Once a fresh graduate passes out from his university he is looking for carrier options in life and there are multiple and its being really confusing which to opt and why. Every options have pros and cons and there is a need to make a through examination of these options . The best way to judge is to ask why we want to do it and whether it suits me or not.

It very difficult to say which is better, i shall not be debating in this write up of mine which is relatively better, but shall be throwing light on what significance each hold and how MBA is different from CFA.

However please note when I am saying CFA I am referring to the Chartered Financial analyst course and when I am saying MBA I am referring to the good Business schools of the country.

There are certain distinguishing features of MBA which I am highlighting in comparison to CFA

1. Better Networking – MBA has a uniqueness of its own, it helps in creating a better networking as during the two year time period, students share a lot of things, they compete with each other and they fight for common goal . It helps in creating a sporting spirit and a feeling of attachment with each other. They have to give lot of presentation majorly group presentations which help in creating a feeling of togetherness. In this 2 year tenure you develop networking with classmates, faculty, speakers, Industry people and recruiters. The best part is that they all come in contact with you at one go. However in CFA this feeling of attachment lacks as they are studying on their own and giving exams.
2. A better connected Alumni base- The Business schools which are running for decades have developed a strong alumni base and these alumni are spread in different part of the continent, in different sectors, in different industries. It’s being really helpful for the students to make entry in the organisation for different purposes because of existence of alumni base. The CFA Institute is trying to get better, but it just doesn’t have the close-knit alumni community that Business Schools around the country have been fostering for decade.
3. Better for venturing in different sectors- The best part of MBA is that it helps in creating a jack of all traits along with a master in one domain. In the first year the students are taught all the disciplines like marketing, finance, Human resource and Information technology and in the second year they are provided a specialization in one discipline, so an MBA get a flair of all which helps him/ her in his long professional journey as in his journey a person has to take various strategic as well as day to day decisions , his knowledge of all the fields help him in understanding the subject matter well and placing his thoughts in the best possible manner. However with CFA a person gains specialised knowledge in finance and he not get a chance to understand other disciplines. For MBA the prospects are wide open they can join any industry there is no restriction, he can join an investment banking, merchant banking , banks, marketing companies, research based companies or an act as an analyst, however after CFA the scope is not so wide, they generally act as an analyst.
4. Better work life balance – MBA generally fresher’s do on a full time basis and it gives student a time to learn lot of things and also help in creating a work life balance as the students are only studying and not doing job along with it, so without job pressure it help them to concentrate and have time to rest. However CFA generally being opted by people who are in job, so it creates a hectic life schedule.
5. More Practical aspect in MBA – The MBA study focuses on the case studies, and more practical aspects like what are the challenges in running the organisation, how to manage the situation in different scenarios and how to make a turnaround of the company. They are also provided with the industrial training in the form of summer internship. While in CFA it’s a correspondence course, you have to study and pass the papers, though you become expert in finance but not learn the management skills.
6. Better Mentors – MBA helps in coming in contact with good and knowledgeable mentors who have academic and industry experience, they beside teaching also give tips of practical approaches and share their rich experience. Beside the full time faculty, there comes experienced guest faculty, so students reap a rich experience sharing benefit from them.
7. Softskill development – MBA helps in developing softskill like public speaking, dressup sense, eating sense and also helps in adhering to the crisp deadline schedule. CFA do not give exposure to these softskill development parts.
8. Better for starting your own business- MBA gives a perspective of starting your own business as it helps in infusing the leadership skills. People after doing MBA not just look for job as their final destiny but also start thinking of starting there own venture.
9. Can be finished in short time – MBA get completed in a two year crisp period and there are rare chances that people are losing a year as the pass percentage in semesters of MBA is close to 100%. While in CFA the passing percentage is close 15 to 20%.
10. Switchover is easy- For an MBA passout its easy to switch over and change stream like a person is in the finance department for 10 years, but later he can become a part of the top marketing team.
11. Support by good infrastructure – MBA have good infrastructures and backed by good libraries as well as good data bases, while in CFA you lack these and have to join the private libraries.
12. Placement Support – MBA’S provide a good placement support, companies from different sectors come to the campus while CFA have to apply to the vacancies as and when they come.

Contributed by Maneesh srivastava (Class of 2008, IBS GURGAON )

MBA, mostly the final years of study in a person’s life, is a course where one makes the latest friends in a school-like setting. Though, we gather friends throughout our lives, but these friends are slightly different as they are an amalgamation of professionalism, personal touch and hard core competition.

We, the social animals can never escape our habit of making friends, smiling at strangers to initiate talks, building trust to lay foundations and standing by each other in critical situations. Though, we are well-versed with the kind of homo-sapiens that exist in our society and whom we select as friends, there is always more to know and explore.

There is always a difference with respect to the kind of friends one makes during graduation and those ones which we make at post graduation with respect to maturity, responsibility, attitude and behavior. MBA does give you a lot of friends who can be excellent references and professional contacts. Let us now explore the kind of friends one makes at MBA colleges:

1. The Figure Fanatic: Figure Fanatics are those souls who are excellently capable at number crunching, remembering formulas and figures. They have mastered the art of solving all numerical problems via sheer logic, practice, dedication and unfulfilled desire to become human calculators. Newspapers and financial websites are their breakfast and their discussion is their lunch.  Every formula or ratio you can think of, they can derive in a short while. They are excellent at dividing the bills for group contributions at restaurants and canteens. These specimens excel at subjects like statistics, mathematics, finance or accounts as if it is their birthright. You envy them for their number love but they can add to your skills by motivating you and educating you about their secret shortcuts.

