Post MBA Career Change: Easier than it Appears!

Finding a job upon graduation is something that EDHEC believes should be approached from the very start of the MBA programme. The EDHEC MBA includes various courses, seminars and workshops to assist the participants’ pathways in the international job market. Last week’s workshop on Career Change was well appreciated by the MBA participants, many of whom had joined the EDHEC MBA with this goal in mind.

Penny Jarvis, Independent Advisor and Co-Director of the Good Company and consultant/advisory board member to a number of organizations in diverse sectors involving education, consultancy, and business turn-around hosted the seminar.

Penny opened the seminar by asking the candidates questions that called for serious reflection. The answers given by the class set up a ground for the course of the seminar that followed.  It is very obvious that almost everyone pursuing the EDHEC MBA program are seeking change. But "how", "where", "to what extent" and "when" are the questions that are spinning in their heads.  Her dialogue with participants not only took care of those spinners but also brought clarity on how this can be actualized through EDHEC.

This seminar helped participants to a great extent by giving the framework with well defined process and methodology that enables every EDHEC graduate to succeed in achieving the change in career.

Prashanth Kale from India gives his point of view. I completely believe in this process for it is very holistic and implementable. I say so because it begins with an activity of reflection that considers the harmonious balance of your dreams, visions and what you really like", "pragmatism" and "socio-political dimensions". It also insists we define the change we are seeking in three aspects: change in role, change in industry and change in location. Once our fuzzy world of "career change" gets this treatment, it is reduced to a more manageable form for which we can apply the framework. This framework with lot of sub-methods and activities calls for student's active learning and participation to optimise the guidance and support they will offer throughout the program. Some of the important areas where they will work with a student are pervasive CV and application building, enhancing the interview skills, spotting the right markets and helping him define his USP. This entire strategy is divided into Long-term and short term process.

The seminar strengthened my feeling that even in this tough market career change is not as difficult as it is made out to be. I feel happy to be part of the EDHEC MBA program that has career-change consultant who is realistically optimistic and has tried and tested tool for creating the change in one's career.

Penny Jarvis is currently the Independent Advisor and Co-Director of the Good Company working as consultant/advisory board member to a number of organizations in diverse sectors involving education, consultancy, and business turn-around. Founder and Joint Managing Director of the Egremont Group a management Consulting group specializing in large change projects for international blue chip clients, Penny has also been an Independent Management Consultant for Cap Gemini, Carrefour, and Danone, to name a few. Penny's expertise areas range from consulting to retail, IT, entrepreneurship and change management.