IE Business School – Master in Management

Here it is! The community travel guide made for IE Alumni and their friends; the idea came to Joseph Freiha during his International MBA in 2009. How great would it be to have a travel guide where IE Alumni would share their favorite addresses and tips in their home countries or the places they have visited;

When travelling, we do not need lots of addresses; we just need a few good ones shared by friends. FriendsChoices.com includes the traditional travel guide information on Restaurants, Hotels, Clubs, Attractions…; It also brought innovative and exclusive functionalities, making it one of the most complete and collaborative travel guides on the market. Only members can post their recommendations.

Of course, all IE Alumni are invited to join the community!

Go ahead and register! Use your IE email at www.FriendsChoices.com/IE

¡Aquí está! La guía de viajes comunitaria hecha para Antiguos Alumnos del IE y sus amigos; la idea surgió de José Freiha durante su año en International MBA en 2009. ¡Sería estupendo tener una guía de viajes donde  los Antiguos Alumnos del IE pudiesen compartir sus direcciones favoritas y  aportar consejos acerca de sus países de origen o de los lugares que han visitado;

Cuando viajamos, no necesitamos un montón de direcciones, sólo necesitamos unas pocas pero buenas y compartidas con amigos. FriendsChoices.com incluye no sólo la información tradicional de viajes sobre restaurantes, hoteles, clubes, atracciones,… sino que también muestra funcionalidades innovadoras y exclusivas, por lo que es una de las guías de viaje más completas y  colaborativas del mercado. Solamente los usuarios pueden publicar sus recomendaciones.

Por supuesto, todos los Antiguos Alumnos del IE están invitados a unirse a la comunidad!

Seguid adelante y registraros! Utiliza el correo electrónico de IE en www.FriendsChoices.com/IE

The second period has past and it’s only during the holidays that I find I truly have time to reflect on everything that has happened in the last 8 months. I have met amazing people from all over the world, found some fantastic friends who I will keep in my life for a long time to come, learnt so much about myself and where I want to go to that I can scarcely believe it… But most importantly, I have realised how important being open minded is.

Defining oneself as a person

When I arrived at IE, I would have characterised myself as being open minded. I believed that I could understand most perspectives and be open to new experiences and attitudes and it has only been recently that I have realised that whilst that may have been true, I still held firm to the things that I thought I was interested in and how I defined myself as a person. Now, the end of a corporate finance exam is a strange place to have an epiphany and yet I found myself realising that at some point in the last 3 months, I started to enjoy finance. Maybe it was our wonderful lecturer who managed to grab my attention and hold it but maybe it had more to do with me.

Personal Development within a Master in Management

This term has been more about personal development than professional, I think. While the courses at face value seem to be more challenging, as a student you also have a period of experience under your belt. At first, everything was overwhelming and everyone tried to do everything, this term I learnt to work to my best advantage and in order to do so, had to learn exactly where my strengths lie in this arena. I really enjoyed competitive strategy and corporate finance this past term. Both of these were courses that were completely new to me, but I think what appealed was that it pooled knowledge from different points in my education and turned them into a single holistic course.

Group-building

The new period meant that my group changed. My new group was comprised of a Portuguese and French girl and Spanish, Palestinian and Lebanese boys.  With a new group, came a new group dynamic. My new group bared very little resemblance to my first group, but I think that is the point really. The transition between my old group and new proved to be challenging for me. I had gotten very used to working with my period 1 group and this group was made up of entirely different personalities and strengths. As the period progressed, I learnt how to work with yet a different group of people and navigate that professional terrain. When I fully consider period 2, I think what resonates the most is the fact that it drew the core period of the programme to a close. It pulled together so many of the dangling strands from period 1 and we start to see just how integrated management education can be when considered holistically.

New students coming

I think that period 2 provides an extended knick point in the lives of students. When we all arrived in Madrid, a few short months ago, we were bright eyed and bushy tailed, but today we are completely at ease in our surroundings, at school and with each other. We have seen 3 new intakes arrive in Madrid, in IMBA and MIM, and at times I feel a bit like an old hand at this. It has been wonderful to see new students integrating themselves into student life and I have had the pleasure of getting to know some of them, and feel like a sage at times pointing people in the direction of dry cleaners and green grocers.

Learning from debating

I have learnt that the best debates happen over dinner or drinks with friends when opinions fly freely and we can really engage. I have found myself having discussions about religion on more than one occasion, and had you asked me a few short months ago whether that was a good idea, I would have vehemently denied it. Yet, I remember evenings spent with Leah debating, asking question after question about everything from South Africa and the US to Judaism and Christianity. Inevitably, we lose track of time and thus a few hours of sleep but I wouldn’t change that for the world. This term, it was from these debates that I learnt more than I ever thought I would…

…To read the entire post, please click here!

…TYBA, a start-up launched by undergraduate students from IE University. After many weeks of application forms, presentations, debates, and deliberations, 10 startups finally pitched their ideas at IE´s most recent Venture Day Madrid on May 9^th. This year´s high profile jury consisted of:

• BEDY JANG (500 STARTUPS)
• GARY STEWART (WAYRA)
• RODOLFO CARPINTIER (DAD)
• JEFFREY CHAR (J SEED VENTURES)
• EDEN SHOCHAT (GENESIS PARTNERS)
• EHUD LEVY (VERTEX VC)
• WAYNE GIBBINGS (NOTION CAPITAL)

Many thanks to everybody, who made this day possible and congratulations to the winners as well as all participants for their innovative and scalable ideas.

