Results Time

Well, it’s 2013.  It is absolutely astounding how fast time flies.  The research I started, what seems like ages ago, is finally coming to fruition.  I set out back in June 2011, to set up an Alumni network that would help keep us all in touch and up to date on what’s going on.  I’ve got some data on all of the network ties that were set up and they’re pretty interesting and surprising.  I set up this blog, a Facebook page, LinkedIn subgroup and twitter feed.  Each channel ended up being so very different!  By far there are more LinkedIn group members than anything else with 104 in that group.  There are 67 in the Facebook page.  The blog get’s quite a lot of traffic but I’m hard pressed to tell you how many of those are actually IB alumni.  This blog gets over 1000 views every month from over 131 different countries!  That’s something!

With the exception of a handful of people out there, my lovely alumni, you have been so very quiet.  I would love to hear what you’re up to.   What countries are you in and what are you doing?  Did you open a surf shop in Bali?  I myself graduated in 2004 and am finishing my masters degree and working at JAMK as a secretary.  Who knows what the future will bring?  IB as a programme is doing well.  The next round of entrance exams will be in April with 50 fresh faces coming in fall.  Risto Korkia-Aho is still taking care of International matters but no longer teaches language courses.  Matti Hirsilä is still our fearless leader.  Kevin Manninen has moved back to the USA and Robert Webber turned up in the UK and all is well with him.  Those of you that know the “Robert Webber Mystery” will understand why that’s so funny.  Juha Saukkonen, Heidi Neuvonen, Steven Crawford and Piotr Krawczyk still maintain their teaching positions and are as innovative as ever.

Limit Breakers bit the dust some time back.  It just couldn’t cope with the changes and had to be closed down.  All good things must end.  On a good note a new study track in music and media management will be added  to the IB curriculum.  You may have heard about the High Tech Management study track, but there’s also a ‘Culture’ study track which examines cross cultural communication in the work place.  Life is good.  Wherever this might find you, I hope you’re doing well and wish you all the best in 2013!

Best Regards,

Alison

 

Content is Key to Search Engine Visibility and SEO Infographic

Source: http://hosting.ber-art.nl/content-seo-search-engine-visibility/?_tmc=kpxfdSmuUhNezJMz8FElSNGgr8G80BI5H7vUuIyz6Cs

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Explores how content is key to search engine visibility on why is Content Good for SEO #Inforgraphic

 

McKinsey versus Marakon: The Battle Between Global Management Consulting Firms and Boutiques

Source: http://managementconsulted.com/boutique-firms/recruiting-decisions-what-is-the-difference-between-global-management-consulting-firms-and-boutique-consulting-firms/#

This is an important issue when recruiting for a business consulting job. In finance, most people think you must work for the biggest – the Goldman-Sachs-or-bust mentality. And while the big management consulting firms (like McKinsey and Bain) get the lions share of media attention, there are many successful and well-respected boutique consulting firms(like Katzenbach Partners, LEK, andMarakon) that I would recommend prospective applicants consider.

So what are the differences between the two? First, I’ll start with the similarities:

1) Consulting travel will usually be a component
2) You’ll work in teams, interacting closely with clients
3) As an analyst/associate/consultant, your focus will be on data gathering, analysis, and presentation. In plain English, this means you’ll receive lots of data from your client, do calculations in Excel, combine that with thorough Internet research and some interviews, and put it into slides to share at meetings

But the differences are very important:

1) While the fundamentals of your work will be the same, theapplication of that work can vary. Boutique companies like Kurt Salmon typically focus on narrower questions and in fewer industries. At a Big 3 consulting firm (Bain, BCG, McKinsey) you receive exposure to different industries and functions (eg, strategy, operations, organization). In boutiques your exposure is more narrow – at Kurt Salmon, your primary focus would be on retail and consumer goods companies. This is both a pro (you start building expertise) and a con(what if you decide the retail sector is not for you?).

But again, the day-to-day will look very similar. The difference is in the longer-term.

2) As for travel – it depends. Some boutiques do a lot of traveling if they have an industry focus (Kurt Salmon is a well-regarded expert in the retail/consumer goods space, with clients spread throughout the US and internationally). But other boutiques have a more local focus (eg,Slalom Consulting) and thus you may travel very little – most of your work would be with area clients with whom your firm has developed a lasting relationship

3) While you’re guaranteed to work in teams and with clients, both the types of team members, types of clients and nature of interaction could be different. Boutiques have less coverage for clients overall, which could mean you’ll see significantly more client interaction from an early stage, and with more senior members (this is the norm – but I have heard of smaller consulting firms like ATKearney with enormous teams at the client, so it can vary). Your teams will usually be smaller, often with you and maybe one other person as the only real day-to-day presence at your clients. Each of these comes with its own set of pros and cons.

