Janis has 10 years of HR professional experience in multinational companies. Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, the German pharmaceutical company, she was working in recruitment agencies for 5 years specialized in recruiting middle to senior management positions. Currently Janis is working as HR Business Partner at BI China, responsible for providing HR solutions to support talent development that facilitates business growth.

Q: What is the reason you choose to study at AMBS MBA course?

10 years after graduation is a critical point when I asked myself what I have done and what I want to do in the future. Assuring myself that I would like to continue to explore HR as my career objective, I always ask myself what an HR person can contribute to the company business other than what is traditionally perceived. As a business HR, we can’t deliver our value to business without understanding business. When I was wondering how to be acknowledged of our company business, our customers and our industry, I thought of MBA. Different from learning in daily working with our business team, a systematic MBA can help me build up a complete understanding of different aspects of company and business management, develop my critical thinking and analytical skills and most importantly establish a holistic picture of view from business perspective rather than pure HR perspective. Since I am and will be continuously working in an international working environment, AMBS is the best choice for me because of its profound academic history and reputation, the international faculty and learning environment as well as its unique belief in “original thinking”.

Q: In the learning process, what kind of benefit bringing to you?

Honestly speaking, I found my English essay writing and academic resources searching skills surprisingly improved at the beginning of the MBA journey. While going further, I was gradually aware that I was able to think different questions by using critical reasoning in a more systematic and exploratory way instead of relying on existing facts or intuition. By working with different groups and teams along the learning process when it’s difficult to balance between study, work and personal lives, we exchanged different views, supported each other, practiced our leadership and improved our mental strengths. Such are the benefits the AMBS MBA has brought to me whenever I recall the past and reflect what I have achieved.

Q: What is the most memorable experience in the learning process?

There are countless memorable moments and experiences in AMBS, like studying with the team and striving for the deadlines with a tight schedule, attending workshops with schoolmates of different nationalities at overseas centers, celebrating the completion of the tasks and exams, so on and so forth. Amongst them, the most unforgettable moment is whenever we finish the workshop assignment slides in the midnight and turn off the lights, we are proud of ourselves and grateful for having such a great team no matter how exhausted every person is. These are the valuable memories that will be kept in our minds and motivate each of us in the future.  

Q: What are your favorite courses in AMBS?

My favorite courses are Managerial Economics and Corporate Finance because they are the most practical for my daily work. Not only the theories were taught but useful and most trendy case studies were discussed during the courses. They are the two important categories in today’s business world: ME taught us how to comprehend the business model, strategize business plan and combat with competitors; CF guided us to think the business choice from Return on Investment point of view, let us know what a business case looks like and why it is needed. The fact that the courses made us think on the company management’s level helped me better understand my company’s strategies and decision-making when I put what I learnt into daily practice.