1) Basic demographic info: 36, M
I live in France since 2001, but I'm not French.
2) Educational Background:One of the best Engineering schools in my own country, and one of the best Economics schools
Graduated from both in 1997
GPA = 4.8/5 in Engineering School, about 4.3/5 in Economics school
GMAT 740 (Q48, V44) (my debrief post:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/740-q48-v44-not-bad-for-a-human-100954.html )
3) Work experience:Current experience: 1 year in Project Management and Management Consulting (small company, but some big projects).
Previous experience: 9 years in Research center.
Before previous experience: 3 years in Management consulting company in home country (small company, small projects).
Current role - consultant. Actually - planning services on the major transport infrastructure project in France.
Promotions - NO and nothing on the horizon. This is the principal reason why I want to make an MBA (see below).
4) Extracurriculars:Nothing special. Have enough fun with my family - 2 children 5 & 7 years, if you know what I mean
5) Short/Long term goals:Short term: Get a job in some good/big consulting company to deal with the energy related projects (preferably, renewables and/or sustainability)
Long term/short term: Managerial position in big Energy company in the renewables/sustainability department.
Geographic preferences: France, with some stretch - Europe, with too much stretch - my home country, but not for a long time.
6) Schools: In order of preference:
1. INSEAD (really best choice)
2. IMD (accept elder candidates)
3. HEC Paris (geographically convenient)
______________________________
Brief story to explain my situation.I came to France to make a PhD thesis in economics (it was essentially macroeconomic modeling).
Unfortunately, I realized afterwards that I wasn't really made for science work, publishing articles didn't interest me. That's why I never finished the thesis, but continued to work in the same research center - I changed the subject to work on electrification projects, I had a lot of free time to spend with my little children, but not much money.
So finally, I decided to find a real job in France, and that turned out to be really difficult, because it was after crisis time. My diplomas said nothing to potential employers, my work experience in research (even though I worked with real electrification projects, not just theoretical constructions) was considered more or less waste of time, and my age prevented me from entering on the beginners' positions. Finally, I found a job in a small consulting company dealing with project management, but a very limited career progress is possible in this field with the salary ceiling too low.
Now I need something to boost my career. I would like to work in the energy field as I have nevertheless experience in the renewables, sustainability, developing world, international donors etc. Ideally, that could be Strategy consulting companies or Energy majors. But I am ready to make a complete subject switch if it will give me a high-paid job (you know, I have to assume my family responsibilities
)
I prefer to work in France for family reasons, but would be ready to move somewhere in Europe.
So I told myself that an MBA from a top school may be valuable. Because of my age, it is rational to choose only 1-year programs, hence European Schools. Fortunately, I live in Paris so I have INSEAD and HEC close to me. I also considered IMD as they normally accept senior candidates, but I think they really require people with confirmed career progress, something that I don't have. For the same reason the EMBA is neither good for me, as it is made for people who are already on a good career track and who want to make it even better.
To sum up, I need to put something really valuable on my CV to counterbalance my years in science. I need to skip some steps to catch up my career progress.
So, my questions are:1. Do you think that in my situation full time MBA from European school may help?
2. Do you think I am still eligible for an MBA from a top European school? (I understand that if I were about 6 years younger I would be a good candidate for INSEAD, but I can't just reedit my birth certificate
)
3. Do you think that a second tier MBA (there are some in France) is worthwhile investment in my situation?
4. Do you think there are other possible shortcuts to get out of the mess that I'm currently stuck in (especially, if some of you know the particularities of French job and education market)?
All comments are welcome!