Update...

Dreeny the mba jobhunter felt lucky to get the job at Publicis. She learned a lot about advertising, so quickly that she decided to resign 10 months later.

She was hoping that advertising account executive for major brands would be a creative and insightful work but the reality was different: stress, huge amount of work, low salary, minimum legal vacation days, not enough time and money to attend numerous overseas wedding that year... + not impressed by management integrity at P and professionalism so Dreeny left and signed a 3 years contract at O.R.M.I.T...

3 years of not being able to break a contract and feel free is very long. But the good news is that the end of the 3 years is coming soon and Dreeny can become a jobhunter again.

3+1 = 4 so yes that will be about 4 years that Dreeny is retained in captivity in Belgium so time to escape. If the escape must happen then that will be very very very far.

The idea was to go to Berlin but the new escape idea is not even further and that is Sydney!!!

Dreeny the jobhunter starts her hunt for a job in Sydney in consulting and that is going a lot of fun. First not, because CV needs a big update, motivation letter too then the jobhunt can start and the deadline is to take off in November 2008... CANNOT WAIT! :-)

DREENY GOT A JOB!!!!

My negotiation about the salary with Publicis went well. They increased a lot their initial offer and I'm happy with it.
So there it is, Dreeny the jobhunter will become Dreeny the workhacolic from Januari 3rd 2005 on. This was a long journey from the MBA classroom to my first post MBA job and I enjoyed a lot my forced hollidays. Another week of lazy freedom before starting the office slacker life. Can't wait for it!
Wish me good luck in my new job. Thanks for supporting me in my jobsearch and for reading this blog. I may start a new one to bitch about my new job, who knows?;-)

And by the way, Merry Christmas to everyone!!! XXX

Got an offer from Publicis

The interview yesterday with the Director of Publicis went really well and he made me an offer for the role of Account Executive to work on the accounts: HP, Club Med, Coca Cola Light & Minute Maid. If the role sounds great and like something I'm looking for and could really learn a lot from, the salary is much less than what I used to make. I'm now in negotiation to try to improve that. If everything goes well I should start working on the 3rd of Januari.

To complicate things, the IT company, I was also meant to work for, called me yesterday to tell me they found me a project and I am to meet the client in the next days. I told them my situation and that they should give me all details because I was about to make a decision.

Even if the money was excellent in that IT company and they were offering a car as well, my inside voice tells me to go for I would really want to be doing. Marketing/Advertising that is. So I will let you know as soon as I sign anything but most likely it will be Publicis in Brussels.

"Paris-based Publicis is the world’s fifth largest communications agency advertising and media services conglomerates. Its activities include creative advertising, media and campaign planning, public relations and marketing. The group operates in Europe, Asia, the Americas and other parts of the world through three networks - Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Worldwide & Leo Burnett. It boasts 170 offices in over 100 countries, with around 38,000 employees. Publicis' counts Coca Cola, Nestlé, and Procter & Gamble among its clients."

Project leader for Renault opportunity

Wow, it seems that all the recruiters are waking up as the end of the year is coming up. I just got a call from a temp company who saw my resume on Monster.com. They asked me if I was interested by a project leader role for Renault leading a Marketing & HR related project for a year starting as soon as possible. You bet I am interested!!! I sent her my CV and hopefully will hear from them soon.

Thank you letters work!

As a good MBA graduated, I reminded myself to follow the advices of the career center which are to always follow an interview with a thank you letter thanking the interviewer for taking the time to see you and stressing the fact that you are even more interested by the job now. Well I did so after my interview with Publicis and an hour later, I received another mail thanking me for my email and asking me to have a meeting as soon as possible with no less than the Director of the agency to discuss the position again. I did so and my meeting is schedulled on Wednesday at 10 am! I'm so thrilled by all this!

Useful links for finding a job in Belgium/Brussels

- EuroBrussels.com - Number 1 List of Jobs in Brussels, EU institutions and International Organisations
- Guide to getting jobs in Brussels
- How to find a job in Belgium

Feedback of my interview with Publicis

So I met the managing director of Publicis to discuss the position of Account executive. The interview went well, the questions were interesting and out of the usual where do you see yourself in 5 years and how people see you? Etc. that recruiters always ask.
He was more interested about my critical thinking about advertising, what I like, what I could do, what are my views on things, ideas, ads, etc. Thanks god I read 2 books on advertising so I could talk about something and have an opinion about ads eventhough I'm completely new to that world.
He also explained me how his agency was working and the concept of Publicis of brand gardener. It was a bit like a crash course in advertising and I learned a lot in that interview.
He was meeting this Friday with the management team to discuss the role and would tell me on Monday the outcome. He told me there were only 2 candidates for this role so I had great chances to have it if that was my wish.
The only downside of the interview was about my financial pretention. He asked me what I was expecting for a salary and I told what I earned previously + the fact that I had invested in a mba so ideally I would like to be paid more. I saw his face turning pale so I added that I was aware of the salary range in advertising and that they were below what I could expect, however I would be open to lower proposition and be flexible about it as I didn't want the money aspect to be an issue in my application. I was there to learn and ready to make compromise if needed.

Interview with Publicis

My networking finally paid off... and I have an interview lined up with Publicis in Brussels on Wednesday 15 Dec at 5pm. Publicis is one of the leading international advertising agencies and the position offered is Account Executive.

