MSM Corporate Week 2021 - new skills gained and important connections made
From 6 - 10 September 2021, MSM organized its Annual Corporate Week. During the Corporate Week MSM’s MBA and Master in Management students could follow several workshops, join company presentations and learn from alumni experiences, all geared towards preparing the students for the job market.
The Corporate Week provides its MBA and Master in Management students and alumni with information related to career development, working in the Netherlands and strengthening career management skills. For MSM’s Corporate partners the MSM Corporate Week is an excellent opportunity to connect with students and find potential talent.
This year the Corporate Week was organized for the first time in a hybrid format, enabling students to follow the sessions at the MSM campus or online.
Following the sessions together on campus, was something the students have been looking forward to. “It is unfortunate that Covid has placed such a damper on the fulltime MBA37 cohort this year,” MBA student Clinton van der Schyff says. “However, it was really nice to spend some time in the classrooms and make use of the facilities.” Classmate Amrapali Thakur agrees: “The most elevating part of the entire corporate week was connecting with people through workshops, presentations, and group interactions. Something that we missed the most during COVID time.”
Workshops and trainings
The students followed trainings and workshops on Personal Branding, Body Language, LinkedIn, Negotiation Skills, and Design Thinking.
MBA student Juan Pablo Ramos Ponton found the workshops very helpful in preparing him for the job market: “The most interesting side of the training and workshops was that they prepared me for having successful job interviews. I now understand where to put attention while having the interview and how I should deal with the different situations."
Amrapali thought that the workshops helped the students to stand out from the crowd: “There were workshops that helped enhance our skills to stand out in any situation. Through his interactive workshop, Oliver Olson shared great insights on developing effective personal branding, which is almost integral to differentiate yourself in the competitive world.”
In addition to the workshops, the students conducted the ‘Who you are matters’ career business game, delivered by CJS Career Consulting. For Amrapali one of her favorites: “It was one of my favourite workshops. It helped us identify fun ways to build deeper conversations and engage in meaningful dialogue with peers.” Juan Pablo indicates that through the ‘Who you are matter’ game, he got to know some of his classmates better: “Creating new connections with them by getting to know their concerns and intentions for their careers. Also, I discovered some new opportunities for me to keep improving.”
Trainer Colleen Reichrath- Smith enjoyed working with the MSM students during the career business game: “I found the MSM students to be more engaged than ever and supportive of each other's potential. For MSM Corporate week I am thankful to have been able to facilitate the Who You Are Matters guided experience from One Life Tools to spark meaningful conversations about what's next for each of them. I had a permanent smile on my face (under the mask) for the full two-hour session because of the powerful human connections and exchanges that occurred during this session. The immediate feedback from the students affirmed that this had been a very meaningful session for them, increasing their confidence and developing actionable possibilities for their future that are deeply connected to who they are.”
Company presentations
Apart from the workshops and career business game, students could join company presentations from Juniper Capital BV, Weir Minerals, CGI, Corporis Medical, Arion Group, KPMG, and Catella. They got introduced to the services of the Expat Centre Maastricht Region and learned about the opportunities in the Erasmus Young Entrepreneur Program.
Juan Pablo was glad that he attended the sessions: “We received a lot of insights from different industries and companies regarding the Dutch market. Even the presentations that I was not 100% sure of attending, turned out to be super interesting and gave me a different perspective of the opportunities arising for my career.”
Alumni experiences
As every year, MSM alumni were invited to share their experiences in the job-hunting process and to provide the students with valuable advice. Students could join presentations by MBA alumni Amit Biswas, Aneesha Singh, Daniel Mazzini, Tyas Hanjani, and Master in Management alumni Sofia Nera Gonzalez and Dixon Block.
For Clinton these were the most valuable sessions: “Meeting previous alumni was the most valuable, as it is relatable and exciting to hear how previous students also endured the same frustrations and exciting prospects as we, the current students do. Moreover, it was a great opportunity to expand our networks and to get motivated for job searching process ahead.”
Asking Juan Pablo what he found the most useful of the Corporate Week for his next career steps, he said: “The fact that most companies have a complete and vast range of opportunities that somehow I did not realize before. And I learned how I should approach a company in terms of their expectations for employees, being able to stand out as a potential match for their requirements.”
Related news:
Master in Management students finalize their Group Company Project for Weir Minerals
MSM MBA Summer School – leveraging the cross MBA connection
MSM Online Corporate Weeks –learn, connect, engage
