Query about work experience

Question

Insead considers work experience as a major component for admission criteria. 
What kind work experience does insead look for - does a fortune 500 brand help more than a relatively unknown brand with strong career progression, does startup experience help - self started with moderate revenue ?

ARLeeConsulting · Answer

Hi  Inseadxyz ,

INSEAD evaluates applicants on the quality of their work experience and their career progression. Using your examples, experience at a Fortune 500 brand with no career progression wouldn't necessarily be more valued than a relatively unknown brand with strong career progression. Also, startup experience is always valued and is typically a great source of good stories for your essays.

I hope this helps.

Thank you very much.

Warm regards
Alex

sushigmat · Answer

Hi Inseadxyz.

Any top B-school, including INSEAD, would value the quality of your work in the company than the brand name of the company. So if you worked in Fortune 500 company without showing much leadership, team work or creativity, it does not show well on your profile. Consider the opposite: if you work in a start-up or have started your own venture, it would show your managerial and entrepreneurial talent as well as resource management potential. So your work profile within the company matters more than the profile of the company you are working for.

Kudos are welcome if you found this useful.

Posted from my mobile device

MBAPrepCoach · Answer

Inseadxyz

They're primarily come concerned with your ability to demonstrate leadership and impact.

I will say that it's not nothing to come from a branded employer because that shows that you are vetted and to be quite honest business school is kind of a big vetting process for employers anyway.

If you are going for investment banking but worked in sales at Crazy Larry's Auto Parts that will not look great to recruiters, my point is, they look at your trajectory in the context of your goal.

So I'm not going to lie I think there is some benefit to coming from a large employer but only if your work experience also gives you the opportunity to take the initiative, and you have found ways to demonstrate leadership and add value.

Working for a startup is fine, and it also gives you a lot of ways to make a big impact, demonstrate leadership. However the line gets murky when you have an ambiguous role in a family business or you are bootstrapping and in the early stages of things. That is iffy.

GyanOne · Answer

Hi  Inseadxyz

Overall, INSEAD would look for evidence of leadership, impact, and career progression. 
- Working for a Fortune 500 firm can have its advantages. A top-name employer on your resume shows that you possess the credentials and skills to make it to a well-known firm, and this makes the school more likely to consider you. This is why so many top schools, including INSEAD, have feeder firms. That said, career growth within this context is something INSEAD would still look for. 
- For a relatively unknown brand, first, career progression is harder to define as many roles and hierarchies may be self-defined or not as standard as say those for larger firms. A better indicator may be the impact you have created, that you can showcase along with your career progression in terms of roles. 
- Startup experience can be useful, but will need to be looked at in the context of several other factors, such as niche, scale, impact, revenues, and other profile parameters.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

bb · Answer

Query about work experience

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