CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST
J O U R N A L SPRING / FALL 2019
35 38 40
C E M S
N O T E
O F F I C E
Messages from CEMS Corvinus Office & Management
C C B
S T U D E N T
B O A R D
Meet this year' s board members
O U R
Y E A R
I N
R E V I E W
Look back on the Spring and Fall Semesters
V 4
C O N F E R E N C E
Insights from a Co-Organizer
O U R
P A R T N E R S
Invitech MET P&G
MVM PWC IFUA
C A R E E R
Deloitte Hilti Vodafone
F O R U M
Event highlights
A
W O R L D W I D E
E X P E R I E N C E
Memories from Sydney & Cologne
C E M S
2 0 1 9
G R A D U A T I O N
CEMS Corvinus graduands in Vienna
CONTENTS
E D I T O R ' S
TABLE OF
6 7 8 12 16 18
editor's note Being a part of the CEMS Club Budapest (CCB) board this semester has been a great honour. Getting the chance to interview former CEMSies, now working in and around some of the largest firms in the country, as well as some industry veterans, was a priceless opportunity that taught me more than I could have ever expected. With that, I would like to thank our Corporate Partners, Alumni, and CEMS Students who took part in this year's journal for their patience and effort throughout its creation. Taking on the role of the editor was definitely not an easy task. Juggling interviews, article writing, designing layouts, keeping the CCB Instagram up to date, Global Strategy, and of course getting to see as much of Europe as I can was a challenge. However, with help from my very supportive friends and colleagues from the CCB Board and especially Ádám and TImi, I was able to create the Journal in your hands (or screens) today, so to everyone involved in the Journal, I would like to say thank you so much! It is with my greatest pleasure to share with you CCB's amazing memories from this past year. I hope it provides some insight to the wonderful CEMS community in Budapest.
Julienne Feria EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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EDITOR'S NOTE
CEMS OFFICE AND MANAGEMENT
Dr. Zita Zoltay-Paprika, Dean of Corvinus Business School We are very proud that Corvinus is among the top 5 best universities in the CEMS Alliance according to student evaluations. Student support is one of the biggest strengths of CEMS Corvinus. Students evaluated student support as third best in the CEMS Alliance (6.4 out of 7.0). The CEMS Career Forum 2019 organized in Budapest for the third time in a row was also a great success: more than 1000 students and alumni took part in the Job Fair, where 360 company representatives of 41 Corporate Partners were present. Dr. Richárd Szántó, CEMS Academic Director I am particularly proud of our Business Projects. All the 13 of them were offered by CEMS Corporate Partners in 2019: McKinsey (3 projects), Beiersdorf, Deloitte (2), Google, Hilti, Mastercard, MET (2), PwC (2). Many of them dealt with the digital challenges of the business world, and addressed innovative topics like blockchain, artificial intelligence or 5G. We also had two special, crossborder projects: one with Hilti (in cooperation with VSE and SGH), and another one with Google (in cooperation with VSE and LSE). Anita Szöllősi, CEMS Program Manager Being a CEMS program manager is an exciting task as there are always new developments in the program. This year the CEMS Global Office introduced a new online internship evaluation form that made students' and program managers' life easier. At Corvinus we are working hard to introduce a new path in the selection process: the Assessment Centre. I hope this will encourage more students to apply for the CEMS MIM program. I’m glad that this year 50 Corvinus students will receive their CEMS diploma in Vienna. Léda Bodné Szőnyi, CEMS Corporate Relations Manager It’s a great pleasure that CEMS students are sensitive about values like diversity and inclusiveness. In the McKinsey-Ashoka business projects they worked with NGOs: with MagikMe to create inclusive playgrounds where children with severe disabilities can play together with healthy ones, and with Wesley Janos School to open a take-away restaurant to help segregated children. Some students of the Corporate Sustainability and CSR course also participated in Pro Bono projects organized by Corvinus Science Shop. Dóra Kovács, CEMS Office Assistant The fall semester in 2019 gave me a whole new perspective on this outstanding program, as besides being a CEMS student, I started working in the CEMS office. I could participate in the organization of the most important events of the MiM year, such as the Block seminar or the Welcome event. Furthermore, I could contribute to the promotion of the CEMS program and work out new, innovative ways to raise awareness and attract the next generation of CEMSies
CEMS OFFICE & MANAGEMENT
CEMS Journal 2019 | 07
CCB STUDENT BOARD 2019
Petra Valcsev President, Fall 2019 | Alumni Representative, Spring 2019 I remember when I submitted my application to become a board member during my exchange semester in Milan. I always knew that it would take a lot of energyand commitment, but I didn’t relize that creating value and memories for both exchange and local students would make me so happy. After I attended the CEMSCLUB Conference in Barcelona, I noticed that CCB is one of the most active clubsworlwide, and I felt extremely proud of the board and the achievements we have. Maybe we are small in number, but extremely big in heart! Adorján Gyárfás President, Spring 2019 Being part of the CEMS Club Budapest Board was an amazing experience that completed my CEMS life and made the year truly unique. Working with such a motivated, driven and talented team where people inspire and support each other made it possible to accomplish things we might have thought not to be feasible and rewarded everyone with the joy of accomplishment. I also had the chance to share the passion of creating something valuable with the other presidents in Russia. Nándor Tóth Treasurer, Spring-Fall 2019 After my magnificent exchange semester I was confident that I could not allow myself not to grab the opportunity of actively contributing to the life of our local CEMS community. Organising so many events did not only mean work for us but experiencing unforgettable moments together, as well. Beside this amazing year behind us, also including challenges, I do hope we will have footprint in the long-term through our initiatives. Boglárka Polet Student Board Representative, Spring-Fall 2019 Through CEMS I had the opportunity to represent my school in the global setting of our master degree and gain insight into the decision making, curriculum building, partner acquisition and future strategy of CEMS! It has been one of the most exciting year,collaborating with the representatives of each member schools to improve student experience while improving the rating of our degree! CEMS is a totally different experience than any other master degree, you become part of a community that is always there for you!
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CCB STUDENT BOARD
CCB STUDENT BOARD 2019
Timea Bartha Career Forum Afterparty Organizer, Spring-Fall 2019 To me, CEMS was and is continuing to be, as after my graduation, an incredible journey. One that opened up so many unforeseeable, great opportunities: a globally acknowledged top education, strong career inspiration & guidance, a worldwide community of like-minded people, and many more. Moreover, I am beyond grateful to have had the chance to contribute to the reinforcement of this community by organizing one of the largest social gatherings for the CEMSies around the world, the Career Forum closing party in Budapest. Diána Bene Corporate Relations Representative, Spring-Fall 2019 My most important reason for rejoining Corvinus was CEMS, but Inever expected that this program will give me so much. The FallCamp after our successful application already gave me new friendsand a better understanding of the values and tasks of the CorporatePartners. During my exchange semester in Tokyo I experienced how many companies’ doors open when you just mention „CEMS”. I am really proud to be part of such an amazing team as CCB and I believe that we continously strenghten the relationship between the students andour corporate partners. Ádám Németh Corporate Relations Representative, Spring-Fall 2019 I applied to be Corporate Responsible to get a bit more in contact with our corporate partners, and if possible, add some new names to the list. I couldn’t do much for the second part, but the role itself got way more interesting then what I thought it would be. The board members made this experience even better, even in the hard times during the first semester. I am very glad I took the time and apply whilst still being abroad. The contact with the corporates has its ups and downs as they are busy most of the time, but the ones I had the chance to meet were all very welcoming and helping with whatever CCB needed. Fanni Szucs Social Representative, Spring 2019 As Social Representative my main responsibility was to organize events which bring the cohort together and promote the CEMS spirit. This was a challenging and at the same time an incredibly rewarding role. It was challenging because of the planning that the events required but it was all worth it because on the events I could always see happy CEMSies who were becoming friends. I aimed at combining various types of events, such as cultural, sport-related activities and parties. With my work as a Board Member I was happy to give back to the CEMS community.