Interview with Unilever

So I went to Unilever. I had a first interview with the recruiter. It went well I think. The woman I talked to is not the one who is actually making the decision to hire me or not but she is the one to propose my application to the heads of departments. She told me I would heard from them before the end of the year and in which case I would have one or two more interviews with the people I would actually work with. Normally, there is an assessment in the selection process but since I worked 3 years and did a MBA, I don't need to go through that and I can jump one step directly to the final interview.
I'm glad of that so the process is taking less time and I can hopefully end up with a job before the end of the year. I cross my fingers!!!

Dreeny's sick

My interview with Unilever is on Tuesday and bad news this morning, I started feeling sick. Since there is no way I could be sick on that day, I decided to go to the doctor today and drug myself up to make sure I'm in top shape next week. He got the message and prescibed me 5 different stuff including antabiotics so I can survive until interview day. God bless him!
In the meantime, I'm preparing my interview like mad. I got a few calls and mails from IT company keen to put me on PeopleSoft projects again as Project Leader. It pays well but it's hard for me to get enthousiastic about PeopleSoft anymore. We'll see, I may well if my attempt to break into Marketing doesn't work with Unilever and the sounds of cash is too loud to resist.

Can I see your boobies bounce?

I like this song by Gater called Boobie Bounce. The lyrics go like this: “I had to get a job … went on an interview... They asked me what I do so I let my boobies bounced. Bounce boobies bounce! Bounce boobies bounce! Can I see your boobies bounce? I like to wear the shirt that let my boobies bounce…lalalala”.
If I'm ever stressed at an interview, I'll just sing this in my head.;-)

Thx for reading Dreeny's bloggy!

I really enjoy writing this blog as well as the other one but what make me even happier is that it is actually read by many of you and on a regular basis. I receive often comments by email about what I write and I find that very rewarding. I know that you guys care about me and are interested of knowing how my job search and life is doing and that is really nice.

So since that is of interest to you, I will make sure I give you the latest updates. Right now, I’m not only waiting with impatience and preparing my interview with Unilever which I hope will put an end to my job search but I’m also backing myself with searching actively for other jobs. The recruitment process taking so long in large companies, I know that if I send my resume now to a company and that they are interested, I may not heard from them for another month. And the longest you wait, the best and most interesting is often the company and the job because they have a lot of applicants to deal with. So it is sometimes worth to wait like in the case of Unilever.

In the meantime, I register for a free search agents at Monster that sent me an email with the job that maybe of interested to me on a daily basis. I check them and applied to every single one that sounds nice to me. Next to that, I also try to find companies that I would like to work for and surf their websites in search of jobs in Marketing and they applied to them or I just send my resume and a cover letter even if they don’t offer any jobs.

It is quite a hard process to look for a job because positive answers are not frequent but in my case they do happen once in a while and when they do happen they are great so I’m still motivated and I try not to stress myself out. Patience and confidence are key here I guess. Also I’m not looking for just any jobs, I have specific criteria, expectations and my own limits so it takes longer than for a regular job. The MBA was such a long and hard investment in my life that I want to get the best of it and have the job that I should deserve with the credentials I have now. My goal now is to start working in January. Let’s hope this happens!

Got an Interview at Unilever!

Wow! The wheel of chance has now turned in my favour and my patience and efforts are now rewarded. I received a call this morning from Unilever and they invited me for an interview on the 7th of December at 4pm for the position of 'Junior Brand Manager' here in Brussels. This is exactly the position and the company I would like to have so wish me good luck because I really want that job. I am usually good at interviews so I am very confident about it and beside that I really think they SHOULD hire someone like me!!!;-) I will keep you updated of how it goes.

Dreeny the happy jobhunter!:-)

Successfull interview outcome

Amar’s tips was good. After I updated my cv on Monster, an employer called me a few days later. He spotted my resume online and invited me for an interview.
I went to the interview today and even though I wasn’t too excited about the idea of working in IT consulting again, I really had a good impression about the company and the job.
They are interested in hiring me as a consultant or project manager to serve on mission with their biggest accounts. They are working for the biggest companies and institutions in Belgium (including ING my previous employer). They are interested by my experience as project leader and my knowledge of financial institutions and multinationals. The project I could be involved in are various in the areas of ERP, CRM, etc. My salary would be similar as my previous one in London plus some bonus regarding the fact that I did a MBA in the meantime so this would be excellent regarding the fact that cost of living in Belgium are way lower and my salary in London was rather generous. Also, they would provide me with a car, phone, etc as part of my salary package. So this all sounds like music to my hears and I’m keen in working for them. They will now look into placing me on one of their projects and I soon as they find this, they will formulate a job offer and propose me a contract. In the meantime, I’m still actively looking for a job as this process may take a while but the opportunity to work for them sounds like a great news to me if it materialise into a job soon.

