How ESMT Berlin supports students’ career development and confidence

Career development is a core part of the student experience at ESMT. So much so that we have a dedicated Career Development Center (CDC) who are focused on helping students create the confidence and connections that open doors.  

In this blog, Andreza André da Rocha, Senior Career Development & Employer Relations Manager at ESMT, explains how the CDC helps students hone their personal brands, find professional opportunities, and build towards lasting career success. 

Hi Andreza, could you please introduce yourself?  

I am a Senior Career Development & Employer Relations Manager in the Career Development Center (CDC) at ESMT Berlin, and I have been working in this role for over five years. Time flies! I came to Germany from Brazil about 20 years ago to do my master’s. One thing led to another and 20 years later, I am still here, happily supporting international talent to thrive in the German job market. 

What is your favorite thing about your job? 

My favorite thing about the job is being able to work with students every day. They inspire me and keep me feeling young! I also enjoy that in this job, no day is like the other; we get to wear different hats.  

In the morning, I will be counselling an MBA student who wants to do a triple pivot (changing location, industry, and function), then chat with a student who just arrived from another continent and is figuring out how to adapt their resume to Germany, then I will talk with a partner about our next company event, and start designing a workshop I will be hosting in a few weeks, all while keeping one eye on LinkedIn to see what is happening in the job market. In the meantime, I also located an internship report that was supposedly missing. Borrowing one of my colleague Marcel’s favorite expressions: never a dull moment!

Can you tell us a bit about the Career Development Center (CDC)? How do you help students?  

“We are a very dedicated and motivated team; I can honestly say that we all enjoy and find meaning in what we do.” 

The Career Development Center exists to ensure that ESMT students get access to excellent career opportunities. We are a very dedicated and motivated team; I can honestly say that we all enjoy and find meaning in what we do. 

We help students build a career they love in different ways: by providing individual counselling, organizing company and recruiting events, hosting workshops, creating opportunities for students to network with potential employers and alumni, providing tools and resources to make applications and interview preparation easier, and so on. We also help students explore their strengths and options and make career-related decisions. To sum it up, we are there for them each step of the way, whenever they need us. 

We work most closely with master’s (MSc) and Full-time MBA students, but we host several events and workshops that are open to students from other programs and to exchange students. 

Furthermore, all students have access to our career platform CareerOS, which provides an AI-powered CV building tool, a job and an event page, detailed information about companies and industries, and many other helpful resources. All students can also reach out to the CDC team when they need support.   

The advice we provide is of course tailored to the student’s specific needs and career stage, although every advisor has their own counselling and communication style. One thing we can all agree on, however, and that applies to students and professionals of all seniority levels, is that networking is essential, as a strong network (or lack thereof) can make or break a career. Never underestimate the power of professional connections! 

Do students need to have a concrete career plan before they come to you, or can you help them figure out their strengths and next steps? 

“No one should feel obliged to follow a certain path just because it makes sense on paper.” 

Yes, we can help them figure things out. Sometimes, students come to us and ask: “Based on my profile, what do you think I should do?” However, the next career step is not always obvious, and it is not our place to say what someone should or should not do.   

The questions they should be asking themselves are: “Based on my previous experiences, what do I enjoy doing most? What role would allow me to do more of that?” And: “What tasks or activities make me lose track of time? In which situations do I deliver my best results?” 

These questions can help people choose a direction and make well-informed career decisions; no one should feel obliged to follow a certain path just because it makes sense on paper.

One of the flagship CDC events is the annual Career Fair. What does this involve and what can students gain from the experience? 

Organizing the ESMT Career Fair is A LOT of work, and we are lucky to have Liza, our amazing Event Manager, in the CDC team. It involves acquiring a good mix of companies to make the event interesting and relevant to students and making sure we deliver an experience that makes them go home after the event and think: “Today was a great day; I made new connections, had insightful conversations, and learned something new about a company or industry. I heard about opportunities that are not all over the internet and took a further step in my career development.” 

That’s what we hope students take from this experience! 

The CDC also runs the annual MBA Talent Forum. What is this and how does it give MBA students a chance to network with those from other schools? 

