Varun Thakur took the triple jump – changing role, industry and location – after an MBA at the University of Hong Kong
Varun Thakur started a full-time MBA at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as a man on a mission. His aim: to change role, industry, and location, and triple jump into the marketing department of one of the world’s top tech firms.He completed his MBA in August 2014. On his very last day, he got a job offer from Amazon. Now, he’s global marketing manager for Amazon, based in Luxembourg.
He owes it all to the HKU MBA. As an only child in India, Varun initially followed the traditional route into his family business – a manufacturer and exporter electronic parts, toys and games - before relocating to Hong Kong.
On the London track of HKU’s 14-month program, he gained global exposure, experiencing business in Beijing, the core MBA curriculum in Hong Kong, and several months at London Business School in the UK.
He interned with Rocket Internet startup Easy Taxi in Hong Kong. And he hosted a major technology event at HKU, bringing global tech companies - like Evernote and Easy Taxi – and local high-tech startups together. After the event, Evernote offered him a job in Singapore. But Varun had already turned his attention to a career in Europe.
He was keen to take the career leap, and he was well-placed to do so. The HKU MBA has been ranked number one in Asia for seven consecutive years by the Economist. In the last three years, it’s placed 34th on average in the Financial Times’ global MBA rankings.
85% of Varun’s MBA class landed jobs within three months of graduation. 68% changed location.
Today, Varun handles Amazon’s Certified Refurbished line, managing the entire B2B and B2C marketing operation globally. He’s also a part-time career and life coach. The majority of his clients are MBAs.
Why did you decide to pursue an MBA at HKU?
I’d always wanted to live abroad and do an MBA. I didn’t want a two-year MBA in the US. Culturally, I’m more attuned to Europe and Asia. And the two-year MBA is very expensive. The opportunity cost is way higher.
I liked the format of the HKU MBA. The balance between the east and the west, and the constant change – between China, Hong Kong, and London - was what excited me.
What should applicants think about when deciding to do an MBA?
Think about location, brand, cost, and the core value of the MBA. Is it a generalist program? Is it finance-heavy? Is it more marketing or consulting-focused?
Focusing on the Economist and Financial Times top 100 MBA programs is a good place to start. If you’re looking at a change in your location and career trajectory, then doing an MBA from a top-100 ranked school makes a big difference. I’m an example of that.
How did you use the HKU MBA experience to your advantage?
When you start an MBA program, a lot of your classmates have strong brand names attached to their resume. They’ve already worked for Goldman Sachs, Google, or Amazon. For me, it was different. I just had my family business in Mumbai.
I was clear that I wanted to get into a tech company and focus on marketing. So right from the start of my MBA, the challenge was to build my profile and sell myself.
HKU were extremely supportive. They helped me get my internship in Hong Kong. They gave me access to all the possible resources of the university, and they helped me organize one of Hong Kong’s largest technology events.
I highlighted these experiences on my resume. And the technology event was one of the biggest talking points during my interviews.
What does Amazon look for in its MBA job applicants?
The key thing with Amazon is it’s very strong on its culture. Amazon hires people to do multiple things; not just for the job, but for the way they work. In the interview, you are heavily assessed on Amazon’s 14 leadership principles, and how you have performed in your previous career based on those principles.
Can you tell me something about working at Amazon that most people wouldn’t know?
At Amazon, when they say one of its core leadership principles is ownership, they really mean it. You’re completely responsible for the top-line, the bottom-line, how the business performs and how it scales up. It’s a very challenging environment, but the experience you get here is incomparable to anywhere else.
Would you be where you are now without the HKU MBA?
Definitely not! It would be impossible. The HKU MBA made the difference because it really made me stand out. It’s a globally-renowned program. It gave me the opportunities to really build my professional profile.
There’s not just an entire focus on academics. It’s about focusing on what you really want to do, and building towards that during your MBA. I think that worked for me.
Student Reviews
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) - MBA Programmes HKU Business School
Academic
Very good academic, caes course amazing, ccs are all amazing, professors are excellent, the architecture and infrastructure is splendid, people here are awesome, made some really nice friends, and teachers support us
Diversified culture
I highly recommend The University of Hong Kong to students all around the world because of their diversified culture, teaching standards, and the people which make the learning experience better every day.