Renew CV on Monster

My ressourceful and smart friend 'Amar les bons pistons' gave me a good advice about Monster - The World's Leading Career Network. It is good practice to update or even better renew your resume there. The process is to copy it and make a new one, even if it is identical. This will push your resume on top of the list of recruiters as they will always see the new resumes first. It tried and it works. The next day, I had 2 job offers in my mailbox. Not interesting ones but at least it shows that the system works and recruiters are reading my resume. Thanks Amar!:-)

P&G in Paris: Summary

So I went to Paris since P&G invited me to take tests and have interviews. The process of selection is as follow: you take a 65 mins problem solving test and if you pass according their criteria (which are secret) then you are entitled interview for a 1st interview. If you pass that one, then a second, etc. If at any stage, you fail then you are out and you cannot reapply at PG for another 12 months. That is quite a radical process but that's the only way to get in.
So I showed up at their office in Neuilly (very chic district in Paris) at 9.15. There were 5 others applicants. After 30 mins of waiting, they let us in their test room that look like a shop with PG products all over the place. We were allowed to have a calculator and a pencil. They give you a questionnaire that you can't write on, an answer sheet and draft paper to make your calculations.
She say ok start and left us in the room by ourselves. Maybe there were cameras but I'm not sure. We didn't cheat so it's ok.
Time flies and there is way too many questions to answer in such a short time. The questions aren't difficult at all but they involved a lot of calculation of tables and graphs.
I focussed on the calculation questions because when I practiced on their dummy test, there were the quickest for me to answer and I had also better results on these. I left the reading comprehension questions for the end as they are more time consuming. I rushed but I'm pretty sure my answers were accurate. When she came back, I realised I had still 10 reading comp questions to go through so I just checked the box randomly to finish the test.
We then had a break of minutes while they were correcting our tests. I asked the other participants if they managed to finish and none did but many went further than me but left loads of difficult questions behind.
She then came back with the results but only one guy managed to pass the test. The four others, which I was part of, had to leave. It was quite abrupt and a bit unfair not to have a chance to have an interview but I guess that's the way they work. In that case, maybe that's best not to work for a company that's so radical.
Personally, the reasons I failed is that I maybe spend too much time answering some lenghty questions involving loads of calculations. I should probably have passed them and focus on the quick short ones and come back to them later on. I definitively should have done more reading comp because after I did some of them I realised they weren't difficult and could be answered quickly as well. So there it goes. 65 mins is short but I think I did my best and it wasn't good enough so goodbye PG. I'm sure I'll be more lucky with other companies since they have different process of selection. Unilever is one I'd really like to focus on now.

The great thing about my meeting at PG Paris is that they pay for the travelling expenses so I had a free weekend in Paris as I was staying at a friend's place and made the best of my time there by meeting friends and visiting Paris. Not bad, hey?;-)

Applications and plans for this week

This week I finished and sent off applications for:
- Unilever in Brussels as 'Junior Brand Manager'
- Ogilvy in Brussels as 'Account Executive'
- Saatchi & Saatchi in Brussels as 'Account Executive'

Through some lucky networking, I met a new friend who works for Publicis and was invited to the "Elle Style Awards" last night in Brussels where I met many people working in Advertising. They advised me to try to be hired anywhere, work a year or two and then start moving among the different agencies. I had a really good feeling about it so therefore I decided to apply to many leading ad agency here in Brussels. Needless to say, I felt in love with Brussels these last few days and I'd like to find a job here.

Saturday, I'm off to Paris for the weekend and Monday morning, I will take my test at Procter & Gamble in Neuilly - Paris followed by interviews with them for the position of "Sales/Customer Business Development Account Manager". Pray for me!

Unemployment benefits in Europe

I thought the Belgian government was generous by giving 1000 Euros max. for unemployed people. Guess what? My MBA mates in France can claim up to 6000 Euros per month from the
Assédic.
Another interesting fact is that there is a reciprocal system between Europeans countries and if I worked at least 1 day in France, me too could claim benefits in France. The only problem is that again I gave up my job and I wasn't made redoundant so I'm not eligible in France for that reason. Too bad!
Anyway, my mission now is to focus on finding a job instead of financing my "non working" time...;-)

Free Internet!

To find a job, I need to use the internet most of the day. Internet in Belgium is so damn expensive. During the day, the so called "free" internet simple dial up connection of Belgacom cost you nearly 3 Euro an hour. Forget it!
I found a trully “free” alternative, Tele2Internet that is. In addition to very cheap rates for international calls at all times, they also offer “free” internet connection until the end of this year. That should be enough time for me to find a job. The only drawback is that is it a dial up connection so it is extremely slow and that is very much a pain for someone who is used to continuous high speed broadband wireless internet for a year. Ah well, I’ll drink some more tea while the pages are downloading…;-)

Admin week nearly over

This week has been quite productive but not in the way I planned to. Yesterday, I opened my bank account at ING. Today, I registered at the CSC syndicate since I’ve been told I had to have a syndicate. That was odd because from a rather liberal background, I’m a bit against union labour. Anyway, I joined it and am now unionized Dreeny jobhunter.
The idea was to claim my unemployment benefits. In fact, I realized yesterday that since I worked 3 years abroad and that my last job was in London with a relatively high monthly wage compare to Belgium, I’m entitled to get the maximum monthly unemployment compensation in Belgium which is about 1000 Euro per month of free money. This is quite good money to live in Brussels doing nothing and paying no rent. The only problem is that I may get a sanction because I haven’t been made redundant but I quit my job. I did quit to go study my MBA. The sanction can vary from 3 weeks to 6 months before I can benefit from the compensation. In any case, I should better find myself a good job quickly than wait for this but it is always nice to know and I’m applying for it anyway. Tomorrow, I have more of this kind of admin stuff to do so I guess my first week in Brussels was more quick cash than career minded. That would be for next week because I will then be done with all these stuff. I also had to register for health insurance today. I guess I’m now a completed Belgian citizen with all the benefits attach to it. The good thing is that money wise; it is a good status to have since the Belgian government would never let you hang out there without money.

