1.

Discuss your professional development over the past fve years and what led you
to choose to do your MBA at this time. What are your career goals and how will a
Rotman MBA help you to achieve them?
!lease limit your answer to 500 words" #$
A key component to success in the ever changing global economy is having right mix of
analytical, technical and business skills. I started my career as a software developer at Softek, a
small software company with the focus on financial services. Over time my role grew to cover
many different aspects of the business including financial engineering and business analyst work.
I was involved in many aspects of the company, but as with all small companies, the ceiling was
limited. I wanted to build on my enterprise business knowledge, so I joined !O "apital
!arkets as a Senior Analyst under a distressed situation. !y role was two#fold, I was tasked with
managing the monthly management reports and bridging the gap between I$ and business. After
extending my contract with !O twice, our group was able to bring the monthly reporting to a
steady state. %ext, I leveraged by contacts within I! to join I! as a senior consultant in the
&isk !anagement and 'inancial Services area of focus. 'or the past half year I have been
working with a "anadian bank to develop a business case for an enterprise wide initiative. It was
one of few initiatives to pass their executive committees in recent years. (orking with business
managers throughout my professional career was a real eye#opener. I tried to portray myself in
their positions, and reali)ed that although I have built up a good foundation, there were still
many core business skills missing from my repertoire. It was from this reali)ation that had me
thinking about the steps that I would need to take to steer my career in the right direction. $he
conclusion was that a !A was the next logical step for me to take. It will empower me with the
theoretical and practical business knowledge to round out my skills.
!y career goal stems from the eight years I lived in eijing, "hina. I had the opportunity
to experience "hina*s rapid economic growth first hand. I watched businesses sprout and the
city+s infrastructure develop around me. $his experience inspired me to write my ,conomics
honors paper in university on the effect of "hina*s ascension into the ($O on "hina and its
neighbors. (riting this paper not only provided a lot of insight "hina+s economic growth, but it
also refreshed my outlook on the growth potential of other emerging markets around the world.
-oing business in developing economies is significantly different from doing business in mature,
well developed economies. ,ach country has its own idiosyncrasies which makes them uni.ue,
such as having different political environments and different business cultures. $hat is what
makes operating in different emerging markets so intriguing. /owever, alongside the upside
potential is the increased risk that must be accounted for. ,ffective risk management is
exponentially more important under these circumstances. $here must be greater emphasis placed
on risk mitigation, and a more thorough due diligence process undertaken when making strategic
decisions while doing business in these environments. !y goal is to hold a senior position in a
multinational corporation with the focus on making strategic decision within emerging markets.
&otman is well known their international presence. $he !A program at &otman will provide
me with the management skills, international business skills, and international network necessary
reach my ultimate goal.