Meet an Alumna: “The whole world is your playground!”

Please briefly introduce your company and your position.

I did two internships during the EDHEC gap year, doing project management at the headquarters of BNP Paribas and Amundi in Paris. And from 2019 to 2022, I have been a part-time consultant at BCW France.

After graduating from EDHEC, I got a work permit in the UK and worked for Candesic, a strategic consulting firm in London, focusing on investment and mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences and medical industries. We help private equity funds do due diligence before investing, provide investment advice, and help companies in the industry with strategic planning. Our team includes surgeons, general practitioners, psychologists, scientific advisors, and a lot of business school graduates like myself. I am currently working as a Strategy Analyst at Candesic.

Your company has a cooperative relationship with EDHEC, how did it help you during your study and job hunting?

Marc Kitten, one of Candesic’s partners, is my professor and taught us the course “Strategic Analysis & Critical Thinking” in 2019 and “Cracking the Business Case” in 2020. It can be said that the knowledge in these two courses has laid the foundation for my current work. My graduation project was also completed under the guidance of Candesic, which really put me in the business world to face real customers and help them formulate strategic policies.

As far as job hunting is concerned, it can be said that I found this job because EDHEC gave me this opportunity to know this company and gave me the opportunity to show my professional skills.

Do you have any recent career developments to share with us?

So far, I have participated in about 15 projects at Candesic, and the scope of the projects covers: life sciences: such as next-generation sequencing, microbial pharmaceuticals; healthcare: such as dentistry, medical aesthetics, mental illness, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, radiology diagnosis and, social medical care: such as hospitals, nursing homes, and children's welfare homes.

My main work in the company includes conducting expert interviews and collecting first-hand information. I have independently interviewed 14 British clinical psychologists and 5 Chinese dermatologists. I read relevant reports and literature, and collect information and data. I conduct data analysis, participate in writing and designing the storyline of the research report.

The knowledge I learned at EDHEC has also been applied to my work.

How to make better use of EDHEC’s resources to find ideal positions?

Career Centre: DHEC Career Centre is very powerful. The counselors help us revise our resumes, conduct mock interviews, and answer all our questions. In addition, we have access to EDHEC's very strong alumni network. They are very happy to lend a hand.

EDHEC Forum: Every year, in January, EDHEC will hold a job-hunting forum in Paris. About 100 companies are present. We can go to the Forum to submit resumes and communicate with employees of the company. For example, we can ask them about the application requirements and interview process for the position we like. Sometimes, we can even pass the HR interview after we meet a suitable position and submit our resume right there, which greatly improves the efficiency of job hunting.

Workshops: EDHEC also often invites some companies to come to the school to hold job-hunting workshops. As far as I have participated, there are Capgemini Events, LVMH, etc. These are good opportunities for us to submit resumes and establish contacts.

Chat with professors and department heads: Many professors in EDHEC are big names in the industry. You will never know, maybe there are companies opened by our professors that are recruiting people.

If a student hopes to work abroad after graduation, is there anything I need to pay attention to?

Work visa: work visa is a troublesome thing for all international students, but there is no need to be afraid, as long as the employer is willing to provide a work visa guarantee, there will be no problem. I got the UK work visa myself. Among the international students of EDHEC I know, many got French work permits without any problems, and others have obtained work permits from the UK/Germany/Luxembourg/Netherlands/USA. I would like to encourage everyone not to be restricted by the work permit, just submit your resume. I still remember the first day when I first entered EDHEC, sitting in the auditorium, our department head told us: "The whole world is your playground!"

Language: Language is really important! If you want to find a job in France and if you don’t know French, the employment options will be very narrow; even if I’m working in London now, most of my colleagues can speak English + 2 to 3 European languages. It is necessary to conduct interviews with experts in European languages such as France/Germany. I still encourage everyone to improve their language skills as much as possible.

Capability:
- The first is industry skills, which are different in different industries, but don’t worry, professional skills are basically covered in EDHEC courses. Critical Thinking", "Strategy and Business Modelling", "Financial Statement Analysis"...

- The second is some common skills such as "Excel and Modelling ", "PowerPoint Slide Design, "Teamwork and Communication", these can be trained in every EDHEC group assignment; and because EDHEC students come from all over the world, the school will also put students from different countries into one group, so that each group assignment is also a very good opportunity for training skills for multicultural teamwork.