2. Life savers: Such friends are rare and stand by you in all ups and downs. MBA takes you by surprise when you make new friends, who ditch you with time. But, there are some life-saving mountains of trust and support. At various moments you feel miserable such as rejection during placements or failure in examination; they are the ‘Aal is Well’ friend most of us dream of. They not only remain positive but also lift you when you fall weak. They seem to know your personality, you responses and behavior more than you and at least offer solutions to your critical problems if not solve them. Their presence in life is itself stress busting and enriching for they focus on the present priorities rather than other things.

3. The Chintamani’s/ Newspapers: Such friends are like alarm clocks who keep on reminding you about assignment and project deadlines. Chintamani’s are the first ones to cry and whine at any change in rules or introduction of new rules in the entire institute. They often volunteer as class representatives owing to their habit of being teacher’s pets and handle the valuable information to people with loyalty and trust. Also, often such people spread rumors which aren’t healthy for others owing to their title of being newspapers. Confidential information must be hidden from them else the entire campus is bound to know! Always worried, tensed, such friends never fail to gather attention for their nervousness at crucial events such as presentations, interviews, group discussions and even outside examination halls. 

4. The Overactive Politician (OP): With influential speech as their birthright, there are some friends who never stick to a particular motion and bend to the side which is beneficial for them. Emotions hold less significance for them as compared to fame, righteousness and social image that are crucial. They are petrified by the event of their moves being calculated or predicted by their competitors. Politicians are not only great at the political handshakes, maintaining contact with authorities but also taking lead at co-curricular or attention winning activities. Loyalty is not their cup of tea and hence in their pursuit to achieve something they go beyond normal efforts and friendships. OP’s are amazing at convincing others, winning trust, appearing genuine and gathering limelight; backed by their selfish and personal intentions. Academics are never their priority and their only trait that makes them different is their extroversion. 

5. The Philosophy Honors: Such friends are certainly lost in the philosophy of life; spiritual pursuit or dedication to God. They deliver spiritual or philosophical one liner which make or break your day. They are the modern version of ‘Daadi’ or ‘Naani’ who are attracted by the newer versions of Epics written by modern writers. Yoga and meditation are also their never ending love. They read a lot of self help books and never hesitate in preaching what they read. They are always present to console you when you face failures and teach you to be satisfied in your life. They help you shape your personality by adding the philosophical twist to it with spices such as ethics, morals, principles, values, new beliefs, fairness etc. 

6. The Knowledge Thirsty: This category of friends is a rare species which includes geeks. Avoiding the friendship sustainability clause, such friendships are about sharing knowledge from all sources and means. Such people are never hesitant of explaining concepts and questions in day to day life or outside the examination halls. Such people always question and have an innate desire to go deeper and deeper in to the subject. They lay emphasis on brainstorming and doubt-raising in classes with teachers and professors. Moreover, some people are stingy and competitive beings who love to learn but not share for the fear of losing competitive edge. 

7. Butterflies: Some people are your fair weather friends who are present until their interests coincide with yours. Their interests may range from copying assignments to enjoying at your cost. These friends, as the name suggests, are temporary, look promising, very sweet spoken but do not stick to you in difficult times or failures. You can enjoy their presence like butterflies but not expect because expectations bring disappointment.

8. Spendthrift Maniacs: Friends who spend time or money without realizing value. Some people label them as spoiled brats or filthy rich who flaunt their car, clothes and everything and for them course degree is just a formality. Friends who don’t value time will make you waste your time. People who have loaded baskets cannot understand the situations which masses face.

Practically one must have 3 close friends; the poor to teach you how to live with meager means, the intellect to teach you how to make sensible decisions and the filthy rich to help you understand how to make choices when variety is at disposal. Choosing the friends is however up to you!

Contributed by Chayan Jain (Class of 2011-2013, IBS HYDERABAD)

With the winters setting in, I frequently see many people preferring their warm beds to extend their beauty sleep or having an indoor source of entertainment during leisure hours.  During a number of such occasions, I found out how fascinated we all are with the concept of time and time travel. Many movie buffs around me had a good dose of Hollywood sagas such as ‘Back to the Future’, ‘Minority Report’ and ’The Butterfly Effect’. Some Bollywood stories also made an entry into our living-rooms through ‘Love Story 2050’ and ‘Action Replayy’.

There are several movies and substantial reading material on the chronicles of various protagonists trying to visit the days gone by or visit the times to come. What strikes a chord here is what makes us so enthralled at the prospect of being able to control the dynamics of time! Our minds typically refuse to stay in the present, constantly regretting a past that can never be undone or anxiously awaiting a future that may never arrive. The feeble yet powerful force of time is something that every human soul desires and yet is always unable to devise any definite source for the same. People have spent eons thinking about these concepts and the ideas behind them.

It is safe to say that in the entire fascination and intriguing nature of time, the essence is the same – its fleeting nature. Time, as defined in Google, is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. So, in short as a human, it’s all a matter of how we enable ourselves to make every fleeting moment of time worth its while.

Recollecting our past, we identify that events may have occurred long ago, but the vividness of their memories sometimes makes them seem much closer in time. Another reason why years seem to “rush by” is pure familiarity. As our lives turn into a blur of routine and redundancy, this perceived sprint gets stronger. Our brains tend to “skip over” instances that we do over and over since there’s no need to store data that we already have tucked away. Actual elapsed time is not processed during redundant events, which is why it appears to take forever to drive to a new place, but driving back home feels like it takes half as long, even though you’re going the same exact route both ways.

