Chasing the white collared Dream
Emerging strung out from his frivolously fast, free, and fabu-lous college years, 22-year old graduate, Vinay Oberoi knew it was about time. Time to get down to business, time to map his fu-ture, his career, his life! Find-ing himself at the crossroad of a lifetime he exclaims, “the only thing that I am sure of at this junction is that I want the best white collared corporate opportunity when I start my career. Though I know Mas-ters in Business Administra-tion (MBA) is an option, I am not sure if it is the right one.”
Youngsters like Vinay and gazillion more like him, have questions today, questions whether an MBA degree is just a trend or a trifle, a gloom or doom. Such are the accusa-tions thrown at this post gradu-ation specialization. MBA is commonly misconstrued as just another designer course, an overpriced flashy degree, one without anything real-time credibility. But having the best in the business falsifying these baseless claims and the elitist institutes in the country offering the course, we home worked the do’s and don’ts, if’s and buts’ and pros and cons of a full-fledged MBA course, hop-ing to soothe your dilemmas and steer you into the direction of your corporate dream.
Why a Masters in Business Administration:
Post the glory phase of un-der graduation days, it’s time to put on your thinking hat and start weighing options to choose a Masters degree. At this crossroad, course-plotting your career, talent and educa-tion in the right route is es-sential, and possibly the most crucial academic investment a student or a professional will ever have to make.
Over the past decade, MBA has proved to be a sure shot ticket to an exceptionally booming corporate and busi-ness career. For the ones look-ing to hone their entrepreneur-ial and business skills before venturing into the world of white collared jobs, a Masters in Business Administration is the exactly what you will need to put you there. Pondering as to why you should invest two years and a lump of your bank balance on a course when you already have all the talent, tact and aptitude to be the right corporate contestant? Here is why:
Channelising your skills:
Though you might be ex-ceptionally equipped with the gift of the gab and leadership quality, it is extremely essen-tial to speak the right kind of business language when you enter the field. Polishing your corporate communication skills is one of the most vital aspect the MBA promises to cater, all this along with fixing your body language and boost-ing your on-field confidence.
Mastering every facet:
The course is fashioned to equip its aspirants with every facet of the business world, providing a complete analysis and understanding of every corporate quarter. The list of areas addressed at your busi-ness school will be: Accounting, Human resources, Marketing, Operations Management, Production & Manufacturing Accounts Micro and macro economics
Though there are various news horizons in the market today, the above options re-main the core facet that will be catered to if you choose an MBA degree. For ones with inclination towards numbers, a specialization in accounts or finance or both will be the best option. And for the charmers who can engage a room full of business folks with you flair for talking, Human resource or marketing specialization will be just what the doctor or-dered. The flexibility of mix-ing and matching two or more specialization is a definite perk. Also, having the first half, that is, first of the two-year course to decide what you really want to specialize in is one of the main additional benefit this course has to offer.
Interesting new specializations that are picking popularity among as-pirants these days are MBA in education, engineering, media, telecommunication, criminal justice, global management, health care, hospitality and tourism, sports and technology management.
How to pick the best!
Once you are headstrong about going the MBA route, it is essential to determine when and where to get yourself the paramount quality of B- school education. Between India and abroad, if former is your pref-erence, looking at Top 10 B-schools in the country should be first on your to-do list. The next clause on your checklist should be to narrow the time zone down, while some opt to take a break and gain some work experience before they dive into the study pool again,other choose to wrap their edu-cational phase at one straight stretch. Either ways, if in In-dia, here is the list of b-schools for MBA, that has consistently managed to bag the top ten slots in the past decade.
The IIMs (Indian Institute of management), a cluster of 13 public and autonomous schools for management stud-ies and research in India. These institutes offer PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Manage-ment, a diploma equivalent to MBA.
The IIT SoMs (Indian In-stitute of Technology School of Management), a manage-ment department / school of the reputable IIT (Indian In-stitute of Technology). This management wing is available at Kharagpur, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Roorkee and Kanpur.
FMS (Faculty of Manage-ment Studies, Delhi) under the Delhi University’s tutelage, this institute is one of the old-est and most acclaimed Busi-ness schools in the country.
XLRI (Xavier Labour Re-lation Institute), Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. With its first batch of professor’s trained from Stanford Graduate School of business, this school is defi-nitely crème de la crème of all the B-schools in the country.
IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), Delhi is a self-governing / autonomous public business school set up by the government of India. One of the first among the top ten in-stitutes to provide MBA in In-ternational Business.