1st day settling down in Brussels

After spending the weekend in Antwerp with my sister, I started today settling down in Brussels. First, I went to the city hall to register. Then I got myself stuff to be able to connect the internet from home. Then my brother bought a new phone for him and gave me his old one. It doesn't actually look like a phone, it looks more like some kind of insect and also make insects type of noise when it rings. It's called Xelibri from Siemens. Very weird thing!
I also took an appointment with the bank for tomorrow to open an account with ING.
I'm now kind of ready to get started. When I got to my brother's place, I realised that companies already sent stuff here about jobs. The good news is that Unilever is interested that my application and they sent me more stuff to fill so that is excellent start.
I also was thinking of visiting Unique Interim/Temp agency tomorrow to see if I could get a Marketing job for a short period of time so I can get some cash while I'm looking for the 'ideal' job.
I'll keep you posted.

Jobhunter busy moving to Belgium

It's great to see that many of you are reading this blog often and are asking me updates on the jobhunting because I haven't posted any.
This week, the jobhunting is on hold because I'm moving to Brussels this Saturday and have so many things to settle before I can go. So the new adventures of Dreeny the jobhunter a bit jetlagged are coming back on Monday where Dreeny will have to settled back in her home country after 5 years being away. There will be loads of things to tell you so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I've received great feedbacks about my resume. I've received a few job offers but that I'm not too keen about and a few no's as well. I still have to complete all my applications for Unilever & P&G but as they are long winded and I need full concentration, I will finish them off during my first week in Belgium. My meeting with P&G in Paris is scheduled on the 15th of November so I'll try to get some other interviews there around that time.

Applying to 17 more jobs at Procter & Gamble and Unilever

After many search, I finally defined a list of the jobs I'm eligible to apply to and that I want. These are in my two favorite companies I would like to work for: Unilever & Procter & Gamble. I'm convinced that if I just focus on these and target any countries I can work in and speak the relevant languages then I should manage to get in by some way. Some countries are much easier to get in than others within the same company and offer internal mobility programmes that allow you to move anywhere later on so it doesn't really matter where I start as long as I end up with a job.

Based on the fact than I'm a European citizen and speak French, Dutch and English and have previously lived in the mentionned countries, here is the list which the respective countries, jobs and companies I'm currently applying to:

Unilever (Dutch/British - #2 FMCG Company in the world) :

Brussels
- Junior Brand Manager

France
- Marketing/Sales Junior 2004
- Assistant to Head of North America Region based in NYC to represent French brand
- Assistant Marketing/Sales Lever Fabergé

United Kingdom
- Unilever's graduate training scheme

The Netherlands
- Marketing Junior program


Procter & Gamble: (American - Leader in the FMCG Market)

London
- Marketing Assistant Brand Manager
- Consumer & Market Knowledge Associate Manager

Brussels
- Marketing - Assistant Brand Manager
- Sales/Customer Business Development - Account Manager

The Netherlands
- Marketing Assistant Brand Manager
- Consumer & Market Knowledge Associate Manager

Paris
- Sales/Customer Business Development Account Manager
- Assistant Media Manager Corporate Marketing
- Marketing Assistant Brand Manager Pharmaceuticals

Geneva European Headquarters
- Marketing Assistant Brand Manager
- Consumer & Market Knowledge Associate Manager

These applications are really long winded and there are many essays questions so I focus on my favorites first and continue through the list. Luckilly, I only need one application form per country. They then decide which job suit me best.

Invitation from P&G in Paris!!!

Wow! I've just started seriously applying for job since Friday and the first results are showing up already. I received an invitation from Procter & Gamble in Paris to come to their office on Friday 25 October to pass some tests followed by interviews. The only problem is that I will still be in Montreal at that time so I will reschedule it beginning of November. I'm so excited because Procter & Gamble is THE best company to start in Marketing and that would be the best job that I could dream of.

Master in Psychology instead of Bachelor

I used to never know how to translate the name of my university degree in international standards. People usually qualify such degree as a Bachelor in Psychology so I used that in my resume but I always thought that it was more like a master because studies in Belgium to obtain a Psychology Degree are 5 years long unlike in other countries where it is usually 3 years.

The good news is that European countries are now launching the Bologna process of creating a "European higher education area". The aim is to continue developing a system of easily 'readable' and comparable degrees, based on undergraduate and postgraduate studies across european countries.

My home university is participating in the process and the decision was taken to classify my degree as a Master so there you go, I have now a Master in Psychology!!! I need now to update my resume because I mistakingly wrote Bachelor.

Too much experience or not enough?

Headache! I would like to join a Management Trainee development programme at Procter & Gamble or Unilever and their requirements is NO more than 2 years experience!

If I want to work as Marketing business professional, they usually require at least one or two year in Marketing so go figure...

Since I have 3 years of business experience but 0 year of marketing one, what should I do? Should I lie and say to P&G that I only have 2 years of working experience instead of 3?

