In 2017, I graduated from Foreign Trade University in Vietnam, majoring in Economics and International Trade. Then, I worked in Marketing and Project management until 2020, before my preparation for joining IÉSEG.  

When choosing a management school, my number one concern was about the program content. The Master in Finance incorporates largely the CFA level I and II program, providing participants with strong fundamentals in corporate finance and in financial markets. It also provides elective courses to gain a better understanding of specific topics in Finance. In my case, with the orientation and support of professors at IÉSEG, I was lucky enough to be awarded the merit-based scholarship from the CFA Institute that reduced the exam fee.  

Finding an internship and a job after my Master in Finance was quite easy since recruiters truly appreciate the program content and the CFA certification. Besides, IÉSEG is one of the members of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles (CGE) and I believe this helped me a lot in the job seeking process. Furthermore, IÉSEG has two campuses – one in Lille and one in Paris-La Défense- enabling me to choose between two big cities with a rich culture and full of job opportunities. 

I really enjoyed discussing financial topics with my professors and my international friends at IÉSEG. Each course required us to work in groups, giving us a chance to know more about economics in different parts of the world, for instance in Columbia, Argentina, Lebanon, European countries, Japan etc. I particularly like the Firm valuation and Corporate Finance subjects. While following these two courses, we had the opportunity to do a hands-on job to assess the financial situation of some existing companies and provide our analysis. 

I really appreciated the Career Center, and especially the career program and CV coaching sessions. I received feedback and advice on how to improve my CV to adapt to automated scanning systems and attract human eyes as well. As I was guided for including the right information into my resume, I got many interesting interview invitations. The coaches also helped students in preparing for interviews, including the STAR method, ways to ask the right questions, or even salary negotiation.  

After doing an internship at a French hedge fund, I received several offers to stay and work in France. However, I decided to go back to my home country to start my own business in organic food and running my family business in the sustainable energy sector. Finance is not the sole factor but definitely a key factor in running a business. Thanks to what I have learned at IÉSEG, I feel totally confident in managing the financial aspects of my company.  

My master program provide me with financial knowledge to work in the field, but apart from that, I also learned about financial modelling, and some basic coding skills in R and Python that are very helpful nowadays to boost productivity. I can say hat professors are my heroes! 

Published on: May 6, 2024