At Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, Nikki Kosko found the stepping stone to make a career shift from a sales role to a consultant at PwC. Nikki shares how her MBA program helped her gain the skills and knowledge needed to turn her career 180 degrees.
From the moment she enrolled in Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, Nikki Kosko’s game plan was clear: make a career shift. Fast forward two years, and she has leaped to senior consultant at PwC, one of the largest professional services brands in the world.
“I decided to pursue my MBA because I was looking for a more business-oriented role. In my previous work experience in sales in the hospitality industry, I had a lot of good communication and people skills. But I really wanted to build up my quantitative problem-solving skills,” Nikki says. (00:45)
Whether you realize it or not, there are numerous skills from your professional experience that you can transfer into a new career path. It also helps to have strategic guidance, network connections, and domain-specific knowledge relevant to the new field. This is where the education of an MBA comes into play.
Goizueta Business School is a top-20 ranked business school in the United States. The school is rising on the FT MBA rankings thanks to its exceptional career services and high student satisfaction. The institution is renowned for its focus on experiential learning, leadership development, and innovative teaching techniques.
One of the most remarkable features of Goizueta is how it delivers world-class academics in small class sizes. The school’s 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio facilitates class participation, debate, and personalized feedback. It was this intimate learning environment that primarily drew Nikki to Emory for her MBA in the first place.
“I was looking for a smaller class size where I could really get to know my fellow classmates and professors,” Nikki says. “Emory’s program size is really conducive for that. I found myself making a lot of really good relationships with my fellow classmates. But equally importantly, with my professors, to be able to leverage their knowledge and their connections in the community.” (01:14)
Atlanta, Georgia, is a city of diversity, innovation, and global connectivity, making it an attractive place for an MBA degree. Studying at Goizueta was Nikki’s first stepping stone toward kickstarting her career in consulting. It connected her to the key companies, networks, and people in Atlanta’s business landscape, leading to her job at PwC.
“I wanted to stay in a big city like Atlanta. Obviously, Atlanta is a huge city here in the Southeast, with lots of Fortune 500 companies, and Emory has a lot of connections to these companies. So it really made the job search and internship search a lot more robust,” she tells us. (01:38)
Goizueta’s emphasis on practical work experience and connections to companies like The Coca-Cola Company, UPS, and Home Depot explain its stellar job placement rates. A rich tapestry of internship, networking, and employment opportunities are incredibly valuable to career changers like Nikki.
In her quest for an MBA to enable her career shift, Nikki sought a program to challenge her. Goizueta Business School stood out for its academic rigor and world-class business education.
“One of Goizueta’s core values is rigor, and the program is certainly rigorous but definitely worth it. It paid off in the end,” Nikki says. (02:02)
One of the main challenges that Nikki encountered in changing careers was her need for problem-solving and quantitative skills. She highlights Goizueta’s IMPACT course taught by Professor Lynne Segall, as a significant booster for her skill set.
“It’s basically a problem-solving course and teaches you how to solve a problem within a team. I got to work on a real-world project for a real client during business school in my second semester. We are handed a problem and have the whole semester to work it out and present real, impactful advice for how to solve that problem,” she explains. (06:29)
Courses that foster hands-on experience like this, interwoven throughout her Goizueta experience, were instrumental in helping Nikki complement her soft skills with industry-specific capabilities.
Making a career shift can seem overwhelming at first. You might see the skills, experience, and connections you lack as a wall between you and your desired profession. Nevertheless, Nikki’s story proves that the right MBA can knock that wall down.
“It’s very easy to fall into imposter syndrome,” Nikki says. “I certainly dealt with it many times throughout my MBA. When you feel like you’re not really good enough, or you feel like you don’t have the skills needed to be successful, that’s really just not true… The combination of previous work experience and the skills that you are going to pick up in [an MBA program] will really lead you to nothing but success in your next career.” (11:05)
As a final piece of advice, Nikki simply adds, “Go for it. This experience has been invaluable and essential to my future career. Especially if you are looking to make a career change like mine. I could not have gotten into consulting without going to business school.” (08:16)
Catalyzing a career shift requires more than just willpower; it necessitates strategic guidance, hands-on experience, and a robust network. If you’re at a professional crossroads and seeking a career shift, consider the MBA offerings at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
You can also contact a Goizueta Business School MBA ambassador to learn firsthand about their experience.
