I am currently working as the Marketing Manager for Citibank in Jakarta, Indonesia. After finishing my MBA at SolBridge I returned home to Indonesia to look for a job and to think about furthering my studies in the UK. I was open to consider both paths but I started first to look for a job in case that door opened first. And it did for me at Citibank. I applied for the job through their company website and was called in for an interview. I actually started as an intern in this department for a one year period. However, after 6 months of work, I was promoted to full-time employment as a Marketing Manager in the Commercial Bank division for Indonesia.
What do I do?
Marketing covers a wide scope of work and so my responsibilities are broad. In short, I'm in charge of all communications transmitted all across the country. I'm also responsible for all promotions, internal programs, client events, and partnerships with other institutions.
In our Commercial Bank, we work with companies. The main challenge of the job is how to create product offerings that suit the needs of our company customers. This is different from what I learned in my marketing classes, where I was taught to do the same but for individuals.
I am looking forward to returning to SolBridge this coming autumn to share my experiences with current SolBridge students.
— Mr. Paulus Thomas (MBA, June 2009), Indonesia
I was determined to find a job in Korea after graduating from SolBridge with an MBA. I am from Uzbekistan and as the time for me to graduate approached I was getting a bit anxious about what job search strategy I should employ to get a job in Korea. I knew that one of the most challenging obstacles I faced was the language barrier since I did all my studies in English and even if I speak Russian and Uzbek, jobs in Korea require a minimum of conversational Korean ability.
I learned about the Korean work environment when I did my internship at Lafarge Plasterboard Korea from Jan-Feb, 2010. I worked as a market researcher finding out about the market potential for this company in the Siberian region. Report writing, contacting logistics companies, and translating were some of the various tasks I did in this internship.
Decision making was one the most important things I had to learn during the internship since there were several options; I had to choose the right one the first time. The internship experience exposed me to Korean organizational culture, and to team work culture which is quite different from my country.
Finally, I got introduced to Paper Korea through the Career Development Center. Paper Korea owns Natura Media Inc. where I now work in the Sales and Marketing Department planning for new products. I am grateful for the help I received in writing my resume properly; practicing for my interview by doing mock interviews and for the moral support I needed in order to find my job in Korea.
— Turdijon Tulaev (MBA, June 2010), Uzbekistan
