So, what are these programme treks?
The Business School organises a 2-3 day long trip to various companies in the UK where current students get an opportunity to interact with working professionals and recruiters for those specific companies. These treks are customised for each MSc programme, making it relevant and curated for the students of a particular course. The purpose of these treks is to give students an insight into the work life of the domains specific to their careers, grow their network, understand career possibilities (and also have fun with their classmates!).
Overview of the Marketing and Business Analysis class trek
The planning
A couple of months before the trek, me and a few of my classmates had a brainstorming session with the Student Development Team on what we would expect from this trek, what kind of companies we would like to visit, what career roles we were aiming for, what kind of interaction and information would we like from the company, and so on. This activity proved to be very fruitful and actually helped us co-create our trek with the organisers, which meant it met our expectations.
The companies
Given this MSc is a mix of both marketing and business analysis, our itinerary included companies that focused not only on the creative side of marketing but a lot on data analytics as well (which was our preference as well in the brainstorming session). Our entire class went to London for 3 days, where stay and travel arrangements were made by the University.
On day 1 we arrived in London late afternoon and visited Experian, which is one of the world's leading global information services companies. We spent around 3 hours at the company and then had the evening to ourselves. On day 2, we visited Gain Theory, a marketing effectiveness consultancy, and Croud, a full-service digital marketing agency. On day 3, which was our last day in London, we visited Greenlight, which is another digital agency. The last company visit was together with the MSc Marketing cohort.
The experience
The presentation structure at each company was pretty similar. We were first introduced to the company's background and offerings, followed by 'a day in the life of...' employees with job roles relevant to our course. Next, we had a case study or an activity related to the services offered by the company. This was insightful as it gave us an idea of the kind of projects and the work done by the employee. In between all this, we had small breaks with refreshments and one-on-one interaction time with the employees where we could ask our questions, understand more about the role and company, and so on.
Alumni panel
One major highlight of the trek was the alumni panel event on day 2. Together with MSc Marketing, we had a panel of six Business School alumni who told us about their background, their current jobs, their job-hunting process, tips for us, current key trends in the industry, and a lot more. We also had a very long Q&A session where they answered all our questions and concerns.
After that, we had a lobbying session where we could interact with them individually. This session was extremely insightful and gave us an opportunity to interact with our seniors in a very warm and comfortable setting.
Key highlights
The 3 days were completely action-packed, given that we had back-to-back visits, constant interaction, and of course, also roaming around London. Getting to witness the company experience first-hand and actually understanding the different roles in depth gave me a lot of clarity and has helped me steer my career and job hunt in the right direction.
Networking with so many people was also extremely resourceful, and I was lucky to get referrals for 2 companies. Speaking to the alumni was definitely informative but more importantly, it made me feel positive and hopeful about what’s to come, given that they’ve also been through experiences and thoughts similar to ours when they were students. Beyond this, being all touristy around London and going out with my classmates was very memorable. It bought us all closer, making memories I’ll cherish forever!
To sum it up, the MSc class trek was a very wholesome experience for me. I’m glad our batch got to attend this and I would definitely recommend all incoming students to make the most of this trip!
Mahima is studying for the MSc Marketing and Business Analysis.