Anyway, I just noticed on the website of Unilever, a subtle mention: No more than 2 years of relevant experience.... Now what is relevant or not? In my case, I don't think that is relevant so I will say that I have less than 2 years experience, meaning relevant experience because I don't want to lie and I'm dying to apply and to be taken into consideration. I'll just omit the 1st year I worked on my resume...because it is irrelevant...;-)

Unilever UK Graduate Recruitment

The Unilever UK Graduate Recruitment is now open for UCMDS 2005. The application deadline is December 15th, but they start interviewing in November, so I need to get my form in early!

Applied to 12 jobs today!

Ok, so i planned to apply to at least 10 jobs today and then stop but then I saw 2 last one very intersting and I couldn't miss the oppportunity. So I applied to 12 jobs today to kick off my agressive jobhunting phase. For each of them I carefully looked at their company information and website and then wrote a customized cover letter for each of them. This is called Quality Jobhunting! Time consuming but better than sending a resume with no cover letter or a standard one that they would threw in the garbage anyway....

I found them all through Monster.be. I focussed today on Belgium and targeted Advertising and Marketing jobs back until end september until today, here are the lucky ones:

1. Nivea Product Manager for Beiersdorf in Brussels
2. Marketing Co-ordinator Benelux for Vanco in Brussels
3. Global Leadership Development Programme at Danish company Trellenborg somewhere in Europe
4. Internal Communication Specialist for an anonymous large group in Brussels
5. Brand manager Vitelma for the Vandemoortele Group in Ghent
6. European Junior Product Manager for GBC in Hoeilaart near Brussels
7. Market Analyst for GFK in Brussels
8. Assistant Brand Manager for Lego Benelux in Antwerp
9. Project Manager for some anonymous company in Brussels
10. Benelux Marketing Co-ordinator for some ICT Intl company in Brussels
11. Project Coordinator for 2 months for Dart in Brussels
12. International Project Manager for Winne traveling 11 months of the year…

This weekend or Monday I will do the same search but focus on the Netherlands and later in the week I will do London.

On my to do list, I also have to be inspired and write a killer application for the following key positions that I want so badly:

- Customer Insights Specialists at McKinsey in Brussels
- Account Executive at Ogilvy in Brussels
- Graduate Fellowship Programme at Olgilvy London

I don't want to miss on these ones so I will wait Monday to send anything so I can ask my 'global' friends who will certainly be back online to proofread my cover letters and applications.

In the meantime, I forgot to mention that I wrote my ex-boss and HR people at ING Direct to ask whether they had any interesting position for me and I sent them my CV too. I wish they could send me to Sydney, Madrid or Milan! That would be holliday time again! I'll keep you updated.

It is best to apply during weekends

Today, proudly geared of my brand new resume, I'm applying for jobs like mad and just realised something...

First, I thought that maybe it is not a good idea to apply on Friday night because it is not likely that anyone would read any resume before Monday. Also, my resume would be lost in the mountain of other emails sent between now and Monday. I started anyway because I couldn't wait.

The great thing is that people usually activate their out of office email thingy as they leave the office for the week end and guess what, they mention any useful direct number to contact them directly in case of emergency or whatever. They also name all their colleagues and give their roles and phone numbers. That's more information than I need to bug them in case I want to call them to insist about my application or ask for further infos.
And the good thing is that works as well if you apply online via Monster.com. The HR person or the person who is met to hire you, receive the application via email, then their email sent you an automatic out of office response with all their contact details that you wouldn't receive otherwise.

Now that I know that, I will send a max of applications during the weekend and collect these infos so I can call them later on if needed.

CV Updated

Ok, so I finally updated my CV to a nice professional format.
I'd like to thanks Mez last night in Honk Kong, Jeff and Lana this morning in Montreal and Mia this afternoon in London for taking time reviewing it and giving me really ace advices to make it look good. I bet it is trully an international resume now.;-)
If anyone else would like to review it or send it around to friends, colleagues or potential employers, please do so. Send me a mail and I'll send it to you. I'd like as many people to review it as possible because each new person who did had a different approach and they all gave me new interesting feedbacks. If I want to please any employers, it has at least to please all my friends.

Meeting & litterature

I met with Danielle Beaudouin today, the career adviser for the MBA students of our school. She gave me really good tips and leads. I'm to meet the Head of HR of Publicis Canada soon as she's an HEC alumni as well.
She looked at my CV and made some changes but overall was happy with it. She also said that I would have no problem finding a job because I have a great profile and worked for big companies. I'm glad she said so because it boosts my confidence which helps in getting moving.

After my meeting with her, I went to the HEC library and picked up some books:
- "Best practice cases in Branding: Lessons from the world's strongest brands" by K.L. Keller;
- "Lovemarks: The future beyond brands" written by the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi K. Roberts.
This will help increase my knowledge in these fields which will surely help for the interviews and it will complement nicely that other book that I almost finish reading:
- "Ogilvy on advertising" by David Ogilvy the founder of Ogilvy.

I also picked a book called "What color is your parachute?" by B. R. Bolles, it is meant to be the bible for job-hunters & carreer changers. I started reading it at the library and it is quite good indeed.

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Right Job: Strategic

I just did a test on the web and it tells what is the right job for me. The results are as follow:

"Dreeny, your Right Job will allow you to be Strategic

From that, we can tell your tactical mind has helped you become an undeniable go-getter. Your diplomacy and unusually strong persuasive skills help you get what you want in life.

