Hi Utkarsh, you have a good profile for HEC Paris. The GMAT score is average but it should alright, especially if you can present an otherwise solid application. The work experience looks exciting and you must show quantified achievements so that the adcom can fully appreciate your impact. Working in multicultural teams is another strong point and you must highlight it in various parts of the application material.
Regarding post MBA roles- there are very few jobs in strategy teams just after doing your MBA, so do explore more on the viability of this career goal and the companies that hire for such roles. There are some LDPs or you could get back to consulting if your goal does not look very possible right after the MBA.
Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss your profile in more depth.

Namita Garg,
Founder, MBA Decoder
Email: contact@mbadecoder.com
Reach out to us for a Profile Evaluation
Helping applicants achieve their MBA dreams since 2011

Thanks Namita, I appreciate your feedback- agreed on my post mba goals being specify. Should my niche experience be a concern for HEC to gauge my transaction from operations to strategic switch? I foresee not many yet see Procurement/ Supply chain as strategic planning

Hi Utkarsh, I couldnt find your message to respond to!
Nice to see that you have international experience working in Azerbaijan, That will add a lot to your profile and b-schools in Europe (including INSEAD) become very viable from a profile perspective.
To answer your question, the goal to pivot is not impossible. Its all about connecting the dots in a way that the goals start to make sense. Think along these questions - what relevant experiences have you accumulated? How have you seen supply chain and ops problems having a larger impact on business strategy? How does this feed into your desire to work in a strategy role? What transferable skills do you have which will make this pivot possible for you?

So long as you answer these questions, it should be ok.

Also remember about internal strategy roles being a harder sell as those are very few for post MBA grads; but you may position this as a long term goal to be in strategy leadership at a company of your choice (name a few options) in the long run.

Hope that sounds like a plan to you. Fell free to reach out.

Namita Garg,
Founder, MBA Decoder
Email: contact@mbadecoder.com
Reach out to us for a Profile Evaluation
Helping applicants achieve their MBA dreams since 2011