Interview with Syrine Burget, graduate of the Franco-Chinese course

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Introduce yourself.

My name is Syrine Burget, I am French of Lebanese origin and I am 24 years old. I currently live in Spain in Madrid where I am on a permanent contract in a tech scale-up specialized in the optimization of merchandising processes)!

I am very passionate about traveling and the Asian region (China - Japan - South and North Korea in particular) with its history, culture and gastronomy.

Why did you choose the ICD Business School Paris for your studies? What did you take away from it?

I chose the ICD Business School, specifically for its Franco-Chinese course offering 10 hours of Chinese classes per week for two years and a two-year exchange at Fudan University as well as an internship in China. A particularly difficult offer to find in other schools.

I keep in mind a singular experience, intensive learning and an openness to other cultures and other languages, of course, a great personal, academic and professional challenge which opened many doors for me and the acquisition of a network of opportunities.

If the courses delivered by the ICD Business School in Paris are interesting and allow the creation of a solid knowledge base, the challenges and learnings are significantly more impactful at Fudan in China. Culture shock, classes with students from other countries and in Chinese are really the most important growth factors in my opinion.

What has the international course of the ICD Business School brought you?

Most certainly the taste for challenge and work. Dedication to academic and professional projects. Openness to others and to other cultures and therefore adaptability. Better management of the unknown and stress. And of course, a network but that is at the discretion of each student.

What is your profession ? What are the challenges of your job?

I currently am Customer Success Operations Specialist and Customer Success Manager at Nextail, a SaaS B2B company using AI and big data to enable retailers to optimize their sales and inventory.

My daily internal challenges are working in a multicultural environment with international teams and with different communication methods. Our company is growing in the tech sector and is changing very quickly, so there is a need to manage the expectations of the different teams as well as customers and a need for adaptability which are key for the good development of our business. .

The size of the company being relatively small, there is also a need for multi-tasking, being able to work with different teams and not in “silos” and therefore having visibility and a minimum knowledge of priorities of these teams.

How has the ICD Business School prepared you for your professional career?

I think that the ICD Business School allowed me to build a solid knowledge base of marketing, sales and management. Internships at the end of the year, moving from a sales internship to a more managerial position, also allowed me to have visibility on the priorities at different levels of the company.

The Franco-Chinese career has had a greater impact in terms of interpersonal skills (openness to others, knowledge of elsewhere, adaptability) but also from the point of view of the development of hard skills (for the Chinese market in particular) by learning the Chinese language, business in China, international economy, etc. And therefore allowed me to expand my knowledge and my network which subsequently allowed me to obtain very interesting opportunities for the rest of my professional development.

What skill learned during your journey at the ICD Business School is the most useful to you in your professional life?

Adaptability and interpersonal and networking skills (often mocked in my first year at ICD, these are the ones that serve me the most right now!). The variety of the courses (marketing, sales, budget management, negotiation, were also key to being able to navigate the different opportunities easily).

Why did you choose to work abroad?

I did a specialized master after the ICD Business School to specialize in big data and analytics. The master was based in Madrid. I always wanted to work abroad. Given the current situation in Asia (vis-à-vis covid but also politically), the best solution was to stay in Spain. I don't know where the future will take me but it is a good option for now.

As for why, going abroad brings a dimension of novelty, challenge and learning that I don't find living in my country of origin (moreover, I enjoy revisiting as a tourist each time I go back!).

What inspires you in your profession?

The diversity of missions and people with whom I work. The challenge is to work in an environment that is constantly changing. The "multi-cap" aspect of my role: an operational part which aims to optimize the efficiency of my team and to support them with analyses of our business and development and a "Customer facing" part where I manage our French accounts which brings the challenge of customer relations.

If you had one piece of advice for our students, what would it be?

Meeting people, being interested in others and their experiences, not being afraid to ask questions, to ask for advice. Register for networking events, conferences, stay and chat with people.

Do a lot of introspection, try several areas to find the sectors that really attract you.

Work on your LinkedIn and network as early as possible and circulate it with the ICD’s staff (or others of the student's choice). Post your CV on various recruitment sites.

Do not think that you are wasting your time when trying out different jobs, you have all the time you need!