internship!!!

It's been a pretty hectic 2 last weeks:

• interviewing for many companies, trying to do well on crac-the-case type of interviews. It really feels like I improve with time. On the other hand, all this Milkround / recruitment process looks a bit random. Why did Company XXX call him and not me?? etc. I've heard some people comparing it to dating: I gave you 2 precious hours, and we had fun, why didn't you call me back?? The most important outcome, though, is that I already have an offer for interning in a London-based company this summer, so I can relax. I will continue looking for other opportunities, though: I am particulary interested in carrying out some short-period projects as a freelancer in the summer term
  

• studying for the Finance exam (which turned out a OK exam: the highlight was one of our Brazilina classmates who received an SMS right after the exam telling him that he had just become a father, so he rushed out and skipped the traditional Windsor Castle post-exam pint-sharing). I think I did OK, and enjoyed the beers that night...

• playing Rugby! Last weekend, the London Business School hosted the 3rd Investec Rugby Tournament, and I had the opportunity to play for the first time. It felt good!! We didn't win, but it was a lot of fun. Besides, it felt like a top-MBA, since the other teams were Harvard, Wharton, Columbia and Smurfit MBA students...

And of course, the other usual stuff: reading cases, doing some homeworks, going out, taking care of the house chores....

London Business School Interview Invites out!!

Congratulations to all the applicants who got an invitation for an interview. You're almost in. Now, take your time, do your research and preparation, and stay calm. I suggest rehearsing (have found that it works also for internship interviews, as I am doing now).

Besides, do read the forums (like businessweek.com) and all the application advice out there. There are even wikis with some common interview questions.

Don't forget that your final objective is to become and MBA2009, and you're quite close right now!!

pearls of wisdom

Just had one of my wisdom teeth extracted. In the middle of applications, interviews, presentations and the upcoming Finance final exam, I just flew to Valencia to go to the dentist. It all has gone well except for some nerves before the operation and a bit of uncomfort now.

Still, coming home feels good. It's been a really sunny day, some 16ºC (max is 22ºC, in February!!). Unfortunately, having the mouth almost paralised with the anesthesia means I cannot enjoy Spanish food as much...:(

Anyway, this gives me time to catch up with reading, start preparing the Spanish Career Trek to Madrid in May (which I am co-organizing), and continue getting ready for my many crack-a-case interviews next week. Any advice on how to solve them will be appreciated...

and there goes another application...!!

yes, another one!! So far the internship search has not been very successful. Have some 3 interviews lined up this week, but if they fail....I still have not heard from any other firm!!

I didn't know this period was going to be this stressful. You see people on campus on suits, usually with sad faces (after pressure interviews). Don't know many people with offers yet, although rumor has it that some banks have already extended some.

Of course they told us that the so-called 'milkround' provides summer internships for only 30% of students....but one always thinks that s/he won't be in the other 70%!!!

So, have to come up with a backup plan. Industry companies, are you there?? the London Business School Summer Consulting Team is another good idea, although competition to get a position in it is at least as tough as for a position in a major consultancy.

Worst case scenario, I could explore some opportunities in Entrepreneurship...although that does not pay the bills!! Or just take a loooooooooong holidays and recover from all this stress :))))

on globalization

My tailor made suit just arrived. For half the price of what it costs in London, I got it from a Hong Kong based tailor, in something like 6 weeks. They came for a weekend to a hotel close to school, took the measurements of all those interested, and now here we are with our bespoke suits. I have tried it and it really fits (it's the first tailor made suit that I ever buy). And I guess if I want further ones, I just have to email the tailor, since now he has my measures....

This makes me think again of how globalization and technology has changed the way business is made in so many things. The tailor had to fly in from HK, but beforehand we already had been assigned slots to be measured thanks to some website. We could check the status of the order online, and then track the package as it was travelling from the other side of the world.

Already in the 19th century people used China as a source of cheap fabrics (I think I read it already in some Gold Rush novels, that they used Chinese in China and in San Francisco as tailors). What has changed, however, is the lead times and the amounts of information available. The more information, the easier it is for such a transaction to take place.

Many people question the efficiencies of free markets. Carlos Salinas, former President of Mexico, was here to talk about the effects of the NAFTA agreement on his home country, which has been growing at slow paces since opening up its economy. Free markets are not the only solution for Mexico. Reforms, deregulation and change (in education, in entrepreneurship, in people's mentality) are as well necessary to be competitive in today's world. If 66% of university students in Spain want to be public servants, the Government should recognize there is a problem with mentality....

This is something my tailor (which is not rich) understood....