Disclaimer: This blog may seem to make a few things sound a bit melodramatic; however, the effectiveness of the system ensures the best for all participants by matching supply and demand of talent.
The cumulative impact driven by a batch of MBAs can out-perform any government, the variants of resume can make a chameleon feel ashamed, and the frugal innovative politics for priority can leave the lobbyists flabbergasted. If you thought engineering placements were competitive, welcome to the next edition of hunger games!
In greater public interest, this blog is intended to share suggestions to help you make the most out of MBA placements.
Choose a Career NOT a Job
Seeking an ROI over MBA investment is rightful; however, the sad part is that blinded by ROI, market trends, and glitzy jobs, many choose to chuck the sustainable approach to career development. It may not be true for many but this is as common as the choices for engineering domain driven by market trends rather than the alignment of career prospectus with skills, abilities, and interests.
Since companies hire for intellect, which is common amongst premier B-school candidates the choice is often in the hands of the candidate. Here you’ve the chance to do what you love, as this is a juncture for career transitions. Career is what that you will spend most of your waking hours with, more than what you’ll spend with your spouse.
Since the choices and FOMO is overwhelming, making any decision will be challenging, especially for less experienced candidates lacking exposure. Whereas experienced candidates will face the dilemma of continuing their domain or making a career transition. And if you plan to make a transition, make sure you have the hygiene factors right and gather enough knowledge!
Career is not a series of jobs with incremental payslips, but steps that build your ability to create value greater than mere sums..
NOT Just Prep, the Right Prep
Preparation is a balance of resume, knowledge, and interpersonal skills. You will imbibe the basics through your MBA curriculum and there will be things that you can brush-up in the span of months. However, there will be many other things such as your character, charisma, and intuitive knowledge that are harder to cultivate. The preparation has to be a perfect balance of all three avenues, and aligned towards your career goals.
The fake-it-till-you-make-it does not work as recruiters can see through the crap you throw at them; and if you’re lucky you might get it back! After all they interview candidates for a living. Also, remember that a consultant can make your resume but not substitute for your intellect and skillset; so be wary while approaching consultants. And remember, the entire point is of interview is to match the perception of the person created by the resume with the actual person. So even your resume matches the job role, if you’re unable to align yourself or convey the assurance, the interviewer won’t be convinced.
Knowledge is critical; there are many people who can speak for 20 minutes but there will be a few who can survive hours of interrogation. So get your approach should be to get the concepts right rather than superficial understanding and mugged up keywords. Also, remember that it is an interview and not a viva – so it is better to be honest and say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I think that’ rather than spilling random answers!
Interpersonal skills is a much larger set than the mere conversational skills. It includes your way of being, your grooming, basic manners, conduct, voice tone, and much more. For instance, saying ‘Please’ for small things is very British – and if you’re not accustomed to such politeness, try your best to imbibe it in your character rather than being conscious about it. However, B-school environment, especially the extra-curricular, gives you an opportunity to cultivate plethora of skills ranging from public speaking and presenting to politics and party popping!
And trust me, dressing is cheap signalling; if you have the substance, you can get through even without a tie! Moreover, everyone is wearing a suit – making it look like an ocean of Penguins.
Always be prepared, you never know when opportunity comes knocking!
Case Preparation: Selective, Heterogenous, and Conceptual
Everyone jumps into case prep and tries to solve as many as possible, just as Sudoku and Crossword puzzles. The basis of microeconomics and management rests on the fact there is never enough resources, time and money, for everything; so trade-offs are necessary. Hence, rather than solving all variants of cases, approach the genre such as Finance, Product, or the entire Bulk of Consulting Cases that are necessary for you preferred role.
Next comes the case group. Now is the time to wake-up your social bee and solve cases with as many people as possible. The point of group exercise is not validation but gaining different perspective and methods to approach the cases. Also, this is NOT an exam question so it is more about your approach and logical bridges rather than the correctness of the final solution.
Finally, ensure that you internalise the logic such that the approach becomes intuitive rather than merely reconstructing the frameworks. These frameworks are good but not everything can be contained in flowcharts and intuitiveness is the higher level of intelligence that is sought by the interviewer. If they wanted someone who could follow the frameworks, they would have been better-off hiring junior candidates from not-so-premier institutions.
Think our aloud when solving a case!
Savvy Munshi 