Yesterday I was talking to these people from a different country regarding the career prospects after we finish our MBA and what should we do about it. And I guess I came out as a little too desperate. I am not sure but I think I can speak for most Indians B-school students here that we are desperate about getting an internship or a job.
Two days back the Indian gang was discussing about getting an internship and job and we were talking about making an exhaustive list and start applying. Some of us were of the opinion that we should apply left and right and we might get lucky atleast somewhere. On the other hand when discussing with my foreign friends, those guys did not seem in any kind of hurry. Rather one of them mentioned "I have just started my MBA and am not even sure where I want to work later on". Basically she meant that she wanted to explore different areas within the course of MBA, develop an interest and then go job hunting.
This statement of hers kind of took me aback. Back in India so much emphasis is given to placements that sometimes we forget everything else. The sole aim of joining a MBA program is to jump to a better company. Interests, likings, developing oneself, making full use of the MBA program and everything else takes a backburner. Rather than concentrating on the job at hand i.e., transforming ourselves to be better managers and extract the best out of our MBA, we tend to concentrate too much on the future. Not sure why this happens and whether its a good thing or a bad thing. But is this the usual Indian psyche?....To be secured about one's future. Or has it got something to do with the prestige issue? Indian B-schools have campus placements and hence most students select a job from the available lot before they graduate. This maybe kind of puts a pressure on the students doing their MBA from foreign universities (where there is no concept of campus placements) and it becomes a prestige issue that even they should be placed before they complete their MBAs.
I personally do not mind waiting for sometime after I complete my MBA to search for 'the' job. But am still not sure which is the correct way to go? I mean there is no harm looking for the jobs if you already know what field you are interested in. But yeah, this should not come at the cost of loosing out on the value of your MBA. And then I dont rather mind waiting and searching for the right job also. Not sure what I will end up doing...on the one hand the peer and parental pressure is always going to be there and on the other hand is this new line of thought that I am learning from my foreign classmates.
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Quite an obvious line of thought coming from a non Indian. It was the same kinda discussion that I and T from Switzerland had yesterday before the IT and E-comm class. I think that conversation partly throws light on why these distinct schools of thought exist.
He casually told me that the competitive nature of Indians sometimes is quite unnerving for him, as it was for a few others from his land. He went on to add how the higher education streams in his country were relaxed and were easy to get into with a bit more effort and the whole lifestyle was so relaxed, that the government was doing everything possible to encourage higher education aspirations. However people are just plain happy leading the laid back life that they have got accustomed to. Like the Little Men in "Who moved my Cheese"
Now contrast this with India. Which Indian middle class student today does not want to do a B.E? How many of them nurture plans to do a Masters, get a plush job, etc. Almost everybody you know of, right. What is the government doing? Nothing, coz the system takes care of itself. Like the competitive free market system in capitalist countries. This is the breeding ground for competition where a little complacency might do you in. Given this as the backdrop, shouldn't it be natural that we Indians are already losing out on 40 winks in search of a job? I still completely agree that it should not be at the cost of getting the best that MBA has on offer for you, but worry you will.
Now there is no good thing or bad thing about each line of thought, it is just that different countries of the world go through different stages of evolution at different periods in history and it is this which shapes an individual's mental make-up.
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