Executive MBA after career break: Top EMBA admits from INSEAD & IMD for Indian mom

INSEAD IMD Executive MBA after career break

She took a voluntary career break for her little one. Now she is ready to spread her wings and fly again.

Like most working women who take time off during pregnancy, Shini Narayanan wondered what it would take to not just get back to what she loved doing, but also help her accelerate the pace to catch up for the lost time.

An executive MBA seemed like the perfect vehicle to get to her destination, since it would allow her to continue holding on to her job as she pursued a world class education.

Executive MBA after career break

Top EMBA admits from INSEAD & IMD for Indian mom

by Shini Narayanan

I am currently the Enterprise Architect (EA) for Brunei LNG. I am seconded from Shell PLC (my parent company and a shareholding company in BLNG) on an expatriate assignment to shape up the IT strategy and IT roadmap for BLNG.

Brunei LNG is one of the world’s leading suppliers of liquefied natural gas with over 50 years of experience in the industry. Planning and implementing a fit-for-purpose IT landscape that is also futuristic is both the challenge and a tremendous learning experience in this assignment.

I had all but given up on my career post motherhood raising my child in a foreign country without any family members near at hand to call upon for assistance.

All the while I missed making meaningful professional contributions, the thrill of completing challenging tasks, having an identity that is beyond a mother and wife, and not to mention the financial independence.

My repatriation back to India happily coincided with Shell setting up IT operations in India on a very large scale and my child starting school.

Despite my apprehensions having been out of the workforce for 4 long years I applied to a job and very importantly Shell trusted me with an opportunity.

I would say I capitalized on the opportunity and performed at a level that earned me a promotion in my second year with Shell. I have had a great run in my second attempt at a career.

The transition to the O&G industry was not planned or deliberate but has been rewarding. I learnt doing IT in a company whose business in not IT.

I had been on the lookout for opportunities to work in a business proximate location to help deepen my understanding on business operations.

I applied to an internal job posting for the role of EA in BLNG and landed the role after clearing the internal selection process by BLNG.

One of the most noticeable features working for BLNG is the share of women in the workforce. This happens to be true across Brunei as a country and not specific to BLNG.

I see women not just in conventional roles like I am more used to seeing in India, in Brunei women work in all sectors and all types of jobs (gig worker / after sales servicing type jobs which back home I only see men doing).

I admire how the country has created opportunities and safe working environments for its women to participate in the workforce.

Why EMBA

I needed a business degree as I move up the ladder and transitioned from very technical to managerial roles. I needed to make up for lost years plus there are areas like managing budgets and framing strategies that I need to supplement with classroom learning alongside on the job learning.

I would also need distinguishing attributes to compete effectively among the pool of eligible candidates for senior leadership roles as I grow in my career. A business degree is therefore very much needed.

I opted for an EMBA because I did not want any more breaks in my career and wanted to pursue it alongside my full-time job.

Just one main concern

I did not have very specific concerns other than my age. Considering I (re)started my career in my mid 30s I am over the upper age limit of the general class profile.

I just backed myself and my credentials to make it happen for me.

Of course, working with MCB helped in curating my story, highlighting those aspects that would lend credence to my application.

My approach

GMAT was not a pre-requisite for either school that was under my consideration. This is true for EMBA, they may have been for MBA programs which I was not considering anyway.

INSEAD accepts GMAT, Executive Assessment or INSEAD admissions test results. IMD did not require any.

Why I worked with a consultant

I had worked independently on MBA applications in the past but wasn’t successful. This was in the early years of my career when I was considering MBA programs and not EMBA.

This time there was more at stake and I didn’t want to take the risk of working independently like I had earlier.

I have a friend that is a close colleague/career coach who recommended MBA Crystal Ball (MCB). I am unsure what yardstick they used but I trust their judgement and contacted MCB.

My experience working with MBA Crystal Ball

It was a process of self-discovery. My essays were 180 degrees different if I compare the first version with the final version. I had long conversations with the MCB consultant about my career and my personal traits to choose the right scenarios and character traits to highlight in the various essay questions.

I would not have spent so much time digging deeper into my experiences and my personal strengths and weaknesses if it were not for MCB. My essays would have been generic and not an authentic reflection of my true self. That is where I failed in my initial independent attempt.

