In this installment of our Real Humans: Alumni series, we meet Amanda Tan whose IMD MBA experience led her to becoming a consultant at Bain & Co. IMD’s emphasis on personal growth and leadership development was exactly what she needed to succeed in the high-demand world of consulting. Read below for her story.
Amanda Tan, IMD MBA ’22, Consultant at Bain & Company
Age: 30
Hometown: Jakarta, Indonesia
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Durham University, BA Combined Honours in Social Sciences
Graduate Business School, Graduation Year and Concentration (if applicable): IMD, 2022
Pre-MBA Work Experience: Various roles in the recruitment industry for ~5 years in London
Post-MBA Work Experience: Bain & Company, Consultant, 1 year, Strategy
Why did you choose to attend business school?
I was at a point in my career where I felt stuck, I was curious to explore other career paths but was unable to break into other industries or move away from sales roles. I also was not exactly sure what to go into it and thought the MBA would help me figure this out!
Why IMD? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
For me it was two clear points: 1) the small, but very international, cohort, and 2) the emphasis on personal growth tied in with leadership development – in particular, the access we have to psychoanalysts and leadership coaches as an embedded part of the programme. A bonus point being the absolutely stunning location of the campus by Lake Geneva!
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career as a consultant at Bain?
The growth in self-awareness (supported by the psychoanalyst and leadership coach) enabled me to better manage myself and my sustainability in a very high-paced and high demanding job
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
The people and the opportunities Bain offered. On the former, of the many companies that came to campus and various interview processes, I felt a personal connection with everyone from Bain, I could just see myself working with all of them! On the latter, Bain offers the opportunity to work on different industries and capabilities – further helping me narrow down my future career path!
Advice to current MBA students:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
Be very intentional – it is easy to get drawn into what everyone else is doing and apply to all companies that come on campus for convenience, but this is time and energy-consuming to do properly. I ended up only applying to a handful of companies, but I did pay a lot of attention to those applications.
–One thing you would change or do differently as part of the job search?
Dedicate more time to figuring out what’s right for me and what I want to do before diving into the process
–Were there any surprises regarding your current employer’s recruiting process?
Not on the process – Bain was very transparent throughout about what to expect and the very clear on next steps. What did surprise me was how friendly and encouraging everyone was throughout the interview process, even the interviewers guided me through cases, and I never felt like anyone was trying to “catch me out” or trap me into making a mistake
–What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
See the year as a space to experiment and try things – it will be one of the safest, yet highly realistic, settings to do this!
