After a 15-year career, Bruno left everything behind to go back to school and become independent thanks to EM Normandie's Master in Management.
Find out how this holistic programme enabled him to reinvent himself professionally and become the top student in his class.
Can you tell us why you chose the Master in Management?
After about fifteen years of experience in the job market, I felt ‘trapped’ in my first professional roles. So I decided to go back to school to better structure my professional approach with solid theoretical knowledge and to acquire new skills.
I first obtained a bachelor's degree in management, directly following the BTS (2-years diploma) I obtained during my initial training. After this first step, I wanted to go further and gain a more panoramic understanding of how businesses operate. This was so that I could become independent and possibly even turn to entrepreneurship later on.
The Master in Managementat EM Normandie was the only programme that met all my criteria. Firstly, it was offered by a renowned grande école authorised to award master's degrees, which was not the case for many training centres offering continuing education programmes.
Secondly, the blended learning format was perfectly suited to my situation, allowing me to combine my professional and family life with returning to education.
The scope of disciplines covered by the Grande École Programme was a decisive factor for me: management, HR, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy, internationalisation, etc. Many other programmes do not cover such a wide range of subjects in such depth, limiting themselves, to put it simply, to general management, strategy, management control and leadership support.
All subjects presented in the EM Normandie Master in Management curriculum outline were also addressed by genuine experts (mostly lecturers and researchers, or experienced professionals).
What was your position and what were your objectives at the end of the training?
In my case, I decided not to wait until the end of the programme to think about my new career prospects.
So, following on from my work-study bachelor's degree, I immediately sought to apply what I had learned by working on assignments for companies as a freelancer. My aim was to stay in touch with the reality of the economic landscape and avoid taking an excessive break from work.
It was a real challenge, and it would have been tempting – and much more sustainable – to comfortably complete the training programme and then start looking for a job. However, I don't regret this approach, as it allowed me to maintain continuity in my career while also seeing my prospects evolve.
Today, my work is divided between consulting, particularly in strategy and digital, and training, with a solid foundation combining theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
Did the programme meet your expectations?
The EM Normandie Master in Management fully met my expectations, and I would make the same choice again if I had to.
Beyond the lessons taught, this programme allowed me, as I progressed through the various subjects, to analyse my past successes and better understand how I could have improved other professional situations in the past.
It also enabled me to link theoretical concepts with my observations of the business world and how it works, gained through various professional situations. This also gave me new ideas and perspectives, revealing a genuine interest in subjects other than those related to my professional experience (corporate finance, lobbying and economic intelligence, for example).
Each module was approached as a true state-of-the-art overview of the subject, which I found fascinating. I therefore got as involved as I could in each module. This approach led me to be named valedictorian, a recognition I did not expect at all.
Finally, it should be emphasised that the teaching staff at EM Normandie always provided high-quality support and answers, regardless of the situation or difficulty encountered by our class. As class representative, I was able to see the solution-oriented approach of everyone at EM Normandie at every stage of the programme.
