MET: Choosing the best MBA courses

MET: Choosing the best MBA courses

Ask an individual from virtually any educational background, what the best course of action would be for advancement in their careers and the first thing they’re likely to say is, getting an MBA degree. An MBA is a popular course that prepares students in the art and science of management. Now while there are a plethora of institutes and colleges offering a smorgasbord of choices in terms of courses and specializations, the real trick is to choose a specialisation and college to suit your skillsets, your interest and importantly your budget. Here are 5 simple steps which will help you choose the right course for your needs.

Step One: Ask yourself, what your reasons are for doing an MBA.

Most often a student pursuing an MBA has one of three reasons for doing so. They’re either looking for career advancement, or a job/profile/role/occupational change, or they’re looking to break the glass ceiling in terms of pure monetary reward. Once you’ve established your reasons for doing an MBA, you will find it infinitely easier to pick the right course for you. For instance if you’re looking for career advancement, you should probably think of an executive MBA and so on…

Step Two: Choose your stream based on where you’d like to work.

What particular line of work you see yourself doing is an important consideration in choosing the stream you will pursue. If you see yourself in the financial services field, an MBA in Finance is a given, if IT is a passion of yours, an MBA in IT is the way to go. Think you can help corporations understand their people better, an MBA in HR is what you need to look at and so on…

Step Three: Reputation is all.

In the world of MBA education, which college you’ve passed out from, is as important, if not more important than the stream you’ve chosen. The demand for MBAs is only superseded by the demand for MBAs from the ‘right’ college. Therefore when contemplating an MBA degree, always check the reputation and track record of a college, along with the perception it holds in the eyes of the industry you see yourself in. You can do this by asking seniors, friends or colleagues and HR professionals.

Step Four: Follow education news.

Reading educational news from sources like websites, discussion boards and even newspapers is a good way to understand the trends in the educational sector and the demand for a kind of professional and ergo, the demand for professional courses. Newspapers also conduct rankings of colleges and individual courses that can come in handy when trying to pick the right course for you.

Step Five: Speak to alumni

A good way of gauging the reputation of a college and the efficacy of a course is chatting up with the alumni of a college that you’re considering. This will give you a student’s perspective and the lowdown on how the course is run, along with intangibles like the best professors, visiting faculty and campus placements.

We sincerely hope that this list comes in handy when considering the best MBA courses for your needs. Good luck

Tips for a healthy work-study balance.

6 Simple tips to help balance work and study life.

In today’s day and age, multitasking is the key to  living a successful, well balanced life. With more and more students opting to work and study, and more corporate professionals starting to understand the value of executive programmes, the need to balance studies and work has become even more vital.

Prof. Mary Joyce, a senior lecturer of note, has this to say, “While it is commendable, that young students are actually learning more about work life, by taking up part-time jobs to fuel both their education and pocket money, when their job becomes their first priority, their college work really suffers, and that’s why while I per se, do not discourage the practice, I insist on a proper, job-study balance.” Similar sentiments are also expressed by HR managers of firms, who report that many a times employees become so caught up in their college assignments that their performance on the job really goes down.

This therefore shows the importance of being able to strike the right balance between work and study life. Here are 6 tips that should be able to help you do just that.

Be organized: Organise your school materials in one place so that it would be easy to find them. Mark your calendar with upcoming deadlines of both course and work projects. Start school projects early to allow sufficient time to complete them. In case other things come up in the meantime, be flexible and accommodate them into your schedule, you will be able to simply because you started your project early and are ahead of your classmates.

Create a flexible schedule: Certain parts of your schedule like class times and workdays are going to be inflexible. Fit homework and studying in when you're either not in class or not at the office. Build an easy to follow routine. Allocate non-negotiable time to both homework and studies. As a working student, you have to be ready to adapt to new assignments, unexpected errands, and sudden work crises that need to be addressed immediately. Make enough studying time in your schedule so that if something comes up, you can shift it into another slot during the week.

Communicate your schedule to your employers, friends, clients and family: Make sure that important stakeholders in your life like your employers, parents, clients and family members know your schedule. Sign up for an online calendar and send the URL to the people who depend on knowing where you are and when. Not everyone you work with will understand the demands of being a student and, similarly, not all of your classmates will understand the additional responsibilities of working while in school.

Manage stress: Stress is an inevitable part of being a student and professional - combine both together and you can expect to be stressed out. As much as you may try to prevent stress, you're going to have to learn how to relieve it as well.