As a Strategic type, you want to be able to express yourself and your ideas through work. Sure there's a time and place for rules and procedures, but when a good thought strikes you, you don't want it to be boxed into one way of thinking. You're willing to go outside the rules if there's a chance that the risk will reap big rewards.

You are stronger than most when it comes to generating ideas. And because of this, it might sometimes feel easier to take on all aspects of a job yourself instead of wasting time explaining it to someone else who might not "get it" like you do. But because you have so many ideas and are willing to take on so much, you might find that you sometimes have trouble finishing every project you start.

Your diplomacy and adaptability make you a valuable asset. But your need to feel invested in a company that allows you to express your original ways of thinking will ultimately impact how happy you are in the workplace."

Time to buy...

One more reason to buy a flat soon: 'Bonanza' for Belgian homebuyers
"Now could be the ideal moment to buy a house or flat in Belgium, with mortgage rates at their lowest levels in five years, it was reported on Thursday.
La Derniere Heure newspaper said that Fortis and Dexia banks are advertising a fixed-rate, 20-year mortgage rate of 5.65 percent, while KBC is offering a 5.55 percent rate."

HEC Montreal ranked Top 10 International MBA!

I'm so proud! The prestigious and untouchable MBA ranking of the Businessweeek magazine released its 2004 edition BW Online B-Schools Full-Time Profiles 2004-2005. For the first time, HEC Montreal (my Business School) enter the very exclusive International Top Ten for Non-US MBAs. This is amazing!

Here is the ranking:
1 Queens
2 IMD
3 INSEAD
4 ESADE
5 London Business School
6 Western Ontario
7 IESE
8 HEC - Paris
9 Toronto
10HEC - Montreal

Last of 10 but we beat these prestigious schools only ranked in the second tier only:
• British Columbia
• Cambridge
• Rotterdam
• Instituto de Empresas
• McGill
• Oxford
• SDA Bocconi

So who wants to hire a Top 10 MBA school's girl?;-)

I should buy a flat in Brussels

The more I read about Brussels and the more it sounds like an ideal place to leave. First, it is one of the most affordable in Europe if you look at the cost of living index. Second, there is a huge expat community living there and most importantly there are many top international DJ's playing there with hundreds of cool places to hang out. And let's not forget the many international companies and headquarters + the proximity of others capitals like London, Paris and Amsterdam. This sounds very appealing to me and I just realised that the house market is especially good since Brussels is still underrated compared to other major capitals. Buying a house or an appartment is the best thing to do now as prices are still affordable and will explode soon enough. So as soon as I work and make some money, I will be on the lookout for some place to buy as a matter of investment. I found a cool list of interesting areas in Brussels:
Where to live in Belgium

Cost of living rankings

Here is the cost of living ranking of major cities: CNN/Money: 2004 Mercer cost of living rankings.

So to summarize:
I lived in:
#26 Amsterdam, Netherlands (was student then start my career as a professional)
#2 London, UK (was a city slacker with no other life than working and partying)
#113 Montreal, Canada (Good thing I was a poor student at the time enjoying the cheap but fun life)
#53 Brussels, Belgium (switching and starting career again & poor because I spent all my money being a student for a year)

Others cities I may consider in the near future:
#12 New York City, USA
#13 Milan, Italy
#17 Paris, France
#20 Sydney, Australia
#28 Berlin, Germany (good DJ's there!)
#61 Madrid, Spain

Brussels here I am!

I booked my ticket! So there it goes, I'm leaving Canada on Saturday October 30 at 6:40PM and will arrive at Brussels at 6:30AM on Sunday October 31. Prepare the tissues! This is going to be heartbreaking...:-(

Advertising Industry

Here is a great website giving a nice overview about the Advertising Industry and career opportunities. Very esthetic and smart website!

HEC Montreal - Career Centre

Since I use this blog for myself as a reminder for the links to visit. Here is a very useful one:
HEC Montreal - Career Centre. Our school suscribes to very useful ressources like Vault, Career Global and such and offer them to us for free. Very nice and useful.

Ogilvy London 360 Degree Fellowship Programme Application

Ok, applications have open today. The deadline is November 12th so I have some time to do my application.
First round of interviews will be on November 22nd 2004;
2nd round interview week on December 6th, 2004;
and they would let people know who have a place on the 2005 programme by week December 13th.

This is extremely long! Anyway, the 500 words essay I have to write is to answer the following question:

"Allegra Versace is the niece of Gianni Versace. On her 18th birthday, she inherited the fashion empire left to her by her uncle. However, since he died, sales have dropped, fashionistas have switched to alternative labels, and some tough decisions are needed to make a return to profit. So if you were Allegra, what would you do to reinvigorate the brand? Think about why people are switching and who your competitors are. What objectives would you set and how you would go about achieving them? Who would you be aiming to attract, how would you communicate with them and secure your place back on fashion's 'A' list?"

If anyone has any bright ideas or tips on how to answer this question, feel free to email me. I could also send you my draft and we could discuss it together. Advertising is a team effort, isn't it? That's what I read in David Ogilvy's book...

Adverting vs Marketing jobs

After looking more deeply into the advertising industry, I realised there are major issues out there. First of all, entry level jobs are very badly paid. Sometimes much less than a secretary. This is because so many people want to break into that industry.
The second issue is that the average working hours are about 50 to 70 hours a week for account executive type jobs and you may be asked to worked on WE wo catch up with work to meet deadlines, etc.
If earning not too much while learning the job isn't a big issue for me. The addition of working like a dog for long hours and not be rewarded financially may be a problem. I need to figure out how quickly people get promoted and how is the workload at later stage.
I reaally love advertising and I think account management is something I'd really enjoy doing but not earning enough and not have enough free time to enjoy life outside work is not very appealing.

