According to one study, 70% of employers end up making a full-time job offer to their interns, and 80% of these interns accept.
On the specialized master’s programs at ESCP Business School, internships are built into the curriculum.
Covering topics including communications, project management, digital transformation, and more, each business master’s degree at ESCP requires a minimum four-month professional placement for all students.
BusinessBecause spoke to two recent alumni from ESCP Business School—from the MSc in Energy Management and the MSc in Marketing and Creativity—to find out how their business school internships helped them land full-time jobs after graduation.
Cristina Villaveces, ESCP MSc in Energy Management to Green Growth Consultant
Before enrolling on the master’s at ESCP, Cristina was working as an environmental engineer in Colombia. Despite the pandemic, ESCP helped her secure a business school internship with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and she now works for them as a program development consultant in Mexico City.
Why did you choose to do an MSc in Energy Management at ESCP?
I ran into many graduate programs that were focused on the technical/engineering side of energy technologies, but since I have a background in engineering, I was looking to expand my field of work and acquire managerial knowledge and skills.
I chose ESCP for its mobility between two major European cities [London and Paris] and the requirement of doing an internship, which I believed would help me position professionally after my master’s.
How did you secure your business school internship?
I received support from the school’s career center, including a CV review, interview training, and a guide as to where to focus my search. I also received support from our program manager and academic director who were in constant contact with me and helped in any way they could.
What stands out from your business school internship experience?
During my internship, I was responsible for conducting research and developing profiles for countries the organization wanted to build relationships with. I also helped develop funding proposals by researching key sectors, project interventions, and country context.
One of the main highlights of the internship was that I interned for the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Director from whom I learned greatly and who pushed me to be creative.
How did your full-time job offer come about?
When my internship was coming to an end, my supervisor mentioned that the office I was working with required support from a consultant, and that my team had recommended I fill that position.
How else have you benefited from your MSc in Energy Management at ESCP?
Most certainly, I would not be where I am today had I not pursued my MSc in Energy Management at ESCP, as the knowledge and skills I acquired have helped me get to where I am now.
The MSc gave me the opportunity to participate in an Energy Trading Challenge in which we competed as teams against other universities, which was a unique opportunity to experience what a trader does in their daily lives.
I also had many networking opportunities with alumni and participated in events in different universities in London, which helped me visualize what the possibilities were after finishing my master’s.
Giri Venkatraman | ESCP MSc in Marketing & Creativity to a career at Publicis Groupe
Giri hails from Chennai, India, but moved his career to Europe after a successful business school internship with Publicis Groupe, where he now works as chief of staff to the global client lead for healthcare company Sanofi.
Why did you choose to do an MSc in Marketing and Creativity (MMK) at ESCP?
I wanted to study in Europe in a course that would take into account my work experience and help me reorient into the creative side of business in Europe.
The MMK served that to me on a platter: with a London/Paris setup that valued previous experience, it offered timely courses on data and creative analytics alongside the traditional marketing education.
How did you secure your business school internship?
The careers departments in both London and Paris helped me marry my previous experience with the kind of roles I wanted to transition into. Given I had only worked in marketing on the client side before, they gave me a better understanding of how agencies and holding groups worked and helped tailor my CV to apply to them.
I then reached out to MMK alumni to understand and learn from their experiences and sent out several applications, learning from the rejections where I needed to improve. My internship interview at Publicis came about thanks to an ESCP alumna, who was working on a different team.
What stands out from your business school internship experience?
Healthcare was an industry I had no experience in, but I accepted that position because I was working with the top boss of the account and that gave me an unprecedented visibility into several different facets of the agency.
It was also a right-place-at-the-right-time situation because healthcare would go on to become the most important industry in the world in a few weeks with the onset of COVID. I was a part of a lean six-person team that was spread across Europe and the US and had to fire on all cylinders from the get-go to deliver value and scale.
How did your full-time job offer at Publicis Groupe come about?
Back in March 2020, COVID had forced companies into a no-hiring zone, and there was no full-time position available on the team for me to transition into.
It didn’t deter me from giving it my best anyway, because I was working with extremely senior folks in the C-suite and management, and the work I was doing for them was incredibly interesting and valuable.
Consequently, I was able to showcase what I could bring to the company to the highest levels of management, who judged my potential more than my experience.
I was also very fortunate in finding an incredible boss who fought to keep me on the team and curated a full-time chief of staff role for me – luck is an aspect that isn’t talked about often, but I wouldn’t be here without it.
How else have you benefited from your MSc in Marketing & Creativity at ESCP?
I certainly don’t think I’d be here without ESCP. The course gave me the right balance of what marketing is today and a support system through its alumni network that would help me going forward.
For someone like me who comes from a poorer country with less access to the things that I was taught here, it was more than just empowering – it’s that permission you give yourself to achieve more than you thought you could. It’s a powerful feeling, and one that can change your entire outlook on life.
