The value of the WBS CareersPlus team

Full-time MBA participant Jimmy Dykes, describes his experience of the WBS CareersPlus team and how they have helped him to identify his career goals.        

Yesterday morning I was on the phone to a prospective student for the Full-time MBA, who I had been put in touch with by a member of the CareersPlus team here at Warwick Business School (WBS). We were discussing the pros and cons of doing an MBA, WBS itself, and everything in between. One question that I was asked was how do you feel your individual career interests are valued at WBS? Up until that point, I had probably taken for granted the CareersPlus team here, however when I got talking about it, I began to realise how fortunate we are at WBS.

My career before starting the MBA was as an Engineer in the British Army. The main goal for me during the MBA was to equip myself to conduct a complete industry and career change. As a result, the CareersPlus team was always going to be a critical aspect of my journey during the MBA in helping and guiding me to get to where I wanted to be.

Each student on the Full-time MBA is allocated their own careers coach who stays with you for the entire year (Catherine Wiggins is mine!) We meet on a regular basis, which initially was getting to know a bit about each other, what my drivers are, where I think I want to go and how I think I will get there. That is the most important part, the questions that the careers coach asks. The CareersPlus team are not there to get me a job at the end of the year but are there to make me think and to give me the tools to find out what I really want. Along with these face-to-face meetings we have had numerous events run by the internal team (pay negotiation, elevator pitches, and of course CV writing workshops to name just a few).

Along with this individual preparation provided on the course, the CareersPlus team also have an outstanding external facing team. They have great links with a whole spectrum of leaders in various industries. They organise regular monthly events based at both the WBS campus in Coventry and WBS London, The Shard, allowing students to not only gain insights into a variety of new industries but also meet students on the Executive MBA and Distance Learning MBA, as well as Alumni. In addition to these events, the external team organise a series of treks for those on the Full-time MBA to visit different organisations. For our cohort, these included a finance trek to Dublin and a healthcare trek to GE Healthcare. The treks have allowed students to get a unique level of access to some organisations that would be near impossible without them.

Personally, the CareersPlus team have helped me enormously over the past year. From my first meeting with my careers coach, Catherine, when I was really unsure of what or where I wanted to be in a years’ time, to now having a very clear end goal identified and a plan of how I want to get there; the CareersPlus team have been invaluable. I will certainly miss being able to drop in on them when I finish, but that’s when the Alumni CareersPlus team kicks in!

Find out more about the Full-time MBA.