MCB brings experience and perspective of knowing what the admissions committee would like to see from a distinguished applicant and that was most valuable in finalizing the content of my essays.

After failing at my second attempt, this time with MCB, although disappointed, I sought feedback from the Admissions committee on the reason(s) for rejection.

The good thing about the INSEAD AdCom was that they gave me specific reasons for rejection and not a generic one. I was able to work on those shortcomings in the next successful attempt.

I also conveyed to the consultant the reason for rejection, and we made sure that the essays addressed those deficiencies. I chose to work with MCB again because they had built credibility with me and being cognizant that I could make it all the way to the very final round in my earlier attempt only with the contributions from MCB.

Application strategy

INSEAD has been a choice since early in my career even before I took the career break because one of my early career mentors was an alumnus. I think my choices evolved as my career evolved.

I always knew that I wanted to pursue a management career path over a technical career path after my first ever induction to my first ever job as a fresh off the campus recruit at HP.

Back then I was considering IIM Bangalore and a full time MBA. While at HP I was introduced to programs offered by Amrita University.

Later as I moved to General Electric with the main office in Hyderabad, I did consider ISB. When I moved back to HP my then mentor and my career coach encouraged me to think beyond CAT and Indian schools and to consider GMAT and international B schools.

While living in Singapore (during my long break from my career) I visited the INSEAD campus and attended their masterclass event. Since then, INSEAD emerged as my most preferred school of choice.

Later when I started working again, I decided to pursue an Executive MBA over a full time MBA, but INSEAD remained as my school of choice; reinforced by many Shell colleagues who were alumni.

I considered IMD (another popular choice among Shell colleagues) as an alternative after my first EMBA application was rejected by INSEAD.

Interview experience

I did not have an interview with IMD. I was informed of my selection after submitting my application and after all my referrals had sent over their recommendations (three recommendations).

With INSEAD the admission committee matched me with an interviewer (INSEAD alumni) who has a similar industry background (O&G). It was left to me to contact the interviewer and schedule the conversation.

Since the interviewer was a resident of a different country I scheduled an online meeting for an hour. The nature of the interview was conversational.

We discussed my motivations to do an EMBA and choosing INSEAD, how I can contribute to the class, about my international exposure and how that has had any influences on me, what my career plans are, near future and long term, how the INSEAD EMBA will fit into those plans and so on.

I was also encouraged to ask questions which I did. I wrote to the Admissions Committee after I had completed the interview, and they wrote back to inform me that I would hear their decision within 10 working days.

In my specific case I completed the interview on 27th March and was informed of my selection on 3rd April.

Results

I got accepted at INSEAD and IMD, the two schools I applied to. I am going with INSEAD.

I hope to apply the learnings from the classroom and from the perspectives of the distinguished and diverse cohort to enhance my quality of work.

I also hope it will give me a competitive edge when applying for my next role within or outside Shell.

What worked for me as a reapplicant

I am not sure if I was at any disadvantage or advantage from being an applicant from India. Perhaps what worked in my favor was that I was not an applicant from an IT company which may be a larger pool making competition harder.

In hindsight careful planning is required to make an application submission that you are fully satisfied with.

I went from targeting the first round to finally applying in the third round because I wanted to make sure that my submission is the best version that I can possibly produce and one that I am completely satisfied with.

If you are a re-applicant where there is an option to reach out to the selection committee and understand specific reasons for the rejection.

If you are dedicated to the cause, work on overcoming those shortcomings and really demonstrate how your application is different and not lacking on those counts when you re-apply.

Another tip from me would be to keep the conversations going. Most often than not you will be working with a single point of contact from the admissions committee through the process.

Make sure you engage with them regularly, with authenticity, and demonstrate your keenness to land that acceptance letter.

– Shini

Knowing that Shini is a private person, we understand and appreciate her gesture of going beyond her comfort zone to publicly share her personal journey, in the hope that it’ll help other EMBA aspirants (especially working moms and reapplicants).

We haven’t included her image, as we do with other client success stories. But she has offered to share her personal email id (shini.narayanan@yahoo.com) with prospective clients if they need to chat about her personal experience working with MBA Crystal Ball.

Reach out to us directly if you’d like some hand-holding with your MBA applications

Image for representation only. Credit: Kenny Krosky (Unsplash)