By Rafaela Echterdiek, MSc in Management 1st year student, Germany
Maria
Serova is a 24 year old first year MSc Management student at ESSEC. She is
Russian and did a Bachelor and subsequent Master in Foreign Languages and
Literature at Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia). Since January 2014
Maria participates in the ESSEC Leadership and Diversity Chair. I asked Maria
about her motivation to study at ESSEC, her experiences of the chair and her
expectations and future goals:
Why did you choose to come
to ESSEC?
After
I finished my Master I worked for 5 months as a Project Manager in Russia. I enjoyed
the work but felt that a formal management education would help me to master
these kinds of jobs in my future career. I therefore decided to follow a
management master. I wanted to gain international experience which is why I
looked for suitable programs outside Russia but still within Europe. I quickly
focused my search on France because French business schools have a very good
reputation and I already spoke French. My previous studies did not have
anything to do with business but ESSEC was very appealing to me because it
would give me a good general business foundation. In addition to that I felt
that it would allow me to focus on a specific business area depending on my
personal preference which I yet had to discover.
Are you happy with your
decision to follow a business Master?
I
am absolutely happy with it. I believe that for my future career it is very
valuable to have a general business understanding. I want to become a Project
Manager at an NGO preferably in a foreign country. As a project manager it is
very useful to know all sorts of business areas such as accounting, marketing
and strategy. I think that this Master complements my education in languages
and will therefore give me a competitive edge when I apply for my future job.
How do you like your stay at
ESSEC so far?
So
far it has been a very eventful 7 months. I met a lot of French and
international students which also broadened my mind about other cultures. I
enjoy being surrounded by such a diverse student body. I was very pleased to
discover that ESSEC has a lot of different associations. I joined the
photography association “Noir sur Blanc” to meet other people who share my
passion. Apart from that Paris is a beautiful city which has so much
history and arts to offer. There are many exhibitions, concerts and other cultural
activities which go on the whole year round.
So
far the classes at ESSEC have been very practical. A lot of the material is
discussed through case studies. This helps me to see the applicability and
usefulness in reality. When I started I was a bit concerned about the fact that
I did not study business before. However, so far it has not been a problem
because the pre-master classes I took in the first term provided me with the
necessary foundations.
ESSEC Leadership and Diversity Chair
Maria took part in the 6 month ESSEC Leadership and
Diversity Chair held in cooperation with 2 partner firms
Deloitte & L’Oréal. A chair is a specialized program combining theoretical perspectives, practical knowledge from professional presentations and hands-on experience
through concrete projects with partner firms. Maria gives us some insights about the chair and its
work.
Who can participate in the Chair?
In
general, every ESSEC student following a Master's program at ESSEC can be part of a Chair. However, as it is a very selective program you have to apply for the
chair. You are asked to write a short essay about your motivation followed by
a brief interview with the Head of the Chair, Junko Takagi, and employees of both
partner companies. This year 21 students got selected for the program. We are a
very diverse group with students coming from at least 7 different countries. So
I guess, the notion of diversity is already adhered to in the composition of
the group.
Do you think participating in the Chair has a value
for your future?
I
think that we live in a more and more globalized world. It requires us to deal
with diversity in various ways such as nationality, gender, religion and so on.
People from different countries often have very different views, ideas, moral
concepts and value systems of the world they are living in. To manage these
differences in a business context can be challenging. I strive for an
international career and hence, I think being able to successfully manage
diversity will make me a better leader. Apart from the professional value I
think that understanding and appreciating human differences is also beneficial
for my personal development.
What do you discuss during the chair?
We
have seminars followed by discussions on managing workforce diversity. I enjoy
the fact that we discuss examples of actual leaders to complement the
theoretical content of the lectures. Furthermore, we have seminars which are
held by Deloitte and L’Oréal. L’Oréal for example has its own diversity
department which deals with (amongst other things) balancing nationality
differences. I find it very interesting to get such an insight about real
problems companies face and how they attempt to solve them.
In
addition to that we went on a weekend trip to Copenhagen. During the trip we
visited several companies such as Carlsberg to talk to them about social
responsibility, diversity in the company and other related topics. We had some
workshops at Copenhagen Business School to discover how diversity can be lived
and how it can enhance creativity.
If
you want to get more information on the ESSEC Leadership and Diversity Chair
check out its website of http://leadership-diversity-chair.essec.edu/ or follow its activities on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LeadDivChair.
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