Let us be truthful here - many of us have been blindly pursuing the MBA dream without stopping to think - WHY MBA?
I am not really talking about middle level managers or team leads - the target junta for this post is 0 - 3 years of work ex wallas. Every day for the past 5 years we have heard about some friend's friend "Yaar usne IIM-ahmedabad nikaal liya" or some report in the media "ISB[/IIM] graduate gets 1 crore salary".
Then papa starts telling you "Beta, tum bhi CAT GMAT kyun nahi likhte - Raju uncle ka beta dekho IIM jaa raha hai". class 11-12 mein IIT ke taane sune, ab IIM aa gaya.
Is the entire pursuit of an MBA just about one word - PLACEMENT ?
I'll be honest - I was sh*t scared of the B-School placements this time around. [For those who don't know "maine ISB nikaal liya hai"]. I don't even want to think how sad it is going to be if I can't get a good job post-MBA. During my engineering days, I appeared for the MINDTREE interview process and couldn't make get in. And I therefore know how it feels to think that you might be a failure in life.
But is a CAMPUS-JOB the game,set and match of a prestigious MBA? Is that how we measur the success of an MBA? Atleast as a to-be-MBA I should be able to look at it from the long term perspective - be patient and believe in my skills and abilities. But here's the bottomline - When it comes to ME, it is going to be impossible to rise above the situation and be okay with it.
Over the past 5-6 years we have always heard of all of India's top B-Schools "placing" all their students. And this year the tradition has already been broken. But for those who have not found their "dream" jobs - or any job - we need to look at what happened in 2001 with the engineering graduates. Many of these guys - even the very good ones - had no jobs. But today, a lot of them are project managers, delivery managers, etc with the leading MNCs of the world.
At times we just have to believe in ourselves and tide over the bad times with nothing else but patience.
And wishing all the 2009 graduates all the best :)
BTW numbers from ISB day 1 placements don't look too bad - Consulting firms and other top firms have hired albeit in lesser numbers
This is GOOD STUFF!
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6 comments:
That was the kind of pep blog I had been waiting to come across. I too believe that long term bets matter a lot. Maine bhi ISB nikaal liya hai and have been hearing from people that placements are going to be you-know-what.
But then, if you think that the time is right for you, such concerns are best looked at, shirked at and then you make the best of the situation as far as possible - No? :)
BTW, lemme know what you do/where you are.
Siddhartha
Hey Sid!
Good to know aapne bhi ISB nikaal liya hai - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isb-classof2010/ is the group for all R1 admits
I work for Applied Materials at their CSS office in Bangalore
1. Nice post. Actually its in the long term that the MBA actually comes into play, its an investment in your career, whether you get immediately placed or not is something else.
2. I wasnt placed after graduation in my college either in 2006. Still did well enough to get into ISB R2 this time, so its not all bad :)
3. While consulting/investment banking profile will be understandably less this time around, I dont think that stops companies from many other sectors from hiring candidates from one of the top schools in India. Simple. Sure, salaries may be a bit less (same with avg salary of batch too maybe), but like I said before, its what you take out of the MBA that will help you going forward.
Cya Around :)
I loved your perspective! Hope to see you @ ISB
This is a very nice article. MBAs if not all mostly had been motivated by the "placement" factor. I still remember the first day of my MBA at LIBA in 2007. My prof. told that each one of us would get good placements as the market was booming.
Things turned out worse than was thought however and I got placed in a less well known company with a low package after more than 2 months of struggling to get a job since the placements started. Still around 30 ppl to be placed. I feel that "something is better than nothing"
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