CCB STUDENT BOARD
CEMS Journal 2019 | 09
CCB STUDENT BOARD 2019
Bence Busics Social Representative, Fall 2019 Since I was accepted into the CEMS programme I knew that I wanted to do more than the compulsory part. I had experience with students organizations where I realized that it is important to not just take but to give something back. That’s why I applied for my position as the social representative. I knew that it would need a lot of work and compassion but seeing the students enjoying the events and how I can help to bring closer the cohort it totally worthed it. I hope that everybody had a great time during the semester and we managed to make Corvinus and the CCB more attractive for the next generations. Csilla Egri-Kiss Head of PR & Communication, Fall 2019 | V4 Co-Organizer, Spring 2019 I am grateful for the opportunity of having had diverse experiences within the CEMS Club Budapest through my CEMS years. After helping in organising the successful Charity Run in 2018, I became the main organizer of the CEMS V4 Conference in the spring semester of 2019. As the Head of PR for my last “rotation" in the CEMS board, I enjoyed providing all the necessary information for the current CEMSies while collaborating with all of the board members. All of these experiences allowed me to work with wonderful teams and strengthened my life-long friendships within CEMS. Réka Ostorház PR Representative, Spring 2019 Being part of the CEMS Board was probably one of the most exciting stations of my CEMS journey. As the PR & Communication Representative of the spring term, I could participate in various projects and had the chance to work with an amazing team. My main focus was on building a virtual bridge between the CEMS generations with involving the former CEMSies in our everyday life through our daily Insta stories. I am very grateful and happy that I was part of this inspiring community. Maksymilian Stefański PR Representative , Fall 2019 Throughout my academic career, I had the chance to experience a lot of exciting things such as studying in different cities, doing a double degree, enjoying an Erasmus exchange, etc. Although these were amazing adventures, nothing is comparable to the CEMS experience with its global scope. Being a member of the PR & communication team in a dynamic and active club is very challenging, but being close to the cohort gives me the motivation to constantly improve. It’s the people that make the difference. I’m pretty sure that the ones who I’ve met, both from CEMS Club Budapest and the CEMS network globally, will change the world for the better. I am looking forward to be a part of the change!
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CCB STUDENT BOARD
CCB STUDENT BOARD 2019
Julienne Feria PR Representative & CEMS Journal Editor-in-Chief, Fall 2019 Coming from CEMS Sydney’s PR & Communications team, it was a big shift joining CEMS Club Budapest but it was so worth it! Creating insta stories and posts about the fun and exciting events throughout the semester never felt like a task and despite its challenges, managing the CEMS Journal in which I got to meet so much interesting people and got to express my creative freedom in designing and writing articles was overall, an amazing experience and opportunity Katinka Rédei CSR Representative, Spring 2019 After my exchange semester in Norway I knew that I wanted to take part in organising sustainability related programs in Budapest too. Joining the board was an easy decision since I knew that working together with fellow highlymotivated Cemsies is always fun and so inspirational.The biggest project of the semester was our annual Charity Run, where the beneficiary of the fundraising was Nap-kör Mentalhygiene Foundation. The CEMS community showed again how strong we are together, even pouring rain couldn't stop us. Our student organization is actually able to create a bridge between corporations and other NGOs that often lack exstensive networks and business expertise, which is amazing.
CCB STUDENT BOARD
CEMS Journal 2019 | 11
OUR Year in review SPRING HIGHLIGHTS They say that time flies when you're having fun, maybe that's why the Spring Semester feels like it was just yesterday. Come share the past year's best moments with CEMS Budapest!
Responsible global leadership seminar
WELCOME NIGHT
winter camp
The year kicked off with the RGL seminar at the Erzsébet Királyné Szálloda (Hotel Queen Elisabeth) at Gödöllő to gain insight into the practices and consequences of managing ethically in the changing environment. As the kick-off of the semester 13 business projects were introduced by our Corporate Partners.
After the Official Semester Opening we gathered at Africafe to meet the freshly admitted CEMSies of Budapest. During the event we played our traditional "Welcome Game", Bingo to warmly welcome our new generation. A big celebration was in order for all the 45 brand new CEMSies for being accepted by CEMS MIM!
During the two-day winter camp, students had the chance to get to know each other, participate to 4 corporate presentations with gifts and position/internship opportunities (Deloitte, BCG, Vodafone and P&G) network during dinner and party until the morning.
31 January - 02 February
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06 February
09 - 10 February
EVENTS
OUR Year in review
charity run
v4 Conference
Together we ran this year to raise awareness about the importance of mental hygiene because there is no healthy body without a healthy mind. Our aim is to support Nap-Kör Mental Hygiene Foundation to make psychotherapy available for broader groups of society.
The 9th edition of the V4 Conference took place from the 3rd to the 6th April 2019 at Corvinus University. This year, the conference's topic was the 'Millennial Corporate Strategies'. This 4 day event included a workshop day and a case solving day cooperating with different corporate partners.
Running COcktails
05 May
20 March
As one of the most awaited events of the semester the Running Cocktails held last 20 March was one of the best one yet. As CEMsies hosted and become guests all in one night, a diverse range of drinks were made available to everyone.
03 - 06 April
SPRING EVENtS timeline Welcome Night 06 Feb
RGL
31 Jan - 02 Feb
Kick-Off Week
Alumni Mentorship Program
11 - 15 Feb
Winter Camp
09 - 10 Feb
EVENTS
07 March
Bowling 04 March
Master Card Advisors Open Night
CSR Event Rubbish Pick Up
18 March
24 March
Rotation Dinner 11 March
Running Cocktails 20 March
V4 Conference 03 - 06 April
Invitech Company Visit 29 March
Alumni Mixer Dinner 11 April
Lasertag 08 April
Deloitte Advisory Lunch 16 April
Dog Walking 13 April
P&G Open Day 18 April
Pub Crawl 17 April
Summer Camp 28 - 30 June
Charity Run 05 May
CEMS Journal 2019 | 13
OUR Year in review Fall HIGHLIGHTS The dawn of winter won't stop the CEMSies of Budapest from making the most of the remaining year. Have a look at what the Fall Semester had in store for us!
WELCOME WEEKEND
fall camp
To kick off the Welcome Weekend, we visited the Campus together, getting familiar with the buildings and offices. After the Uni Tour, we offered some optional programs like horse racing and a food truck show at Kincsem Park .On the last day of the Welcome Weekend we had a picnic and some fun games on Margaret Island with the whole cohort
The CEMS Fall Camp 2019, which took place on 21-22nd September at Lake Balaton was a truly unforgettable experience as CEMSies went to Révfülöp together by train on Saturday morning and in the afternoon, had the opportunity to attend a vineyard visit and partake in everyone's fravourite activity of the weekend, to go sailing in Badacsony on our own private sailboat.
06 September - 07 September
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21 - 22 September
rotation dinner
08 & 09 October
The rotation dinner is a unique opportunity to network and have a nice chat with our partner firms in a relaxed atmosphere. CEMSies had an exchange of engaging conversation and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner with some of our corporate partners namely,PwC, P&G, Deloitte, Vodafone, MVM, IFUA, BCG, and MET. .
EVENTS
Fall Highlights OUR Year in review
career forum
cems information session
cems charity christmas ball
08 - 09 November
16 October
21 December
The CEMS Career Forum was a 2-day recruitment and networking event, that takes place every November. It was the perfect opportunity for CEMS students and young alumni to meet and interact with CEMS Corporate Partners, learn about internships and permanent job positions, as well as expanding their social and professional networks.
Aspiring CEMSies got to learn more about the CEMS Program, the CEMS learning experience, CEMS social life and the application requirements! The Academic Director, the CEMS Office and CEMS Club Budapest at the Info Session
The CEMS Charity Christmas Ball was a night spent celebrating and reminiscing on the year that was. CEMSies, alumni, corporate partners, and professors all gathered for a night of cammaraderie for the benefit of Golgota, a homeless shelter located in the city.
