Alliance Manchester Application Essays 2023-24
Alliance Manchester Essay 1: Why are you applying to the Alliance Manchester MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the Alliance Manchester MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective? (500 words)
Alliance Manchester Essay 2: Why do you feel it is the right time in your career to study an MBA and why would you like to gain a place on the Manchester MBA?
Alliance Manchester Essay 3: What are your immediate goals after you complete the programme?
Alliance Manchester Essay 4: How do you believe your previous experience and transferable skills, combined with the Manchester MBA, will help you to achieve your goals?
Alliance Manchester Essay 5: What is your plan B if you are unable to achieve your preferred goals immediately?
Alliance Manchester Sample Essays - 1
1)Why are you applying to the Alliance Manchester MBA Program now? What is the professional objective that will guide your career choice after your MBA, and how will the Alliance Manchester MBA contribute to the achievement of this objective? (500 words)
I am a commerce graduate with 6 years of experience in Financial Accounting. I started off my professional life as an Accounts executive for the corporate office of Sardar Exports, which is in the business of import, export & manufacturing of textiles and garments. In this role, I was responsible for maintaining the financial books of the company from issuing invoices for customers to maintaining vendor payments. The work was limited to operational book keeping with limited opportunities to grow and learn. Hence when I got an opportunity to work at Genpact as a senior finance analyst, I gladly accepted the offer. In the current role, I am responsible for the maintenance & financial reporting of fixed assets and capital accounting for a crucial client, Pfizer for the Europe & CEER market. Through this experience I have gained a better insight into accounting principles and business operations. I have grown from an individual contributor to managing a team of 10 analysts. My official promotion has been recently announced (in August 2021).
Although there has been a learning curve with my movement to Genpact, it is still limited to back office operations and manual book-keeping activities. My team only processes the tickets received by the onshore team as per their requirements and instructions. We create, capitalize and enhance the value of assets, make any mass update changes, charge manual & unplanned depreciation, retire assets and prepare the weekly, monthly and quarterly reports and deliver them to the onshore team for further reviewing & analysis. I feel that the activities that we as a team perform here are a very minor part of the overall financial planning and for me to pursue my interest, I need to have a better understanding of the overall business and not just limit my exposure to this particular domain and industry.
I aspire to move into a managerial role in the Finance & Accounting domain and want to be a part of the Financial Planning and Analysis team responsible for budget planning, hedging, corporate treasury. However, in order to transition into such a role, I need a deeper understanding of Finance operations and more importantly overall business understanding. That is why I wish to pursue an MBA from Alliance Manchester University that would impart me the necessary knowledge and skill set to make this transition. While core courses give me an overall business understanding, the curriculum inclusions like “Business Accounting & Finance” are perfectly aligned with my learning goals. I look forward to learning from Prof Ismail Erturk, who is one of the most renowned personalities in this field. The diverse student community of Manchester is of great significance to me as it gives the opportunity to lead and learn from my classmates, who will bring diverse perspectives to the table. These learning experiences are critical in achieving my long term goal of leading the Finance Operations of a Fortune 500 company.
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Alliance Manchester Sample Essays-2
1)Why do you feel it is the right time in your career to study an MBA and why would you like to gain a place on the Manchester MBA?
I would like to use this opportunity of additional essay to highlight two things: the work that I do beyond my core professional responsibility towards the benefit of the local community and explain my low engineering grades
First, when I joined Tata Steel Ltd, for the greenfield project in Odisha, India, the project had impacted ~1000 families who were displaced due to the land acquisition for the steel plant. My company had a mandate to settle in the displaced people with sustainable engagement.
I volunteered in this initiative and was the lead commercial manager for this assignment. In addition to the financial compensation offered, the locals wanted to have work opportunities to sustain their families. Most of the locals lacked basic education and skills, due to which we initiated multiple upskilling and rehabilitation programs. We provided education and solutions that enabled the local community to be part of our steel plant development project. I spent hours working with internal teams to identify suitable jobs. With our support and training, they developed the skills and were able to execute the jobs successfully.
My team and I were able to register around 150 of them as vendors for the company itself and provide sustainable work. Many of them are successful entrepreneurs now and are good-will ambassadors for the company. Working for a social cause has always inspired me. This experience taught me humility, patience and empathy. I would like to continue with such similar activities when I am in Manchester and beyond.
Second, my grades in my bachelor’s Engineering course are a little low which I believe was an exception in my overall academic performance till date. I completed my Engineering with a score of 54%. I have always had a solid academic performance but during my 3rd semester of engineering, my father had renal failure. My mother was alone and I had to take a break from studies for a year due to family exigencies.
