Shifting from a decade in diplomacy to a career in consulting

Student profile

Name: Aziz Yuldashev

Nationality: Uzbekistan

Job title: Senior Consultant

From diplomacy to consulting

Aziz held important roles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, and the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Singapore, before joining the MBA.

His goals when he started the MBA were to deepen his business acumen and develop his consulting skills through projects within the programme, with a view to make the move into his desired sector.

Transitioning to the private sector

Aziz explains, "I decided to switch to the private sector by using my analytical and problem-solving skills as well as my strong interest in steep learning and exploring new areas and industries.

"Working in management consulting, I expose myself to various challenges in different industries by solving issues for clients every day, which gives me a lot of courage and motivation to move forward."

In fact, Aziz made a 'triple jump' - changing industry, function, and location. Now, he's a Senior Consultant at Curzon Consulting in London.

"It was more complex than it might sound because I had to overcome several challenges, such as lack of relevant experience, networking, cultural adjustment, market perception and most importantly, enough time," he explains.

Career support from AMBS

Despite challenges, Aziz had support from the AMBS Postgraduate Career Services (PCS). This included workshops to familiarise MBA candidates with the UK job market, internship opportunities, and networking with other graduates to learn more about specific industries and job requirements.

"Differentiating between reactive and proactive approaches, guiding through structured and project-based internships, and organising a series of guest speaker events, roundtables, competitions and networking events in London and Manchester are just some of the actions PCS conducts all year around," Aziz says.

"All members of the team are always quick to respond, provide tailored recommendations and are ready to meet for 1-2-1 sessions."

The team also prepares MBA candidates for future interviews, teaching skills and techniques as well as conducting mock interviews to outline what works well and what could be improved.

Through the PCS, Aziz secured an internship.

The vital part of getting an internship while doing an MBA is to apply your knowledge and skills gained during the program and lay the foundation for your future full-time experience.

A valuable internship experience

Aziz was looking for a project-based internship and took the opportunity to work with Garic Ltd, a company that supplies innovation welfare equipment and site solutions.

The goal of his engagement included structuring their Modern Slavery Policy to comply with existing UK legislation.

"Apart from drafting the policy, I have also developed a risk assessment tool to assess Garic's entire supplier network for their modern slavery approach and score them based on the traffic light approach. This will help the company tailor their relationships with stakeholders and educate their counterparts to exclude any legal breaches," says Aziz.

Advice on securing an internship

When it comes to searching for and applying to internships, Aziz advises future MBAs to identify their career goals and aspirations early on in their programme to help direct their search for the right opportunity.

He also suggests learning from people who have already made the desired transition.

"Networking with AMBS graduates helped in getting their steer for future interview preparation, such as tips and strategies, industry-specific advice and mentoring for future success," he says.