Fall EVENtS timeline Welcome Weekend
Alumni Night
06 - 07 Sep
Rotation Dinner 08 Oct
26 Sep
Fall Camp
21 Sep
EVENTS
Running Cocktails 02 Oct
16 Oct
Zwack Factory Visit 10 Oct
Career Forum
Halloween House Party 22 Oct
CEMS Information Session
Vegan Lunch Sharing 18 Oct
P&G Factory Visit
08 - 09 Nov
CF Kick-off Party 07 Nov
14 Nov
CEMS Around the world CF Afterparty 09 Nov
Charity Christmas Ball 21 Dec
CEMS Journal 2019 | 15
The CEMS V4 conference is an event focusing on the Central European countries. Thousandyear old bonds, our history, similar languages, common culture and experiencing nowadays mutual economic and political changes, problems and goals has led to base the Central European CEMS Event on the Visegrad Group. The conference is held yearly, rotating between Prague, Warsaw and Budapest. The conference is a platform for CEMSies from all around the region and the world to meet, socialize and network
16 | CEMS Journal 2019Â Â
with each other and the invited corporate partners, to learn something new at skill seminars, to solve case studies, whilst not forgetting to have a great time.
V4
CONFERENCE
In previous years the V4 conference series had topics such as behavioural economics, the role of the V4 region in Europe or the future of business. The central topic of the 2019 V4 Conference is about corporate strategies dealing with the challenges that the millennials create.
V4 CONFERENCE
In an interview with the V4 Conference coordinator, CEMSie, Janos Burgyan shares his experience and insight on the successful event held last 03-06 April. What was the topic of the conference? It was Millennial Corporate Strategies. The idea came after numerous studies and articles published in prestigious journals about how the millennial generation became by today the largest workforce and the largest consumer group globally. Thus global companies, like CEMS partner firms, must have a strategy targeting these groups both from a consumer strategy and a human resources strategy perspective. Which companies attended the conference? Companies attending were EY, P&G, Reckitt Benckiser, Henkel and Google. The CEMS students had the chance to experience inspiring workshops and case solving seminars held by these companies. What was your role in the V4 Conference? ( My main role in the conference was the one of the main organizer. Thus – together with my coorganizer, Csilla, we were responsible for the overall planning and execution, comprised of, but not exclusively, the ideation of the core topics and agenda of the conference, pitching to sponsors, applying to supporting grants, organization of PR campaign, organizing overall logistics, managing all incoming participants and finally making sure that everything goes smoothly during the conference itself. Of course, we were not doing this alone, but we had help from our amazing team, Matyi, Peti, Reni & Zsófi. How long did preparations take? The first talks about the conference began in June the year before, so about 10 months before the conference took place in April. However the real preparatory work started in September with the start of the university semester after summer break, so let’s say it was an 8-months “sprint”. (It most certainly felt like it).
What were the main challenges you had to face this time? I would say personally it was mainly time management. Furthermore, I needed to find a team to work with. I managed to secure extra application points for CEMS-wannabes if they want to be part of the team. In the end, I managed to find the right people. What was it like to work together with the organizing team? Even though everyone had their own workstream in the organization with the conference, it was a collaborative effort, especially when it came to the conference itself. We managed to tackle all the challenges together and the team spirit was amazing. We still keep in touch after the conference and threw some afterparties as well. What was it like balancing school work with the managing of the event? What I think I didn’t assess accurately enough is how much time all the things I was doing would take. The same time I took on organizing the conference, also my CEMS year was starting, whilst I also had some subjects from my Finance MSc I had to study for. So let’s say it was a bit too much all at the same time, so personally time management was a challenge, but I think I learnt a lot from it – by the end I became a very efficient person. Would you consider the event successful overall? Definitely! In the feedback we received from both the participants and partner companies was overall positive. The workshops were mostly not just about corporate PR, but they really added value for the participants, and the evening social events went great overall.
Did you have prior experience in organizing events similar to this in the past? Before joining CEMS, I was part of AEGEE and AIESEC as well, and in both international student organizations I was tasked with different workstreams of organizing an international conference. In general in these instances I was responsible for logistics and finances. How has this helped you in organizing the V4 Conference? I think I had at least an idea that what are the necessary workstreams that need to be covered and how early should we start doing them. What I didn’t know is how much of an effort is to pull all of them together to create something that make sense.
V4 CONFERENCE
V4 Conference Student Organizers
CEMS Journal 2019 | 17
ADAPTING TO CHANGE WITH
Change is a never-ending process. One advancement will always lead to another one. The technology industry is very specific in terms of constant change as the possibilities are literally limitless. There are various reasons why the tech industry is changing so fast. A growing number of solutions are switching to the digital world. It started a while ago but is advancing at a rapid speed. Moving away from the physical has become a norm. Online shopping, cloud technology, e-books, digital money, smart homes you name it. Companies and customers see it as a more convenient option. Every year brings new technologies, products, solutions. Invitech is an IT and telco infrastructure solutions provider that offers datacenter and cloud services and It security solutions for corporate, and wholesale partners. Apart from security, Datacentre, and cloud services, Invitech’s main portfolio is connecting enterprises, sites and offices with high quality fiber-based connectivity throughout the country. Invitech owns the only TIER-III certified datacenter in Hungary. It means, that Invitech guarantees the highest level of security and availability for enterprises and institutions in the country today. The site was designed and constructed in accordance with international recommendations laid by the Uptime Institute. These recommendations cover technological details, in particular capacities, as well as redundancy levels and maintainability. In a phone interview with Invitech’s HR Director, Petra Jakobsen, we can take a look at the company from a more personal view and learn about confronting change within an industry that cultivates it. Apart from being the HR director of Invitech she also works as an HR Consultant and Coach.
Photos showcasing the many activities held within the company
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Petra has been working with Invitech for 2 years now. She says that ”generally in the IT industry there is a lot of change, mergers and technology leaps”. Just in the last 3 years the company has undergone several changes: change of company’s ownership structure, the sale of Invitel to Digi, a new management, a completely new operating structure and significant changes in the company strategy that helps us better serve our customers.”
INVITECH
Can you describe what the culture within the company is like? “Basically when I came here we started with analysing the company culture and measuring, what our employees value, so we can communicate the reality in our employer branding efforts. We came up with a couple of things that the people who work here see as the real value of this culture today. One is definitely the flexibility which is true towards our customers but internally as well. We give our employees a lot of freedom, we encourage working from home, and have flexible working hours in many jobs. Generally, people really like that. Another value is our culture of cooperation. There are a lot of companies, where people are fighting for power and focus more on internal poilitics than their jobs, but here we're really like a family – a hard working one. Many of our employees have been working with us for several years (20-40 even) and even the new-comers are all part of an open and collaborative culture. We also have a lot of professionals so expertise is also on our flag that we can strongly claim. In every area we provide services in we try to be the best. Customer focus is very high on our list. As a matter of fact we have higher than industry average NPS (Net Promoter Scores) numbers (feedback from customers) and very strong customer retention rates. In addition to this, we party and involve our families as well: we have a lot of sports events, community programs, excursions, events for kids and summer camps. “ As someone who has been in the HR industry for over 20 years, Petra has worked in various MNC’s like General Electric, or Bonafarm - one of the largest Hungarian food and agricultural companies in which she built up the whole HR organisation and processes of the group with 6,000 employees - people, policies, processes and also took part in a massive cultural change within the company. What sets Invitech apart from the previous companies you’ve worked for? “I’ve worked at large American companies where you have well developed policies and processes and you learn a lot at the beginning of your career but I've worked in Bonafarm, a Hungarian food and agriculture company that was very different because there was no HR at all when I joined and we had to develop everything. Working there I had a lot of freedom so there was no “corporate telling you what you had to do” but you had to do everything on your own. I think Invitech is a great mix between these two very different working environments because we are a public equity owned company meaning our owners are really not involved in our daily operations, our day to day decisions are managed by our Irish CEO who works here in Budapest
INVITECH
We can decide a lot of things on our own which I really like. At the same time our managers are strong people managers, which makes the life of HR so much easier. On the other hand we are an IT-Telco infrastructure company and we see that all companies are becoming more and more IT companies today. Every move ahead, whether you're talking about a production company, or services, IT is the future. I enjoy working in an environment, where you have a lot of people comfortable with using modern technology and systems I think Invitech is great in that perspective.” What are some challenges you face as someone working in HR at Invitech? “One of our biggest challenge is change. There is so much change in this whole industry and how people are coping with a constantly changing environment. It's partly about hiring people who are happy with change, but also about helping people who are currently with the company but are having difficulty adapting so frequently and so many times and how and what we can stabilise within such a constantly changing environment. For people to be able to digest changes, that you need some things that are constant and stable, and people see stability in or values and the way we work as one team. We organise a lot of training and events where we help managers manage their teams through changes, provide coaching, internal workshops and team building and several other learning events. . On the other hand: Invitech is an infrastructure-based ICTcompany, our future-proof network and datacentreinfrastructure secures an operational stability and growth, that helps ouremployees feel stable and secure.“ “Overall,Invitech is a very open company. Our top management has open offices, weencourage feedback, are flexible, open and communicative. There isn’t a lot of power distance. “
Petra Jakobsen HR Director, Invitech
CEMS Journal 2019 | 19
FURTHER GROWTH FOR MET GROUP IS RELIANT ON BRINGING IN TOP TALENT MET Group’s vision is to build a European-scale multi-commodity trading company with a significant asset portfolio. This ambitious objective did change life at MET. The Group has only an eleven-year history and has evolved from a company of 7 people to over 1700 in such a short time. We compete with big brands, so we need to focus more and more on attracting and keeping the best ones. At present we have colleagues from 33 different countries, coming from a diverse set of corporate environments – so an open, inclusive company culture is self-evident.