The solution to “lengthening” your years is simple novelty. Be spontaneous, do something new, break down the old gray walls and time will reduce its pace again. On encapsulating this enigma of time, all that is seen is the ‘present’ of the present.

Utilization of time is one of the biggest, extremely important and mostly misunderstood concepts. Especially in today’s aggressively progressing environment, time is considered to be the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed efficiently, nothing else can be managed. Talking about resource value, the corporates uphold the value of time as the highest commodity.

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. It’s one of the most important proficiency that one has to learn as soon as possible in the business world. It is also crucial for maintaining your work-home life balance. Completing the job on time is an essential trait expected from all employees, which can only be achieved if time is managed in an efficient manner.

Now what does all this collective wisdom have it in for me? For a millennial, this boils down to only one thing, optimum deployment of resources is a necessity and it always begins with managing time. Organizing the manner in which we are exposed to the best of knowledge and experience all around us is what will pave our way and be our guide to success.

When you’re just starting your career, you need all the help you can get for managing your time. Even when you’re working hard, you could be wasting a tremendous amount of time by trying to multitask or focusing too much on minute details. Key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

If you didn’t complete something by the time it was due, it’s because you didn’t regard it as imperative or satisfying enough to prioritize ahead of whatever else you were doing. Days always fill up faster than you’d expect. Build in some buffer time. Plan only four to five hours of real work per day.

Our generation has a tendency to ‘zone-in’ on a particular attribute at a given time. So, work more when you’re in the zone. Relax when you’re not. Some days you’ll be off your game, and other times you’ll be able to maintain your focus for 12 hours straight. Take advantage of such days.

With innumerable deviations around us, we tend to put all our efforts into too many things at once. If you’re spending your day multitasking, you’re actually draining out your brain. We’re always more focused and productive with a limited time. Work always seems to find a way of filling the space allotted for it, so it sets shorter time limits for each task.

A baby first learns to roll before it can begin running. Start with small tasks to reach the climax. Being a perfectionist is good, but it always comes with its cons. Work iteratively because having an outlook to perform perfectly is oppressive. It’s commonly seen that many people work overtime to complete their day’s work. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that sitting at your desk will somehow extract work from you. We have been given a single life and the best usage of that would be by striking a balance between work and play.

Never fear a large chunk of work. Break down a massive task into manageable blocks. Ideally, you can brainstorm your ideas and then execute them. If you’re constantly stopping your flow of work to rethink something, you’re slowing yourself down. Separate brainless and strategic tasks to become more productive. First things first, organize important tasks early in the day. Time leading up to an event is often wasted.

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something. Work around procrastination. Procrastinate between intense sprints of work. No two tasks ever hold the same importance. Always prioritize. Delegate and learn to distribute effort with other people. To be truly efficient, get over the fear of handing work off to someone else.

Don’t distract yourself with either the successes or failures of the past. Focus instead on what’s in front of you. Set deadlines for everything. Don’t let tasks stretch indefinitely. Spending too much time on a project or procrastinating it for too long will lead to stagnation. Get things done and move on.

And finally remember, we have just begun our professional journey of life. Each day has a new beginning and finishing it with some learning is in our hands. For at the end of life, all that would matter would be your treasure trove of wisdom and happiness.

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Contributed by Deeba ( Class of 2013, IBS GURGAON )

Linkedin Profile of Deeba : in.linkedin.com/pub/deeba-t/49/483/732/

GMAT or Graduate Management Admission test is a computer based test which is used to assess the required aptitude for a management program. It is an assessment and not an examination which means that you get a score at the end of the assessment without indicating whether you ‘pass’ or ‘fail’. You will receive your assessment scores and various colleges have their own cut offs for admissions based on these scores. This is intended primarily for graduates and undergraduates (in final year generally) and is intended for various universities/ business schools in USA and some other countries.

Now whether it is your final year studies or you have joined a job and want to go back to studies, multi tasking always seems intimidating. However with proper planning and some discipline it can be managed. Before we get into the ‘HOW TO MANAGE’ part for the sake of comprehensiveness let us also see ‘WHAT’ is GMAT?  And what does this require?

GMAT as whole is not simply about taking the test, but the entire application process. And the application is the toughest part. Structure of the GMAT, tests one’s preparation rather than intelligence. More the preparation, the better chances you have to do well.

Sections in GMAT are as below:

Section	Number of questions	Duration(In minutes)
Analytical Writing Assessment	1	30
Integrated Reasoning	12	30
Quantitative	37	75
Verbal	41	75

The total test is for 3.5 hrs but you can have short breaks in between sections, these breaks are of 8 min each and not more than 30 min on whole. You cannot refer your study material in these breaks.

Though the score of these essays is not reflected on the application, the AWA (Analytical writing assessment) essays are important as well. The admission committee does make a note of the scores and compare it to the application essays. So practice writing. Any discrepancy in the AWA essay and the application essay will get noticed.

It must be clearly understood that, for the purpose of your GMAT exam the graduation curriculum can only help you to some extent. This is a test to evaluate aptitude and not the technical or scientific knowledge (no rocket science this… eh!) so those who are not necessarily from mathematics background should not feel handicapped. That was the good news. Now for the warning – since this test is only in English and along with a section of Analytical writing assessment also has a verbal section, an individual’s passing/workable knowledge of English will definitely be put to test. For many Indian students whether from English or vernacular a medium, English is barely used in day to day conversation or communication. Even if we write an informal mail, we have learnt the art of writing in Hindi or our mother tongue in English alphabets. ‘Kya baat karte ho bhai, mein to English mei hi type kar raha hun (What are you saying brother, I am typing in English only’) Seems familiar? Well, this does not qualify. Like our mother tongue English cannot be learnt with a crash course! I have found that even the students of best of colleges find it really difficult to maintain the flow of speech when conversing in English.

