Why I decided against DHL Inhouse Consulting

In August I wrote a blogpost about my experience of getting through the calamities of MBA internship program at DHL Inhouse Consulting (http://hrboutique.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-i-got-to-dhl-inhouse-consulting.html). After than I had two months of serious considerations whether to accept or reject the offer. I am extremely grateful to DHL for allowing me to take so much time for the decision.

Being a properly groomed IE Business School MBA student, I started with a SWOT analysis. That did not get me far. The advantages and disadvantages are too close together. So I decided to try the six thinking hats. That helped me a bit more, particularly because it incorporated my attitudes towards the colder climates. Basically, here are the trade-offs I would have been facing if I decided for the DHL internship:

• missing my electives in the 4th term
• missing my friends and Madrid fun
• chances of missing the one-week exchange program (most likely in Singapore)

I was not very much concerned about the costs, because the salary and housing allowance would have leveled off the expenses of keeping two apartments in two different countries. I was more preoccupied with the issue of what I was going to be doing as a Consulting intern. Making coffee? Drafting spreadsheets? Crunching numbers? I was not flattering myself with ideas of being allowed anywhere close to the clients if I were were only for an 8-week internship, and that really tipped the scales more towards declining the offer.

The final argument that won my internal battle was that I got accepted for the IE Consulting Project under the guidance of my Operations Management professor, Dr. Amrou Awaysheh. This looks much more promising, working with Unilever and Accenture on actual projects in three different areas: Operations, Strategy or CSR.

Thus, I declined the DHL offer, even though it was not easy to do and now I am really looking forward to the IE Consulting Project and our work together on some real business!!!