TÜNDE TÓTH Group HR Director
We do believe that internal promotions have a huge benefit on MET Group’s continuous growth and that the success of a colleague will make other team members successful as well. I am proud that 50+ internal moves were realized in 2017. As a CEMS Alumni, I can personally witness the openness and the welcoming spirit of the company. After joining MET Group, I immediately felt the inspirational and innovative culture of the company. There are new market entries and lots of M&A activities, and everyone has the freedom to bring and implement his/her own ideas. If you combine a positive approach and willingness to learn, opportunities of progression will come. As CEMS Corporate Partners we are continuously working on strengthening our presence and diversify our activities with CEMS. Our own ‘trainer’ team that held Negotiation Skill seminars to CEMS students at Budapest Corvinus and at St. Gallen University are highly appreciated by participants, and our Business Projects bring a real added value to the project team. They are involved in real life projects and have a permanent contact with MET Group’s senior leadership. I encourage all of you to get in touch with our HR team (hr@met.com) for internship and entry level career opportunities and look forward to meeting you at the upcoming events.
Our robust HR strategy has allowed us to be ranked in top position among competitors and to offer excellent internal development and career opportunities. We have created a Talent Development Program, a oneyear-long fit-for-purpose program combining best-in-class external practices, in-house expertise and tailor-made development activities based on individual development plans. The first class graduated in 2018 and a new class has started this summer. A conscious career planning during and after the program participation is rigorously followed.
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MET
MET
CEMS Journal 2019 | 21
Personal Care at P&G
Interview with Andi & Tamás from P&G Hungary's Financial Management team
Andi and Tamás have been working in P&G since last July. Both of them started their careers as interns and they're current roles within the company involves financial management. What Tamás does daily is financial forecasting which means in one-word: predicting. He is focusing on earnings, forecasting them and then delivering the earnings forecast. In the plants they are doing the same for costs and in the end the company as a whole gets the profit. His job is not limited to only one product but he can work with various products that P&G sells. P&G is not divided into products, rather it is divided into categories. For example: laundry (Ariel), dish care (Jar/Fairy), baby care (Pampers), beauty care (Gillette, Head&Shoulders). He has to make forecasts for earnings for all the 9 categories across 10 countries for whole Central Europe. Andi is working in sales finance, her role is also not limited to one category or product line. If you would like to imagine how the company is structured, imagine a matrix. Columns are the categories and rows are the countries. If you are doing category finance, you are focusing on one category across all countries. If you are doing sales finance, you are focusing on one country but you are working with all the categories. P&G is a manufacturing company and they are selling B2B what they are manufacturing. In Budapest they have a commercial office of the Central-European region.
Read about the experiences of CEMS Alumni who are currently working at P&G and take a look into their everyday work life at the company! Why P&G? What did you do at your internships and how did you eventually get jobs at P&G? Andi: P&G was really a CEMSie choice for me. I wanted to have an international context and I did not want to commit to a long-term internship at first. I just wanted to try P&G out and the 3 month long summer internship seemed like a great opportunity. Tamás: I did a business project with my previous student organisation at P&G. I had great impressions, people were intelligent, helpful. It seemed like a good choice and I wanted to try it out. Basically, this is how I applied for my first internship. It was a success but I had to go back for school. Then I was asked if I could come back next year for another internship. I said yes, so this is how I did my CEMS internship in Warsaw, after which I came back to Budapest and continued working. Were your colleagues as interns mostly Hungarians? Do they accept students from other nations as well? Andi: Of course, all teams have various nations. It is very mixed, we have in most cases colleagues from other countries in Central Europe, but some are originated from far away, e.g. Nigeria.
One of P&G’s main guiding principles is: People first. Andi says that she can really experience what this saying really means. The company wants to develop people from the very beginning and counts on them long-term in the organisation. There is a business need for someone to do category finance, others to do forecasting. These responsibilities have to be filled, but with jobrotation we can try ourselves out in all the different fields. At this company people are very helpful to each other, not minding the fact that we are measured against each other. Everyone is happy to help their peers, even though we cannot all be best performers.
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P&G
Can you share what are you working on right now? Any specific projects? Andi: To begin with, finance in P&G is not only the traditional meaning of finance, for example putting together a cash flow or a balance sheet. There are also accounting related roles, that is very true, but finance at P&G is more like business analysis and controlling. We work in multifunctional teams, we are in a way consulting our internal partners e.g. sales or marketing with our perspective. For example, I was doing promotion effectiveness analysis on one specific costumer. The purpose was to identify how should we change our promotion strategy to reach better results with same investment. I had to present and explain my findings to the key account managers, who are working directly with the costumer, to get my ideas implemented. Another project I was working on was to figure out a commercial model that can be used for multiple costumers. Every costumer works slightly differently, Auchan and Lidl are both selling consumer goods, but based on different businessmodels. I built a model which can be used for all costumers based on the same principles. It took me about 4 months. Tamás: I did a data visualisation project in Warsaw. I built a database that is easy to use for all kind of people. For example, it is matching the needs of sales people, business analysts, lead team, and so on. It has different views of looking at the same data and getting out the most information with colour coding and target comparison. This was a very successful project and I am proud of it. When the global CFO came to Central Europe, we were showing our results on the app I developed.
What do you think does it take to be successful in P&G? Tamás: I would say independence. It is not stated clearly what you need to do to achieve results. Sometimes it is not easy, but independence also comes with responsibility. You have to come up with a plan for yourself, you really have to motivate yourself and be confident that you can do it. Andi: Be very comfortable with complexity and changing environment - this is really FMCG, fast moving. The forecast of next month will not be the same as the forecast of last month. All the factors are changing, we must manage nevertheless. Coming from this, it is also a very data heavy business and we are really focusing on data-driven decision making. We have lots of different products in different geographies and we must be able to track all of them somehow. To do this, you must know what data you should be looking at, when and what conclusion do you want to draw based on it. If you could go back is time like 5 or 10 years ago and give yourself one advice regarding your career path, what would it be? Andi: I wouldn't do anything differently. I would tell myself, as well as anyone else at university: Keep it up! My idea was to focus on the period I was actually in. When I was at university I was focusing on university and not working in parallel. I wanted to do extra things – like CEMS. I went to St. Gallen, I just loved Switzerland. I was part of student organisations, I was a teaching assistant at Corvinus and so on. All in all, try everything you can at university, gather all the experience! Work when the time comes for working. I really profited from having all this university related experience that I could translate to work experience. Tamás: I think it is a very good point Andi was making – you have your whole life to work. When you are at university try to capture the opportunities there and meet new friends. You can meet with people with whom one day you might start a start-up. Or you can build personal skills that will help you advance faster in your work. Capture the opportunities that come.