Further reading: Interview with an ATKearney Shanghai consultant

4) Culture can be vastly different

I use the example of a small liberal arts college (Brown) vs a large, public institution (UCLA).

Brown offers greater personalization and support, everyone knows your name, you’re a big fish in a small pond. At UCLA, its harder to standout. The support network is not personalized and easily accessible. While there are more opportunities, it’s up to you to seize them. You’re a small fish in a big pond, but the upside can be higher.

The analogy also applies to large city offices versus satellite/smaller city offices (for example, Bain’s San Francisco office versus their satellite offices in Texas. A great discussion of consulting office selection can be found in my interview with Marquis)

5) Future jobs/exit options. In particular I need to put a disclaimer here, because your situation is largely within your control and the actual situations vary widely. But when we discuss the ACCESS that you have to exit opportunities across industries and job functions, larger firms (like Boston Consulting Group) are the clear winner. Much larger alumni networks, more internally shared recruiting emails and advice, greater brand recognition, the list goes on. Boutiques, given their strong reputation in particular niches, offer plenty of opportunities in the same space – but are distinctly behind in offering opportunities to enter unrelated career paths. These corporate paths usually include (and this is not counting the many who enter graduate school):

• Finance – investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, investment management – consulting-friendly private equity firms and investment funds are the norm here
• Corporate/Fortune 500 – roles range from corporate strategy to product management to marketing and business development
• More consulting – either internally at your current firm in a new position, or at a new firm, new country, etc
• Startups – probably the least frequent choiceFurther reading: Part 1 of a series on management consulting exit options
  

  Also, as a note for prospective summer interns – many boutique firms do not offer consulting summer internships in the U.S. This practice is more common internationally. However, summer internship season can offer a great opportunity to see how the Big 3 management consulting firms/Big 4 accounting/one-stop-shop firms operate from the inside. While recruiting is competitive, the opportunity is golden if you get it

 

What if Money Didn’t Matter?

It’s been a very busy week here, hence the lack of posts this week. I saw a very interesting video that made me think.  It’s not totally business related but it does have to do with your career and the choices one makes.  Very interesting stuff.  I hope the link works for you.

What if Money Didn’t Matter? Click this to view video.

 

Read The Insulting 3,000-Word Rejection Letter Sent To 900 Job Applicants

This post originally appeared at Gawker.
Read more: http://gawker.com/5896584/heres-how-to-condescend-to-900-job-applicants-with-a-3000+word-rejection-letter#ixzz2CI96HzEq

We were forwarded this rejection email, apparently sent to more than 900 hopeful applicants in one bulk delivery, by a reader who shall remain anonymous. (The person is, after all, still looking for a job).

“I don’t find it helpful,” the rejected applicant wrote. “I just find it arrogant.”

“At first I thought I’d made it to the second round,” the reader said on the phone this evening, “but then I realized I’d been Bcc’d, along with 900 others, on my own rejection letter.”

Here it is, in all its bullet-point glory:

————— Forwarded message —————
From: Shea Gunther
Date: Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 12:14 PM
Subject: You applied for a position at my clean tech news site

Hello,

If you’re reading this, it means that you applied for one of the positions open at my new clean tech news site (this ad->http://louisville.craigslist.org/wri/2894902027.html). I’m Shea and it’s been my job to do the first read-through of the 900+ applications that have poured in as a result of our ad.

I have gone through each of the applications as they have come in and picked out the best 50 or so to be passed into the second round of consideration. Some of you are amazing candidates that I am really excited to learn more about. Those of you who are passed into the second round of consideration will be hearing from us soon, if you haven’t been contacted by us already.

Others applications have come in from strong writers who just aren’t a great fit for what we are trying to do. When you have a pool of 900+ applications, you can be picky, and we passed over many worthy people simply because they don’t have enough experience in clean technology and green media. I would advise anyone without enough of the right experience who wants to break into environmental writing to start a personal blog and write about the things you want to get paid to cover. You are welcome to get back in touch with us in the future after you’ve built a more focused portfolio.

Beyond those two groups, there were applications that were skipped over after just a quick read—the brutal truth is that the very worst applications got less than a few seconds of consideration. Often I could tell from the first few words of an application that it would be passed over. I was helped by the fact that we are hiring writers; if a person can’t craft a good email applying for a writing job, she’s unlikely to be the kind of writer we are looking to hire.

As I went through your applications, I couldn’t help but jot down ideas on how some of you could improve your job hunting email skills. As evidenced by the response to our ad, there are a lot of people out there looking for work right now and you need every advantage that you can get if you want to beat them to a good job. If your application email sucks, you are going to be left looking for work for a long time because you will get flushed out with the first filter every time you apply for a job. Some of your applications are that bad.

I have broken my suggestions down into a list of 42 writing job application dos and don’ts.

Good luck.