The MBA Talent Forum is a very cool event because it is tailored for MBA candidates, so it only includes companies that want to hire experienced talent. We host it in collaboration with other top business schools in Germany, joining forces so the companies that join get access to a larger talent pool.  

Moreover, it is an opportunity for MBA students enrolled in different schools to exchange experiences and ideas and expand their network. The next edition will take place on December 4 at the ESMT campus and bring together students from ESMT Berlin, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Mannheim Business School, and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. 

As well as annual campus events, the CDC arranges company visits around Berlin (and further afield!). How can students make the most of these visits? 

These visits are a great opportunity to experience the company culture firsthand and see what happens behind the scenes.  

My advice to make the most of these visits is: do some research about the company beforehand, be on time, and bring three essential ingredients to make it an enjoyable experience for all involved – a positive attitude, curiosity, and an open mind. Even if the company is not on your target list, it might surprise you and be a great match! 

There are different ways to find internships, and the easiest is by taking advantage of the CDC network. That’s how the CDC helps: by hosting events where students can establish meaningful connections (and eventually land a role), advertising openings from our network of alumni and partner organizations (some of them exclusive for ESMT students), promoting the profiles of our students to potential employers, and keeping students informed about internship opportunities in different industries.  

We also advise students on how to adapt their application strategy, so they can find the right opportunity sooner. 

Let’s talk about general career advice. This year, you hosted a webinar about personal career branding. What is your favorite personal branding tip? 

“If you are serious about finding a great job, growing your business or advancing your career, being humble and staying quiet in a corner is not an option.” 

It’s a simple one: put yourself out there! Everyone has something unique to offer, but people often mistake personal branding with bragging. If you are serious about finding a great job, growing your business or advancing your career, being humble and staying quiet in a corner is not an option.  

You need to tell the world what you are good at, and what kind of problems you can help a company or client solve. No one is going to do that for you, but if you decide to remain in that quiet, invisible corner, someone else might end up getting your dream job just because they are louder, but not necessarily better than you. 

What about people who are worried about the impact of AI on their employment prospects? Is a business school qualification still a good idea? 

I understand the concern, and in my conversations with peers and students, the topic of skills and professions becoming obsolete because of AI comes up often. However, I remain cautiously optimistic about the future of work, if the focus is on how we can use AI to make our work more efficient, automate processes, and get rid of repetitive tasks that don’t add value to what we do.  

In any case, we need to adapt and become increasingly skilled at using AI tools, and putting them to work for us, to make our life a bit easier.  

And yes, business degrees remain relevant, even more so in the age of AI. There are many skills that AI tools cannot replace or teach humans: critical thinking (essential when working with said tools), adaptability, communication skills, interpersonal and intercultural skills, for instance. These and other skills that students develop during their studies will remain in high demand. 

Do you have any specific pointers for people wanting to get an edge in the job market? 

“Networking doesn’t need to be complicated; it’s about attending events and making new connections, keeping in touch with people you already know, and sending strategic connection requests on LinkedIn” 

Professional success today is strongly influenced by who you know, and how you position yourself. Having a well-structured, clear and targeted CV (and the LinkedIn profile to go with it) is a basic requirement, so, taking the risk of sounding like a broken record, my advice is: network. 

Networking doesn’t need to be complicated; it’s about attending events and making new connections, keeping in touch with people you already know, and sending strategic connection requests on LinkedIn. The idea is to let as many people as possible know that you are pursuing a new opportunity, while at the same time showing that you are great at what you do. And how do you do that? By building a strong personal brand, one conversation and LinkedIn post at a time.

Yes, and that makes me so happy! Alumni often reach out to me to promote openings in their team or company, as they prefer to hire from ESMT. Just yesterday, two MIM (now called MGM) alumni joined an event at ESMT to promote opportunities at their current employer and asked if I would be at the event because they wanted to see me. 

Next week I am meeting a recent MSc alumna for coffee, because she wants to thank me in person for the support during the program; the months before graduation can be especially tough because students need to juggle academic commitments with the job search. This alumna received a great job offer before graduation. It’s her merit because she is incredible and any company would be lucky to have her, but as a career advisor, it is very rewarding to know that the support we provide has an impact and contributes to bringing professionals to the market who are confident, ambitious, and eager to make a difference.  

They make me proud!