Andrea Sallai Hungary Sales Finance Analyst
P&G
Tamás Enekes
Central Europe Financial Planning Analyst
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Based on these companies, MVM by now has a key role in the security of supply. As a result of the previous years’ acquisitions, MVM Group has a direct access to the customers. With its retail company called NKM Energia the Group supplies households and companies with natural gas and power. By now, our group has 4,2 million customers and a main strategic goal is to provide complex services to them, which is much more than just the natural gas molecule and the electron – for example smart home solutions. Additional new business areas are the environmentally friendly mobility with installation of electric car charging station networks and with CNG. Meeting MVM Group
MVM has grown to be the 3rd largest corporation in Hungary through its focus on system procedures and asset operation. In an interview with Fazekas László, Controlling Director in MVM we get to know more about the company and its culture. A brief background of the company By today, MVM Group has positions at almost every point of the electricity and natural gas value chain in Hungary. Starting at the power generation, the single nuclear power plant of Hungary (located at Paks) belongs to the Group and provides the baseload power generation for the market in a safe, cheap and carbon-friendly manner. Besides the nuclear power plant, MVM has a leading role in the “boom” of photovoltaic (PV) based power generation. We started a project in 2017, in which 110 PV power plants are being developed. MVM Group has multiple gas fired generation assets too, which provides flexibility to maintain the balance between power demand and supply. Talking about balance, the Hungarian transmission system operator company (MAVIR) is also part of the Group, which operates the Hungarian power and natural gas exchange companies. MVM Group has a market leader position in the power wholesale and trading market too. Since 2013, MVM Group has a key role in the Hungarian natural gas supply as well, as the market leader gas wholesale and gas storage companies were taken over from E.ON Group.
Based on all of this, you can see that MVM Group has a huge impact on the Hungarian economy. Anyone who use electricity or natural gas has a direct or indirect connection with our company. Our vision is to build an efficient, diversified, clean energy based portfolio. By 2025 our Group shall become an energy and infrastructure provider based on carbonneutral solutions and will serve our customers with end-to-end integrated solutions. How would you characterise the corporate culture within the company? With one word – colorful. MVM Group has more than 12.000 employees. The subsidiaries were established in different years, some of them were established by MVM Group, the others became member of the Group by acquisitions or fusions. The companies have different historical backgrounds and they are active in different sectors (nuclear, natural gas, trade, sales, gas storage, grid
Fazekas László, Controlling director in MVM
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MVM
telecommunication, technical design services, engineering andtechnical services for power plants). This is always a major challenge to find the best way to create a common culture but it is also a „good” chance too to learn from one another’s culture and collect the best practice. It means you can find the best place in this colorful company and you can try yourself in several areas. What kind of projects are you working on right now? Do you have any specialisations? The best part of being responsible for the group controlling is that I can have a great overview of the whole group. Working at this function you have a kind of “helicopter view”, and you can understand all the interconnections between the different elements of the value chain. and the companies of the group. We have approximately 60.000 connection points between our subsidiaries – so this is a great and complex system which is dynamically changing. Our main task is to prepare the business plan of the Group, which is the basis of the operation and serves as a common communication platform between the holding company and the management of the subsidiaries. After having the plan prepared, we monitor the fulfilment of the plan by monthly reports to the management and regular forecasts. With all these activities we support the management in the steering the “boat” of the company. Do you have any advice for those who would like to work with MVM? If you are open, you can learn very quickly. The utility sector is undergoing great changes across the whole continent, and MVM is not an exception either. This means a great number of development and restructuring projects which you can work on – providing quick development possibility for you. Because of the strategic importance of the group within Hungary, your work really has an impact. If this is interesting for you, join us and try yourself!
MVM
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Changing Perspectives with PwC
PwC is among the leading professional services networks in the world with offices in 157 countries and more than 276,000 people, working with many of the world’s most well-known organisations. In an interview with CEMS Alumni, Mátyás Leitner, who has been with the company for 2 years now we get to know more about PwC Hungary today. Can you give us a brief background of the company? PwC is a professional service provider and it has three service lines: assurance, tax and legal services, and advisory for management consulting. Within the advisory service line there’s a management branch and financial branch. I first joined the Energy team of PwC as an intern for around six months then I got a full time position from which I was transferred to another team called TMT which stands for Technology, Media and Telecommunications in which I have been a part of for over one and a half years. Since then I’ve been an active member of this team and have had several projects with diverse scopes. What is a typical workday like for you? What I really like about PwC is that you cannot definewhat a typical workday is because the whole working lifestyle changes day by day and no day is the same as yesterday. I’m truly fascinated and grateful by the vast number of various sectors, clients, internal teams I have been involved with. Bigger roles and bigger responsibilities within each project mean now I have to manage project management tasks, review interns’ works give feedback to them, as well as managing clients. What projects are you working on now? Currently, I’m working on a startup business development program in which we are helping startups to conduct business in a more effective way. I really enjoy it because usually I dealwith large multinational companies and this is fresh change. Among other business development support, we are helping these startups to find investors, prepare a sales pitch and guide them on how to write an effective business plan. What other activities are you involved in within PwC? At PwC, there are plenty of chances to get involved in extracurricular activities. For example now we are currently working on the CEMS ProBono consulting in which we formed partnership with a non-profit organisation. Apart from this we have a civil mentoring programme where more non-profit organisation come in and we give them advice on how to succeed from a business point of view. We also have Consulting Challenge which is a three day competition for university students. We organise a lot of informal activities like the PwC Ski Camp. There is also a happy hour here at the office on Friday afternoons where beer and wine is on the company as part of PwC’s community building.
Can you describe the corporate culture within the company? The company culture is very performanceoriented but also quite humane as the working hours are flexible. The main goal is to work 40 hours a week on an average but these hours can be distributed, for example working 10 hours on Monday and only 6 hours the next day. It is possible to work from home if you don’t have any meetings. . This kind of flexibility and freedom is what I really like about the company. The other great trait of the firm is the big role of innovation.All these disruptive technologies, like virtual reality, drone technologies, IoT etc. are very present in the company’s daily life. Regarding our values, we believe in reimagining the possible which means that there are certain methods established through time but we need to reimagine the way we work each day. We value careas well and that’s present in a way that if you have any problems, doubts, or questions you can go to your coach. We have a great coaching system where the coaches are helping you with whatever guidance you need. Naturally at each firm there is a certain level of competitiveness and at PwC this is undeniably true. You really have to represent, position, and somewhat “sell” yourself not only to clients but within the PwC network or within the company as well. It’s about building an expansivenetwork not only outside the firm but also inside the firm and persuading managers and directors that you are capable of delivering these projects. Do you see yourself still in PwC in the next 510 years? To tell you the truth 2-3 years is the average length of stay at a Big4 company. However, for now I can say that I definitely would want to reach the managerial level which is two steps above me.
Mátyás Leitner Management Consultant, CEMS Alumni
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PWC
CAREER POSSIBILITIES AT IFUA HORVÁTH & PARTNERS – INTERVIEW WITH JUNIOR CONSULTANT RÉKA TÓTH
The Germany-based Horváth & Partners is an international management consulting company with more than 1000 employees. It has offices in six different countries, namely in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and in the United Arab Emirates. The company continuously expands its business fields and develops trendsetting solutions in its core competences of Corporate Performance Management and Performance Optimization. Alongside professionalism, highly qualified employees are one of the key elements of the company’s success. That is the reason why Réka applied for the Hungarian IFUA Horváth & Partners’ intern position in September 2018, during her university studies. She enjoyed the consultant life, so continued her career at the firm and joined UP & More Program as a Junior Colleague. Currently, she is spending her CEMS internship at Horváth & Partners’ office in Munich, Germany.
What did you like during your internship which could persuade you to continue your career at IFUA as a Junior Consultant? What were the motivating factors that encouraged and guided you in this decision? In my opinion, after six months of internship, it becomes clear weather you can imagine your future at a workplace. I enjoy working at IFUA from the very first time, because everyone has been helpful and has treated me equally. I had the possibility to take part in internal and external meetings and to make presentations for our clients. In addition, as a CEMS student, I had to accomplish my internship abroad, which was supported by IFUA as well. I think I could not have had these possibilities at other companies. I must highlight that consultant life is very variable, exciting, but it also needs lots of flexibility; in other words, it is not suitable for everyone.