Marketing jobs are more like typical office jobs in the workload and salary range. I could hope being hired and earned the same or above what I earned prior my MBA and have a nice between work and leisure. Also, I like Marketing as well. However, most marketing required a few years of experience to start.

So maybe, I should just start in advertising as an account executive, learned all about it and see if I like the job, the pay and the workload. If I don't, then I could always switch to Marketing jobs because I would have some valuable advertising experience with me. The key now is to start in one of the leading Advertising agencies so this will be very valuable for my references as well as the training I'll get and the opportunities to move abroad if needed.

Today, I'm preparing my application for Ogilvy in London.

Back to Europe for sure

Due to personal trouble & love drama, I now know for sure I want to leave Canada. I decided today to stop looking for jobs here and I'm definitely going back to Europe end of October.

OGILVY: the way to go

Well, I was wondering how to start a career at Ogilvy since it is one of the top advertising agencies in the world. So far, two great options I found:

- First and the best: Enter the Graduate Fellowship Programme at Olgilvy London. Application re-opens in 2 weeks so I'm right on time.

"Succesfull fellowship candidates will initially undergo an intensive 6 weeks of training from the very best practitioners from across the breadth of the marketing communication disciplines within the Ogilvy group of companies. The training programme is modelled on the actual process we go through to develop 360 solutions for our clients and so the emphasis is on understanding clients' problems, generating powerful ideas to solve these problems and the skills you will need to make those ideas happen. The 6 weeks will be as varied and challenging as Agency life itself, from strategy development to TV production, from understanding brands to building websites, from managing client relationships to understanding design cues, from planning PR to marketing products instore.
Following the 6 weeks training, you will join as an Account Executive and will begin the first of three 6 month placements in Ogilvy and Mather, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy Interactive, or one of the Ogilvy Group Companies. By then, you will not only have a good insight into the business we are in but also the skill sets you will need to make a hands on, meaningful contribution to one of the Ogilvy Group Companies as an Account Manager."

- Second and great too: Apply for the position of 'Account Executive' at Ogilvy Brussels. The great thing is that the profile is exactly matching my skills and what I want. It requires to be trilingual in: french, English and Dutch. Typically Belgian! It's in Brussels so maybe it would be a way to be back home and maybe live for a bit with my amazing brother that I miss a lot.

"Account Executive Function
- You follow the campaigns collaborating with an account manager under the management of an account director.
- You participate to the briefings and give priority to your tasks.
- You contribute to the discussions and collect brand information
- You act as the client's day to day contact for all logistical issues
- You build a strong and constructive relationship with key client and agency personnel
- You understand the key elements and are familiar to Ogilvy 360 degree and Brand Stewardship toolbox

Profile
- A first experience in marketing is a plus
- Implicated, enthusiast, innovative
- Preferring to work in team
- Trilingual Dutch, French and English"

This one is less impressive than the other one but keep in mind that I have a very limited experience in marketing (the one I gained during the mba only) and I need to learn a lot so this would be an excellent position to learn from other people. Also a great way to practice my Dutch that I risk to forget if I don't practice soon.

I'll try both and see which one go through, if none then I can always try the Amsterdam office or other advertising agencies. Exciting!

Back in Europe on the 30th of October at the latest

I'm starting to make new plans to get organized and setting some deadlines and travel arrangements.

These may change slightly (or dramatically) depending on the outcome of my jobsearch and the eventual interviews I may have to do or if I get a great job opportunity here in Montreal that I can't refuse.;-)

Regardless of this, the actual plans are to head back to Europe on the 30th of October. I would fly to Brussels and stay at my brother's appartment to continue searching for jobs and organize interviews in Europe (mainly in Brussels, Amsterdam and London).

Trisa kindly offered me to stay at her place in London so I may stay there for a while if I have interviews scheduled there.
Life being way cheaper in Brussels, I will restrict my stay in London to the minimum until I find a job. You know how much I like bars and clubs so that wouldn't be a sound idea spending hips of money without a job.;-)

I may come back earlier in case I have interviews already lined up in Europe but no earlier than October 10th because I still have one class to finish here before I can leave.

Do you know anyone working at Ogilvy?

Jobhunting is going well and I spotted a company I'd really like to work for. This is the company right for me and what I would like to do. The name is Ogilvy and they have offices all over the world.
The good news is application reopens next week in London. The bad news is, I don't have any contact working for Ogilvy and EVERYBODY wants to work for Ogilvy as it is one of the best advertising company offering the best training programmes so I will be one in the many applicants.

To have better chance to get in and send a good application, I would like to get in touch with someone from Ogilvy to whom I could ask a few questions concerning Ogilvy and its culture and the type of jobs there.

So if you know anyone working or who has worked for Ogilvy wherever in the world (it doesn't need to be in London, any other location would be great too) then it would be nice to let me know so I could contact that person and ask a few questions.

Thanks a bunch!

I want to be trend tracker!

The coolest job in the world! I'm going to track that Richard Welch to give me a job. Me, psychologist with a MBA in Marketing and loving cool stuff and trends. That's for me baby! Trend-tracking gets big, and trickier.

