charliethebanana wrote:
Been reading a lot about how international students are finding it increasingly more difficult to land a job in the US even after attending a top MBA - visa sponsorship being the biggest barrier. Taking the US out of the picture, the other major hubs are London, Hong Kong, and Singapore. With Hong Kong requiring Mandarin for almost every opening and Singapore becoming extremely inward looking (McKinsey no longer interviewing non Singaporeans), how difficult is it now for someone working in smaller countries to launch a career (particularly in Consultancy or IB) in larger hubs like London? It's hard to justify in my mind attending INSEAD only to have to return to my home country so this is something I'm really trying to gauge.
Where do INSEAD graduates typically aim to go? And how difficult is it really? Would have to take out the students sponsored by their MBB firms because those obviously inflate the numbers significantly.
When people say INSEAD is one of the best schools to attend if you want to get into consultancy, do people go in expecting to work in the MBB's office in their home country? Or is switching geographies actually common?
INSEAD is generally regarded as THE international business school, with its 3 different campuses on 3 different continents, an incredibly diverse student body (vs. the US schools, that are all over ½ American) and a foriegn language requirement.
It is also true that it can be *very* challenging to gain work authorization to certain countries, like the U.S., UK and EU countries, especially outside of Bain, McKinsey, BCG, bulge-bracket banks and big tech. In the U.S., these companies are well known for their know-how and resources to get top candidates work authorization. Non-U.S.students from top U.S. schools disproportionately work at consulting firms, big banks, and giant tech companies for this practical reason, rather than pursuing more entrepreneurial or growth-stage positions that they might actually prefer. INSEAD has very strong relationships with all of these sponsoring companies globally and is one of the strongest schools for management consulting generally.
Ultimately INSEAD is usually one of the highest-ranked global MBA programs, but a MBA program’s regional reputation might trump INSEAD’s global one. For instance, if you are 100% sure you want to work in tech in Austin, TX, it might make more sense to attend UT McCombs school rather than INSEAD, since your chances are higher at McCombs to intern for a top tech company in Austin and make regional connections that will facilitate work authorization.
INSEAD is aware of these challenges and as been beefing up on recruiting resources for candidates seeking to relocate outside of France and Singapore post-MBA. For instance, when INSEAD students apply for jobs formally through the INSEAD recruiting portal, employers can’t see from which campus they are applying (meaning that the French campus students won’t be getting an edge over Singapore campus students for EU jobs and vice-versa).
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