Career education a highlight of MBA global immersion in Barcelona

In the midst of spreadsheets and cases and site visits and speakers, full-time MBA students are also spending time thinking about themselves and their career journey.

On Day 4 of the Barcelona leg of the MBA global immersion experience, MBA students attended a Weston Career Center-led session “Defining Your Competitive Advantage.” The students were divided into four groups for the session, which relied on a mix of presentation and small group exercises.

Jen Whitten, associate dean and director of the career center, began the session by discussing the importance of knowing who you are, what’s important to you and where you want to go. She stressed that you must be clear on these things to be able to effectively present yourself and your story.

When an opportunity arises—and that could be any time—you need to be ready to convey your best self, whether it’s while you’re networking or interviewing.

Students paired up for personal interviews, each spending five minutes talking about themself. When the class came back together, they shared their thoughts on what they heard from their partners. That was followed up with the pairs conducting second-round interviews with thought-provoking questions as prompts, including:

• What’s the one activity you most love? How have you made it part of your career?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• Tell me about an experience you’ve had that most others don’t.
• What do others tell you is your greatest strength? What do people come to you for?

While in Barcelona, Whitten will conduct another session with students to discuss ways to leverage LinkedIn and how to enhance their social media presence. In Shanghai, the career coaching continues on two fronts, starting with developing career search strategies and effectively targeting organizations.

The second area of focus is preparing for case-based interviews by integrating classroom learnings and strategic insights into your personal narrative.

Pictured at top: Students listen as WCC Director Jen Whitten discusses the importance of competitive advantage in all stages of your career during the students’ immersion in Barcelona in July 2019.