With his goal to join a global giant and, in the future, perhaps launch his own business, Kenneth Liu decided an MBA was key to developing the knowledge and skill set needed for strategic thinking. In today’s Real Humans: Alumni, Liu describes how his experience at business school INSEAD prepared him for making key decisions for large clients in the tech industry at Meta.
Kenneth Liu, INSEAD MBA ’21, Client Partner | Business Director at Meta
Kenneth Liu, INSEAD MBA ’21, Client Partner | Business Director at MetaAge: 32
Hometown: Chengdu, China
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Sun Yat-Sen University, Event Management
Graduate Business School, Graduation Year and Concentration (if applicable): INSEAD MBA, 2021
Pre-MBA Work Experience (years, industry): Gaming and Digital marketing, 7 years
Post-MBA Work Experience (years, industry): Digital marketing, 2 years
Why did you choose to attend business school?
My goal is to join a global giant and, potentially, launch my own business as an entrepreneur. MBA can help me develop my strategic thinking and bring me global networks.
Why INSEAD? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
School reputation and ranking are important factors when I chose business schools. As a Chinese, I had lived in Europe for 5 years. I would like to keep and extend my business connections between Europe and Asia. Hence, INSEAD is a perfect option for me.
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career?
Currently, I’m working for Meta. MBA experience provided me with strategic thinking when I make key account plans for large clients every quarter.
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
I had been working in digital marketing for 7 years before my MBA. I like this booming industry. Google and Meta are the top players in this vertical. To join Google or Meta was my always goal.
How has COVID impacted your industry/career plans?
COVID helped the digital industry because many people were staying home and playing on phones. Post-COVID, people spend more time and money offline. The economic and post-COVID downturn has had a strong impact on technology firms. Meta had a layoff in 2022 and will have another round in H1 2023.
Advice to current MBA students:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
Please network with as many alumni as you can to understand the industry trends and the work of the jobs that you are interested in.
–One thing you would change or do differently?
Interview with more companies. I got my offer from Meta very early and missed some other potential opportunities.
–Were there any surprises regarding your current employer’s recruiting process?
Meta interviewers will deep dive into one story of you if the story is relevant to the role.
–What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
I wish someone told me that I should live in a party house instead of living alone haha.
