Vipul Kumar Choudhary (SK 2019): “Interculturality is at the heart of SKEMA”

Originating from India, Vipul chose to leave his home country and move to France, where he enrolled in a master’s in Marketing at SKEMA which opened the doors for him to a career in France. He tells us about his experience as an international student, his career evolution in France and his future prospects.

Why did you choose to study in France and at SKEMA in particular?

After attending an engineering school in India, I worked in the sales department of a software company and then for another company as a business developer. In that last role my duties including managing production and quality control for clients and I also participated in the deployment to new international markets. It was after that experience that I decided to go to France and attend SKEMA on the Paris campus, to complete a two-year master’s degree in International Marketing and Business Development. I chose to come to France because I have always been very intrigued by the French culture and language. I knew nothing about the French market at the time; I wanted to explore it in more depth. SKEMA stood out from the other schools because the programme was what I wanted to study, in terms of the business development subjects, tools and concepts taught.

When I arrived in France though, I was confronted with a real language barrier because I didn’t speak French, and it took me a bit of time to adapt to the all new environment and to make friends. But one of the great advantages of SKEMA is that it has a lot of international students of all different nationalities and that makes intercultural interaction much easier. I also participated in a lot of events organised by SKEMA and that allowed me to meet students from all different walks of life.

At the end of my master’s, in 2019, I found an internship at Transatel, where I worked as an intern in business development for the automotive department. After that six-month internship, I was hired to join the marketing team. That is when I started to do operational marketing. Actually, I was promoted recently and I now work as IoT Marketing Manager. Among other duties, I am in charge of managing all of the company’s operational marketing activities.

Once out in the workforce, how did you navigate the cultural and managerial differences?

Actually it was a very interesting transition for me, because I come from a culture where people are very much workaholics and we sometimes work up to 15 or 16 hours a day. In France I discovered a very different, highly structured way of working... For example, in India you can knock on your superior’s door at any time, whereas in France we tend to plan meetings for everything, even for very short meetings that only last a few minutes... Generally speaking, French management is also based on a more hierarchical organisational structure than I am used to. So it is very different, but the transition was gradual.

Are you still in touch with SKEMA these days?

I meet up with my SKEMA friends regularly and I keep in touch with other alumni via social media. I’m also part of the SKEMA Alumni network. It is very rich on both an interpersonal and a professional level, and that creates some wonderful opportunities.

In addition to this, during the COVID-19 lockdown I decided to create a community for SKEMA’s Indian students, on social media in particular. A lot of foreign students suddenly found themselves in an uncertain situation and we are trying to help them, advise them and put them in touch with the right people. We are also giving them professional guidance, helping them to decide which skills to develop, to draft their resumes, to figure out which rules apply to them in relation to visas, and to manage any problems they might have as a result of the pandemic crisis, whether administrative, academic, financial or personal.

Generally speaking, my goal is to build a supportive community at SKEMA for all Indian students; a community where people can help each other to find a job and where they can discuss things openly, for example.

Do you have any advice for young SKEMA graduates?

In my experience, it is crucial to build yourself a solid network, because in the market it’s all about who you know. Even if you’re really good at what you do, if you don’t get out there and meet and talk to people you will miss out on opportunities. I think that many people fall short in this area, even though technically-speaking they are highly qualified. So my advice to young graduates would be to reach out to the right people in their industry to get their name out there. For example, during my internship, I networked a lot within my company, with colleagues from different departments. That enabled me to get my current position in the marketing department.

What are your plans for the future?

For the next 5 years, I have a plan that is becoming rather clear: I plan to stay another two years in France, then change countries, perhaps Singapore, Tokyo or the United States, to discover a completely different language and culture. Then I think I will go back to India, where I would like to start my own company. All of the decisions I have made in my life have been geared towards that goal and I have always been motivated by the idea of working for myself.

Contact: Vipul Kumar Choudhary (SK 2019)

Interview by lepetitjournal.com for SKEMA Alumni