Define and achieve your goals
I'm currently working for L'Oreal Canada as a Product Manager in the Luxury Division, responsible for Diesel, Cacharel, Guy Laroche and Paloma Picasso perfumes. The HEC MBA definitely helped me to attain this position. Before my MBA I was working in fundraising for a non-profit breast cancer organization but I needed a change. I decided to do my MBA so that I could move into consumer goods marketing. Within the first few months in Paris, I realized that I really wanted to work for L'Oreal. This is a goal I set and something I worked towards throughout the whole MBA.
I followed the Marketing Track and also became the President of the Marketing Club. For my Marketing Project, I found a contact at L'Oreal Professional along with some fellow participants, and arranged to do my marketing project there. That led to contacts at L'Oreal and allowed me to do my internship at L'Oreal during the personalized phase of my MBA. It all flowed together from the beginning and led to me getting a job with L'Oreal Canada upon graduation.
Customize your MBA
The HEC MBA is really unique in that you can customize it to fit your needs. There are so many different aspects of the program that you can tailor to your ultimate goals. A lot of students come here without a clear idea of what they want to do at the end, and they use the program to find out what they want to do. At HEC, there are always opportunities to explore different career paths and find the one that's right for you.
Gain a European Perspective and a Worldwide Network
I'm from Canada, and I decided to pursue an MBA in Europe after having done undergraduate business studies in Canada because I wanted a European perspective. When I started to research programs, I saw that HEC had a very strong Marketing Track, which really attracted me. The opportunity to do the Marketing Track, followed by an internship, combined with the opportunity to learn French, was a strong factor in my decision to join the HEC MBA.
HEC's reputation is growing internationally and in Canada, and the HEC alumni network is truly amazing. When I was searching for my internship, I e-mailed a ton of alumni saying that I was interested in their companies, and almost 80% of people responded. I had 4 internship offers, all through HEC alumni. I was really amazed by how well the network worked.