Education, Job, Career & Dilemma

Recently one of the former colleagues called me to ask about the expectations from fresh talent. Her son is doing his engineering from reputed college at Delhi and he is aspiring to go outside India for post-graduation. She met one of the career counsellors who assured her that if his services are taken her son will get the admission in Stanford, Harvard etc. No comment about the career counsellor here. It is their business.  

But she asked me some interesting questions which I think every parents and students may have in their mind. I thought that such questions are important to understand what those things are, students should focus on.

1. Is it okay to do the post-graduation in India from reputed college or instead take an admission in foreign university? 

• Every student’s & parent’s dilemma. There are a lot of foreign universities which encourage students to take admission outside from their countries. If you have enough funds, it is easy to get admission in foreign universities. You can go in the US, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Germany or any other European countries.  Just you have to crack some entrance exams or language exams. It is not a big deal. Big deal is getting admission in top universities. If you are aspiring to take admission in top colleges in India, like top IIMs for business management, you have to prepare hard to crack the CAT. Getting admission in post-graduation in engineering in IITs is not that difficult. If you did your education in foreign universities, you may also get the job there. Question is what your purpose is. Lot of students still struggle to get a job in India, when they are back in India.

• Just getting the degree or postgraduate degree (unless you are from Top Universities) doesn’t make you eligible to get a job in India. For entry level your institute background or university matters. If you are from reputed (Not mostly advertised) institute anywhere from the world, your chance to get the job at entry level is easy. But once you get the job, everybody is equal. 

• In summary, if you want to study outside India, do it, but choose the university wisely. If you want to stay in India and study in top tier colleges, do it. But again, choose that institute wisely.

2. What are the top 5 things you see in the resume of an entry level candidate?

• Funny thing is that all resumes are just copy pasted in the college by students. Their objectives are the same, their hobbies are similar. Placement officer gives the format and students just put the information in the resume. I don’t think, either college or students give enough attention in designing the resume. They are trained how to give interviews, how to speak in group discussions, etc etc. Hence, it is difficult to get the clue from entry level resumes. But then as a professional I will notice the following things in the resume.

• Have the students given some thought while making his resume or just copy pasted the format?
• His score in different exams,
• What are that extra-curricular activities (leading the events, organising some fest etc) he has taken in the college to improve his soft skills?
• What he did during his summer and winter internship?
• What is his project and how seriously he did it?

During the interview the interview may ask more details about all above to understand the seriousness, depth, understanding of the student. 

3. What are those things one should focus to make a career in the corporate world at management level?

• First message is don’t go by the title, go by the role. Titles may be misleading. Whenever you join any organization, focus on formative experience and learning. Formative experience is as under:

• Building the functional or domain knowledge: In any organization, you need to be strong in your functional or domain knowledge. you have learned the concepts in the college, now it is the time to test them and understand them better. Practical application of your learning makes your foundation sound. Focus on more learning. Understand the things in detail. Strive for the excellence.

• Perspective Building: As you grow in the organization, start learning about the people, culture, diversity and interacting with them. Start learning what are different perspectives and thinking pattern and how are they developed. Work with different teams, on different projects. Build the perspective in social, international context. Widen your horizon.

• Leadership Building: This is about working on your personal style. Leadership not necessary means you should have a team to lead. It is about how you build your leadership by observing, learning and experiencing while working. 

As a professional when any resume and subsequently candidate comes to me, I will see how he learned in the organization, what is his development & experience pattern and how he has grown in the organization.

Please watch here to know more "How I build my Formative Experience."