Business School Careers: Meet Michael Scott from INSEAD

Every month we interview a careers professional from a leading business school to get their views on graduate employability and what makes their business school special. This month, we spoke with Michael Scott who is a careers coach and runs the TMT division of INSEAD careers.

What do you do at INSEAD?

I’m a career coach and a sector specialist in technology, media and telecommunications industries at the INSEAD Career Development Centre.

What does a typical week look like for you?

This has been a typical busy week. I spent a lot of time with students in one-to-one advising sessions. I facilitated a cover letter workshop, spoke on a panel about summer internships and co-hosted a webinar about tech careers. I have been supporting different student clubs on their initiatives. I also had calls and meetings with tech companies who look for advice on how to attract and recruit talent at INSEAD.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy working with people. I meet new people every day. I also really enjoy learning about tech companies- you get to see what goes on behind the scenes, what’s actually happening on the inside. It’s a real privilege; INSEAD opens many doors.

What did you do before INSEAD?

Before joining INSEAD, I was a marketing and recruitment manager at another business school. In the past, when I met business school applicants, they always wanted to know lots about career opportunities and I think that’s what pushed me into what I’m doing now.

What are three words to describe INSEAD as a place to study?

Fast. Intense. Fun.

The programme is accelerated to 10 months so students have to learn fast and that’s intense. It’s also fun. My office overlooks the terrace where students go after class. There’s always something fun and social happening.

Why do you think people choose INSEAD?

People choose us because our alumni say really good things about us and because the career outcomes are excellent. The network is really strong and INSEAD people help each other out beyond what you might expect. One alumnus told me about the support he received after an unfortunate accident suffered whilst on a holiday. He said: “the alumni network will literally save your life.”

How many students does INSEAD have across its programs?

There are aprox 1000 students in the MBA and 300 across the Global Executive MBA and other executive degree programmes.

Where do INSEAD students typically end up working?

Last year, excluding the 19% students who returned to their pre-employers, 35% of new hires are in management consulting, 18% in tech, 17% in other corporate sectors and 11% in finance. In tech there’s a rough 60/40 split between students joining the big tech firms (the GAFAs of the Word) and those joining start-up/scale-ups, the little guys doing really cool disruptive things.

What do you think is the most interesting trend in business school careers?

Rolling up to a job fair with a paper CV/resumé and interviewing on the spot is so old-school. Today, student’s interests and ambitions are so broad that we’ve had to innovate to keep up. Nowadays we offer CV/resumé workshops aided by AI tools. We encourage students to network their way to new opportunities using maps we built on tableau. We create and share content online such as alumni interviews, podcasts and videos. We also collaborate with the fantastic educators at Exactimo to bring practical workshops to students so that they’re equipped with the relevant tools and concepts to make them stand out in a crowded jobs market.