SPJIMR (S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research), Mumbai, Maharashtra offers two diploma degrees equiva-lent to that of MBA.
JBIMs (Jamnalal Bajaj in-stitute of Management stud-ies), Mumbai, Maharashtra. Established in collaboration with Stanford University, it is popular for being exceptional in management education in context to the Indian market.
TAPMI (T. A. Pai Man-agement Institute), Manipal, Karnataka. It is the second management institute in the country to be given the global accreditation by AACSB (As-sociation to Advance Colle-giate Schools of Business).
SIBM (Symbiosis Institute of Business Management), Pune, Maharashtra.
NMIMS (Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Stud-ies), Mumbai, Maharashtra. The institute proudly flaunts a five star and ‘A’ grade from NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) and UGC (University Grants Commission) respectively.
How to save a seat!
Now that the target is set, it’s time to prep and gear to hit the bull’s-eye. As far as eligibility is concerned, a ba-sic bachelor’s degree or dis-cipline equivalent from any Indian university or All India Council of Technical Educa-tion (AICTE) as eligible for pursuing one’s post gradua-tion would suffice.
It doesn’t always have to be an engineer-ing degree, which is a very commonplace misconception among youngsters these days. Also, MBA immediately af-ter graduation or after gaining work experience can be either done directly at the campus full-time or by means of corre-spondence, which would mean pursing the course via part-time, long distance or online.
Though most of the sought after B-schools in town have their own set of admission pattern, all of them follow a common two-leg process. Though one will have to read and research more on specific admission patterns for specific institutes, the universally com-mon model for admission is- first, the written admission exam and second, the person-ality assessment test. Written admission exam consists of multiple-choice test in Maths- quantitative ability and data interpretation, language – ver-bal ability and reading, logi-cal reasoning and general and business awareness. Candi-dates who have passed the written test will then be called in for the second phase, the personality assessment test. This test consists of a round of group discussion and personal interview. Group discussion is to analyze the candidate’s performance while discuss-ing relevant current issues in a group, among peers and under pressure, which is evaluated by a panel of judges. The personal interview round is one-on-one interaction with a panel of business specialist.
The most generic test rec-ognized by highest number of elite b-schools in the country like IIMs, IITs, TAPAI - Ma-nipal, IMI - Delhi, NIM - Ah-madabad, MDI Gurgaon, IIFM– Bhopal and more is CAT (Common Admission Test).
These tests are held annually, starting with an advertisement notification by august of every year, followed by application submission deadline by 2nd week of October, main written test on 2nd week of December (held across different centers all over the country) followed by interview scheduled either for in February or March.
Scope and opportunity, once a graduate!
Apart from the academic promises and the assurance that an MBA grad will come out on the other end a skilled and sculpted business person-nel, there are certain perks and promises that only a MBA graduate enjoys in the business world.
In an interview set-up, the foremost is an edge and preference for an MBA grad over other candidates who lack the specialization. A candidate flaunting an enviable MBA de-gree from a top-notch B-school in the country is always the employer’s first choice. The reason, the candidate is already equipped, skilled, trained, groomed and ready to take on the business world without any extensive training or invest-ment required from the em-ployer’s side.
Also, fresh out of college MBA students are the only candidates considered for middle level or higher level entry a corporate set-up, every-one else has to start at the base. This is apart from a hefty pack-age, which is almost always a surety for an MBA graduate. The statistics are very compel-ling, according the folks who manage GMAT internationally, the remuneration package wit-nesses a whopping 50 percent hike for the candidate post an MBA degree, that’s like nearly doubling your moolah!
For the ones, looking to leave the nest and start afresh abroad, a MBA degree is your ticket, as they are head hunted from industries from all over the world and from every sec-tor internationally. The next best thing would definitely have to be the possibility to professionally network while in college, as studying at a prestigious b-school guaran-tees exposure to the best in the business, helping you to build your contact base for future ca-reer and job reference and ap-plication. With direct access to the finest business profession-als in the market you would be able to kick start your career way before you even have your foot out of college.
The final verdict
Guaranteed to make you more attractive to your future employers, the return on in-vestment on an MBA degree, time and monetary -wise is ab-solutely worthwhile. So, for all those curious business minds who have a knack for leader-ship and a business pulse to flaunt, Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from a prominent institute promises an array of business and aca-demic options and the reason how it is the only way to go get yourself a ticket to the cor-porate paradise, donning that white collar, crisp and proud.
BUDDING MANAGERS
MARCH 2014 ISSUE
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Posted On: Thursday, 10 April, 2014 - 13:13