A place where you best understand local and international cultures
With plenty of experiences available, HKU provides a plenty of experience for me to explore our own and other countries culture. She has excellent teaching and research staffs in the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity. Time allocate to students are considered sufficient and staffs are ready to reach anytime.
Besides academic, she has various subsidised programmes that allow students to explore. This credit should be given to GenEd (general education) Office to provide different interesting programmes. These ranged from guest speaker giving talks on China-Hong Kong relationship; Contemporary art in Asia; or holding mini forum on geopolitics. Most, if not all, of which are free of charge!
Life at HKU
Pursued the SHS degree at HKU, academic and clinical staff members were very devoted and passionate. The academic program is under constant reviews, staff members are open minded and willing to modify the program with regards to students' opinions. Career prospect is good. Uni life is fruitful, many different activities for students to choose. Great facilities supporting learning.
Student Life in HKU
As an Accounting and Finance year3 undergrad student in HKU, the university provides lots of opportunities for me to learn and explore my interests.
You could join a wide variety of activities, like being an committee member of societies and joining hall activities. As for me, I chose to join the winter exchange programme, be a committee member, and did volunteering servic and had latrine construction and volunteer teaching in Ghana, Africa. I also organized lots of activities for societies and had lots of meetings with company representatives. As for school work, it is okay normally but definitely u got a lot busier during November and April. You got a lot more free time compared to CUHK and HKUST. And of course, this is considered as the most ‘international’ uni in HK in a way that I could make friends coming from different countries.
Just wanna add, HKU has a good location for foodie as its near Central, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. For those who love night lifes dont miss this. I didnt speak of anything i dislike coz there isnt anything i dislike much, but if I do have to say, it is the hall life of many local students, such as having cheers at night and never sleeps that may disturb others.
Academics
I think it’s a great university that gives you a lot of opportunities in terms of academics as well as extracurricular activities. The education system is fairly westernized and the professors are good for the most part.
International, stratified and political
Adequate resources and very convenient campus with sufficient channels to expand your social and professional circle. Also politically active, and perhaps too biasedly so. Its law school is firmly established, with the longest history in Hong Kong. Practical and professional training, with a constant atmosphere of anxiety and competition that encourages a relatively focused and narrow vision of career outlook. Good range of extra curricular activities available.
Life in HKU
HKU provides students with lots of opportunities in multidisciplinary researches and experiences. This encourages students to widen their horizons and prepare for the future. The programme I attended organised both local and oversea field trips that allowed me to have the first hand experiences of relative aspects. It was very useful for my later career.
BSocSc
I am a graduate of the BSocSc programme several years ago. I appreciate that the programme provided a flexible choice of majors and minors. Even I was admitted into social sciences programme, I could explore various streams of studies in and out of the social sciences faculty, including global studies, human resources, politics, science and music. I did a double major in psychology and sociology. Among all learning experiences in lectures, tutorials, field trips…, I would say the internship experience was one of the most memorable part of my university life. The faculty offers a credit-bearing internship programme in which students can go to various NGOs to work on social issues, ranging from poverty, education to adjustment of ethnic minorities. Students can be placed locally or overseas, depending on placement quota, their personal preference and past experience. I went to a social service agency that serves adults who are intellectually challenged and have autism spectrum disorder. It was an eye-opening experience in observing how different professionals work together to provide training for those people and reflecting on how psychological knowledge could come into play. I was also able to gain some hands-on experience in leading an activity.
There are more and more internship opportunities for university students. It is just another way to gain practical experience apart from applying for interns in government agencies or business companies, especially in organisations that would not openly recruit interns but only work with tertiary institutions.
It should be noted that for some majors/courses, there are really a lot of people studying. When I was an undergraduate back then, we often expected a lecture with 100+ students and a tutorial with nearly 20 students. If you favour close student-teacher interaction in small classes, you may look into the enrolment of particular courses.
Great curriculum arrangement for my program
Teachers in HKU are dedicated to education students, for both undergrad and postgrad. The school is over 100 years old and it is one of the most pretty school I have ever seen through my life. But there is one thing that I do not like is that for some program, including mine, we could not receive our diploma right after we finished out program. We have to wait for another couple of months to receive that.