Hence, first and foremost thing that one must do while preparing for GMAT is start eating, living and sleeping English.

Once you are on track on this, there are few things that you must keep in mind and prepare:

• Understand the complete process of GMAT. You may refer site http://www.mba.com/india for details on the entire process and what all it requires including the fees
• Start as early as possible (immediately if you have made up your mind and discussed with family)
• Gather good books and material to have a thorough practice
• Even if you are able to devote 1-2 hrs per day, do it. Don’t skip it in hope of ‘someday’ for taking out dedicated time for continuous study since that day may never come.
• If you are studying, try to do an internship. If you are working, then obtain a good recommendation letter or recognition of your work which is useful in the application process. You can also get recommendation letter from professor/lecturer of your college which is an added advantage.

The total test is for 3.5 hrs but you can have short breaks inbetween sections, these breaks are of 8 min each and not more than 30 min on whole. You cannot refer your study material in these breaks.

Though the score of these essays are not reflected on the application, the AWA (Analytical writing assessment) essays are important as well. The admission committee does make a note of the scores and compare it to the application essays. So practice writing. Any discrepancy in the AWA essay and the application essay will get noticed.

It must be clearly understood that, for the purpose of your GMAT exam the graduation curriculum can only help you to some extent. This is a test to evaluate aptitude and not the technical or scientific knowledge (no rocket science this… eh!) so those who are not necessarily from mathematics background should not feel handicapped. That was the good news. Now for the caveat; since this test is only in English language and along with a section of Analytical writing assessment also has a verbal section hence a passing/workable knowledge of English will definitely be put to stretch. For many of us Indian students whether in English or other mediums, English is barely used in day to day conversation or communication. Even if we write an informal mail, we have learnt the art of writing in Hindi or our mother tongue with English keyboard. ‘ Kya baat karte ho bhai, mein to English mei hi type kar raha hun (What are you saying brother, I am typing in English only’; seems familiar?. Well, this does not qualifyJ. Like our mother tongue English cannot be learnt with a crash course! I have found that even the students of best of colleges find it really difficult to maintain the flow of speech when conversing in English.

Hence first and foremost thing that one must do while preparing for GMAT is start eating, living and sleeping English.

Once you are on track on this, there are few things that you must keep in mind and prepare :

• Understand the complete process of GMAT. You may refer site http://www.mba.com/india for details on the entire process and what all it requires including the fees
• Start as early as possible (immediately if you have made up your mind and discussed with family)
• Gather good books and material to have a thorough practice
• Even if you are able to devote 1-2 hrs per day do it and don’t skip it in hope of some day, taking out dedicated time for continuous study (that day may never come).
• If you are studying, try and do an internship. If you are working then work for a good recommendation letter or recognition of your work which is useful in application process. You can also get recommendation letter from professor/lecturer of your college which is an added advantage.

During the entire process you can be well prepared and make the most of it by following some simple guidelines:

• Background (Academics – Under graduation/graduation performance/GMAT)
  • It is important to be hard working and sincere throughout your study life. Good marks and achievements always show well on your resume, and when applying anywhere in future, they do catch the eye of the observer. If you have a poor record in the past, work really hard on the GMAT to pull off an excellent score. History can’t be changed but the future can be made.
• Essays
  • Follow Creativity, keep it Coherent , and write Correct (the 3 C’s)
  • Write it yourself (can include suggestions from others)
  • Structure around academic experience, work experience, personal passion, the B-school strengths, and future vision.
  • Identify a common goal and theme among your work, personal background and career aspirations
  • Keep the grammar correct
• Resume/Work exp
  • Keep it thorough and up-to-date
  • Include and address any gaps in the career
  • Address anything left out in the resume in the essays
  • Identify and quantify your contributions during work (add monetary values associated with the project you handled)
• Candidate Interview
  • It not very common, but it’s usually another step to confirm a candidate.
  • Like a job interview with basic questions- why MBA, why this school
  • plan and prepare well. Do a thorough research on the school’s expertise, show interest by talking with professors and students (mail them) and learn about their projects.
• Recommendations
  • Give the reviewers a few months time to write recommendations
  • Keep more than 2 reviewers than required for the application
  • Ask for recommendations from people you have closely worked with and who can back you achievements mentioned in the resume or essay
• Personal background
  • A key to separating you from other candidates
  • Mention about (and work on it too!) social service or extra curriculars. Talk about your passions and more importantly about what you do with your passions. (if you like reading and writing, do something more with it and mention that)
  • Talk about how you are a good fit (and not that your background makes you a good fit!), how you can contribute to the school and to the experience of fellow students.

Keep in mind that this assessment of aptitude has a great emphasis on the overall performance of an aspirant and that extra competitive edge compared to thousands, if not lacs, of other applicants. With an early start and good discipline GMAT would be a wonderful experience.

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Contributed by Vaibhav Agarwal ( Class of 2006, IBS GURGAON )

Linkedin Profile of Vaibhav Agarwal : in.linkedin.com/pub/vaibhav-agarwal/8/683/a6a/

This blog post is 1st in a 3-part series titled “Before, then and beyond… The IBS Sojourn” written by IBS Hyderabad Alumnus Rohit Mathew (Class of 2000). It is written from a third person perspective. This 1st part (Before) shares about how Rohit decided to pursue higher education and all real-life drama associated with it.