On what kind of projects do you work as a Junior Consultant? Have you already realized which competence approach or industry field is interesting and suitable for you? I should admit that I am quite lucky: I had projects in the financial industry and public sector on the topic of Strategy, Innovation & Sales and Organization & Operation. These jobs gave me the chance to get deeper knowledge in the mentioned industries and approaches thanks to the senior colleagues and experts. Regarding my future expectations, I would like to work on at least one IT related project during my junior career, Réka, you started your career as an intern since I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in at IFUA Horváth & Partners’ office in Business Informatics. Budapest. How did you hear about the company? What did you find interesting in connection with IFUA? Well, as you may know, IFUA is a member of CEMS Corporate Community, so the first time I heard about the company was at one of the CEMS’ rotation dinner. I asked my friends from university and CEMS about IFUA and they shared their positive thoughts. Briefly, IFUA is „management consulting in a human way”. With other words, IFUA supports its colleagues’ work-life balance, which is a very special and unique feature in this sector. Based on my friends’ opinion and the information I gathered via its website, I decided to apply for an intern position at IFUA. After the first, home-based written task (same as a mock exam at university), I was invited to the second round within the framework of HR conversation and case Réka Tóth study. The interview went quite well, I felt as Junior Consultant, I had already been part of the company’s IFUA Horváth & Partners life. 28 | CEMS Journal 2019
IFUA HORVÁTH & PARTNERS
You have been working at IFUA for more than a year and I am sure you can give some advice for those young university students who would like to be a consultant. What do you think which skills they need to have in order to be a good junior consultant at IFUA? As I mentioned before, flexibility is a key element in consultancy. In order to be a great and open-minded consultant, they should be problem solver and solution focused at the same time: it means that they should work fast, creatively and see the big picture. Additionally, interpersonal skills, such as communication and cooperation are also essential parts of working with clients and colleagues. Thanks for your advice, these could help for the future consultants! Réka, could you please summarize how your typical working day looks like? It is very difficult, because I can say, every day is different in a consultant’s life. When I have to prepare some materials with the project team, I spend my whole day at the office. I usually start my workday at 8:30 in the morning and the first thing I do is I open my inbox and read through my e-mails. I try to prioritize my tasks for the given day, so if I receive any urgent task, I will start with that. Otherwise, I prepare my daily todo list and schedule which could be a frame for my daily routine. In most of the cases, I spend the lunchtime with my colleagues at a delightful restaurant near the office. In the afternoon I prepare client materials such as documents, presentations, and I participate in internal meetings. When it is possible, we have a coffee break, talk about the on-going projects and help each other if it is necessary. Around 6 o’clock p.m. I go to the gym, where I can refresh myself after a long workday. I usually take part in a spinning or crossfit class, but I also like running.
Sounds great! I think you really enjoy your work at IFUA. At the moment, you are spending your 3-month CEMS internship at Horváth & Partners’ office in Munich, Germany. How do you feel there? As I mentioned before, I was so happy to have the possibility to work abroad with the support of IFUA. During the whole application process, the Head of HR team was very helpful. Moreover, organizing this internship in Germany was a real teamwork, because other colleagues with international experience helped me in a lot. Currently, I am working full-time on a BI Competence Center implementation project. On operational level, the following tasks are included: preparing business case and dashboard; building data model and modelling processes. I even had the chance to moderate a client workshop by myself, which was an honour and a great opportunity to develop my consulting skills. I would say that I am so lucky, because I can work in a multinational project team: the consultants came from Horváth & Partners’ German and Swiss offices, namely from Stuttgart, Hamburg and Zürich. Everyone is very kind and helpful, so I feel as I am a team member from the beginning. In general, we spend 3-4 days a week at the client’s office, while the rest of the week we work at Horváth & Partners’ office in Munich. Despite my initial fear, talking in German with the colleagues did not cause any problem in everyday work. In conclusion, I really enjoy the consultant life and the international working atmosphere. I can learn a lot thanks to the senior consultants. I only miss my Hungarian colleagues a little bit!
As a Junior Consultant, I am a member of the company’s rotational program, called UP & More Program. Once a month, we organize different types of teambuilding activities after work, such as playing board games or visiting climbing rooms. These events contribute to build up a very cooperative and friendly UP & More team. Réka at the office
IFUA HORVÁTH & PARTNERS
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Deloitte is one of the world's largest professional organizations offering a wide range of world-class audit, tax, financial advisory, consulting, and actuarial services. In an interview with Csaba Bakos, Senior Consultant at Deloitte we get an insider's perspective of operational activities and life within the company. Can you give us an overview of the corporate culture at Deloitte? A huge strength of the organization is that it is relatively flat and that the intense workload that comes with projects brings you close to your teammates. Partners also have an open-door policy that actually works, so they usually have a minute for you if they are not in a call. To these add the numerous team-building events, such as happy hours, skiing trips in Austria or sailing trips in Croatia. Also, we often organise informal Friday evening get-togethers, run marathons in a team or work out in a nearby gym. Partners also regularly organise informal dinners or pool parties at their houses. So we build a close team, which I think is an important feature of our corporate culture. Another huge differentiating factor of Deloitte is that the culture is highly entrepreneurial. The incentive system encourages you to build up your own business within Deloitte. Aside from the traditional areas of valuation, transaction support and corporate finance and connected to this knowledge base, there are newer initiatives such as building a Data and knowledge hub in central Europe, which is what was in one of my friend’s manager case. So far, we have held over 10 Tableau trainings in the region and in an increasing number of projects, clients are asking us to use this tool and help them visualize their information. Those aspiring for a successful career in Deloitte should be able to deepen their knowledge in the traditional financial advisory areas and come up with something extra they can bring to the team. In my case, this extra is the value creation services area, especially separations and integrations within the PMI (Post Merger Integration) service line, which I hope will continue to be one of our key growth areas. That is where I see myself and how this entrepreneurial culture is important.
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I feel that within Deloitte, I have found a great fit with my skills through which I can bring my own value to the team. Whenever you have a good idea, first your senior colleagues and partners challenge it until you develop it to a stage where they would give you resources to further improve it until it can be pitched to our clients. Then, together with a partner with long years of experience, you will show clients that your perfected idea would bring them value. I think this extra initial resource possibility is important in Deloitte’s corporate culture. You could start building your own enterprise without a hinterland, which might be really exciting and successful. Instead, here you will always have a talent pool, experience and relationship with clients that would otherwise be hard to tap into in the beginning. This is the give and take of Deloitte that although the company will take a chunk out of the profits from your idea, they give you resources to create a business line and jumpstart your idea with the promise that if it is successful, you can easily progress upwards in positions. I think it is really special about the company that I can go to anyone, any of the partners, and talk to them about my ideas without fearing to be neglected. Does this entrepreneurial culture mean that it is competitive within the company? I think it could mean that, but due to having a lot of projects and experiences together, everyone can find what they are best in, what their strengths are. I guess when you look at our team from the outside, you might say ‘yes, these are corporate finance guys and that's it’, but when you look closer you realize that there are huge differences between people. For instance, I am coming with an economics, strategy management and controlling background while many others here in the team come with a strict finance background. So it could be competitive but it is not because everyone has different tastes and there is room for similarity as well.
Csaba Peter Bakos Senior Consultant
DELOITTE
Before his time in Deloitte, Csaba had experience in boutique MNE firms, so we asked him how this was different from working at Deloitte. At Deloitte, you are involved in huge deals of the region that often get into the papers. At smaller boutiques, you do not usually have the chance to work on such deals. So here you work with big companies and big names, you can read about them in the news, and people talk about your deals. The hard part is that you can never really talk to others about what you do. Still, it is a good feeling to have a real impact. Also, there is a huge global network where it is easier to access foreign knowledge and gain experience. This was also a reason for me to choose Deloitte. I wanted to do my CEMS foreign internship and I knew that the local Deloitte office had been working a lot with the London office. This is how I spent 9 months in the Corporate Finance team in London, giving advice to investment banks and PE funds. Do you have any advice for those who would like to work at Deloitte? I think it is always useful to participate in company events and talk to us Deloitte employees. Many of us are also CEMS Alumni so do not hesitate to raise your concerns and questions or ask us out for a lunch for instance where it is a bit more casual than a company event. Interaction with the company is important because only then will you know if this is the corporate culture you want to belong to. Since CEMSies have a large number of choices, the real question is the kind of lifestyle you want to lead, and the kind of team you want to belong to. At Deloitte, you have the opportunity to learn from the best professionals, work on international projects, generally work from Budapest and have time to meet your local friends in your free time. Workload varies. For those who want to get into Deloitte, whenever you have the chance to interact with us, just do not go for typical sample-like answers. Use your brain when in conversation. Many times, I see CEMSies trying to figure out the answers by the book or what others want to hear. Now that is the wrong strategy if you want to be successful. The right strategy is to use your brain, be honest, and if needed, give time for yourself to think.
