MBA Career Fair 2008 - Berlin

The MBA Career Fair is an event organized by top Business Schools in the German speaking region to present their students to select companies every year. This year we had the participation of Mannheim Business School, HHL, WHU, GISMA and Sankt Gallen, from Switzerland.

As you have read before, we traveled to Berlin one day in advance, last Sunday. We used the afternoon for the very nice visit to the Reichstag building (Parliament) and had a monotonous but very funny and informative lecture on the building itself and the Parliament (Bundestag).

The first picture shows some of the Mannheimers at the dinner we had with all other schools on Sunday evening. It was a pleasant event and the food was nice. I had much fun choosing a random table with people I didn't know and inviting myself to sit. This way I was able to meet some people from the GISMA and Sankt Gallen schools, while most MBAs stayed in tables with their own colleagues.
Another interesting observation I made was that people were eager to find people either from their own country or, at least, speaking the same language. Two groups quickly formed: Russian speakers and Spanish speakers, and I even met Massimo, an Italian who spoke Portuguese very well, surprisingly.

But Monday was the day. It was the day of the fair, the workshops and the interviews. And it all started with a workshop by Johnson & Johnson.
Their workshop was an interesting way of bringing the company's values and culture closer to the candidates. The first part was a short introduction of Johnson & Johnson and a longer explanation about their credo and the 4 pillars it is based on: customers, employees, communities and shareholders. The moderator told us that the order isn't important, but I read employee accounts where they actually think this order, if it were a priority, would be a great way to prioritize the company's values.
After this presentation we were divided into two groups to analyze the decision of a particular manager to close or not to close a particular plant. It was a very short case, only one page and, as expected, very little hard data, which made the groups struggle a bit with coming to a final answer. But it was exactly this lack of data which made the discussion afterwards very interesting, and I found the task of defending the group's conclusion, even though it differed a bit from my own, interesting and actually fun.


The interviews were also mostly quite interesting. The companies had received the CVs of all students of the participating schools for review and invited those they were most interested in for formal interviews.
I was lucky and got 3 interviews. A curious one, and interesting one and an odd one.
The curious one was for a sales role for a manufacturer of vertical transportation solutions. I can certainly see myself as a sales person, although I am not actively looking for such positions. But I certainly will consider the chance, if the interview bears fruit.

The interesting one was for a leadership development program for a fast growing consumer product catalog and on line sales organization. I can see good opportunities for growth and professional development in the company, so am hoping for a contact.

And the odd interview was with a major IT consultancy. Well, I do work with computers and believe that I understand IT technology quite well, but I certainly don't have a background in the area and was very surprised to see myself in their interview list. I went to the interview with an open mind, they might have been seeking people for non-IT areas of their huge company.
It started well: the interviewer told me from the beginning that he had not been able to read my CV in advance and asked me to deliver my pitch. Not knowing what job I was being considered for, I gave him a very generic version of my vita. He quickly came to the conclusion that I didn't have the content he was looking for, and politely told me so. That didn't surprise me, so I took the opportunity to ask for some feedback about the story I delivered.
I have to say that I was amused to hear that he had expected a structured approach focused on his business area and a consulting position. Well, if he had told me such details beforehand, I would have... So I almost had the feeling that, because they were mightily unprepared, we both had lost time. But practice is always good and his feedback was valuable, so I left the room in a good mood.


The last aspect of the fair were the stands in the exhibition space of the hotel. There we had the opportunity to visit the companies' booths, talk to recruiting personnel and get company literature and goodies. Like a normal career fair but, this time, the recruiters were actively interested in MBAs.
The companies also had the possibility to deliver presentations in two different auditoriums and the one I saw, by J&J, was quite good.
So, all in all, it was a good event. It certainly was tiring, especially the travel back to Mannheim - we left Berlin at 21:00 and arrived in Mannheim at 04:30 - but really worthwhile. I did make good contacts with companies and students and had very good opportunities to practice my interview skills, so I am quite content and looking forward to another event in early May.