The year was 1998 and he was at the crossroads again. The young man who was to turn 21 six months later found himself in a quandary. One he had experienced many a times before but never of this magnitude. Should he opt to take the lucrative job opportunity that awaited or should he put his studying cap back on and prepare for higher education?

He had called to let his father know that he had cleared the first round of selection and was to go back for final deliberations after lunch at the Hotel Trident next door.  It was then that his father had broken the news to him. In the telephone booth, at Willingdon Island, Kochi he stood holding the phone, hoping to get some advice.

Earlier that year, he had written the entrance examination for an MBA program from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (Icfai).  His father had received a letter from the Institute, stating that he had cleared the first round; the written examination. He now needed to answer a personality questionnaire and submit a presentation from a selection. He was to do this a week from today at Hyderabad. The final round of the selection procedure would be spread across two days – presentation and group discussion on the first day and if one were to make it through, the final interview would be conducted the next day.

The choice was his to make, his father had told him.  He could either take up the opportunity that awaited him at the office around the corner or walk the path of higher education and see where it would lead him.  After all, he had only written his B.Sc final examinations whose results he still awaited, and here was an opportunity for a job that offered him apart from a salary, perks such as a house with domestic help, a vehicle and membership to a premier club.  What more could a 20 year old from the small town of Meerut, in U.P. hope for?

Taking a deep breath, he pondered how he had gotten here in the first place.  His grandmother had been the daughter of the village school’s headmaster in a remote village in Kerala.  At a time when there was no electricity and study was done by the dimly lit kerosene lamp, she had the gumption to educate herself and move to Agra, a place where the language and the people were unknown.  When women barely moved out of their homes, this lady had travelled to Agra to study medicine. She becamethe first Indian lady doctor at St. Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi after which she was handed the reigns of managing the Cantonment Hospital in Meerut.  Here this gynecologist from small town Kerala, spent the better part of fifty years to become one of the most prominent doctors in Meerut. Her son, the young man’s father had also educated himself to become a leading doctor.

The question still loomed? The choice needed to be made.

Then out of the blue, a thought struck him.  He could hear his grandfather’s word’s – “The one thing that no one can ever take away from you is your education.”  And as it had come, the storm cleared. Everything was clear as day.  Study he would.

If you have done your graduation, have or do not have a work experience of a few years and want to study further in order to enhance you short term and long term career prospects, you need to examine what are the available options and decide one that is most suitable for you. Few things which you must consider are as follows;

i) Employers generally require people who can produce desired results to develop and grow their businesses. People who rise to high positions in industry with good remuneration and perks are those who can own responsibility and deliver results as per expectation of employer.

ii) Rarely one gets employed in a job of high responsibility based only on the specialization degree and skills in a particular field.

iii) Toughest job in business is to own broader responsibility and achieve good results because it involves not only controlling your own work but also controlling the work of many other people and dealing with issues requiring inter-personal and inter-disciplinary aspects.

iv) Consider that you are head of a manufacturing plant and the engineering head proposes to replace an existing machine with a more advanced machine giving higher productivity. The finance head is not keen to invest large sum of money unless it becomes absolute necessity. To arrive at good decision the situation requires knowledge of inter-personal relationships i.e. human issues, financial planning and analysis, market conditions and marketing issues and of course insight into future technological and business trends. The skills and ability to deal with situations of this kind are developed only through an MBA program.

v) A specialized master’s degree in specific field or a certification in Finance or Diploma in banking or in any other domain improves only one dimension of a complex business scenario. It gives more advanced knowledge of the subject field which is good thing but it cannot substitute the integrated comprehensive skill set needed for managing a business.

vi) Most MBA programs require work experience of a few years for admitting a student. During the work experience the students would have encountered certain difficult situations and complex issues which they were unable to resolve satisfactorily. While studying for MBA the students can quickly relate the learning to the practical problems experienced in work life. In fact many practical problems brought by students are analysed and discussed for learning of the whole batch.

vii) An MBA program enables the students to learn from their peers as much as from teachers. So the interactive sessions become very meaningful resource for learning to solve real life problems.

viii) Next is the question of your temperament and aptitude. If you think you feel comfortable working only in the area of your specialization, you may do so but must understand that your opportunities in life for jobs of higher level will be limited. So the ease of remaining in the comfort zone of your own field of work can be counterproductive in the long run as it would block out major opportunities coming in your way.

ix) Better understanding of various business functions enables one to supervise and coordinate effectively the work of other people and other units.

x) There are a number of reasons which clearly point in the direction of preference of MBA over specialization courses or certifications. Few of these are explained below;

• Suitable for different types of jobs: An MBA can easily fit into a wide variety of jobs due primarily to his exposure to a wide spectrum of skills and learning.

• Attitude built up: Most important for success in professional life is the right attitude which does not come easily. It requires conscious effort and systematic intervention to develop it. An MBA program recognizes the significance of attitude and uses various techniques built into the program like group tasks, role play etc.

• High networking: In today’s global business scenario opportunities don’t systematically appear on the pages of newspapers. These have to be located and grabbed by your own initiative. It is best done with a widespread network of professionals. An MBA course provides fertile ground for building an efficient network of your own.

• Better well-connected alumni group: Over a period of time most business school pass outs with MBA degree rise to high positions in wide spectrum of organizations. They all are alumni of the school and are in regular touch through formal and informal meetings. These alumni provide good direction and guidance to the MBA students about the way to go for building a great career for them.

• Better name recognition: Most MBA schools build great name and recognition for themselves based on the quality of education they provide and performance level achieved by its passing out students over the years. So, the name of the institution of your study itself guarantees a good job for you.

