Since coming to MSFS in 2009, Anthony Gao has been unconventional. Gao (‘11) chose the international development (IDEV) concentration, which is rare among students from China, and upon graduation did not join the World Bank, an NGO, or a development contractor (as many of his IDEV peers did). Instead, he joined McKinsey & Company, a leading management consultancy.
Two years after graduation, Gao has made another unconventional decision: to go on sabbatical and work with the Gates Foundation. He stopped in to MSFS headquarters on the 7th floor of the ICC last week to speak with current students about his experiences and what to expect in the job market, especially for those considering management consulting as a career.
Paloma Lopez Diez, a second year student from Asturias, Spain, said she attended the event to hear about Gao’s experience as an MSFS graduate working in a field where an MBA is practically a must. “I was very interested in Anthony’s experience as a MSFS development concentrator working with one of the most important consulting firms. MSFS gives us invaluable skills that we can apply to all sectors, but selling that experience in a consulting interview can be a challenge, especially when the competitors are all MBAs.”
Gao explained to students how his MSFS education has set him apart from the legions of MBAs in management consulting. According to Gao, while business school graduates at McKinsey might be more accustomed to calculating IRRs and debt to equity ratios, his competitive edge comes from an understanding of the different actors at play in the global business arena; governments, corporations, multilaterals, NGOs, and more. It was through his experience in MSFS that he learned to understand the incentives under which each operates, and therefore how to bring them together around initiatives.
Eugene Shapsyuk, a first-year MSFS student from Brooklyn, New York, said he came away with a much stronger sense of how MSFS is preparing him not just for jobs, but for solving difficult problems. Shapsyuk was surprised to learn that some of the most important skills Gao took away from MSFS related to thinking “about complex problems: developing a strategy to solve them, and developing the ability to guide other people in solving them.”
Lopez Diez added that the discussion of how to market leadership skills was valuable: “I learned that it is very important to highlight your leadership skills both in your resume and cover letter. No matter what kind of experience you have had before, you can be competitive in a place like McKinsey if you are able to demonstrate those kinds of skills.”
And as for how the talk has changed his career priorities, Shapsyuk is still on the fence: “I’m not sure I’ll ultimately pursue a career in consulting, but I am interested in learning more about it and hope to hear more from more alumni about their experiences in the sector.” Lopez Diez, on the other hand, took the lessons from the discussion as reinforcement: “Now I am even more motivated to apply and try to work in this interesting industry!”
Gao, who currently lives in Shanghai, China, will begin his work with the Gates Foundation later in 2013. His sabbatical is a McKinsey-sanctioned, limited-term appointment.