How the Full-time MBA has impacted my career

"The Full-time MBA has provided me with the space for deep reflection and the intensity of the programme helped me develop my confidence and leadership skills". Full-time MBA participant, Sandra Sidlauskaite, explains how the programme has benefitted her long-term career goals. 

The Warwick Business School (WBS) Full-time MBA programme has had a significant impact on my personal and professional development. It has not only equipped me with the skills, network and resilience for a job search process, but also taught me how to apply the newly acquired knowledge and a different way of thinking to a new role. I have broken down the importance of the MBA to me into three areas: securing a role, application and a long-term view.

Securing a role: Double jump in the time of crisis

Although I started the job search before the Covid-19 pandemic started, I secured my new role during the second week of lockdown in a new industry and function. The MBA value was most evident in the area of personal development. It was not about learning and remembering frameworks, but much more about the approach to problem solving. Spending a year alongside extremely talented people, gave me a very different perspective to approaching issues. Preparation for case interviews also developed my ability to be concise, focused and develop a good hypothesis. The latter was absolutely key in positioning myself for the interviews and doing well in these. It also taught me how to process huge amounts of information in a short period of time, which is key in consulting.

In the role: Applying new skills to the role

There are three key things that helped me in the first few months of my new role: the network I developed during my MBA, the ability to know my own values and problem-solving skills. The WBS MBA alumni network is very well placed within various industries and many people took their time to share their experiences to help me settle into the new role.

The second area where the Full-time MBA has had the most impact is teaching me to use my own values as a compass while navigating my new career. This is the area that I underestimated the most, but arguably one that has had the biggest impact on my ability to prioritise and be in a very demanding role without neglecting my family, friends and my own well-being. The Leadership Plus module classes were instrumental in the development of this area.

Finally, the MBA has helped me to become a more effective problem solver and a better learner. The academic teaching at WBS is definitely world class. However, the true impact lies in the fact that the programme is very focused on practical application. The classes are structured in such way that it allows to apply critical thinking to a range of issues, consider various factors while being able to synthesise information in a very concise way. This is an extremely valuable skill in consulting as every day you are faced with issues you have never encountered before and projects vary significantly.

Long term view:

Arguably, the MBA has prepared me the most for my role in five years-time. Going back to the ‘real’ working life again is a shock to the system as it is hard to see the immediate change and impact you expect. On the flip side- the MBA provided me with the space for deep reflection and the intensity of the programme helped me develop my confidence and leadership skills. This not only helps to not lose the vision and goals that I set for myself, but to also accept everything as a learning opportunity.

Find out more about the Full-time MBA.