• Suitable for developing your own business: Those who want to develop their own business find the MBA degree extremely useful as the course provides insight into various facets of business rather than limiting to a specialized area of knowledge.

• Better mentorship: An MBA program includes various techniques which can be used for better performance in any field of business. One such technique is ‘Mentoring’. A mentor is a friend, philosopher and guide who enriches the mentee with his own long experience and guides him/her in the right direction at the right time.

• Make life more productive and joyful: It is said that best performance can be delivered by a person in a job when he actually enjoys doing the work. An MBA degree focuses on various personality traits and qualities to develop a balanced person who can deliver work of high quality and at the same time have more fun and enjoy the work and the relationships.

• Contemporary knowledge: Issues like emotional intelligence, thinking quotient, lean manufacturing, kaizen, total quality management, six sigma etc., get ingrained into the personality of every passing out student so that they become more relevant in the today’s business world.

• Work life balance: MBA education teaches one to be more effective rather than being workaholic. Techniques like time management, delegation, team building, motivation, morale, business communication etc., allow the pass outs to achieve more in less time, i.e., they work smart rather than work hard. This enables them to create proper balance between office life and personal life.

• Sky is the limit for MBA: For an MBA degree holder the opportunities of higher responsibility appear on the horizon all the time. During his study the student has ingrained in him the concept of lifelong learning and when effectively implemented it enables him to reach the stars. There is no dearth of highest level opportunities on lifelong basis which an MBA can aspire.

Contributed by Sumit Gulati (Batch 2007-2009,IBS HYDERABAD)

Our presence in this world includes an element that speaks volumes for us and this element is neither one’s choice nor avoidable – BODY LANGUAGE. Our body language is actually an implicated blend of our mental state of being, thoughts and emotions of our entire body in the form of postures, actions and expressions. Body language conveys major clues about you or other people such as one’s confidence, flexibility, assertiveness, interest, openness, intelligence and empathy.

Let us now see 10 methods by which we can master our body language:

1. Eye Contact: Maintain regular eye contact with the speaker allowing spaces in between. When you are talking, connect with the audience through your eyes more than your words because most eyes show genuineness and confidence. Avoid over-blinking since it suggests inconfidence.

Have a genuine look and a gentle expression. Avoid all micro-expressions coming from sudden power-cut, an itching in the body etc. Arrogant stares should be avoided at all costs. Looking at the watch reflects disinterest; at own feet or ground indicates shame or guilt. Screening or covering the eyes expresses hidden emotions and interpreted as the absence of willingness to look at or face things.

Eye contact also conveys that you are listening to the speaker which motivates him/her, thus making the communication process a success whereas its absence is an absolute failure. Also, express through eyebrows but don’t overdo it. You’re there to express, not dance through your face!

2. Palms, arms & shoulders: Palms should be facing down on podiums, tables etc if you have to show authority and leadership. Hand gestures must always be appropriate, humble and relevant. Avoid aggressive movements and offensive gestures.

Shoulders indicate power and responsibility; hence they shouldn’t be drooping. Instead they should be broad. If at all you are walking, don’t sway your arms here and there. Hands crossed against chest imply a person who tries to hide something, giving incomplete or incorrect information. Don’t make that danger sign with the cross of arms to the chest.

3. Sincere smile: A big grin might feign interest but a lack of smile means you are not interested at all. A genuine smile pleases people but a smile with an evident bitten lip leaves an impression of being cheated or played with. Gestures such as licking lips express inconfidence.

Having butterflies in the stomach is understandable but don’t let it show on your face. Maintain a smile as it brings in appreciation, trust and respect. Occasionally jokes make us laugh, but this doesn’t mean you will fall off the chair or will be the most audible in the entire scenario.

Be the emotionally balanced version of yourself by not reacting loudly to mishaps, accidents or events. Nodding the head while communicating means listening but neither avoid it nor overdo it. Keep a balance between the two. Subtlety is a boon, being crass and loud is a bane.

4. Reduce overall movement: Your body language should never reflect extreme relaxation or casualness. Hence, the flipping or playing with the hair must be limited. Licking the lip, biting nails, sucking the thumb or biting the lip is a strict no-no, and must be done away with. Avoid touching your face which includes forehead, itchy nose, cheeks or sucking your teeth.

Pacing up and down the room shows impatience and excitement; shaking legs indicates nervousness; unnecessary limping and jumping on toes means restlessness while rubbing one’s ankles together means impatience and willingness to end something.

5. Stand with ease and take space: A person shouldn’t hide or take too much space if standing or sitting amongst a crowd. While standing, the space between the legs must be equal to the distance between the shoulders, neither more nor less.Males must stand with a straight back, 180 degree facing neck, eased shoulders, chest out, stomach in and avoid all stiffness. Females should avoid flimsy standing postures, unnecessary slouching or leaning. The clue here is to exude confidence and not be overtly casual.
6. Handshakes: Handshake should be firm. Loose handshake indicates lack of interest and confidence. On the other hand, a crushing handshake may indicate a willingness to look down upon others, express power, superiority or even hatred.

Biting nails conveys utter impatience, nervousness and frustration. Hidden hands or hands in the pockets indicate our desire to maintain confidentiality; clasping hands means holding onto something tightly and a lack of openness; fidgeting hands or shivering hands mean nervousness. Pointing the wrong fingers such as small finger or middle finger is absolutely unacceptable. Pointing pens or fingers directly at others is considered offensive.

