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In what ways do your academic background and recent professional or managerial experience provide evidence of your potential for success in the program you selected? In your eventual career? Please provide specific examples of relevant coursework and/or experience.?????????
I have lived in UK for the last 8 years where I did my undergraduate degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. After finishing my degree I was hired as a graduate management trainee by Lidl UK Gmbh (7th largest retailer in the world with its graduate programme being voted by the Times Top 100 graduate companies to work in UK) via competitive recruitment process. My initial training was for 2 months, where I was suppose to clear 3 exams, as well as work full time trainee in one of the stores. I was very lucky enough to work with some of the best project managers in the business who taught me superior leadership, managerial and communication skills. As a result I learned numerous important business tools such as ability to unite and encourage people, professionalism, strong principles, humility, being sensitive to other's feelings and recognize that different people require different types of instructions and management. All of these powerful traits were not only key to my success professionally but also academically during my MBA where I was group leader of business plan which scored top marks for 2009-2010 MBA.
I was made store manager in one of the districts in London which was ranked as one the lowest performer. Majority of my work involved meeting with directors, district managers, junior managers, and other staff members, along with day to day store management activities.
This store was opened a year back and had few issues right from dipping sales to high staff turnover. Store had earned bad reputation. Looking at my performance during the training, my ability to work well under pressure, my analytical and good commercial approach to solving problems, my previous track record of increasing sales and business performance by prioritizing and reorganizing services. Company's district sales operation manager wanted me to run this store. She had full faith in me and my abilities that I could change the fortune of this store. Before I could formally take the charge of the store I went through all the previous records of the store, made numerous visits to it in order to analyze the present situation. Finally after getting grip over the issues of the store, I arranged a meeting with all other managers of the store along with staff members.
Through a formal introduction about myself I put forward current issues of the store and my suggestions for improvement and was open to their suggestions. Everybody was encouraged to offer his or her point of view. As I knew that it has to be a collaborative effort.
With the objective of improving the sales, to initiate with I went through old sale records on items which sell the most and items which sell the least. It was noticed there were a lot of items which had a low turnover and occupied a lot shelf space. I reduced the space of low sellers and allocated more space to products which were high sellers, keeping in mind the recession period where people spend only essential items. An interesting observation made by me was that since every competitor in that area was selling similar products with almost same price, hence it was leading to price war and dipping sales at Lidl.
Through extensive competitor analysis, I tried to promote the non food items in my store as against our competitors who were dealing very little or not at all in non food items, in order to enhance the sales of that store. This gave me a slight edge over my competitors as non-foods generally have higher profit margins then food products.
After a few meetings with my sales operation manager I ordered special non -foods items like clothes, household equipments, tools etc. for my store. Then I re launched my store in the area by changing a few set ups like the layout, making it more bright. After the consent of my sales manager I got fliers made to be distributed in the local area in order to create awareness about the new changes and new products. I also retrained some of the members of the staff so as to make them aware of company procedures, rules ,regulations about the importance of good customer services . This lead to massive improvement in stores productivity and reduced staff turnover significantly.
After months of hard work, new changes and introduction of new products in the store, positive results started coming forward and not only did the sales improve but also the customer count of the store increased, which attracted diverse population of that area. For the first time in the history of the store the results were 10 % higher than expected.
Not only a this, a formal meeting had been arranged by my higher authorities to share this achievement. My Director and sales operation manager were very happy with this progress and was rewarded for the same. This moment made me very emotional yet extremely determined, enabling me to not only advance my career but also grow as an individual.
Due to globalization and international nature of workspace today demands a lot of competence and potential in their managers. Along with the growing market demands, the need for highly skilled managers is increasing . Keeping pace with the rapidly changing needs of the global workspace, managers need to have skills, such as leadership skills, skills to manage change, and skills to incorporate people, clear about updated information, and technology for their organization to succeed.
During my work span, I realized the need to learn about domestic and international markets, various business strategies, and financial management etc, so I decided to pursue MBA. I have recently finished my MBA from one of the most reputed UK business schools, I was made one of the student representative for my class. I was group leader for Business Plan which scored highest marks for MBA Business Plan 2009-2010. Scored 75% marks for designing sustainable product for Body Shop.
Finance began to fascinate me after I scored 65 % in my second semester, more over I am a regular investor in stock market with a diverse portfolio of shares. I am a regular reader of the financial times and enjoy keeping up with current affairs and business news. Unfortunately I could not do my specialization in finance as the specialization period was merely 7 weeks. I did not want to do my specialization for the name sake though I did double semester of finance during my MBA, so I ended up doing a general MBA. To broaden my horizon, I did a certificate course in Investment Banking from a leading New York based Institute which gave me knowledge and understanding about Corporate Finance and Investments.
To achieve my career goals, I need to learn much more about current developments and new techniques in financial management and their application, financial markets, acquire hands-on experience of financial analysis. A Master's Degree in Finance from Brandeis University, USA, which is a home for many leading financial institutions in the world will provide me with not only theoretical understanding, but also enable me to get an in depth idea of realistic approaches in aiding managerial decision making and research skills. Together all these skills will help me to develop a sound career in the field of financial strategies and global corporate financial operations. The recent financial crisis has transformed the finance industry and studying in the USA is ideal for grasping the changes that are currently taking place in this field. My initial goal is to obtain a right theoretical knowledge by learning different skills, facts and industry benchmarks, along with a rigorous, demanding internship where I hope to gain practical experience. However my long term goal is a solid career progression along with a good financial rewards by constantly developing capabilities that will help in making me a good steady professional as management consultant or investment banker.
