My experience with the CareersPlus Team

Full-time MBA participant Bianca Machado details the support and guidance offered to her by our CareersPlus team on her journey to achieving her dream. 

The reason why I decided to do an MBA at one of the top business schools in the UK was very clear to me - I wanted to develop my career internationally. I was firstly interested in the course curriculum as most of the modules seemed very interesting to me, but I also wanted to benefit from the several career resources that Warwick Business School (WBS) had to offer. However, my first thought was: ‘How will I manage to do that in a new continent, where I don't know anyone?’

So, I decided to take full advantage of all the resources that the CareersPlus team had to offer. First, I had regular meetings with my career coach. She helped me to have a better understanding of the career paths that I could have in Europe with the professional experience that I have from Brazil and the United States. Also, she guided me through my own development by helping me to understand my strengths and weaknesses and allowing me to improve my self-awareness so that I could better prepare for interviews and shape my career goals.

In addition to this, I attended as many workshops and career events as I could. I wanted to learn more about the different industries in Europe, which companies were growing and recruiting, what kind of talent they were looking for, and take these opportunities to improve my networking skills.

Lastly, when I had finally submitted my dissertation and was ready to start working in Europe, the job market was severely hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This really affected my confidence and mental health, and I started to have doubts if I should keep following my dream or if I should play it safe and go back to Brazil, where I have an extended professional network, making it less challenging for me to find a job.

However, as WBS alumni, we are able to maintain career support from the CareersPlus team after we have completed our studies, and my new career coach was very supportive and helped me to find ways to build my professional network and better shape my job search strategy in that difficult time. Also, I received support from the External Relations team, who were keeping me in close contact with WBS alumni and companies that were looking to hire professionals with my skillset.

Although we are living in challenging times, the CareersPlus team reacted fast at the beginning of the pandemic. They started to offer more online opportunities than they usually do in the last few months of our MBA, with the intention to help us to overcome the challenges of networking in the pandemic. One of the most interesting workshops I participated in was the Elevator Pitch Workshop. This workshop was offered online when we were in lockdown and gave us the opportunity to practise our personal pitch with three WBS alumni and receive their constructive feedback. I kept in close contact with all of them after that event!

In the end, everything worked out just fine and I achieved my dream! I am now working in one of the most promising Fintechs in Europe and I am truly enjoying my work. I am so grateful for all the support that I received from the CareersPlus Team and I would like to send a special thanks to Catherine Wiggins, Monica Garcia-Romero, Kate Bronserud, and Caroline Egan.

My advice to prospective MBA candidates is to take full advantage of the CareersPlus resources so that you can develop your skillsets, grow your network, and shape your job search strategy. The CareersPlus team will provide you with all the resources you need to land your dream job, but it is up to you to achieve it!