MSc Management consultants land graduate roles with client companies

MSc Management students at City’s Business School are celebrating earning roles with top London-based clients, after excelling in a real-life online consultancy assignment.

The postgraduate programme includes an optional Consulting Project module, designed to give students direct practical experience and interaction with real companies. Students are assigned to a London-based client depending on their career interests, and work in teams to present real-life, bespoke business solutions to companies across a six-week period.

This year, students were assigned to one of 11 clients – ranging from fintech to luxury hotels and wine. After agreeing a project plan with their clients, students spent the term conducting in-depth industry research which culminated in presenting insights and recommendations to company managers.

Nicole Brandetti, who chose to study for her master’s at City’s Business School because of the first-hand business world experience and wide variety of career paths on offer, selected the Japanese kitchenware specialist, Japana Home.

“I did not have any related work experience so it was important for me to gain real interaction with the business world beyond academic theory,” she said.

“The consulting project on the MSc Management programme has really helped me bridge that gap.”

Nicole’s team was set the task of doubling Japana’s worldwide sales of Japanese kitchen knives and other premium utensils within a month. After extensive research of the main target audiences, the group delivered its recommendations – including development of customer profiles and the company website – and duly achieved its ambitious goal.

Japana’s co-owners were so impressed with Nicole’s contribution that she was offered a permanent position with the company – one of several students on the course to be offered further roles with their client.

“It was totally unexpected, but I’m so happy that the client was able to see all of the hard work that I put into the project,” Nicole said.

“The job role as a marketing analyst is exactly what I wished for when I started my degree. I am very excited to have the chance to develop my skills further and can’t wait to start full-time when I’ve completed the course.”

Tom Bilakiewicz, Japana Home co-owner and City’s Business School alumnus said that it had been a pleasure to work with such dedicated students.

“I was immediately impressed with the team's mindset. They wanted to do a great job and learn in the process,” he said.

“They are great listeners, incredibly receptive to feedback and quick to act on it. This translated into great results in terms of quality and appropriateness of their recommendations.

“I also admired how they navigated the task of managing a team spread all over the world and had the courage to challenge our thinking. We aim to promote the Japanese lifestyle to Western consumers, and the broad knowledge of this multinational team has certainly given us some invaluable strategic insights.

“We are really looking forward to welcoming Nicole to the team on a full-time basis, and her strengths in marketing and international expansion will be a real asset to us.”

Chris Sutton, Visiting Lecturer and Module Leader for the Consulting Project said this year’s cohort had been particularly impressive, especially given the extraordinary circumstances that prevented face-to-face interaction.

“The professionalism and quality of the groups really shone through in an online setting,” Mr Sutton said.

“Their depth of research and ability to cooperate with each other across time zones and continents was excellent. The work produced for clients – despite the challenges – was very high indeed, and this is reflected in the offers made to Nicole and several of her peers.”

Dr Joanna Zaleska, Course Director of MSc Management said the wide variety of electives on the programme gave students an opportunity to self-select large parts of their degree.

“The MSc Management programme at City’s Business School is for students who are broadly interested in management disciplines and are seeking exposure to the real business world to find a particular career focus.

“Fifty per cent of modules are selected by students themselves as well, allowing them to tailor the degree to their specific interests and needs.

“Students who choose the Consulting Project elective gain and demonstrate consultancy, data analysis and presentation skills, as well as an opportunity to develop “soft” skills like dealing with clients and corporate communication.”

Nicole agreed that the programme had helped her to kickstart her career.

“I knew the programme and consulting project module would be highly rewarding and it has now helped me secure a dream role,” she said.

Find out more about the MSc Management programme at City’s Business School.

Watch a full video playback of Nicole and her team's presentation to Japana Home.