DELOITTE
What are some challenges you face as a senior consultant working at Deloitte? Challenges vary for every career stage. Now, for instance, I am expected to show that I would be a good manager, next to the usual ‘wood chopping’ type of jobs that I have been doing, e.g. putting together models, slides, reports and memos. At this level, I think everyone expects you not only to manage projects but also to do most of the delivery. That is the challenge I have been facing recently. And one can grow through these challenges. If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice, what would that be? I would tell myself that I am on the right track and I should always try to stay balanced and have goals, and try to derive my short and mid-term goals from my long-term goals. Whenever I see opportunities, I should push myself to the limit to achieve them. And also, perform in the areas that are my strengths and overcome my weaknesses in the meantime. I would also tell myself next week’s lottery numbers.
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INSIGHTS ON HILTI
Hilti has a caring and performing oriented culture where both pillars are taken seriously. As a truly sales driven company, Hilti employees are expected to perform at a high level. The opportunity for growth and development is high as employees get honest feedback within the company day after day as this is how people can truly develop and elevate themselves to another level. This performance aspect comes from their desire to become the best in the market. Get to know more about the culture at the company through Mate Szeles, Hilti Regional Manager at Virgina! "This is still a family business; as the company is not on the stock exchange and for that reason, they do care a lot about their people. If you are working at Hilti you get a lot of perks, flexible working hours, and you can go directly to your leader and discuss if you have any problems or whatever so it's a really a caring company." Mate says.
At the time of the interview, Mate was in Virginia, USA. He has been living there since September of this year. He was working in the same position in Budapest where he was the area sales manager in which he led 9 people in the mechanical trade across Hungary and now that he has relocated in Richmond, Virginia, he still basically does the same job and is leading 10 people With that, we asked him the main difference between working in Virginia and Budapest. Within Hilti, culture-wise you don't really feel difference because it's a global company with global processes so from that sense the people are kind of same. However, the market is different, the scales are much bigger, the companies are much more complex, as construction industry is a bit different as well. How did Hilti adapt to the US market?Saleswise, US is the home of marketing and sales and for that reason we do have a lot of promotions here. We have a national sales event, we drive promotions, and also the competitors are a bit different.
What kind of skills do you develop working within Hilti? I was working the most in sales because we are working in a direct sales model. To summarize in a few words; it was about communicating with different layers within the organisation. You have to learn a lot how to ask questions and how to create value for the customers. You can only sell these tools or solutions if you first understand your customer. I was also working in marketing at that time the strategy overview. Now I'm in a leadership role for almost for three years, so my most important task is to lead people and figure out how to communicate with them. It is also essential to get everyone in a clear direction to be able to achieve the targets and the strategy. Mate Szeles
Regional Manager I Virginia
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HILTI
I had the same experience with the Outperformer program that you can apply for. Even if you don't get into the program you will have a lot of development opportunities within the company once you’re hired.
Mate & his team on a volunteer activity
Can you share some of the challenges you faced in relocation or adapting within the company itself? Obviously, there are challenges because I was relocating from Europe to the US and for that reason you just have to start from scratch. For that reason, there are elements in your life that you’re starting from nowhere. But the company is really caring so we had lot of support from them and they also helped us through the whole relocation process so I would say it went really smoothly. Can you share with us some of the current projects you’re working on? Being a new leader of a team, the first thing that you need to do is to understand the team dynamics. In that sense, you need to get the right people in place. To be 100% sure if there are modifications that need to be made, you need to do it in the first round. The first and most important thing is to have the right team in place. So, what I do now is basically I'm trying to implement certain elements in the US, that proved to be successful in my experience in Hungary and could help here as well. Hilti, as I mentioned, is really great in developing people and being a CEMSie or CEMS alumni we always want to be the best and we always strive for getting into the best companies.
HILTI
For example, I was involved in the regional program called ICAP and that's basically an on top six months intensive kind of project that I do believe all of the CEMSies would enjoy. It's basically you will get a project based on the Hilti strategy that you need to deliver and you will work with other colleagues from the region on it. Then you're going to present your findings in front of the top managers within the region. I was also quite lucky to be in the Impact program which is the global leader program for Hilti and every year there's a maximum of 15 talents who get into this global program across the globe. At the end you are pleased to present in front of the CEO, the board members, and in front of 50 high level managers in Lichtenstein. So that was a truly amazing experience because you have huge exposure, huge visibility and this is something really unique. So, if you’re open to developing yourself and rotate into different roles, Hilti will be a great choice for you. Do you have any advice for juniors or people who want to work there as someone working for Hilti as long as you have? You just need to be humble. If you have a goal, then you have to stick to it. You should also be patient and open for feedback. If you get feedback, try to incorporate it into your daily life and this is how you develop. Your leader will see your development and you will have a clear path to go to the next steps. Be open and bring innovative ideas and kind of do the extra mile if you really want to succeed in the long run.
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The Future is Exciting with Vodafone Renáta Fehér, CEMS alumni, has been with Vodafone for nearly three years now. She was part of the company’s fresh graduate program, and now she’s working as a Segment Manager The Discover is Vodafone’s two-year long talent program that offers a wide variety of work opportunities in different business areas and projects through four rotations. It offers specialized career paths in Commercial, Finance, Technology, HR and Legal business areas. Could you tell us a bit about Vodafone? Vodafone has a really strong and definitive company culture. It’s a company where I truly felt trusted from the first day. I had the chance to work on some major strategic projects. This is a place where things happen fast and work is always dynamic. Same goes for development opportunities. Working on such projects allowed me to gain vast amount of knowledge and experience in a relatively short time.The other very important value here is human connections. I can always turn to any of the colleagues for advice. The leadership is also really supportive. Asking for help isn’t seen as a weakness, it’s seen as an opportunity to grow. What was the first year working at the company like?I spent my first rotation in Retail and I built up a fleet representative network to improve our processes. . I also learned the importance of the customerfocused mindset. Being customer oriented is a key part of my job now and the ability to think with the customer’s head helps making the best decisions. After my rotation at the store I was allocated to the most important strategic project that time. I was thrown in at the deep-end – positively! It was a real career challenge. Through various research we defined the customer target groups for the fixed business from scratch. I learned so much during those six months. My third rotation really proves that Vodafone really trusts in its employees.
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I joined our Customer Value Management team where I was responsible for the base communication and monthly/yearly marketing initiatives of a segment counting 600.000 customers. Are there any internship opportunities available within the company? Do you have any advice for those who would like to work at Vodafone? Interns are key parts of every department. Vodafone’s intern program, called Curiosity, is a great way to learn and develop your skills while you’re still studying. Interns here are seen as any other colleague with real and important tasks – except they work part-time. Vodafone really is a jump-starter for your career. First, it’s the telco sector, which is a really exciting area with continuous changes. We constantly roll out new innovative technologies, such as 5G and our IoT portfolio.Then, on top of this, Vodafone is currently executing one of the EU’s biggest integrations. So my advice for the one’s wanting to apply: go for it. It’s a fast-paced environment with continuous innovative spirit. Starting your career here is a steady base for your future. Discover Program 2020 The next wave of the Discover Program starts in March, 2020 and the application is opening soon. If you would like to get to know more business areas and work on strategic projects, follow our career page for updates: Vodafone.hu/karrier The future is exciting. Ready?
