Interview with Mr. Amit Singh
How has your over all experience been studying at Mendoza MBA ?
My overall experience at Notre Dame has been great. There are a few things which I would like to highlight –
1) The diversity of candidates in the MBA program really enriched the class discussions and the small class size made the relationships more interpersonal.
2) True to its top ranking in Alumni connection, I was able to network and interact with a plethora of alumni. When my summer internship was canceled due to Covid in June, it was a Notre Dame alum who offered me a great internship opportunity in his company.
3) The startup incubation center at Notre Dame served as a great place to get experiential learning and I was able to gain significant exposure by working closely with founders of various early-stage startups.
please talk about the courses you really likes and the professors you felt are exceptional in their subject?
I pursued a dual degree i.e. an MBA with MS in Business Analytics. Though it was a great experience to dive deep into data analytical skills, it somewhat hindered the elective choices which I could have taken in the normal MBA program. Although I had no background in accounting, I truly loved the accounting classes taught by Prof. Jeff Miller. I did a concentration in Digital Marketing and Marketing Analytics which had great courses like Competitive Growth Strategy and Market Research which were in-line with my career goal of getting into Product Management.
what role does the CMC play at Mendoza MBA ?
The career services at Mendoza play a vital role in helping us achieve our goals. In the first semester, there is a class conducted by career services that teach basic networking skills, resume writing, and mock interview skills. They also map every student with an alum in the industry to practice networking and seek guidance on matters regarding job search. The career services also facilitated a Bay Area Trek, where I was able to network with alumni from top firms like Facebook, Cisco, SAP, etc. There are career coaches assigned for different industry verticals with whom students can schedule regular appointments. The career services have at least one advisor associated with each career club-like technology club, finance club, marketing club, etc. They also facilitate clubs to conduct industry profession workshops in various fields such as product management, consulting, and finance.
please share about your experience of finding an internship and full-time job during the pandemic period.
Since I was recruiting for product management positions in tech companies, except for bigger firms that had a structured internship program, the normal recruiting season was supposed to start late in Feb and March. It started off well when I received interview calls from 7-8 firms in the first week of March but slowly as the pandemic evolved the positions started to get canceled. I had two companies with final rounds pending who canceled their internships. By the end of April, I secured a PM internship in a tech firm. But that happiness was short-lived as the offer got rescinded in the first week of June. This is where the Notre Dame Alumni community proved its mettle once again, I secured another PM internship in a Series C funded Start-Up.
The full-time had been more challenging for me as I was looking for PM positions in technology and Notre Dame traditionally has not been on the radar of tech companies. Thus I couldn’t get much traction from bigger tech firms that had structured grad hiring programs. Fortunately, in December I secured a winter internship with TriNet, a public PEO firm, which I was able to convert to a full-time job in March. Thus, I have joined TriNet as a Product Manager in June post my MBA. I believe the job market is bouncing back well which is evident by the fact that my juniors in the MBA program were able to secure good internship positions in 2020-2021.
please share your experience with Mendoza alumni and networking in general ?
As I mentioned above, the Mendoza alumni connection is really strong. The alumni have been very approachable and are willing to help Notre Dame students in any way possible. LinkedIn served as a great place to connect with alums and at least 85% of Notre Dame alumni accepted my requests to connect. Pre-Covid, Notre Dame alumni from multiple firms visited campus and interacted with students at great lengths.
what advice would you give to prospective students applying to Mendoza ?
I would say that Mendoza is a great school to pursue your MBA. It’s not only the school that looks for a great fit in students but students should also carefully evaluate their career goals and analyze if Mendoza would be fit for them. I would recommend students to speak with current students and alums before applying to the school as that would really help them make a very informed decision. I wish all the best to the prospective students and feel free to reach out to me for anything about Notre Dame.
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