●      Take breaks. Give yourself time to collect your thoughts when you need it the most, so you can re-approach things with a clear head.

●      Be active. Stretch. Swim. Run. Lift. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle helps relieve stress and you'll find that the more you get out and exercise, the easier work and school will seem. Exercising is commonly known to reduce stress.

●      Live. Don't forget to enjoy life. Don't get bogged down by nuisances of the demands of your academic and professional life. Take time to experience the world around you and appreciate your relationships in life. See movies, read books, watch sports. Don't forget to squeeze in the things that make life worth living into your schedule.

Be realistic: There’s never going to be enough time in a day to do everything. Get your priorities straight and don’t harrow yourself if you don’t accomplish every single task you've on your agenda on any given day. Stay positive and be thankful that you have the opportunity to make a living and get an education - two things many people in the world go without.

Remember why you're doing it: First of all don’t ever be down on yourself, and if by chance you feel demotivated or just mentally unable to cope, remember the reasons you are taking on work and studies at the same time. Sure it is like accepting a Herculean challenge that most people don't dare to attempt. You too wouldn’t be doing it if you didn't have strong reasons and motivation. Whether it's the desire to earn your own keep, pay your way through school and remain debt-free, or because you want to get ahead in your career (or switch to your dream career), or simply because you know that life is short and you want to make the most of it -- keep your goals in mind whenever it starts to feel like too much.

Following these easy to remember tips will definitely help you strike the right kind of balance in between your work and study. Remember there are a few people who can do, what you are doing, and that itself is something you ought to be proud of!

Career Avenues for the new MBA grad…

There is an old adage, “it is the quality of the general and not the standard of equipment at his disposal that decides the outcome of a battle.” Nowhere is this old saying truer than in the field of modern business and commerce. An integral part of the success of virtually any business is a great manager. And being a great manager means having the skill set required to extract the best possible results from any situation or resource. An MBA degree does not guarantee that a person will be a great manager, but it definitely hones the skills required by a person to be said kind of manager.

Career Prospects for fresh MBA grads:

Considering the fact that MBA offers a number of specialisations, the job prospects for MBA students are as diverse as the specialisation they choose. Gone are the days when an MBA in Marketing meant that only Marketing Manager positions were ideal for a fresh grad. With businesses themselves looking to diversify outward and inward, the number of newer positions that are being created are virtually endless (in a matter of speaking). The fresh MBA grad today has a plethora of career prospects based on his/her individual specialization and interest.

MBA in Finance: Many MBA students opt for a specialisation in finance these days, simply because of the number of job opportunities this particular specialisation opens up.

Considering that a finance background is required in almost all functions of a business process, like Taxation, Planning, Auditing, Allocation, Marketing Budget, Valuation, International Finance and Financial Statement Reporting and Analysis, the career prospects for a fresh MBA grad are pretty widespread.

The job titles and descriptions are also quite interesting and challenging. Some of the job designations open to MBAs include, Financial Managers, Analysts (in banks and brokerage houses among others), Risk and Insurance Management (in Non-banking Financial Companies and Insurance majors), Investment Banking Associates and Managers (across investment banking firms).

The challenges in the roles faced are also equally different. Says Jatin Vaidya, an investment banking associate, “the challenges we face in an ever evolving, dynamic and fast growing world economic market is really something that excites me. Not only do I have to take stock and keep an eye on commodity and stock markets in India, but with my firm having several international clientele, I have to take an active interest in world markets as well. And because of this, no two days are ever the same!”

MBA in Marketing: Marketing as a function is an essential business process that straddles both communication and sales. An MBA in Marketing therefore needs to possess both a flair for communication as well the aptitude and flair for sales. An MBA in marketing can open doors in both advertising and every allied field of the same as also in corporates with a focus on developing and executing strategy that will affect the bottomline of the company.

The positions available to an MBA in marketing include Client Servicing Executives/Managers in both Advertising and Public Relations, Marketing/Sales Managers in companies across the board, Marketing Strategy Consultants and professionals in firms that research and consult with large scale multinational corporations.

Says Kimberly Athaide, a marketing manager with a fast growing beverage company, “creativity and numbers live in harmony as two vital cogs of my job. If one day is about coordinating with my advertising agency about our latest ad campaign, the next is about strategising about distribution and reach with wholesalers, so that our products are placed and priced competitively vis-a-vis our competitors. Like I said, it is both about numbers and creativity in equal measure…”

MBA in HR: No business can ever run successfully with a dissatisfied staff. An HR MBA equips individuals to better connect with their personnel on matters of morale, remuneration, work ethics, policies and organizational hierarchy.

