Prior to attending London Business School, Andi Frkovich (LBS, ‘20) was a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. While she enjoyed her time in the Navy, she wanted to transition to a career that would allow her to have more time at home. During her time in school, she augmented the leadership experience from her time in the Navy to build a stronger business toolkit, and shared with us her approach for building new skills to transform her own career growth
MBASchooled: What did you do prior to business school and why did you choose to go to business school?
Before business school, I was a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. I loved my time in the Navy, but ultimately wanted to settle down in a job where I would have a bit more time at home. I thought business school would provide me with skills and experiences that would help me re-brand myself for the civilian workforce.
MBASchooled: When making the transition to school, what were some of the challenges you had to overcome? What did you do to overcome them?
My biggest challenge was my initial lack of business knowledge. I overcame this by signing up for Investopedia’s ‘word of the day’ emails, reading the Financial Times each morning, and putting a lot of effort into LBS’s pre-term coursework. I had to put a bit more work than my peers into school work and into practice case interviews, but it was definitely worth it.
MBASchooled:What did you recruit for? What resources, programs or experiences were most helpful to finding the field/industry you were interested in?
I recruited for consulting. Throughout the recruiting process, I found my classmates to be the most helpful resource. I got tons of help from prior and sponsored consultants in my classes- everyone was really helpful and willing to volunteer their time. Classmates also really help you get an idea of what day-to-day life and culture is like at different firms. Beyond that, I found the Military in Business Club, the Consulting Club, and the Career Centre to be great resources.
MBASchooled:What’s an experience or opportunity where you’ve gotten to put your past experience to use in business school?
I’ve found that the soft skills military members develop can be useful in a variety of settings. In many ways, our experience is opposite those of most of our peers in business school: we lack business experience but have a lot of management experience, while a lot of our peers have extensive business experience but less management experience. I found that in group settings, I couldn’t contribute as much background knowledge as a lot of my peers, but I was quite good at taking initiative, getting people organized, and timelining projects. I had a few conversations with friends about ways to effectively lead and manage teams, and those were always very rewarding.
MBASchooled:How did your past experience in the military help you navigate business school?
I felt like the military left me well-equipped to multi-task, handle late nights and unpredictable schedules, and manage stress, all of which are useful skills in business school (especially during recruiting season!) Also, the veterans’ network is incredibly strong and proved to be a great asset through business school.
MBASchooled: What part of you so far has undergone the most growth/development? What skills in particular do you feel you’ve either developed, or strengthened?
I feel like my business acumen and ability to network have undergone the most growth. The business community functions quite differently from the military community, and it definitely took me a few months to figure out how to successfully navigate networking, interviews, etc. Recruiting events and business school classes definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone initially, but I’ve learned an incredible amount both in terms of knowledge and in terms of how to successfully build a network, and that’s been very rewarding.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for other military veterans about using an MBA to transition their career?
The MBA is a great way to transition your career, especially because it provides a lot of opportunity to explore different career options and reflect on what sort of career might be most enjoyable to you. For veterans (like me) without much prior business experience, I think it’s really important to enter the MBA with an open mind. When I first got to campus, I attended a lot of events, explored a lot of career opportunities, and changed my mind about what I wanted to do multiple times. Although I invested a lot of time exploring career opportunities I didn’t end up pursuing, I think those experiences were super valuable, because they gave me confidence that moving into consulting is the best move for me. If you keep an open mind, the MBA can be a great way to both accelerate your career and gain clarity into your career aspirations.