Does admission into a good B-School automatically guarantee a good job? This is a myth most MBA prospects foster. Even if you get a good break in a reputed company, does it guarantee a great career? One-time employment is often confused with being ‘continuously employable’.
Here’s my list of the ‘Six Essentials for Employability’ that you must focus on while doing your MBA/PGDM program. It is based on my experience as a business leader, recruiter and now as a B-School faculty.
1. Excellent Verbal & Written Communication Skills: especially in Business Communication. You must be able to communicate your ideas and thoughts with attention to detail, brevity, clarity, flair and impact – be it presentations, reports, memos, notes, emails, spreadsheets or even an ‘elevator pitch’. Keep working, practicing and improving in this area. It will give you a real edge.
2. Sound Knowledge of Economics & Business at a Global Level: conceptual clarity of economic fundamentals is the key to understanding how business works. Read, think, discuss and analyze companies, economic/business models and environments. Be well informed and articulate about general ‘business awareness’.
3. Analytical & Integrative Thinking: the ability to analyze business problems/situations and develop insights for providing solutions, is a must in today’s unstructured and uncertain business environment. Equally critical is to develop inter-linkages and a ‘holistic picture’ so that you do not look at business in fragmented silos. Do not just end with answering the question, but always question the answer. Keep asking ‘What if?’ and ‘Why…why…why?”
4. Understanding & Working with People: leadership begins and ends with how you work with people, effectively and with sensitivity. Develop an ’emotional side’ to your personality. Join student clubs, teams and groups to participate in activities that involve working with and leading a team of people. Social and community activities are also a good way to transform from a ‘Me to We’ mindset.
5. Ethical Value System: in today’s business environment, fuelled by no-holds-barred corporate greed, you must develop a work ethic that is based on integrity, responsibility and sensitivity. Develop a list of things ‘you will never do’, irrespective of the consequences. As the saying goes, ‘Ethics and values can’t be taught, they can only be caught.”
6. Strong Domain Knowledge: we are living in an era of ‘specialists’. Decide your area of specialization based on what you are passionate about and good at, rather than what the flavor of the month is.Be specific- just saying ‘Marketing’ is not good enough. Discover ‘What exactly in Marketing’- is it Brand Management, B2B Sales, Digital Marketing, Advertising, Consumer Research or Marketing Analytics? Once you are clear about this eat, breathe and live it.
If you can give yourself a score of 8 or more out of 10 with honesty, on each of these six parameters, at the end of your MBA/PGDM program, chances are that by then you would have already landed your dream job.