Graduate / "Clubs and Career Management Centre" - HEC MBA essay [4]

Why are you applying to the HEC MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the HEC MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective? (500 words)

Right after I graduated from IIT-Delhi, I joined JP Morgan under its most prestigious graduate hiring program CDP, a leadership development program. I was one of the 30 graduates who were hired in its technology division from entire Asia Pacific region. Within my functional role I learned about various technologies and processes that are used in Investment Banking industry. My role was to provide first level technical support to front and middle offices for reference data applications. Frequent interactions with business users made me more interested in finance, and aroused in me a desire to get an in-depth knowledge of finance. So I enrolled with CFA Institute, which provides one of the best finance programs in the world. I cleared both CFA Level I and Level II in first attempts. Going through a rigorous curriculum of CFA where each level requires dedicated effort of 450-600 hours on an average, I now feel that I have acquired good theoretical knowledge of finance. My main objective of joining an MBA program is to build on top of my existing knowledge of finance and Investment Banking industry and switch to a core finance role in Investment Banking.

Apart from routine work in my functional role, I also conducted a month long training for a group of 6 new joiners to give them functional and technical knowledge about the businesses and applications that my team supports. Now I am mentoring them for last 6 months. On the other hand, CDP, the leadership development program, gave me an excellent opportunity to learn more about Investment Banking outside my functional role. As part of CDP campus recruitment team I organized recruitment program in two colleges, where I acted as the face of my company and as a bridge between the company and the students. I also organized senior management sessions for CDP batch which helped me to build network with senior managers and learn from their experience. By the time I join an MBA Program next year, I would be having an experience of about 3 years. And I feel that exposure to different domains in this industry, along with MBA program will equip me with the skills that are necessary to take more responsible roles and will help me move from an analyst role to a role demanding managerial skills. This is another objective which encourages me to join an MBA Program at this stage of my career.

HEC MBA program has been rated among top MBA programs globally. It will give me an opportunity to learn from world class faculty and some of the brightest students who come from different educational, professional and cultural backgrounds. Industry oriented environment in the university will help me to understand classroom theories in a practical way. Professional clubs like Finance and Asia Pacific Business in HEC will give me platform to share my experience with others and learn from others experiences. French Connection club will help me to understand work culture in French organizations. I believe that these clubs along with Career Management Centre will give me sufficient opportunity to find a job that suits best to my interests.

Undergraduate / "finance and technology" - Where do you see yourself three years after ISB? [3]

My team provides technical support to a suit of applications used by X Comapny's Investment Banking division. My role has given me the opportunity to apply my problem solving skills in challenging real life situations. Frequent interaction with business users aroused in me a deep interest for finance and an urge to get an into a core finance role. So much that I enrolled for CFA Program, one of the best finance programs in the world, and cleared both CFA Level I and Level II in first attempts. Having acquired good theoretical knowledge of finance, I now want to get into ISB MBA Program to learn more about this industry from the experience of world class faculty and extremely talented batch mates. I want to use ISB's Experiential Learning Program to get first hand experience of working in a financial sector which could prove very helpful in my objective of switching to a finance profile. A profile, where in my initial years I could combine my classroom knowledge with my analytical skills to identify good investment opportunities and provide solutions to complex finance problems and thereby helping my firm to generate big revenues.

Now technology plays an important role in Investment banking industry, and business and technology go hand in hand, but I have seen that both these divisions find it difficult to understand language of each other. Three years after ISB, I see myself at a position where I'll be using my experience in finance and technology divisions to fill these gaps between both divisions, and help business to identify the best technical solutions meeting their requirements. I want to create a niche for me in the industry and become a valuable asset with my rich experience in finance as well as technology.