In what ways do your academic background and recent professional or managerial experience provide evidence of your potential for success in the program you selected? In your eventual career? Please provide specific examples of relevant coursework and/or experience.?????????
I have lived in UK for the last 8 years where I did my undergraduate degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. After finishing my degree I was hired as a graduate management trainee by Lidl UK Gmbh (7th largest retailer in the world with its graduate programme being voted by the Times Top 100 graduate companies to work in UK) via competitive recruitment process. My initial training was for 2 months, where I was suppose to clear 3 exams, as well as work full time trainee in one of the stores. I was very lucky enough to work with some of the best project managers in the business who taught me superior leadership, managerial and communication skills. As a result I learned numerous important business tools such as ability to unite and encourage people, professionalism, strong principles, humility, being sensitive to other's feelings and recognize that different people require different types of instructions and management. All of these powerful traits were not only key to my success professionally but also academically during my MBA where I was group leader of business plan which scored top marks for 2009-2010 MBA.
I was made store manager in one of the districts in London which was ranked as one the lowest performer. Majority of my work involved meeting with directors, district managers, junior managers, and other staff members, along with day to day store management activities.
This store was opened a year back and had few issues right from dipping sales to high staff turnover. Store had earned bad reputation. Looking at my performance during the training, my ability to work well under pressure, my analytical and good commercial approach to solving problems, my previous track record of increasing sales and business performance by prioritizing and reorganizing services. Company's district sales operation manager wanted me to run this store. She had full faith in me and my abilities that I could change the fortune of this store. Before I could formally take the charge of the store I went through all the previous records of the store, made numerous visits to it in order to analyze the present situation. Finally after getting grip over the issues of the store, I arranged a meeting with all other managers of the store along with staff members.
Through a formal introduction about myself I put forward current issues of the store and my suggestions for improvement and was open to their suggestions. Everybody was encouraged to offer his or her point of view. As I knew that it has to be a collaborative effort.
With the objective of improving the sales, to initiate with I went through old sale records on items which sell the most and items which sell the least. It was noticed there were a lot of items which had a low turnover and occupied a lot shelf space. I reduced the space of low sellers and allocated more space to products which were high sellers, keeping in mind the recession period where people spend only essential items. An interesting observation made by me was that since every competitor in that area was selling similar products with almost same price, hence it was leading to price war and dipping sales at Lidl.
Through extensive competitor analysis, I tried to promote the non food items in my store as against our competitors who were dealing very little or not at all in non food items, in order to enhance the sales of that store. This gave me a slight edge over my competitors as non-foods generally have higher profit margins then food products.
After a few meetings with my sales operation manager I ordered special non -foods items like clothes, household equipments, tools etc. for my store. Then I re launched my store in the area by changing a few set ups like the layout, making it more bright. After the consent of my sales manager I got fliers made to be distributed in the local area in order to create awareness about the new changes and new products. I also retrained some of the members of the staff so as to make them aware of company procedures, rules ,regulations about the importance of good customer services . This lead to massive improvement in stores productivity and reduced staff turnover significantly.
After months of hard work, new changes and introduction of new products in the store, positive results started coming forward and not only did the sales improve but also the customer count of the store increased, which attracted diverse population of that area. For the first time in the history of the store the results were 10 % higher than expected.
Not only a this, a formal meeting had been arranged by my higher authorities to share this achievement. My Director and sales operation manager were very happy with this progress and was rewarded for the same. This moment made me very emotional yet extremely determined, enabling me to not only advance my career but also grow as an individual.
Due to globalization and international nature of workspace today demands a lot of competence and potential in their managers. Along with the growing market demands, the need for highly skilled managers is increasing . Keeping pace with the rapidly changing needs of the global workspace, managers need to have skills, such as leadership skills, skills to manage change, and skills to incorporate people, clear about updated information, and technology for their organization to succeed.
During my work span, I realized the need to learn about domestic and international markets, various business strategies, and financial management etc, so I decided to pursue MBA. I have recently finished my MBA from one of the most reputed UK business schools, I was made one of the student representative for my class. I was group leader for Business Plan which scored highest marks for MBA Business Plan 2009-2010. Scored 75% marks for designing sustainable product for Body Shop.
Finance began to fascinate me after I scored 65 % in my second semester, more over I am a regular investor in stock market with a diverse portfolio of shares. I am a regular reader of the financial times and enjoy keeping up with current affairs and business news. Unfortunately I could not do my specialization in finance as the specialization period was merely 7 weeks. I did not want to do my specialization for the name sake though I did double semester of finance during my MBA, so I ended up doing a general MBA. To broaden my horizon, I did a certificate course in Investment Banking from a leading New York based Institute which gave me knowledge and understanding about Corporate Finance and Investments.
To achieve my career goals, I need to learn much more about current developments and new techniques in financial management and their application, financial markets, acquire hands-on experience of financial analysis. A Master's Degree in Finance from Brandeis University, USA, which is a home for many leading financial institutions in the world will provide me with not only theoretical understanding, but also enable me to get an in depth idea of realistic approaches in aiding managerial decision making and research skills. Together all these skills will help me to develop a sound career in the field of financial strategies and global corporate financial operations. The recent financial crisis has transformed the finance industry and studying in the USA is ideal for grasping the changes that are currently taking place in this field. My initial goal is to obtain a right theoretical knowledge by learning different skills, facts and industry benchmarks, along with a rigorous, demanding internship where I hope to gain practical experience. However my long term goal is a solid career progression along with a good financial rewards by constantly developing capabilities that will help in making me a good steady professional as management consultant or investment banker.
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