More career switching tips

"For 75 percent of B-school students, the MBA is a new start—the first step in a journey from one field to another. And more often than not, that new field is consulting, banking, or marketing.

To compete, career switchers need to think strategically. They need to position themselves exactly right. They need, among other things, to highlight the key similarities between their previous jobs and the ones they're gunning for. This goes for resumés, cover letters, and especially interviews.

Switching to marketing: While bankers dress to display power and consultants dress to fit the client, marketers need to look like they just flew in from the coast. That's because marketing requires a visionary sense, a personal style to match the panache you'll lend to new product lines. And yet, behind all that vision and flair, you've got to have the numbers to back up your decisions. "You have to be someone who is comfortable with numbers—analyzing numbers, speaking with numbers, presenting numbers," says Ellen Gilbert, director of recruitment marketing for Johnson & Johnson. Marketers also have to play well with others. "You'll need to look for input from finance, sales, market research, and product supply departments. The challenge is going to be to leverage the opinions of everyone," says Camille Pierce, senior recruiting manager for Procter & Gamble."

More of this:
Jungle

Career Switching in a Tough Economy

As I was trying to find any info on the net about MBA who also did a career switch to Marketing, I found a really interesting article written by another MBA. Like me she worked in the banking industry and she wrote: "I was a typical career switcher, like many MBA candidates. During the interviews, I faced a multitude of challenges. Instead of explaining my passion for marketing, I had to dispel banking stereotypes. Here are some tips and strategies I employed to make myself a successful career switcher: Career Switching in a Tough Economy? Not Impossible. "

What do I have to sell? (part one - The school)

Ok, so first step. What do I have to sell to these employers? I got a MBA from this HEC school in Montreal. Excellent and tough school but way underrated and unknown internationally so here is a mention that the Career center sent us to add to our CV to imprest the employers and reassure them I come from a good school eventhough it ain't Harvard or Ivey, what do you think? A bit weird to add that in a CV? Should I rather use the space to talk about me than my school?;-) Well, I'll add it and we'll see.

"HEC Montreal at a glance: The business school of the University of Montreal. First North American school to hold the three accreditations: AACSB international, EQUIS and AMBA. MBA offered in English and French, with over 55% international students. Rated as one of the top 100 in the world by the Wall Street Journal in the 2004 edition of the Guide to the Top Business Schools and one of the 18 best MBA programs outside the United States, according to the MBA 2002 classification by BusinessWeek. http://www.hec.ca/ "


HEC Montreal

Dilemna and life choices that are on my mind right now

(This is a post I posted a few days ago on my other blog but should belong here so I moved it and updated a little the percentages below to reflect my mindset)

After the Prom Ball, the graduation ceremony, the MBA is reaching its end. Everyone is leaving Canada or starting looking for jobs. I still have to finish that one course and then will be done by October 10, which is a month from now. In the meantime, I'm still finishing assignments from the previous period, hosting my family visiting me, partying to celebrate the return and leaving of friends. This is a very intense period in emotions and stress too. It's running fast, too fast. I spent an intensive year with people that were new to me but then became really close friends and now they are leaving in a matter of days and it is hard to realise that I won't see them for a long time or maybe never for some of them.

On my side, i need to organize my life as well and make some choices. Choices that I must take within the next few days or weeks and that will shape the next few years of my life and what I want to do with it. This MBA was so intense that I didn't have time to think of it yet and now the deadline is coming up. The questions that are on my mind now are: Do I want to stay in Montreal and stay with my 'new' close friends here and stay another year working in Canada? Or do I want to go back to Europe or elsewhere and discover a new place and new people? Or do I want to go back where I already been like London and see my many dear friends there and live in that city that I love? Another type of choice is the career wise one. I know I want to switch career from IT/HR and go into Marketing where I have almost no relevant experience and start from scratch but where? Back to ING working for the banking industry that I don't really like but where I have many helpful contacts or do I want to make my own way in a new company where they've never heard of me?

So many questions that I asked myself and that people are asking me. I decided I posted this so you know what's on my mind and what I don't know but where are the options. In a month of time, hopefully I'll know where I'll work and will be able to give you at least a location and an employer name.Locations wise, my cristal ball is a bit fuzzy but I think I can see either: Montreal (15% chance); London (20%); Amsterdam (20%);Brussels (20%) or any random location (25%) if I'm lucky that would sounds like Sydney, NYC, Milan, Madrid or Berlin. The wind of change is blowing on me so watch this space to know what will happen.

A new blog is born

As one can never have too many blogs, here is a new blog to add to the long list. As a follow up of the MBA blog and the personal one, i thought I wouldn't mixed stuff and rather start a brand new blog for a brand new adventure: finding a job now that I have a MBA (which stands for Master of Business Administration...for the ones who were wondering...).

It's a very specific adventure since I don't just want a job but I want to use my MBA to switch career from IT/HR to Marketing. It may be long winded so I thought I better start a blog to record this long process and also to keep you all updated. I know that many of you cares and ask me questions of how it goes and stuff so this will the place to know exactly what's going with Dreeny. Ups and downs are to be expected but that's part of the game and don't hesitate to use the comments button to cheer me up or tell me off if I'm too much of myself. That's what friends are for, aren't they? Ok, back to my jobhunt then. Ciao!