Category: MBA Careers

UCD Smurfit Careers office moves and expands

As part of the on-going commitment to ensuring success for our MBA students here at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, the Career Development and Skills team has grown and has moved to a new location.

The team now consists of four people: Cathy Savage, Dee Murphy, Cathy Harrison and Brian Marrinan.

Before joining the UCD Smurfit School 4 years ago, Cathy Savage had almost a decade of experience in the recruitment industry, hiring roles from graduates through to senior management. Cathy Harrison joined us in October from the financial services industry to work with both careers and alumni relations and is a friendly face welcome you when you come to visit. Dee Murphy joined the team in January and brings with her a wealth of experience in careers, organisational development and consulting. Finally, Brian Marrinan, who also has worked with Smurfit for over 4 years and has a background in investment banking, insurance, consulting and executive search sectors, will lead the new team in delivering the best service to our students, our corporate partners and the academic community.

As part of this process, the Smurfit Career Development & Skills office have moved to a dedicated centre, ensuring a collaborative and engaging space for you to work with us on your career.

We look forward to seeing you here!

Brian Marrinan

Brian Marrinan, Dee Murphy and Cathy Savage chilling in their new office, photographer Cathy Harrison

Meet the team at http://www.ucd.ie/careers/ourstaff/careerdevelopmentteamsmurfit/

Brian Marrinan wins Outstanding Individual Achievement Award

Brian Marrinan, UCD Smurfit MBA Career Manager, has been awarded the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) inaugural Outstanding Individual Contribution Award at the AGCAS Awards for Excellence which took place in Exeter last week. This new award recognises his contribution to graduate careers services at local, national and international levels. Particularly commented on was the achievement of increasing student satisfaction of the MBA Careers service from outside the top 100 to 66th in the world in the Economist rankings in just three years, his contribution to third level careers in Ireland through his executive board position in AHECS, the Irish representative body, and his Chairing of the MBACSEA conference in Edinburgh this year which saw record attendance from international colleagues and recruiters over the 4 days of the conference.

This award, a first for UCD in AGCAS history, was highly competitive and Brian was the only winner of an award from outside the UK.

Please join us on the MBA team in congratulating Brian on this award.

Good Luck Brian Marrinan!

This week, the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) announced the shortlists for the 2013 Awards for Excellence. These competitive awards attract nominations from across the HE Careers sector in the UK and from the Irish Universities and the ITs.

Brian Marrinan, MBA Career Manager

We are delighted to announce that MBA Career Manager Brian Marrinan has been shortlisted along with two others for the AGCAS Outstanding Individual Contribution Award. Brian is the only nomination from outside of the UK for any of the awards.

These are some of the reasons why Brian was nominated,

“Brian has shown absolute dedication to creating links that pair the Smurfit Business School with the very best of industry in Ireland and abroad. It is out of these links that UCD MBAs secure access to top-tier companies for Capstone projects and for employment opportunities. I am grateful to Brian for creating the opportunity for me to demonstrate my abilities to my current employer. Brian understood my interests, strengths and motivations, and contributed hugely towards the value that I continue to gain from my Smurfit MBA.”
– Paul Buckley FT MBA 2012

“I decided to do an MBA as I wanted to make a radical change in my career. Right from the get go, one of the best parts of our year was the careers and personal development programme which Brian ran. Every Friday we had an amazing array of speakers, life coaches and career advisors spend time with us. Brian put extraordinary effort into getting the mix right.
However, what stands out for me most, was the degree of personal care and attention Brian gave each of us. His door was always open and he supported, advised and pushed us as we struggled through next steps.
As I went through the arduous interview process with McKinsey, Brian was a fantastic coach and supporter. He really set me up for success.
Brian is an exceptional careers manager, an advisor, support and friend. I will always be very grateful to him for helping me to find a new career and path post MBA.”
– Barbara O’Beirne FT MBA 2011


– Rikke Budolfsen, MBA Programme Manager



The Smurfit Consulting Initiative

As the Smurfit Full Time Class of 2012 near the closing stages of the MBA programme, they get an opportunity to put into action all the new tools, theories and techniques that they have learned over the year with the Smurfit MBA Consulting Initiative.

It’s an opportunity for the students to go out implementing their new working styles, make contacts and apply their learning’s over an intensive seven week period before presenting their findings to the companies and Smurfit staff. In addressing the organisation’s business task, students immerse themselves into the business environment and develop a solution that is ready for implementation.

Armed with workshops in advance on management consulting skills, research methods, leadership, project management, presenting to boards and more, students have the opportunity to improve their analytical, problem solving and communication skills by developing a solution to a real problem faced by an organisation.

These projects are an exciting time not only for the students, but for the companies involved also. This year we were once again massively over-subscribed by companies looking to gain the insights of a team of MBA’s, with many unfortunately ending up disappointed.

The students on the other hand now have the opportunity to join some of the world’s leading names across the Technology, Life sciences, Financial Services, Digital Media, FMCG, Not-For-Profit, Aviation and Energy sectors. Companies such as SAP, Microsoft, GSK and many others are this week welcoming a team to assist in solving strategic problems in their organisations.

This year also sees an exciting partnership with the Walton School of Business in the United States whereby their students will collaborate with ours for an incredibly exciting global project for Henkel.

We wish the students well as they step back into working life over the coming weeks, I know they are relishing the opportunity to get their teeth into real strategic issues and an insight into what their future working lives will be as executives in organisations large and small.

– Brian Marrinan, MBA Careers