This gap and mental stress due to my father’s health negatively affected my academic performance during my bachelor’s. Post that, I continued my academic journey and completed a Post Graduate Certificate Program from one of the top B schools in India where I graduated in the top 15% in the class. More recently I gave my GMAT and within the first attempt I scored a 710, which I believe to be a more accurate representation of my academic rigour and potential.
2)What are your immediate goals after you complete the programme?
Post MBA my immediate goal is to join a global firm which is at the forefront of advancing supply chain business in Europe. As per my discussion with Ms Shubham Kapur and Ms Jyotsna Sunderasan of the present MBA batch, I have learnt that e-Commerce firms like Amazon & TESCO recruit from the Manchester MBA campus for their supply chain and operations leadership development programs. I am confident that armed with a business education from Manchester and transferable skills like negotiations, influencing and leadership skills which I have acquired over the last 9 years of supply chain experience, I can comfortably make the switch from the manufacturing sector to an eCommerce sector. If not eCommerce, then by leveraging my work experience, I would be more than willing to switch into general supply chain and procurement roles. Based on my discussions and research from the employment reports, I understand that various global manufacturing firms like BP, Shell, Travis Perkins and several other companies hire from Manchester MBA campus. For these companies, the supply chain is core and a differentiator for their business. I believe with my experience and with the skills that I garner from the MBA, I can add value in the global sourcing and supply chain function related roles and achieve my career goals.
3)How do you believe your previous experience and transferable skills, combined with the Manchester MBA, will help you to achieve your goals?
I have more than 9 years of experience as a supply chain and procurement specialist in the manufacturing sector. Currently I am working as a Senior Manager Project Procurement with Tata Steel Limited, a leading steel manufacturer globally with an annual turnover of $23Bn. Now in the short term, I aspire to grow and lead supply chain operations preferably at a B2B e-commerce firm like Alibaba or Amazon.
As a procurement professional, I have extensive expertise in global supply chain management, and procurement operations. Over the past 9 years, I have negotiated and finalized contacts worth more than $800Mn and have achieved significant cost optimisation. I have gained extensive leadership experience and led teams of 4 to 6 associates for more than 5 years. I have worked on multiple global contracts spread across China, Japan and Europe.
However, today’s world supply chains are becoming global and most of the B2B commerce has shifted online via B2B e-commerce platforms like Alibaba. Online retail businesses are at the forefront of advances in the supply chain domain and after 9 years of experience in the domain, I believe I need to upskill myself to keep pace with the transitions happening in the supply chain domain. Going forward, I think to be a leader in the industry and to stay ahead of the curve, I need to gain a more holistic understanding of global business practises.
With due research, consideration and speaking to my mentors, I think an international MBA would be a perfect stepping stone at this stage of my career to help me bridge the gaps in my business acumen and leadership skills. After extensive conversations with alumni and current students of the Manchester alliance program, I am confident that Alliance Manchester with it’s best in class business management curriculum, perfectly complemented by hands-on learning opportunities would be a perfect fit for me to help me achieve my goals.
Manchester’s method of teaching comprising lectures with a case study based approach and learning through a minimum of 900 hours of consultancy projects in the not for profit, commercial business and international business domain can help me develop practical skills and attributes to be successful. The electives such as Strategic Supply Management, Negotiation Skills, Sustainable and Socially Responsible business are in sync with my career aspirations. Also Manchester MBA’s focus on developing socially responsible leaders is what really appealed to me. I believe, it is an extremely important trait in a leader in building a sustainable business. The Manchester MBA can help me further enhance my international exposure with it’s highly diversified class comprising 85% of the students across 30+ nationalities. Such diversified class provides exposure to varied ideas, experiences, and perspectives of their cultures.
Lastly, I can leverage the 8-12 weeks internship opportunity and the various networking events from the 60000 strong alumni base of Manchester MBA. Along with the guidance of the career support team, I can get an opportunity of employment in my desired role and function.
4)What is your plan B if you are unable to achieve your preferred goals immediately?
As a plan B, from my discussions with my mentor in my current organization I have learnt that I can explore opportunities in Tata Steel Europe similar to my current job profile. As I would be based in the UK, my chances of joining back will be higher. I am also open to opportunities in the UAE. I have discussed with a few of my former colleagues who work there and have learned that there are relevant job openings in my domain. With an MBA from Manchester, in the long term, I aspire to be a global business operations leader enabling sustainable supply chain across the world.