ESEI Alumni: Ali Can Civan
This month, we reached out Ali Can Civan, one of our 2015 alumni. Ali Can has always been a cheerful student while studying with us at ESEI, and it’s not a surprise that he was featured as one of our Humans of ESEI!
When we asked him if he was interested in a short interview with us, he accepted it right away showing us again his joy and engagement with the ESEI community!
Here is Ali Can’s full interview:
What did you do before ESEI?
I studied a Bachelor in Business Administration at Özyeğin University in İstanbul, Turkey. Even though I studied Business Administration, I was always interested in media industry, especially sport media. I had a job which actually started as a hobby, then it turned out to be a real job at an online sports news portal as an editor and reporter for a year. I also had an internship in marketing and sales department in of one of the biggest media organizations in Turkey. There came the day where I had to decide what I was going to do in the future, so I had to decide which direction I wanted to go in my career. I decided that I should do what I was educated for and pursuing a career related to my educational background would be better for me. Besides, I thought, in this way, I would contribute to the economy of my country more. Therefore, it became the path I’ve chosen to go.
What were your objectives when you decided to study your Masters with ESEI?
I knew that I needed to improve myself in both educational and personal way; that’s why I thought that I would better to get a master’s degree. My family has always been supportive of me and they encouraged me to go to study abroad to broaden my horizons. Then, I started to look for a school in Barcelona, a city where you can meet people from different cultures from all over the world, because of its location and historical background.
Since I have always been an extravert who likes to communicate with people, I thought it would be better for me to concentrate on the academic field of communication. I did my research and found some schools that would suit me. ESEI International Business School was one of them. How could I ever know, one decision would lead me to find a key that would open up a world where amazing people live. I applied to ESEI to study my master’s degree in Marketing and Communication. After the acceptance procedures, I officially became a master student at ESEI.
My objectives before coming to ESEI were to improve myself by going into more details in marketing and adding academically proven communication skills to my previous education and, most importantly, to meet people from different cultures.
Did your objectives change during the Masters?
My objectives didn’t change much, but ESEI added a different perspective to my life. I’ve lived in almost every region of Turkey throughout my life and I can say that I gain the ability to communicate with different people and to fit in different societies. By studying at ESEI, I had the opportunity to meet different people from different businesses and academic backgrounds, and made a lot of good friends from all over the world. I think we should look at life from a different perspective. I believe that we shouldn’t judge people only by the norms of the society we are currently living in, but we should take people’s backgrounds, lifestyles and cultures into consideration. The more you get to know different people from different places, the more you can understand other people from their countries and when you meet someone, you can treat them as they treat each other, just like if you are one of them.
How would you describe your experience at ESEI?
Academically, I am very satisfied. More importantly, I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to be able to study in the same class with the people from all over the world. Since the only common language is English, it helps to improve English-speaking skills. ESEI is one of the most multicultural schools in Spain where you can have this opportunity.
I also experienced one of the proudest moments of my life at ESEI in the graduation ceremony when I gave a keynote speech. If all the great memories I had at ESEI were a tasty cake, the moment of my speech was the strawberry on that cake.
I feel very lucky for having the privilege to know all of the ESEI members from the Founder to the team and all of the academics, and having the opportunity to be a member of the ESEI Family.
What are you doing now?
After I came back to Istanbul, I started to look for a job opportunity in an international company that will help me to improve myself each and every day I go to work.
Right now, I work in Corporate and Commercial Banking at ICBC Turkey. It is a member of ICBC Group (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd.), which is Number 1 in 2016 in The World’s Biggest Public Companies List according to FORBES Global 2000.
What are your plans for the future?
I want to continue to improve myself, while adding value to the society I live in. I will always seek for an opportunity to use the skills I have gained. I don’t know what life has in store for me, but I do know that I won’t hesitate to make the decisions that have to be made and I will stay true to myself. I will work for good and I will be the first to stand up when something unfair is about to happen.
Any advice for new students at ESEI?
Nowadays, the negative effect of miscommunication in the people’s relations is a reality that cannot be ignored. It is becoming harder to find a humane and trustworthy person you can count on. So, my advice for them would be to get as much benefit as they can get from ESEI while they still can. They have very warm-hearted and trustworthy people who are eager to help the students and treat them like a friend.