Career Forum: 40 Multinationals Participate in Premier MBA Recruiting Event

Alumni Return to Recruit

It’s 2:30 in the afternoon. The area where MBAs normally gather for their graduation ceremony is covered with a huge marquee. Inside, the different companies put the finishing touches on their stands. Beside the marquee, the classrooms and meeting rooms of buildings F and G are invaded by a host of alumni and managers attending presentations or holding interviews. The whole look of the campus has changed. No one could mistake the fact that IESE is holding another Career Forum.

For more than two hours, the marquee plays host to a great number of informal meetings between MBA students and representatives from various companies. The atmosphere is relaxed, as the recruiters include a number of IESE Alumni and people who have attended the Career Forum on several occasions.

Ron Feuer (MBA’02) is one example: an MBA from the class of 2002, the year in which he and two of his colleagues presented a plan for a virtual reality business. In the end, Ron’s career took him away from the technology sector and into the world of investment banking, and he has come to IESE with Barclays Capital, along with another graduate and business colleague, Oliver Denny (MBA‘02). “You’ll have to be a little patient, because it’s two years since we left and we’ve rather forgotten our Spanish,” remarks Oliver. They have come here to get to know some of the current MBA students and possible candidates for recruitment to their company, as well as to say hello to a few old friends.

Both Ron and Oliver believe that the market is in need of graduates from MBA programs. “I joined Barclays two years ago,” explains Oliver. “It was a very difficult year for finding work in the financial sector, but 14 or 15 people from IESE joined at that time. We have a good relationship with IESE because the students are better prepared and have very broad experience, not just as bankers or consultants. They include people from a wide variety of professional spheres and they adapt very well.”

For his part, Feuer believes that Barclays Capital represents an opportunity for IESE’s MBAs. “It’s an opportunity to grow along with the bank,” he explains.

Eduardo Losada (MBA’03) works at Lehman Brothers in London. “If I had to pick one characteristic that distinguishes graduates from IESE, in addition to their excellent professional training, it would be their constant good humor, the desire to do what is necessary in the company, to offer a helping hand to anyone who needs it,” he observes.

Current students see these Alumni as the realization of their own dreams. They are people who have studied in the same classrooms under the same teachers and have had the same experiences. Now, back in the world of business, they recount their experiences with the companies that took them on after they completed their MBAs. “I was here for the two years of my MBA, I attended Career Week, I did those mock interviews...” This is Josh Elboim (MBA’04), who graduated in May. He glides around comfortably, giving the impression that he has just come back to IESE after taking a holiday. Josh is also in London, working at Morgan Stanley.

“I would say that we IESE graduates have a broader view of the world,” he remarks. “We don’t just focus on one single area, we see a wider picture. Also, given that we are in Europe and the education we are given is not just aimed at one country, we gain a knowledge of many cultures, regions and countries.” IESE graduates are a perfect fit with his company, says Elboim. “Even though Morgan Stanley is in London, our business is international, and this is reflected in the workforce, which includes people from around so different countries. In an organization like ours, people from IESE can make a great contribution.”

Juan Colás, Global Sales Manager at Santander Group, is also reliving his experiences. This is his second year at the Career Forum, though he stresses that his company has been here many times. “There are opportunities in our sector”, he explains. “There is an ever increasing number of sophisticated products, which means that the sector is continuously evolving and looking for people who are capable of understanding and maintaining a dialogue with the most sophisticated of customers.” He says that the bank’s strong presence in Latin America means that its recruiting activity is particularly directed towards Spanish or South American candidates. “I like the idea of people from Latin America who have experience in Europe, and IESE is a great place to find them.”

Senior manager at Arthur D. Little, Jacobo García-Palencia (MBA’97), has attended the Career Forum on several occasions. Hiring an average of two graduates a year, this IESE Alumnus acknowledges that the situation in his area of business has improved and that the prospects are good. “Things have changed a lot over the past year. We were coming out of a period of recession and we are now experiencing a temporary respite.”

His experience in recruiting IESE MBAs has confirmed his belief that they are people “with great analytical skills and a powerful capacity to work, to adjust to the client’s needs...People who operate very well.”

Henkel’s stand is crowded with a large group of students. What are they looking for? “I suppose they are working so hard on their MBAs that they don’t have time to go to the supermarket, so they’re taking advantage of the things we’re handing out,” jokes Agustín Vinelli (MBA’03), indicating the samples of products manufactured by his company. On a more serious note, he points to the figures: “Thirty-seven IESE Alumni work at Henkel, and around 3,000 people have participated in in-company programs designed by the school. All of these people know about the teaching offered by IESE and a qualification from the school is highly valued.”

According to Vinelli, industry once again offers good professional prospects for MBA graduates, after the boom and subsequent crisis in the areas of consulting and finance. “Industry, particularly in Germany, is showing increasing interest in the standards of business education offered by IESE,” he concludes.

Beatriz Martín Luquero, recruiter for Merck Sharp & Dohme, believes that the pharmaceutical sector is in good shape at the moment. “The fact that four companies from this sector have come here this year is evidence of this,” she indicates. “For some years, the sector has been very focused on the product, and some companies, like ours, on research, which is our strong point. However, we need talent in the areas of sales and marketing which is currently our most problematic area. We need talent to bring our products to our customers in an innovative and attractive way, a way that responds to their actual needs.” According to Martín-Luquero, an IESE graduate is someone who is committed to their own personal development. “They are managers with a great desire to grow,” she explains, “and we want people who can grow and develop within our company. In short, they are people that you can rely on with a great chance of success.”