7. Mouth gestures: Do not open your mouth too wide; it doesn’t win you any brownie points. Additionally, do not nod when you don’t know or understand something. Avoid slangs in any language. Offer to give opinion if you are more than sure with ‘I suggest’, ‘may be’ or ‘perhaps’. Do not stand too close to someone. You may accidently spit on them or they can smell your breath; which can be unpleasant and is certainly against etiquettes.
8. Inherent coolness: Your presence must be unique and shouldn’t convey harshness and arrogance. Use tricks, interaction and humor but not at the cost of others. Be polite in your disagreements. There is no need to turn red with a loud scream. Social congregations expect humility.
9. Mirror Work: Practice your speeches, content, check appearances etc in mirror. A mirror helps to build confidence and helps you in identifying shortfalls. It helps to build your charisma and gives you a heads-up on how you look, act or speak beforehand. It helps to build self-worth and trust.
10. Grooming: Grooming is one of the most important aspects for any presentation. I would like to address that through the following tips:

1. • Hair must be trimmed neatly. Gel or hair sprays can be used to manage the same. No stray hair please.
   • Nasal hair must be neatly trimmed
   • For the men, their moustache and beard must be shaved or stylishly well maintained
   • Ears must be clean
   • To avoid bad breath, mint or substitute must be used
   • Tie must in its right place and matching the overall clothes
   • Clean and ironed clothes only with stiff collars and cuffs
   • Belt must not be tied loosely
   • Shoes should be polished and laces tied
   • Use a mild perfume if at all used. Don’t smell with a mixture of aftershave, cologne, deodorant and perfume
   • The women should trim their nails and should avoid loud nail paints.
   • Heels should be worn only if you can handle them without falling
   • Wear decent jewelry

   As said before, body language speaks volumes, hence one must be extremely cautious about it. Remember an impression can be made easily with few efforts rather than being scoffed at or being an embarrassing point of reference for others!

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Contributed by Chayan Jain (Class of 2011-2013, IBS HYDERABAD)

An MBA course can sometimes become dull with continuous classes, projects, case studies, presentations, group studies and the stress of placement. If there’s one challenge that never seems to go away at business school campuses around the world, it’s how to keep MBA students motivated, interested, and engaged. Do not worry, we are here to rescue you and introduce you to the beautiful world of games that MBA students can play. These games are entertaining and educative at the same time, so students and teachers do not have to worry about precious time being wasted. Management games give a sense of practical applicability of the subject and the concepts that are learnt are inscribed in a better manner when the students have practical experience of the concept. Some examples of such games include:

1. Building Towers: Form two groups and hand over bundles of newspaper to both. Keep one scissor and tape common between both the groups. Ask them to make the tallest tower within 10 minutes and the one with tallest will be the winning team. This game illustrates how both teams use the available resources, who plays a leader’s role and who are their followers, how they act as a team.
2. Paper planes: Ask each student to write a couple of questions on a sheet of paper relating to previous lecture. Then each person makes their paper into a paper plane (or crunches it into a paper ball). Divide the class into 2 teams on opposite sides of the room and encourage everyone to chuck their planes at the other team. After a short while, everyone must pick up a plane closest to them, read the question aloud and answer it. This game helps in recalling the topics of the last lecture and engaging everyone.
3. Beach Ball Toss: Write questions on an inflated beach ball and toss it around the room. Whoever catches the ball has to answer one question written on it. The questions can be fun ones such as what is your favourite dessert or favourite movie or they can be related to a particular MBA lecture.
4. The I’s Have It! : After a discussion on communication skills, ask the students to find a partner and for the next 2 minutes, they will be allowed to talk about anything in the world they want to discuss. There is, however, one rule – THEY CANNOT USE THE WORD ‘I’. They can do anything else they want; they just can’t say ‘I’. After 2 minutes, discuss how many were able to talk for those 2 minutes without using the said pronoun as instructed? Why do so many of us have difficulty avoiding the use of ‘I’ in conversation? This game would hence illustrate how we tend to be more self-centred than we may have thought, and to demonstrate the importance of focusing on the other person.
5. Back to Back drawing: Invite two people and have them sit back-to-back on a chair. Give one person a picture of a shape and give the other person a pencil and pad of paper. The person holding the picture would give verbal instructions to their partner on how to draw the shape without actually telling the partners what the shape is. After they’ve finished, ask each pair to compare their original shape with the actual drawing, and consider how well did the first person describe the shape, how well did the second person interpret the instructions and were there problems with both the sending and receiving parts of the communication process?
6. The name game: Split the group into pairs. Instruct each person of the group to think of a famous person and write it secretly on a post-it. Attach the post-it to the head of their partner. In round 1 – take it in turns to ask closed (yes/no) questions. You may continue to ask questions for as long as you receive a ‘yes’. When the answer is no, swap over. E.g. Am I alive, Am I male, Am I a sports person etc. In round 2 – they must take turns to ask one Open or TED (Tell, Explain, Describe) question (with the exception of ‘what is my name’ or similar!). If they mistakenly ask a closed question they lose their turn. At the end of this activity, the key message is that despite the obvious usefulness of questions, for gathering information we find it easier to ask closed questions but if the questions are not right, we may never receive the required answer.
7. Two truths and a Lie: Ask each person in the class to write three statements and two of them should be true facts and one should be a lie. Each person in the class should read their statements aloud and the rest of the class would guess which one is a lie. At the end of this game, the class would know each other better and in a fun way!
8. The mixed picture puzzles: Divide the class in two teams and hand them two puzzles but mix some pieces of each puzzle with another one. The team that finishes their puzzle first wins the task. The key part of this game is learning how to collaborate with the other team’s members to fetch their own puzzle pieces.

