shivam9205 wrote:
I have about 9 years of experience in oil and gas. I have worked in mostly in operations in different parts of the world. I intend to switch to consulting post my MBA. Which would be a better option for me- Sep intake or Jan intake? The difference between them for me is the 2 month intern opportunity in the Jan intake which seems important to if I have to change my field from operations in Oil and Gas to Consulting. Any pointers on the same would help.
I'll share a few pointers primarily based on what I heard during an interactive session with students at INSEAD SG campus during a visit.
1. The key difference is the internship as you have identified
2. If you want to break into investment banking, then internship is a must. Apparently most roles get filled through full-time offers via internships. Very few roles are opened in IB for full-time recruitment.
3. For other finance roles, such as VC/PE, the Sept intake too is fine as the recruitment is not that streamlined and full-time offers are given directly
4. Consulting is the most liberal and the internship doesn't make a major difference.
5. An internship is advisable for people coming from non-traditional backgrounds, such as journalism, military service, etc.
6. Though the Sept intake doesn't have a full-time internship, there is the option of doing a term in the UAE campus. In this term there is a live industry consulting project. So basically students work on a live project with big names like GE, At Kearney, etc. Not a full on internship, but some sort of practical exposure.
Cheers and good luck!