Applying to Msc Strategic Marketing - Personal Statement Example

Personal ment for Applying To Msc Strategic Marketing I recently graduated from one of the leading colleges in the UK with a bachelor’s degree in management. While for many of my contemporaries this marked the end of their academic quest in the field; based on my long and short term objectives, mine is only just commencing. My underlying motivation in applying for a Masters in marketing is driven by a variety of factors, key among these is the fact that prior to my graduation I took several modules related to the field and discovered that I am at my best in marketing. During and after my graduation, I acquired a relative degree of experience in the field through internships in various organizations where my duties mostly included coordinating sales and supply activities as well as direct marketing; details of these are in my attached CV. As a result of my heritage, I have the advantage of cultural diversity in that I am fluent in both the English and Chinese languages as well as the respective social cultural competencies required to function in the market where people from both cultures are involved. I specifically want to pursue strategic marketing because of its focus on modern developments in the field of marketing such as the role played by digital media as well as providing for incisive analytical market assessments. The course also promotes the concept of team work and consultative marketing which are all tools I believe are indispensable for someone wishing to be successful in a marketing career in the contemporary business world. The imperial college is specifically suited for my needs given the cosmopolitan setting of London which provides one with a hand on experience and exposure the globalized business worlds. In addition, I can say without flattery that this is one of the best business colleges in the region, taking to account the diverse units offered as well as the immense success enjoyed by many of its alumni. The imperial college also has featured top industry figures who frequently serve as guest lecturers getting access to such people and learning from them is an invaluable opportunity for me since I hope to be counted amongst them in posterity. Admittedly, my application is delayed; this came about as a result of my having taken time to review as many schools as possible where this program was offered. Needless to say that after researching on the various colleges, I concluded that this particular institution was the best suited for me both from a professional and social-cultural perspective. My short term goals after attain my masters include working in a management position in the Cosmetic industry specifically as a Chief Marketing Officer. This is motivated by the fact that research has found that a quarter of the CMOs in marketing hold deep expertise in various domains; in my case will be acquired through the masters. In addition, executive recruiters tend to be attracted to potential employees who have defined domain expertise and as such, I aim at making myself as attractive as possible to prospective employers. I will definitely attend graduate programs more so those specializing in the beauty and cosmetic industry since this is the specify field in which I would like to utilize my marketing skills. Furthermore, one of the intentions behind my pursuing masters is to provide myself a platform from which I can carry out research in the field; in the imperial college I will have access to resources and professional advisors and instructors who I trust will aid me at streamlining my research topics. This way I can blend my experience and skills which will be enriched the results of my research making me both competent and well informed. I am well aware of the fact that my short term goals are subject to numerous challenges in the rapidly changing market and this is in partly one of the objectives for the masters since it will make me more flexible to change as well as a critical thinker and problem solver. Such challenges include technological development whereas emerging technologies can be disruptive and sometimes make some of the skills one acquires in school irrelevant. Secondly, in as much as globalization opens up numerous opportunities, it also portends threats such as the infiltration of markets with cheap foreign goods which my hurt my career as a marketer. However, I intend to counter such challenges by familiarizing myself with the market situation; and one of the topics I am considering for my research report is the examination of changing marketing trends in the context of a radically changing marketing environment. The masters will also provide a chance for personal development and reflection, as such I can develop my interpersonal skills which are indispensable in the marketing world more so in the intercultural setting. My long term objectives can be summarized through the question; where do I see myself in 5 years? I intend to have achieves most of my short term objectives and I will hopefully have acquired a job as a CMO in a leading cosmetic company. Using my skills expertise and personal capacity for innovation, I want to be a highly successful marketer preferably in a company operating in both the Asian and European markets. I believe that based on my multicultural background, I am uniquely qualified to lead the incursion of say a UK company into China since I have a working knowledge of both the cultural environments which is a critical qualification more so when dealing with Asian businesses. Ten years after graduation, I plan to use the expertise gathered in the field to establish my own marketing firm preferably Based in the UK. Using the networks I will have put together over the years, I hope to become a Founder and/or CEO of my own company; this way I can achieve both professional and financial independence. In order to achieve my professional goals, both in the short and long term, I believe I need to acquire a set of skills both personal and professional. Foremost among these is the ability to effectively function as part of a team. Retrospectively; I have had the opportunity to hone these skills working in the marketing department of AMS Limited as well as an undergraduate student when I took part in a business planning module class. Some of the role involved conflict solving; student were supposed to come up with start-up ideas in groups and in mine I had to deal with members who were very critical sometimes just for the sake of being controversial. One of the solutions I proffered for such situations was offering the critical and uncooperative members tasks that related to risk management so that if they were genuine we could put their criticisms to good use. To deal with low morale I came up with leadership support techniques through which members and could engage in constructive social interactions and team building through which they could be comforted and distracted from the sometimes frustrating efforts. While working with Allied Group Limited (Allied Properties (H.K. Limited) a listed Hong Kong based company, I dealt with customer complains through handling emails and calls; this way, I improved and practiced problem solving as well as crisis management skills. Sometimes I was called upon to deal with frustrated clients whose problems could not be immediately solved and this called for a great deal of patience as I had to comfort them and convince them to wait until we could assign someone to them. As part of a project titled Kwun Tong Elderly IT Ambassadors project in Hong Kong while on Easter Holiday break, I participated in a voluntary service in which we taught elderly people living away from their families how to keep in touch using technological tools such as webcams, email and texting. This proved an invaluable experience since I was sensitized to the communication needs of various groups. I learnt for example that the assumption that technology is the reserve of the young and sophisticated is a damaging myth since it results to the elderly being precluded from the discourse on innovation. From my interaction with the elderly learners, I discovered that they can be just as flexible and responsive to technology as young people and they also quickly learn new ways of utilizing the tools we provided. From a marketing perspective, I appreciated that one should ensure they understand their potential clients and this often involves interacting with them within and without the professional environment so they can identify their needs and the best way to respond to them. This way, I could make myself an effective marketer by constantly predicting and anticipating the client’s needs. My experience working for Fasken Martineau; a London based, international law firm, was also instrumental in providing me with a culturally diversified view of the market as the firm serves a multiplicity of clients from across the globe. As a result I boosted my communication and intercultural skills since I came into direct contact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds that provided a variety of needs that called for social and professional dexterity. Read More