Meet The HEC Paris MBA Class Of 2018

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Evgeni Tsenter

HEC Paris MBA

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Passionate for learning, reaching my goals, and pushing my limits

Hometown: Tel Aviv, Israel

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have three very diverse hobbies: Krav Maga (Israeli self-defense system), salsa dancing and chess

Undergraduate School and Major: Afeka College of Engineering, B.S in Industrial Engineering and Management

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

  • SAP (Systems Applications and Products) Business Consultant – IBM Israel LTD
  • Bid Manager – IBM Israel LTD

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: It wasn’t the largest-scale project I ever worked on, but it was the one on which I had the most influence. I successfully led and handled a $9 million bid for the largest Israeli milk and dairy cooperative. It was the first major bid I was in charge of, and the deadlines were extremely tight. My role was to lead a team of 12 professionals. In the final two weeks, we had to give everything we had and to work more than 15 hours per day, and I took it on myself to keep the morale high. Eventually, we produced a bid of over a thousand pages and finished the work a day before the deadline. It is hard to say what was more satisfying: the appreciation I received from my colleges for managing the work process, or the fact that we won the bid.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? For non-native English speakers, I suggest focusing on the SC and the CR questions in the verbal section – you can learn the rules for these questions in a reasonable amount of time, while the reading speed for the RC part would take much longer to improve. While working on the essays, I suggest reading every word on the school’s website – this really reveals the type of people the school is seeking.  It will also help you to structure your essays and interview answers in the way that best fits the school. More importantly, this will show you if this is the right school for you.

Prior to the interviews, try to Skype with at least one alumni and one current student. They can answer all of the other questions you might have, provide best practices for the interview, and tell you about the social atmosphere in the school.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? HEC’s unique management and leadership tools, such as those learned during the “Advanced Management” specialization and the St. Cyr Leadership Seminar – which I, as a former soldier, am fascinated to participate in – will take me to the next level and allow me to advance to executive roles within IBM.

The fact that HEC Paris has over 85% international students of more than 40 nationalities is one of the main reasons I chose to apply here. I was very much pleased to hear from the Development Manager about the school’s diverse population and its goal of providing a unique global and cultural experience.

Finally, as the 5th institution worldwide for the number of alumni holding CEO positions in Fortune Global 500 companies, HEC is the perfect place for me to build my career path.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? I do not yet have a dream job – at this point, I am more of an explorer than a hunter.  I am hoping to narrow my focus by the middle of the MBA program. However, I enjoy leading teams, and I hope to change the world for the better. Perhaps my dream job will be developing a groundbreaking technology, or leading a nonprofit organization; in an ideal world, I would do both.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? That I am a great person and colleague – in that order.

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