Friday, January 19th was not a normal school day for International Full-Time MBA students at MIP. It was our first experience of getting in touch with various companies’ recruiters in a single day and discussing our project work and full-time job opportunities. Even though at MIP we had also been given ample opportunities before, through companies’ corporate presentations and visits to their offices, the Career Day was totally different.
The Career Day at MIP is an activity that connects many leading and world-class companies from different industries with students to give them information about their project work and full-time job opportunities.
On January 19th, 25 companies participated at the MIP Career Day.
The Career Day combines the budding student managers’ efforts, knowledge and experience with the experience and expectations in those disciplines at different companies. To name a few, giants like IBM, Whirlpool, Ariston Thermo, Costa Crociere, Accenture, Kering Group, Hilti, Decathlon, BIP, Pirelli, Unicredit, Novartis, Eli Lilly, KPMG, Luxottica, Moncler, Novartis and SNAM were all present at MIP to engage in our career day activities.
MIP had already provided us in advance with a list of participating companies and the students each of them had shortlisted for interview as per their requirements, so that we could prepare accordingly for these companies. We were also given the liberty to contact as many companies as we wished, to provide them with our CVs and discuss with them the opportunities they had through spontaneous applications. Needless to say, MIP has a very strong development program through its interactive course structure and the various regular career reviews, and this actually helped the students in developing and getting feedback on their CVs and improving themselves.
n the Career Day, one could see all the students dressed up elegantly, suited and booted. There was a lot of excitement on everyone’s faces and their confident body language was very expressive. We held a lot of discussions between ourselves about the information that we had gathered on the companies and the different roles they could offer and we exchanged ideas before the interviews.
On the first floor, the reception welcomed all the students and allotted appointments with different companies for the spontaneous applications and interviews after the completion of their scheduled interviews. Each of us had at least one scheduled interview and then a further three to five spontaneous interviews.
These interviews were very interactive and inspiring. Not only did we discuss our career paths, the project work and job opportunities with the companies, but the interviewers also provided very good feedback on any necessary improvements to our CVs and furthermore, offered us mentorship for the future. The interviewers also highlighted possible careers at their companies and shared their own personal experiences and career paths with us. This Career Day was a fantastic chance for the companies as well to inspire students and choose the best talent for their teams.
The Career Day was organized perfectly and the MIP staff from the Career Development Office made a special effort to ensure that the needs of the companies and students were met. The event was over by around 2.30 pm and was followed by an aperitivo for the recruiters and the staff.
This event provided a great opportunity for us to network with the companies’ recruiters and I am sure it will prove to be a milestone on our MBA journey. I remember one piece of advice given to me by an interviewer that day and would like to conclude this article by quoting it: “Stick with your dreams but follow your goals. Dreams are dreams and might always be just that, but goals are tangible.” The minute I put my plan into effect and I add steps to try to accomplish my dream, my dream transforms from just a dream into an achievable goal. I learned that it is good to have a dream; however, I must turn my dreams into tangible goals.
