MBA Student Profile: Marina Iskhakova, Norwegian School of Management BI

A budding entrepreneur, Marina Iskhakova speaks with QS TopMBA.com of her experience studying for an MBA at the Norwegian School of Management BI.

At a time when it was easier to lose a job than get one, Marina Iskhakova was graduating with her MBA. The Russian MBA alum, from St Petersburg, completed "one hard year" of Full-time MBA study at the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, and in September 2008 began sending off her CV. Two months later she was fortunate enough to start work as a strategic consultant for Russian firm Ward Howell.

"I currently spend 50% of my time in Russia and 50% of my time in Norway. The financial crisis did affect me and the other MBA graduates of 2008 in terms of expected salaries, positions and ambitious plans for global projects. So far I feel that what I got was what I could in the given situation," she says.

Iskhakova is now planning to work for five years in strategic consulting and talent management consulting - areas of real interest for her both professionally and personally. "In five to seven years I would like to start my own consultancy firm in Russia with a strong focus on talent development, emerging economies and global emotional experience. My MBA knowledge will support me in terms of the global vision and development I have for my company."

Her MBA has given her vital skills to be successful in her current position and those she is hoping to gain in the future, but there were some other skills Iskhakova wished she'd had before embarking on her MBA in Norway. "I wish I had made learning the Norwegian language a priority. My pre-MBA plan was to get a Norwegian MBA and then gain two to three years of western work experience before returning to Russia. I spent three months sending of more than 500 CVs in Norway and didn't once get a reasonable offer. The only answer is that, besides your MBA, you need to be fluent in Norwegian."

Norway is a hard country to enter as a foreigner, especially for those from developing and emerging economies. Even an MBA from one of the top Norwegian schools of business didn't seem to be enough to get the type of position Iskhakova was after. "It's not a country where you can get those two to three years of work experience. It's much less open and international than I had thought," she said.

One of the additional challenges Iskhakova faced during her time studying in Norway was developing connections. She found the culture shock moving from the Russian business environment to the Norwegian one quite difficult, and wants her experience to forewarn others about moving between cultures.

"There is a wall between private and business life in Norway and I wasn't ready for such an atmosphere after a more open and sharing business environment in Russia. Building connections and long-term trust is the basis for any business and that is hard to develop in Norway during a one-year MBA program, particularly if you are coming from an emerging economy to Norway."

However, studying for an MBA in a country such as Norway helped develop her international communication. "I wanted to know more about cross-cultural communications and by studying for my MBA in Norway I have that now. For me, it was the first long international experience I'd had. When 80% of our program was based on teamwork, effective team collaboration with my colleagues from 11 countries was more than simply a challenge!"