HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS ATTENDED THE MAGIC OF MBA SESSIONS, LOOKING FOR SOUND CAREER ADVICE

Eager faces, rapt attention, career advice. The Magic of MBA by Education Times is now a national platform to help people get a realistic perspective on becoming an MBA. Panellists Narsimha Rao, VP, Infosys and Arun Rao, VP, App Labs puts across a very realistic prespective from indistry to the students.
   "My MBA had a long way to go in who I am today," said Rao, cautioning that an MBA is not a magic wand and there is no guarantee of success. But even the process of preparing for CAT is a huge learning experience, he said.
   Giving a perspective on his industry, he said technology is of no use without a business use and Infosys hires upwards of 5000 MBA's. Companies don't need code writers, they need “people who understand how the client businesses can be improved” be it in manufacturing, finance, CRM or other aspects. He warned that typically in India, “an MBA graduate has breadth, not depth and tends to be academic - but there is no place for the superficial in todays results oriented corporate space.”
   Arun Rao of App Labs stressed on dealing with the attitude MBA's have with the corporate sector, where they have been given the tag 'mighty big attitude'.The degree only gives a framework - what matters is how adept you are at applying the case study you learnt at your institution to real life situations. "It is a long term investment," he said. “When you study something you are reliving a million experiences. Every learning experience has to be flagged appropriately, so that it can be retrived.” While emphasizing attitudes, he said the choice of institute depends on what you want to get out of your education, and how it maps to your natural skills.
   Dr SK Mathur. Professor of International Business at IPE and an IIM Fellow, shared the impact of the recession and argued India is where the action will be, for those who are prepared for the coming wave of companies, products and innovations. Immediately after the recession, there was a 77 percent jump in programs and given the GDP growth in 2011 will b e back to the high 8-9 % figures as is being quoted by experts, it helps to get an MBA from an authorized, highly respected source. IPE, he said, had several vertical specializations within MBA to cater to these new demands.
   Sai Kumar, representing T.I.M.E. said that the biggest quality that helps people move high faster in organizational hierarchies is higher education that is respected. One of India's best coaching centres for career exams and the biggest in terms of student achievement for CAT, TIME shared that the state of Andhra Pradesh alone churns out one lakh engineers. To stand out among thousands of resumes, a MBA degree from a reputed organization helps, though it should not be viewed as a solution to all problems.
   What disturbes him, he said, is that students on campuses ask questions about salaries only, and not about the growth path for them. That attitude has to change, and a career has to be looked at over a lifetime. India has a long way to go in terms of development, and the industries on a hiring spree include insurance, retail , marketing. Students tend to have all kinds of misinformed notions about these areas, and that hinders them from taking up opportunities, he said.