Realising your potential

You want a return on your investment from your MBA – to change career, move to a more senior position, or start your own business. Whatever your individual goal, our career development team are committed to helping you.

Change and progression

Making a change in function, industry or physical location

Making a change in sector, function, and country or a combination of these, are common career objectives for our MBA students. Our career development service will help you explore your options and will work with you identify the type of job roles that will be the most fulfilling for you.

Preparation plays a key role in making a successful career transition. Demonstrating to recruiters that you understand the needs of their business and have the necessary people and technical skills requires successful articulation of your transferable skills. For each transition, our coaching and business development consultants are on hand to partner with you, helping you to articulate with credibility your knowledge and passion for the role.

Change and Progression

Moving into a more senior role

Making a transition to a more senior role typically requires adopting a more strategic view and acquiring a wider range of people-based skills. This can often go against the established behaviours that were successful in more junior roles where the acquisition of tools and knowledge differentiated candidates.

We will assist you in developing your breadth of business vision as well as your leadership skills. We have extensive experience of coaching our students through such transitions to more senior roles. Demonstrating the behaviours you epitomise with senior managers throughout your MBA, you will collect invaluable feedback to aid your transition.

If you are sponsored by your organisation, we will work with you to outline a development plan, provide guidance on talent management best practice, and support your succession planning with senior management.

Change and Progression

Starting your own business

If you aspire to start your own business after completing your MBA we will work with you to make your business dream a reality.???

You will be able to tap into the extensive knowledge and expertise of the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurial Performance and Economics to develop your business idea beyond the business plan in a confidential setting with our professional in-house coaching team.

If your business idea is high-tech or knowledge based, you can also take advantage of the facilities, support and advice offered by the Cranfield University Business Incubation Centre (CUBIC).

Cranfield has an extensive entrepreneurial track record and network. With the UK’s largest Business Growth Programme (an executive education course for business owners/managers) you will be connected into a network of successful entrepreneurs and will be exposed to networking opportunities with business angels.?

We are committed to developing the launch of new businesses and give you the opportunity to start your own venture through the Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation module in part two of the programme. We will also connect you with Cranfield alumni who started their own businesses who are happy to share their experiences.

Change and Progression

Working in the UK

The UK has introduced a number of new immigration, naturalisation, work permit and working visa categories in the last few years. The points based skilled immigration category the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), introduced in January 2002 has now been replaced by the Tier 1 (General) points based system. This is part of the UK's new five tier system which encompasses all work, study, and training immigration routes into the UK. Since 30 June 2008 the Tier 1 (General) scheme fully replaced the HSMP.

Tier 1 (General) allows highly skilled individuals who score 75 points to work in the UK without any kind of sponsorship from an employer. This is similar to the previous, although there is no longer the MBA provision which automatically granted Cranfield MBA students with the 75 points required.

You can use the home office’s Tier 1 General Highly Skilled Migrants points calculator to assess your chances of being granted a Tier 1 visa under this sub-category.

We will connect you with previous students who have completed the work permit process who will offer their advice and support, and specialist recruitment law firm Mishcon de Reya will update you on the current UK immigration regulations and procedures during the programme.