Coffee Break

| Yuki Baciu-David

Tove kindly agreed to my request for an interview for the Summer Edition of the magazine! Her in London and me in Jönköping, we started by introducing ourselves. As our theme is Contrast, the main focus of this Coffee Break is to explore some of the differences between student life and professional life! Tove is 25 and studied International Management here at JIBS, which she explains is not at all reflective of her job positions. While at JIBS, she was part of JUSA and the Student Union as well as working part time jobs. Before her time at JIBS, she says that it was important for her to try out different things before university in hopes to find her calling. Her first job was here in Sweden however, she received an offer for an executive position in the UK and she decided to move. Reflecting on this experience, she says she took a chance and went for it as Sweden was not quite what she was looking for. Since her graduation, she has been working exclusively in start-ups and is currently a Senior E-commerce Executive.

She tells me that for her there are some big differences between her experience at JIBS and her current work environment. She stresses the fact that she may be a bit more of a special case since she is working in a field completely different from what she studied. She undertook the IM program but in her job, she manages the business’ online operations, with main areas being in online sales, web development and search engine optimization. Besides that aspect, there are a lot of similarities in her work environment; it is a very international experience such as the one at JIBS and she says that taking part in associations and course projects helped prepare her for dealing with stakeholders in her professional life as well as coordinating her time and projects. A key difference is the importance of meeting deadlines. There is much more pressure in jobs to excel and meet deadlines which can at times require more planning to manage. The margin of error while working is much lower than at university.

The style of working also draws some similarities as well as differences she says. As a person, she likes to plan in advance and strives to be as coordinated as possible. She has done this at university and is doing so in her current workplace. Being coordinated is key in the workplace for reasons we will discuss shortly. A big difference between working styles is that in the workplace, you rely on other individuals and your work is directly impacted by others; she says in university that it is easier to be in control. Tove’s experience in start-ups is that the working style is agile and adaptive. You have to be flexible and be able to work last minute as well as solving situations and issues that you may be unprepared for.

Tove tells me that business school education prepares you for a lot of challenges and differences. Managing workloads in uni and collaborating with diverse individuals and cultures transcribes well in professional life. When looking at the curriculum; entrepreneurship and innovation helped her massively. She says business cases and practical courses are key to helping prepare students for their professional careers.

Looking back, she has some advice for students who are reading this article. You should make sure to just go out and try things, do things. You are young and should not solely be focused on settling down for a job. You should strive to do something you enjoy! Do not be afraid, take risks! She had everything career wise in Sweden, she was comfortable and yet, she took a risk moving which worked out incredibly well. If there is one thing she regrets, it is that she did not travel more during her studies and before her professional career.