What do you do when you’ve invested time and money in an undergraduate degree in a particular area of study but decide at the end of your course you want a career in a different industry – especially if you don’t know what you want that industry to be?
For Ebunoluwa Akinyele, Cranfield’s Master’s in Management helped her find the direction she needed.
“I had a degree that I realised I wasn’t interested in anymore,” she told Business Because. “I studied biochemistry and molecular medicine at undergraduate and I realised at the end of the course that I didn’t enjoy it, so I worked for a year to gain experience, and then realised I wanted a management master’s because it was a broad subject.”
Comprising 10 core modules and three electives, the Cranfield Master’s in Management covers economics for managers, research methods and statistics, managing profitability, liquidity, and asset utilisation.
Students are given the opportunity to immerse themselves in many different aspects of business, including one module – Effective Cross-Cultural Management – that takes place in Granada, Spain, before undertaking an individual thesis project that requires a three-month internship with one of Cranfield’s corporate partners.
Thanks to Cranfield’s close ties with industry, students are able to gain experience in roles in highly desirable sectors that they would not have been able to access otherwise.
Ebun’s internship took place at Skanska – the fifth largest construction company in the world according to Construction Global Magazine – and led to a permanent role on the team where she is now supervising the next generation of Master’s in Management students doing their internship at the company.
During her studies, Ebun was able to access expert advice on producing a professional CV and coaching on interview skills through Cranfield’s Career Development Service.
“[They] sorted everything out,” Ebun recalls. “I had to apply for the internships I wanted and then pick [which ones] to interview [with].”
“I don’t think I would have been working at Skanska if not for Cranfield,” she continued. “So I’m really grateful that I was able to get the opportunity because it’s a really great project that I’m working on.”
Ebun credits Cranfield with equipping her with the ability to conceptualise the challenges facing teams in business situations, and cites the simulation students undertook as part of their project management module as particularly useful in her day-to-day role.
“If I’d come [to Skanska] without having that knowledge, I would be a bit more confused as to how and when and what to do,” she said.
Ebun also credits her fellow students with having a positive influence on her management style.
She said: “[Cranfield] is quite an international university where there are people from all over the world. I was able to learn how to communicate with people and learn about different cultures and ways of life.
“I can say that within the year I was at Cranfield, I learned a lot about people, myself, and also my degree.”
Article originally published by Business Because.
