Breaking into Corporate Development Questions - Mining and Metals
Hello everyone, first time poster.
First of all, this site is great; it has been an amazing resource since I found it a couple of months ago. I am very interested in corporate finance, and after reading many of the articles and forums, I am hoping that you can give me some advice.
I am a geologist working in the Canadian mining and exploration industry. I have 4.5 years of work experience, 2 of them in a project management role. I have been accepted into a top 5 Canadian MBA program and will start there this September. My end goal is to work in a Corporate Development department at a large Mining&metals/O&G/energy company by using the MBA to break into corp finance and network as much as possible.
My questions are:
1) As someone with no formal business education, what are the most important skills that I should focus on during the MBA to help me succeed in this career transition?
2) Will my industry experience count for anything, or will I be at a severe disadvantage compared to those with business and accounting experience? Do you encounter people with a non-business undergrad in corp dev roles?
3) Do companies hire into corp dev position straight out of school? Or should I look at gaining experience in another area first? (Perhaps consulting?)
Thanks a lot. Any feedback would be very much appreciated.
1) Can't help, I'm pre-MBA..
2) Industry experience (w/ no business degree) > lack of industry experience (w/ business degree), it's a huge check mark for companies hiring into corp dev roles. Most corp dev people I know (biotechnology, healthcare IT) have skill sets and degrees that are far from business or accounting skill sets, but all of them had industry experience of at least 3+ years.
3) It's a mix, I was lucky enough to get hired straight out of undergrad into my role, without a need for consulting experience. I think a MBA along with 4.5 years of work experience would put you many lengths ahead, especially if you're applying to mining and exploration companies.
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