Magíster en Marketing postgraduate personal statement example

Personal statement example

In the hardware store where I work, the paint colour cards beside the mixing counter disappear faster than almost anything else we stock. They are free, and most people who take a handful leave without buying paint. For a long time I treated this as wasted stock. Then I noticed that the same customers often returned a week or two later carrying one card, folded or marked in pen, and asked for that exact shade. The card was not a failed sale. It was the start of a decision made at home, with a partner, a wall and evening light. I want to study marketing at postgraduate level because I am interested in the parts of buying that happen away from the till, and I would like the methods to study them properly.

My undergraduate degree in business administration gave me a sound base in economics, accounting and statistics. It also introduced me to consumer behaviour through a marketing course, which I enjoyed more than I expected. My final-year thesis looked at why passengers of a regional bus company started online ticket purchases but did not finish them. With the company's permission, I surveyed passengers in the terminal waiting area and interviewed twelve regular travellers. The most useful finding was ordinary. Many older passengers checked prices and seat availability online and then bought at the counter, because they did not trust that a ticket on a phone would be accepted by the driver. What looked like abandonment was often comparison shopping. My recommendations were modest, such as clearer confirmation messages and staff at boarding who openly accepted digital tickets. The project taught me to question how a behaviour is labelled before trying to fix it. It also showed me the limits of my sample, which was gathered on weekday afternoons and missed commuters almost entirely.

I have worked at the hardware store for two years, first on the tills and now on the sales floor in the paint and tools sections. The job is practical. I explain the difference between interior and exterior finishes, calculate quantities and handle returns. It has also given me a steady view of how promotions land with real customers. Discount signs on power tools bring in browsers. Bundled offers, such as a drill sold with a set of bits, seem to persuade people who were already undecided. I have started keeping informal notes on which questions customers ask most, and my supervisor used some of them when rewriting the shelf labels for wood treatments.

Outside work, I manage the WhatsApp group for my neighbourhood council. This sounds minor, but it has taught me a great deal about communication with a mixed audience. Long messages are ignored. Messages sent late at night cause complaints. A photograph of the actual broken streetlight gets more replies than a written description. When the council organised a collection for a family whose house was damaged by fire, I kept the updates short, factual and regular, and contributions arrived steadily over several days. I also play futsal twice a week in an amateur league, which has nothing to do with marketing and is mainly how I keep my head clear.

I am now keen to move from careful observation to rigorous analysis. I want to strengthen my quantitative skills, particularly in survey design and data analysis, and to understand research on consumer decision-making more deeply, especially in markets like the ones I know, where small retailers, informal recommendations and digital channels sit side by side. In the longer term, I would like to work in market research or strategy for retail or service companies in southern Chile, helping businesses understand their customers rather than guessing. I bring patience with people, a habit of noticing small patterns, and experience of testing assumptions against what customers actually do.