Ravneet Kaur, IT Advisory & Assurance Associate

Ravneet Kaur, IT Advisory & Assurance Associate, Ernst & Young LLP

Undergraduate Degree and Major:
Bachelors of Technology (B.Tech) in Computer Engineering

Graduate School(s) / Degree(s) / Year(s):
Bentley University, MBA, 2008

My responsibilities include developing project plans and collaborating with other members of my team to document business processes dependent on information technology, perform risk assessments, and evaluate impact on client's projects and business, ensuring high-quality client solutions by applying a thorough understanding of complex information systems to client situations and communicating information to the team and client management through written and verbal presentations.

MBA at Bentley helped me a great deal as participating in the large number of MBA team projects helped me learn how to handle various team/client relationship management issues, along with the ability to delegate work to my team members. I also had two year-long business re-engineering and business consulting projects with actual clients during my MBA, which gave me the opportunity to learn how to assess client situations, develop future strategies and recommendations, and present them to the client. Due to those projects, I can easily relate to my current work.

I get the opportunity to work with multiple clients, which allows me to meet new people, visit different places, and learn about the diverse IT and financial systems being used by all of them. Due to all this, each day is a new day with its own high points and challenges!

Due to the difficult economic times, there is a high focus on client chargeability, which leads to longer days than normal. But I love the work-life balance options which EY offers—I have the flexibility to work from home whenever needed or over the weekend (to make up for a week day) so that I am able to focus both on the needs of my day to day life and also successfully meet any client and EY internal deadlines.

I wanted to work in a position that allowed me to use both my undergraduate computer skills and business skills from my MBA and in my current position I am able to do just that.

After working for around two years in India, I realized that though I had good technical skills, I had missed on learning management skills (my undergraduate degree did not have the flexibility to choose management electives). In order to move further in my career, I chose to get an MBA in information systems; doing it in the USA seemed a great opportunity to not only learn and apply management skills, but also to gain great exposure to both the cultural and corporate aspect of a diverse international community.

My present job at Ernst & Young.

Flexibility and time management skills are a must in order to be able to successfully prioritize and deliver on multiple client engagements simultaneously. Also, as the work involves meeting and talking with a number of different people, client/people management skills need to be developed—clients could vary from being extremely helpful to some for whom you wouldn’t want to pick up your phone!

• Ask questions and participate in the class—the more you ask, the more you will learn.
• Do not leave assignments for the last day—they usually take much more time.
• Participate in graduate student organizations and other leadership activities in your university to build your network as well as enhance your leadership skills.

Think about what you want your post MBA job profile to be like—are you going to stay in the same industry or are you going to move to a new industry? Based on that, you should choose what major is the best for you. If you are completely changing your industry, for example moving from IT to finance, doing a dual degree—e.g., MBA/MS in finance—might be more suitable.

• University ratings, both overall and in the particular major you are interested in
• Location of the school— many firms hire in the local area universities and thus job prospects may vary based on the location
• Alumni opinion—talk with graduates to get more information about the school and the career services department