Job titles in this space can vary from an HR executive to a Chief Motivational Officer (a concept popularised in several tech companies and startups). The challenges facing a fresh grad are complex as HR is about dealing with people and complex relationships within the purvey and framework of a professional set up.

Says Roshi Ahluwalia, an HR officer with a Hotel chain, “my job involves solving, in a mutually beneficial manner, the problems and issues faced by different cadres of people. From day labourers to managers and from chefs to bell boys, I’m the one point of contact for practically everyone who works here. What makes my job satisfying is that I make an impact on people’s lives in a positive manner.”

MBA in Logistics and Operations: An important function of any business is in the maintenance and upkeep of a supply chain. Logistics and operations are vital across several lines of business, and an MBA in this specialisation prepares one for the challenges faced in this critical function. 

Job titles and responsibilities vary in this field and growth is based on performance and skills shown. Companies have known to have Presidents and Vice Presidents (Operations), demonstrating the vital nature of this function to the success of a business.

MBA in IT: There is absolutely no doubt that Information Technology has revolutionised the way one does business. With data and processes now run singlehandedly by smarter computers, an MBA in IT enables a fresh grad to contribute in a positive manner to the efficacy and maximization of IT resources for the stability and growth of a company.

With this degree under one’s belt the glass ceiling is CIO (Chief Information Officer) which in tech companies and several financial majors is seen as on par with the big three job titles i.e. CEO (Chief Executive Officer), CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and COO (Chief Operating Officer).

MBA in Retail: With Retail emerging as one of the strongest sectors in the past decade, a specialisation in the business of retail is seen by many as the next big post graduate degree to have. An MBA in Retail isn’t just about procurement and dispersal of stock, it is in fact a science and an art, in so much as there are several facets to retail. Planning a retail experience is the buzzword in the industry and Retail Management equips a grad to do just that.

Job titles in the ambit of an MBA in Retail include Visual Merchandiser, Store and Retail Manager, Retail Buyers/Merchandisers, Experience Creation Executives, Logistics and Warehouse Managers, Supply Chain Executives/Managers and so forth. 

Full time MBA vs. Part time MBA: Which MBA institutes in Mumbai should you choose?

Studying MBA is an enjoyable experience but it can only be so if the right steps are taken. If simply getting a hold of the degree is the reason for you taking up MBA lessons, it is best you quit right away. You need to have a passion for it. This helps you immensely when you step into the world of business and apply this knowledge on a practical level. When you choose to pursue MBA in one of the many MBA institutes in Mumbai, you may be torn between part time and full time MBA. A few reasons why a full time MBA may work better for some - 

1.  Juggling work and education is a daunting task:

When you take up part time MBA, you have to look after both your education and your job, which, in some situations may end up becoming excruciatingly hectic. Balancing both is a herculean task. You may have to miss out on a training program scheduled at your workplace because you have your final exams to answer. Conversely, you may have to skip a workshop at your MBA institute if you have an important deadline to stick to at work.

2.  Participation in various events that develop leadership skills:

When you pursue full time MBA from some of the best MBA institutes in Mumbai, you are exposed to several activities that groom your personality and leadership skills. Being part of the Student Organisation is one of them. You get the opportunity to participate in several activities and interact with numerous people that enable you to sharpen your leadership skills over time. It also sheds light on the dynamics of politics.

3.  Undivided attention to course projects:

When pursuing full time MBA, you get the opportunity to work on projects with dedication and passion because of the availability of time. When doing a part time course, you may not get the time to apply the concepts taught in the classroom in your real time project. Full time MBA enables you to work on creative aspects of the projects and give it your best shot.

4.  Time to build networks:

When you pursue an MBA, you main aim apart from scoring well, is to build a strong network. When you pursue a full time MBA, you have the time to meet new people, interact with them and build contacts. There is a plethora of events organised by the University. There are also other events which are not organised by the University but are important, nonetheless. Attending these can be extremely beneficial in the long run.

5.  Worldwide exposure:

When you are doing a full time MBA from one of the best MBA institutes in Mumbai, you get the opportunity to intern in foreign countries for a short period of time. You can take classes or have international study trips to get more exposure. A part time MBA does not give you that freedom.