“There is no substitute to good knowledge and skill backed by right attitude.”
Recent years had seen a growing trend in interest for management education. Getting an MBA degree from reputed institutions in India and abroad has become a key ingredient to corporate job opportunities. On one side there are aspirations of students and on the other side there are companies who are looking to select the best and bright from the lot. When it comes to selecting the best from each campus it becomes very challenging to identify a perfect match.
The students entering into the business schools today are the natives of the digital world. On a similar notion, the businesses of today are also becoming more technology oriented as can be observed financial organizations or Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies focusing more on technology or digital world. This resulted in development of new roles with expertise in financial technologies or digital marketing.
Today’s Business School students are the natives of digital world. So, to equip these digital natives with right kills and knowledge, the institutes of today also need to be equally aligned. The companies are focusing on visiting institutes which have the right infrastructure such as smart classrooms, well developed library facilities, and more important young and energetic faculties who can equip the students to meet the corporate needs. The race now is not between old and new schools but more on the schools which can impart right skills and knowledge to make the millennials corporate ready. So, what are the competencies companies are looking for when they are going to hire from different institutes?
The Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Companies Expect from B- School GraduatesGMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey 2018
Top 10 skills required by companies are:
1. Working with others 6. Organization/time management
2. Manage self 7. Evaluation of relevant information from different sources
3. Problem solving 8. Comprehension and logic
4. Adaptability/flexibility 9. Written communication
5. Listening 10. Organization of information to see relationships and to solve
This is a vital question but difficult to answer. Looking at the definition of competency tells us “it is an important skill that is needed for a job”. Is it a mere skill that companies are looking for or beyond? Interacting with different companies tells us that it is a combination of knowledge, right skill and attitude, which provides a better guidance for them while selecting the right candidate. This brings us to another important question, which is important knowledge, right skill or attitude?
If we have to give a preferential order, then probably attitude will be a primary focus for companies. Attitude is required from both acquiring knowledge as well as to develop skills. While the institutes like to see the attitude of the students to acquire both knowledge and skills, companies will look for attitude to apply both in the real world. Let us try to understand this through an example.
Business Analytics is a growing interest area for both industry and academia. While academia is trying to impart knowledge of different tools to the students, companies are looking how they are going to apply the tools. In a recent discussion it is observed for business analytics some of the common aspects related to knowledge are:
- Understanding of statistics and mathematics
- Understanding of cross-functional knowledge
- Understanding of emerging tools and techniques in analytics space
In terms of skill requirements are such as visualization of data, understanding of how to acquire relevant data, as well as preparing the data (includes data cleaning) for proper analysis. While attitude will include, perseverance to continue till proper data is acquired, cleaned and analyzed. On a similar note attitude will also require candidates to have proper inclination towards problem definition and problem solving.
To provide a holistic understanding of this discussion now we look at what is happening in reality? What are the profiles of the students joining in management institutes? What types of job roles are offered to the management graduates? Which sectors are offering jobs to the graduates? In most of the management institutes the cohorts are mostly engineers with two to five years of experience in information technology sector. The jobs offered to them vary from consultancy and analytics to sales and marketing, finance, general management strategy, and operations.
While focusing on the sectors where management graduates are getting employed it is observed that information technology enabled services are highest employment provider. This is followed by banking, financial services and insurance, consultancy, FMCG, etc. So, in order to understand what employers are looking for in business graduates, it is important to look where the current recruitment is happening and how the requirements are going to change in near future?
Finally, to summarize we need to understand that there is no substitute to good knowledge and skill backed by right attitude. There are skills, which are acquired by the management graduates while they are studying but application orientation will definitely develop once they become part of the workforce. So there has to be proper balance and understanding of knowledge, skill and attitude between the employers and management graduates for developing a win-win partnership without forgetting the role of management institutions in maintaining the balance.