At the end of the game a student may be asked what management concepts he has learnt from the game. Properly designed games help in ingraining thinking habits, analytical, logical and reasoning capabilities, importance of team work, time management, communication and leadership capabilities. Use of management games can encourage novel and innovative mechanisms for coping with stress.

If it is not possible to play management games during classes, students should be encouraged to play some of these in their free time. One of the best business games available online is at virtonomics.com. This game provides you an opportunity to create your own business empire and have fun by advancing your skills in management, teamwork and strategic thinking. You will learn to make serious managerial decisions on the fly and learn how to quickly adapt to the market conditions.

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Contributed by Shilpa Verma Kansal ( Class of 2006 – 2008, IBS GURGAON )

There is a change in the life cycle of events from the use of telegrams to the age of laptops and mobile. With internet sweeping the world by storm, gadgets seemed endless to work and play from. With the beginning to the 21^st century people engaged themselves with all their world shifting from papers and files to desktops and laptops. Generations, whether young or old had to adapt themselves to the new age technology for their chores.

A revolution which came up after this was the usage of mobile phones. Digital revolution across the world opened up newer avenues for growth and entertainment. According to Globalist, the number of cell phone users in the year 1980 was about 11.2 million people. However in the year 2010, the number of mobile subscribers has risen to about 4 billion people, i.e. about 67% of the world population. The number of internet users in the year 1980 was indexed in a phone directory and by the year 2010, the number rose to 1.8 billion i.e. about 267 of world population.

With such advent in the use of mobile it only limits people to use it for calling and gaming purpose. Today mobiles are used to develop applications which ease life for people in various categories like communication, gaming, education, knowledge, creativity, news, fitness, shopping etc at just a click of a button. Mobile applications are computer programs that work on mobiles, tablets and other related mobile devices

Various platforms and operating systems like Android, iOS, Windows etc provide developers and opportunity to showcase their talent. Mobile phones have over the time replaced the work of laptops and desktops. Mobile phones being converted to smartphones become handy, convenient and easy to use for various purposes.

MBA graduates have keen understanding in the concepts and their core thoughts. In their school of study they are thrown light on the latest technologies that help them in building their thought culture along with reality concepts. Mobile phones have become a necessity in each one’s life. To make things simpler they are used in almost every field. Pursuing MBA has been a popular choice for people in understanding the business concepts and building blocks. When this talent is merged with in trend technology it leads to create a whole new system of innovation.

Let us understand how mobile apps creation would be a whole new opportunity for the MBA graduates.

• Mobile apps as a source of business has led to many MBA graduates turn into entrepreneurs with their start ups in creating so. They can leverage their ideas based on the skills they acquired from their respective business schools
• MBA graduates are feeding a new breed of business. Instead of pursuing careers in corporate they engage themselves in business plans during their graduation so that they can develop products accordingly. These products are created as mobile applications.
• Creating mobile apps during pursuing graduation helps them to sustain in a sector which mobile developers fear to enter. For example, Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur, launched Facebook when he was pursuing graduation. Having started it while pursuing graduation gave him space and minimized the risk of having an office space.
• Mobile apps help the start-ups and the MBA entrepreneurs with an opportunity to take ahead their ideas into this fast growing mobile technological world. It is a career path which is popular for the graduates and there seems no limit in the mobile business.
• Successful companies have merged with various business schools for their testing purposes. MYGON is a company that was set up by two co-founders. IE, business school has opened a world of opportunities for them. Euclides Major, graduated from MBA Program and with his start up the mobile deals has more than 1, 50, 000 users. MBA graduates understand the finance structure of the company which helps to seek funds for their start ups. Euclides raised about 550, 000 pounds through seed funding. Such development helped the company to have about 8 employees plus the co-founders to operate the company.

The usage of mobile phones other than making calls has increased highly. The main reason behind this being that there was shift from the usage of desktops to smartphones and tablets. They are used for a variety of activities majorly for browsing through the social networking sites and digital videos.  Matheww Barnett, founder of Vimily, graduated from AGSM’s pursuing MBA degree in Sydney. He created a mobile app which helps the users to create questions, can film an interview and also upload it to web before it could be shared on social sites.

The popularity of the app helped them in raising the funds up to $2, 30,000 from angel investors. Matheww credited the success to the location of his school which helped him built the company to its present status. Hence getting a MBA degree from a reputed institute helps not only in the present endurances but also build a healthy future.

The growth in the mobile industry is tremendous and MBA graduates can make most of it. Most of the major and big companies engage people with such degrees as they have the right knowledge in strategic business development, investment and skills upfront. Ashuveen Bhadal, founder Drinksmart, created a mobile application which uses geo-location technology so that its users could meet their friends for drinks. They feel there is lot of opportunities for MBA graduates in the mobile market. The trend of website was huge few years back. Nowadays it’s the trend of mobile apps ready on the go.

The amount of investment required for starting up a mobile application business is lesser than other business. With little investment and higher success, start-ups can get funding from bigger companies. It promises huge returns on investments. MBA graduates who spend lot of money for obtaining a degree for the course should choose this path so that they can join as a group of people (about 2-5) and start up with a business strategy and earn with huge returns.

Business school provides strategy was the biggest advantage. B-Schools tie up with various start-ups creating mobile apps, so that students could learn them with practical learning. MBA program provides a lot of value for creating value from everything. Mobile apps a great start up to potentially grow in the long run.

“Going mobile encodes strategy and persuasions, MBA could lead one to the stature- (M)anagers (B)uilding (A)pplications”

Contributed by Anju Bafna ( Class of 2010, IBS BANGLORE )

Linkedin Profile of Anju Bafna : http://lnkd.in/UBhpzc