The top 10 finalists this year were:

• SCOUTTI – IMBA
• BRANDCONT – ALUMNI
• WADAX – EXMBA
• GOLSIE – IMBA
• KVIAR GROUPE – ALUMNI
• TYBA – BBA, IE UNIVERSITY
• THE STOCARD APP – ALUMNI
• PEOPLE SPORTS  – IMBA
• 21st CENTURY BET – MIF
• YA’AX WOOLIS – IMBA

Our CHAMPS: Jorge Farinha, Gonçalo Diniz, Luis Arreaza, Francisco Fuentes Mella, Rupert Fornell, Guillermo Antonio, Carlos Bello, Francisco Escanez, Ahmed Mohen, Moacir J. Baracho, Mike Kaz, Kiko Romano, José Fontes, Joao Pedro Matos, Christophe Le Mao, Ramón Pijoan, Lucas Monteys, Francisco Micheloto, Andrés Mendoza, David Fernandes.
Coach: Ignacio Comella

This past weekend the IESE Spring Games, one of the most important sporting events for MBA student athletes, was held. IMBA graduate (2011) Rupert Fornell reports:

This was my third time participating in the IESE Spring Games, but the challenge was the same as ever: to be the Men’s Football Champions. This title has always eluded the IE alumni team, until this weekend. Being part of the IE alumni team has had its ups and downs, but our final results were more than worth the hard work.

We first played against Bocconi from Italy, winning 3-1, and followed that match with a victory over ESADE with a result of 4-0. The last classifying game was against IESE 1. We played Saturday, April 27 at 19:00. Since we knew we had already classified for the finals, our coach, Ignacio Comella, rested several players so that they would be ready to tackle the semifinals and finals. We lost the match, 1-0, placing us in second place in the group.

On Sunday we faced the biggest challenge yet: the semifinals against IESE 2, followed by the final against IESE 1, the only team we hadn’t yet beaten. Yet being the key word! We won IESE 2: 1-0, and IESE 1:3-0.

I can’t deny that our 3-0 victory was incredibly rewarding. Our success was due to Ignacio and our international team of 19 players from many countries such as Venezuela, Portugal, Egypt, Andorra, Mexico, Canada and Spain. The most important aspect of the experience was our effective teamwork and networking, as well as our determination.

As our competing teams said, we’ll see each other in Madrid at the October championships! I’m sure the good times and friendships will continue. But for now, I can’t stop saying… WE’RE THE CHAMPIONS! And I know the whole IE community will share in our happiness and be proud of us!

Interested in joining the IE Football Club? Click here for more information.

Participate in Alumni Events!!!

Something unique about IE is that right from day one the Career Management Center encourages students to go to alumni events. Even if it’s not a careers event per se, if you’re interested in working for that company and the director of supply chain is coming, come to the event and introduce yourself. The next day, you can send a targeted cover letter.

Last year, the Executive Director of the Career Management Center, Amber Wigmore Álvarez, was selected along with her counterpart from Kellogg-Northwestern, to present at the annual conference on Best Practices in International Recruiting. With 42% of IE’s recruiting happening outside Spain, that is a very high volume. In addition to the mandatory career sessions that students have, the Career Management center also organizes different career drives, voluntary sessions on personal branding with different gurus brought in from different parts of the world. The Career Management Center always tells students to be active and participate in alumni events.

How to Handle a Career Change

If it’s functional change, consider going back to the same company. At IE’s Career Management Center, students and alumni can talk about industry change and leverage relationships and networking. If it’s geographical change, an internship is a great way to lay the groundwork for a career change. Also, getting involved in the IE Clubs can help. Students who come in with an interest for a career in finance but they don’t have any experience in that field, are encouraged to join the IE Finance Club. If they’re interested in consulting, join the Consulting Club. Participation in clubs should be put on your resume, and shows an active passion for the area you are looking to enter.

Questions Commonly Asked to the Career Management Center

Where are graduates placed?

For those looking for information on where students have secured opportunities from previous intakes, look at the various placement reports which are published online. In each section (IMBA or Masters in Management), there is a detailed report.

What countries do IE alumni end up working in?

IE has a tremendous diversity of profiles and students coming from more than 80 countries and alumni working in more than a 100 countries. They are going everywhere. The Career Management Center is approached by a lot of recruiters because they know of the tremendous international profiles here. There is quite a lot of geographic mobility amongst IE students. They don’t necessarily go back to their own countries.

Can Career Management help me secure a visa to work abroad?

Many students coming from the non-European countries expect that it’s going to be a lot easier to get a visa because they’re studying here and that is not necessarily the situation. Career Management doesn’t provide students with visa services but it does provide them with information on firms that do.

What are current trends in recruitment?

One of the biggest trends around recruiting is the use of LinkedIn. There’s a statistic that 80% of employers will look at your LinkedIn profile before they call you for an interview. So one of the things that the Career Management Center suggest is that students put at the very top of their CVs, in addition to their contact information and email address, the public URL of their LinkedIn profile. There is an active Career Services professionals group on LinkedIn which stays abreast of what’s going on. There’s a new, powerful tool which is LinkedIn.com/alumni. This is a powerful search filter for students to help them identify IE alumni that could help open doors to certain companies.  Additionally, the IE Alumni Association has an Official Alumni LinkedIn group, Twitter and Facebook which often have job postings and can be used as networking tools.

For more information, please visit IE´s Careers Blog.