Highlights of an MBA Summer Internship
HEC Paris MBA students embark on diverse internships worldwide during summer break, gaining valuable experience and advancing their careers. From finance to luxury fashion, their internships offer unique opportunities for learning and growth, facilitated by the MBA program's resources and alumni network. Hear their stories of landing coveted positions and aspirations for the future.
Summer break is a golden opportunity for adventure, and our MBA students are keen to try something new. Some travel across Europe and further afield, while others catch up with friends and family across the globe. Some brush up on their French at a language school by the sea, and others embrace the chance to do the infamous MBA internship. For those who have career transformation in mind, this is their moment to try out their dream job, build their network and sometimes move to a new country. We asked six current HEC Paris MBA students to share how they landed their internship, and what they hope to gain from the experience.
Gabriel Louw
Internship: Credit Suisse International Wealth Management Summer Associate Program, Zurich
I was previously employed as an Equity Analyst and Fund Manager at a global UHNW multi-family office in South Africa. One of my goals when I came to HEC Paris was to stay in the finance sector, but to broaden my geographical focus. The first few weeks at HEC Paris were very helpful and there were numerous career-related workshops based around improving our CVs. We received guidelines on how to approach companies, and how to succeed at interviews. I also attended a finance fast-track workshop that helped me to orientate myself to the nuances of the European market.
September to October were difficult months as we were quite busy academically, and this was also the application window for the majority of summer internships in finance. During this period I met with one HEC Paris alum at Credit Suisse (CS), spoke to a few ex-CS bankers I knew and attended a CS International Wealth Management (IWM) on-campus presentation where the IWM Summer Internship was introduced to us. I later corresponded with the people responsible for the internship program and applied. I had a few interviews, one of which took place in London, and finally I accepted a summer internship in Zurich. I have never been to Switzerland and I have always wanted to go, so I am excited to get started.
Ly Nguyen
Internship: Yoox Net-a-Porter, Milan
When you are applying to an MBA program you usually have a future career plan mapped out, but I was unsure of which direction to go. All I knew was that I didn’t want to go back to my previous work and I wanted to explore something more creative and fun. When I pondered my perfect future job I realized I wanted it to be in culture, art or fashion, and I wanted it to be related to technology and innovation. In all my admission essays, I would cite Yoox Net-a-Porter as an example of a company I could envisage myself working for.
Now imagine how thrilled I was when I got an offer for the MBA internship in Milan from Yoox Net-a-Porter! My internship project entails building a retail strategy for the Russian market. The HEC Paris MBA enabled me to be considered for this internship program, because the school’s reputation in the luxury industry is unparalleled and recognized by most luxury/fashion brands. I am learning daily about the fashion e-commerce business, and it’s very exciting to see how it works from the inside. The project is very ambitious and it makes you think strategically about how you can make the business grow.
Georgie Young
Internship: Legacy and Impact Intern, Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, Paris
I arrived in France on June 23rd 2017, when Paris was in the midst of celebrating Olympic Day and putting the exclamation point on their bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In my application essays to HEC Paris, I’d gone to great lengths to detail my plan to transition from lifestyle, fashion and sports apparel to a career in luxury. I’d spent only two weeks in the program when I realised that luxury wasn’t for me and that I wanted to return to the world of sports. In the midst of our orientation period for the MBA, Paris was awarded the rights to host the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
As part of my duties as a member of the MBAT Organizing Committee (the sports tournament that the HEC Paris MBA hosts on campus every year), I connected with the Legacy division of the newly-formed Paris 2024 Organizing Committee. Later, I undertook an MBA fieldwork project exploring legacy issues for Olympic host cities, and saw a real opportunity to apply for an internship. It’s an exciting time to join the team, and to engage with the many collaborators that will help make this the most inclusive Games ever.
The ability to tailor my MBA towards a specific industry and function, and leverage my MBA Project into an internship, has undoubtedly been key for me in pursuing my post-MBA goals. I’m looking forward to a sports-filled summer!
Maria Pia Cuello
Internship: IFC Investment Services, Washington DC
During my summer internship, I will be collaborating with strategic initiatives for the Global Tourism, Retail and Property Group under the IFC’s Investment Services. As an example, one of the projects I am assigned to involves identifying and analyzing business opportunities within the real-estate industry in Latin America.
I first heard about the internship through HEC Paris’ Career Center. I believe that my previous job experience combined with my current MBA caught the IFC’s attention and made me a great fit for this role.
I hope by doing an internship at the IFC I can transition my career from investment banking to impact investing. Whether it is in Europe, in the US or in my home country of Colombia, I’m positive my experience in Washington DC combined with the HEC Paris MBA will open the doors to make my envisioned career change.
Yanji Wang
Internship: Senior Consultant (MBA Intern), Monitor Deloitte, Amsterdam
I am working as a Senior Consultant (MBA intern) in Monitor Deloitte’s Amsterdam office. I work with the project team to provide strategic business solutions to clients.
The courses provided by HEC Paris such as classes in Strategic Management and the experiences I had with the MBA Consulting Club helped me land the internship. I believe that the solid business knowledge and the consulting network I developed during the MBA is going to be extremely helpful.
I hope to gain a deeper understanding of life as a consultant and, at the same time, I hope to learn from my colleagues in the company and become a better consultant myself.
Anan Zhang
Internship: Digital Strategy Intern, Michelin, China
My first encounter with Michelin was in March 2018 during China Business Day – a networking event organized by HEC Paris for students interested in careers in China. Michelin didn’t have any specific positions open for an intern at that time, but I kept in contact, adjusted my schedule to fit their criteria, and subsequently landed my internship at TYREPLUS (Michelin’s one-stop car-maintenance service network) in May.
I am really interested to see what changes digitalization can bring to a huge company like Michelin. During my internship, I hope that I will gain hands-on experience in digital transformation, and important skills that I can apply across industries after my MBA.