Meet IE Business School’s Class of 2016

Uladzimir Behunkou 

IE Business School

Hometown: Minsk, Belarus.

Undergraduate School and Major: I got my diploma in Automated Information Processing from Belarusian State University of Informatics And Radioelectronics in 2006. Later, in 2007, I earned a Master of Science in System Analysis also from Belarusian State University Of Informatics And Radioelectronics.

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: At the beginning, I worked as a part-time developer for International Business Alliance in Minsk. After earning my master’s degree, I joined Epam System as SAP lead consultant – also in Minsk. Later on, I started working for Accenture as SAP consultant. Finally, in 2012, I was invited to Vitte Consulting as SAPs manager and was promoted to Business Development Director in two years.

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? From my point of view, a preparation plan is very important. I would recommend creating one and following it. In addition, it would be better for applicants to register for the GMAT exam in the middle of a preparation process or even earlier. When applicants know that the deadline is coming, they work more intensively and according to the plan. However, the most vital thing is belief in yourself, because everyone can get a high score if invests enough time and efforts.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? Everything depends on goals of a person. Applicants should sense what they are going to do in 5 and 10 years from now. Having such understanding allows applicants to define a list of schools that can help to archive their objectives.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? After taking exams, applicants, especially those with good scores, can feel that they will be accepted into the schools of their dreams and that the application process is not so important. Such approach can ruin any prospects. My personal vision is to pay attention to every detail in the application process. Make sure that your essays present your unique ideas and way of thinking. Thereafter, ask a competent person to read your essays and provide you with a feedback. Such assessment will increase the quality of your essays. Also, I would recommend exploring the interview approach of the school to which you are invited. Applicants can make a list of questions, which are usually asked during interview in that school and practice answering them. When you are ready, it is better to do a mock interview. Finally, the best recommenders are people you work with.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? When I started exploring schools, I found out that IE MBA is very international program. This criterion was very important for me, because of globalization. I doubt that you can find a more international program. In addition, the school does everything to be on the top of the market. As you know, IE MBA program has been recently renovated according to current situation in the world, and our intake is the first one to pass it.  Finally, the focus of the program is aligned with my short and long term objectives.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? First of all, I would like to expand my network, because I believe that together with classmates we will be able to make the world better and realize more sophisticated projects, which we could not even think about. now  Also, I wish to improve my knowledge in areas I am interested in. Finally, I expect to broaden my horizons.