Pre-MBA industry: Non-Profit and Government
Post-MBA industry: Consulting
2 years ago
4 Feb 2023 11:02
Region Targetted - Europe
Post-MBA short-term goal - Management Consulting in Europe, with emphasis on Sustainable Finance
Post-MBA long-term goal - Working in public policy body in Europe working in Sustainable Finance
About Myself:
1. Demographic: 32/M/Indian
2. Education Qualification
- Undergraduate: Bachelor’s in technology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee
-GPA - 7.32/100 (9.07/10, on six management and finance electives, if that counts)
3. GMAT
- 760 (Q51/V42)
4. Work Experience
- Securities Market Regulator (5.5 years by the time of enrolment) + previously, freelance content developer working with clients in India and the US (around 6 years)
- Current Industry: Securities regulator/ government
- Current Role: Manager
Job 2 (current job) – Regulations on sustainability reporting by Indian companies; previously worked on Regulations and Supervision regarding credit rating agencies, ESG ratings, real estate infrastructure trusts (REITs)
• represented India at the global regulators meet in Paris in 2022; led multiple deliberations at the international organization of securities market commissions; frequent interaction with securities regulators in other jurisdictions including US SEC and ESMA, and international bodies such as the Financial Stability Board of the G20.
• invited on various panel discussions and lectures on sustainable finance and related areas.
•Took the lead in drafting over 12 regulatory circulars pertaining to the aforesaid entities; represented the regulator in over 7 cases before the Supreme Court of India and State High Courts
• Lead role in developing regulatory framework for providers of ESG ratings, a first-in-the-world initiative.
•Undertook over 14 examinations of credit rating agencies in India, leading to unprecedented enforcement actions against non-compliant entities, in reference to credit ratings of debt securities amounting to over 11 billion USD.
•Actively monitoring regulatory developments in the US SEC, ESMA, the UK on the above subjects; extensive discussion with these regulators
Job 1 (previous job): Freelance Content Developer
• As a freelancer, worked online with multiple clients to develop educational content for students in India and the US on subject matters including English, Math, General Aptitude, and the Sciences.
• In parallel, undertook following initiatives:
o Worked with city municipality and local volunteers to co-lead a group to carry out clean-up drives of public places and gain insights on urban waste management.
o Led online interviews of personal finance experts and mutual fund distributor platforms.
o Took the Common Aptitude Test (99.7%ile) and Civil Services Examination (with specialisation in Political Science and International Relations)
5. Extracurriculars:
• Certifications:
o Certificate in Sustainability and Climate Risk – Global Association of Risk Professionals
o Certificate in ESG Investing – CFA Institute
o The Materiality of ESG Factors - Wharton Online
o Unlocking Investment and Finance in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) - World Bank Group
• Volunteering:
(1) Lead, Placement Operations (promoted from Community Engagement Lead in August 2023)
o Succesfully assisted two candidates with visual impairment get bank officer jobs.
o Connecting, engaging, and maintaining mentor relationships with students with disabilities to enable sustainable employment opportunities for the students, and thereby contributing to UN SDG-4, specifically targets 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5.
o Recruited as a volunteer via the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) platform.
(2) Co-founding Volunteer – Child Rights and You - Local Chapter
o Co-founded a local chapter of CRY and led a team of volunteers to mobilise funds, partner with local schools and promote awareness of child rights in and around the town.
• Bronze Medal - Acara Sustainable Social Business Plan - Partnered with students from my college and University of Cincinnati, Ohio, US, to develop a sustainable social business plan on waste management.
6. Languages
Hindi (Native), English (bilingual proficiency), French (elementary proficiency)
8. Potential Red flags
- Unusual work experience (regulator/government + freelance) compared to general MBA intake (consulting, PE/VC)
- Age is on the higher side of an average MBA class profile
9. Questions
- Any suggestions on how to draft essays based on my profile.
- Any steps that I can take to solidify my profile (such as, campus visits)
10. Positives
(i) Ability to contribute to the MBA experience during and after the programme
o A regulatory perspective will be helpful in MBA classes and study groups, especially on niche and evolving areas such as ESG.
o I had contributed to my undergrad college by establishing CRY local chapter. I aim to leave a similar positive impact at my target schools.
(ii) Academic Capacity (GMAT and University Degree)
o 760 GMAT, with 96/97 percentile in Quant/Verbal.
o While GPA may be low, the GPA considering management/humanities/ finance electives shoots way up to 9.1/10
(iii) International Motivation
o Represented India at global regulatory meet at Paris
o Extensive virtual and physical deliberations with regulators in the EU, UK, US
o Bronze-winning sustainable business plan in college, in which I partnered with students from University of Cincinnati, Ohio, US
o Learning French
o Monitoring regulatory developments in the EU/UK/US etc and documenting the same on Linkedin
o Specialised in international relations, while preparing for civil services examinations (exam for the Indian Foreign Service)
(iv) Leadership Potential
o Co-founded CRY local chapter in college
o Currently, a community engagement lead for a non-profit I joined via the UN volunteers platform, wherein we are attempting to undertake capacity building for visually-impaired candidates and help them get jobs.
o Taking lead role at work in drafting regulations in niche and nascent areas, such as ESG ratings.
o Playing lead role in the Division's interactions with foreign regulators and international standard setting bodies.
Europe is definitely very open to more experienced applicants so your age should not be an issue but in your applications you do want to touch or have a story ready why you think of this stage of your career and NBA can help you and I would recommend making that story Very ordinary, boring and very achievable the last thing a business school wants is taking someone in who is very accomplished and who is going to graduate and say that this was a waste of time.
You probably also want to consider Cambridge or Oxford if you’re thinking about UK but I would choose a business school that gives you the work permit in the country where you would like to live so if you want to be in the European Union, then HEC would be better.
Good luck!!!!
You may find this link interesting for your goals.
How to make a case for sustainability careers and top B Schools
Feel free to seek professional guidance. Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD alum, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/ | Message: +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com
Your academis/ GMAT are strong. Work-ex and ECs are interesting as well, and offer good talking points for essays.
In line w/ the above points raised on the importance of a strong narrative, some thoughts to ponder on would be: why MBA? why consulting/ sustainability? which companies/ countries? what are your transferable skills? what's plan-B? what gaps will the MBA (and specific B-school) help fill?
Consulting firms like sectoral expertise, so positioning your transferable skills can help. For example, I had a guy in my batch at HEC, around your age and with 10+ years experience in corporate law, who transitioned to a consulting role in Strategy& Amsterdam post-MBA. One of the "overlaps" he used to position his profile was his strong experience working with financial services clients and understanding of the sector (which helped him serve consulting clients better).
Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to reach out through the links below for a deeper chat.
Regards,
Arvind
Founder, admitStreet
L: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvindkvenkat/ | W: https://admitstreet.com | E: consultingteam@admitstreet.com