Jack is a member of the IE Admissions Team and he was interviewed by Steven, current student on the International MBA.
Hi Jack! Listen, there is not a lot to say about the past week in the MBA, as I had exams. So let me ask you some questions to get to know the interviewer behind this blog.
Sure! That sounds fair!
Tell me a bit about yourself and how you came to work for IE.
Ok, it all started in London, where my parents moved to from New Zealand. Then, I moved to Brussels as a kid and once I finished college, I studied International Relations at Birmingham University. After that, I did an internship in Brussels at the American Chamber of Commerce, and went traveling for some time until I met my girlfriend in Barcelona. Since she lived in Madrid, I decided to go there and applied for a position at IE!
Interesting. So what type of work do you do at IE?
It varies. In the beginning I was involved in the Marketing department and after that, I changed to dealing with the Admissions side of things. I like it more because of the personal interaction with our applicants and the Admissions team is a pleasure to work with! We have just over 2500 applications per year for the fulltime programs so there is a lot of work all year round. Besides screening the applications and conducting interviews, I also do many presentations and campus tours. I like to take an informal approach and I try to help the applicants to see what we are really looking for.
So you must have some nice stories for us…
Well, of course, but that is all confidential unfortunately! The most common mistake I see from applicants is not providing enough information and evidence about who they really are. A good application should be able to clearly present who the applicant is, what they want to achieve, what their strongest professional and personal achievements have been and how these experiences have shaped them. It’s all about telling a story of yourself which is coherent and adheres to IE’s core values of entrepreneurship and diversity.
Great feedback! I’m sure some applicants will find that useful. Finally, what keeps you going in the weekends?
Besides a bit of reading and enjoying the wonderful Madrid nightlife, I’m an Atletico Madrid fan and I go to their home games as often as possible. They aren’t as glamorous as their rivals Real Madrid, but the atmosphere certainly is more boisterous! Atletiii!
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