and during his time at Imperial. Gregory currently studies MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management and previously studied History at NYU. Before working as an associate for a small venture capital firm, he worked as a Trader for Credit Agricole in New York City. In this interview we hear what prepared Gregory for a career in finance and how he shifted from trading to venture capital.