Renáta Fehér Segment Marketing Manager
VODAFONE
CEMS CAREER FORUM 2019 After last year’s great success, the CEMS Career Forum retuned to our university, to the Corvinus University of Budapest. It was an honour to be part of the team of the organisers, as it proved to be one of the most responsible position of the event. Together with the CEMS Club Budapest, we worked for the success of this world-class event, and we can proudly say, that the event went smoothly without any issues. This year 42 corporate partners and more than 1000 students took part from 62 countries all over the world, with gave the two day an open, multi-cultural atmosphere.On the first official day, four career training, with more than 150 students participating, and 30 skill seminars took place in the New Building. Regarding the highly
interesting topics covered by the skill seminars, the participants had shown gh interest is them: over 600 CEMS students registered and attended on them. Our corporate partners were also pleased seeing the high number of students on their seminars. The job fair itself and the pre-scheduled interviews took place in the main building on the second day of the Career Forum. On the jobfair, the 42 participating corporate partners, with around 360 representatives, were meeting students all day. During the jobfair over 600 prescheduled interviews took place in 60 rooms. All in all, the even was a great success this year, and the organisers cannot wait for the next Career Forum!
42
CORPORATE PARTNERS AND OVER
1000
STUDENTS CAREER FORUM
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CV PHOTO STAND CEMSies had their CV photos taken by a professional photographer at the event
SKILL SEMINARS Day 1 of the annual Career Forum was filled with insightful skill seminars that was attended by over 150 CEMSies
RESUME CORNER French company, JobTeaser joined in by providing CV review services and advice
WHAT'S HAPPENING A RUN-DOWN ON THE 2019 CAREER FORUM AT BUDAPEST The Career Forum is the headline corporate recruitment event of the CEMS year. It boasts recruitment, knowledgesharing and networking, all in one location
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CEMS AROUND THE WORLD CAREER FORUM AFTERPARTY TIMEA BARTHA To close the events in a festive way, students, alumni, and corporate partners gathered together for one of the largest social events of the global CEMS community: the Career Forum Afterparty held last 9th of November. The theme of the afterparty this year was: CEMS Around The World - with an aim to celebrate the diversity of nationalities within our community. CEMSies along with their national spirits, towards worldwide cultures and joy for an international celebration. More daring participants of the event represented the colors of their national flags in their outfit or on their faces, using the body paints bought at the Charity Sale.
The atmosphere of the party was one of a kind and the CEMS spirit was at it's best. After being amazed by the heart warming performance of the CEMS Got Talent winners, no hands were left down at the sound of the our anthem song 'CEMS is on fire' played by our beloved DJ Wazzid - a talented CEMS from Vienna.
CAREER FORUM
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A WORLDWIDE EXPERIENCE Two of our CEMSies share stories from their International Exchange Semester Name: Dóra Názon Master’s degree in Corvinus: Management and Leadership Country of exchange: Australia University of exchange: The University of Sydney Business School
II. What are your fondest memories from your exchange? Dora: Personally, for me, the greatest memories come from the bonding-moments with the people I met there. It was not only the trips to the previously unimaginably astonishing places that brought us together, but also the group projects and assignments we carried out. I would have never thought before the semester that we would keep talking every day, or meet up like 3-4 times a year, but fortunately this is the case which makes me super happy. I must not forget to mention the most famous GMP classes (thank you Professor Sabina) – which were held at either one of Sydney’s beaches, or in the greens of Hyde Park, or during a hike on a nearby island. We actually held our presentations there, in the nature, commencing and finishing each lesson with a 10 min. meditation. I reckon we’ll never forget these times.
Name: Adam Nagy Master’s degree in Corvinus: Supply Chain Management Country of exchange: Germany University of exchange: The University of Cologne I. Is there any particular reason you chose to go on exchange at this university? Dora: For me it was a twofold thing: Besides being able to study at an outstanding university, I also wanted to move a bit out of Europe and my comfort zone and travel somewhere I hadn’t have the chance to go otherwise. So the experience of the unconventional, the unknown was the primary reason for my decision. Adam: I chose Köln, because it is a good starting point to travel and discover some countries and cities in the region. Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France is relatively easy to reach and cheep to travel. And the area around Köln is really dense. One can find many cities with different personalities in the region. Furthermore, it is close to Budapest, but far enough to have the feeling that I was abroad. And the low cost of living was also really important for me in my decision.
Adam: Trips and parties organized by the Pim&Cems Club in Köln. The club is for both Cems and Erasmus students. The Club take a big emphasis on integrating the student into the Uni life. There are many event, one-two day tips to nearby cities, company visits, and parties. The Club has its own ‘Club flat’ where there are event twice a week. Of course there are Cems exclusive event too. One of the best memories I have was a trip to Münster, where we had an integration camp for the newly admitted cemsies. It is similar to the winter camp organized by the CEMS Club Budapest. III. Are there any / much differences (culture, people, food, etc) between Budapest and the city you went on exchange to? Can you share some of the most remarkable ones? Dora: The prosperity of the country and the wellbeing of the people can really be felt there: everyone is super content and happy with their
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EXCHANGE
lives, they’re definitely positive and smiling all the time. This may seem like a cliché thing, but in my opinion these little moments are the ones that can really influence our everyday. Adam: In Köln people are much more open then here in Budapest, but this does not apply to all German cities. Turkish, Greek, Italian food is much better than in Budapest. They are in fact different in every German city, but all of them are good. It worth a try.Biking culture is big in Köln. I also biked everywhere in the city. You can feel much more independent, than if you stick to the public transport. I would encourage everyone to bike in the city if you can. Also in Budapest. IV. What is your favourite place in Sydney/Cologne? Dora: I had two favourite places in Australia, one of them was Sydney itself. Never have I ever seen any other city with such vibrant athmosphere. If you want to work hard, you go to the Central Business Destrict and rush along the busy streets with your briefcase, while you grab one of the best coffees of the world (honestly and officially best!). On the other hand, if you just want to ”chill” for a few hours under the sun, or brace yourself up with adrenalin, all you have to do is grab your surfboard, go 30 min and ride the waves of Bondi beach. My other favourite spot in Australia was in Airlie Beach, Queensland, where we had the chance to take a sailing trip
V. What would you say to a student interested in applying to go on exchange in (university of exchange)? Any survival tips / recommendations etc? Dora: Do not hesitate, it will be the BEST time of your life Adam: Be prepared for the best in terms of the social life. Live in a dorm, and participate in as many events as you can.
Adam: I have been to many places in Germany already, and for studying, definitely Köln is the best place to be. The city has its unique personality. The people are really friendly and open.But for work, I would rather consider Hamburg to be the best city to live in. Hamburg is also full of life and unique features. Being in the harbour and walking on the streets of Hamburg,
EXCHANGE
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CEMS GRADUATION
With the end of the year came one of the most anticipated gatherings of the CEMS calendar. After gaining valuable memories and engaging in professional development throughout the academic year, every CEMSie is looking forward to the moment they receive their coveted diploma. Students from every corner of the globe gathered in this special location to vow by the values of CEMS and step into the next chapter of their international careers, celebrated by their friends and families.
The CEMS MIM Graduation Ceremony was hosted by Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien: WU and will take place in Vienna, Austria from 27 November to 1 December, 2019. 50, among over 800 of this years graduands, are from Corvinus University of Budapest. We would like to sincerely congratulate every graduating student, especially those representing Corvinus Business School.
Tímea Bartha
Roland Belényesi
Zsolt Bencsik
Lilla Beregszászi
Bettina Boncz
Anna Chornitzer
Daniel Claro
Anna Katinka Csáji
Attila Csoma
Csenge Dávid
Kinga Dienes
Zita Dobák
Zoltán Kironsky
Eszter Kisgyura
Nikolett Kollányi
Ádám Kovács
Flóra Kovács
Zsuszanna Ihász
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GRADUANDS
VIENNA 2019
Tamás Énekes
Zoltán Könyves
Boglárka Julianna Polet
Ádám László Szűcs
GRADUANDS
Zsófia Farsang
Mátyás Leither
Gergely Rácz
Borbála Ferenczy
Zsófia Fonál
Dániel Matzner
Iván Muck
Donát Rigó
Zoltán Rozs
Tamás Gerházi
Bence Gergely
Tamás Papp
Andrea Szilvia Sallai
Lilla SzabadosMolnár
Bence Szabó
Péter Szántó
Tímea Hegedűs
Réka Tóth
Viktória Haász
Kristóf Zékány
András Zsakó
Fanni Péch
Klaudia Slyuch
László Tóth
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