A million dollar question, when it comes to MBA preparation. There has been two schools of thought, when it comes to this decision, some say it will result in a more focussed preparation, better chances of getting a good percentile, and ending up in top b-schools, on the other hand, some are extremely critical on this side, as they talk about “no back-up”, “high opportunity cost”… and hundred other reasons for this …
I wanted to write on this sensitive issue, as I had this decision many times on my mind, when I was preparing for MBA in 2009-2010. I was a typical IT software engineer in one of the top IT companies in India. And to say the least, job was stressful; the question of quitting came to my mind many a times. But I decided not to leave my job and to continue handling both, not because of monetary reasons but rather thinking that leaving a well settled career in IT, for MBA was too much to give up … It paid off and I finally ended up with IMI Delhi… I used to get free around 9-10pm everyday from the office , didn’t have internet at home , nor a laptop , so used to study then and there in the office till 2am everyday and also in the weekends along with my work. Initially it was tough mentally and physically both but when you condition your mind and are determined to achieve something , everything else becomes secondary …Was it the best decision , may be or maybe not , as best decisions are very personal to one’s life , people react differently to different situations … When one leaves a job , one is not only leaving a company or a salary but one is deserting a career to achieve something bigger , we also halting our career, and there is a high chance that it may not work.
The Down Side
As soon as one leaves one’s job, one comes under obligation to perform well as one is without a backup , that itself creates a lot of stress , one has social or even parental pressure as most of the times they don’t support such decisions . And most importantly, what I have observed is that, if the results don’t come according to expectations, one is pressurized to take admission into a college which may not be the best choice under the circumstances, or one may start looking for jobs which is difficult to achieve after an year drop, even in b-school interviews one has to justify an year drop. Then one starts looking back, what if I had not left my job, I had a career backup, and could have tried one time for CAT and achieved a better score….
The Up Side
Leaving a job or dropping a year instead of doing something which one doesn’t like or see a future in it, may not be a bad decision, but given people know why they are doing an MBA, or they know a career in management is what they want. One can look for alternative arrangements for employment such as Teaching in Coaching Institutes or, working for NGOs, even doing Certifications such as CFA/FRM/AIPCS CIPM etc , so that one has a career back up or atleast something to fall back on … . If one does end up with a decent convert, then it would be a start of new journey into the field of management..
By this article I wanted to point out certain things
· MBA provides a career enhancement opportunity , or a door to switch to a new domain let’s say IT to finance , but one’s current career path is also important, so decisions should be taken wisely after weighing , monetary , social and career issues
· Even in B-school interviews it sometimes is difficult to justify a drop in a year , even the companies coming for placements don’t take dropping in a positive note
There is a very famous principle in field of finance that the value of things in present is always higher than what may come in future, as the things in future come at a cost, now it’s on a person to decide how much he/she is willing to pay …….
I did my summer internship in a leading MNC Bank, New Delhi Branch, under Private Banking Division; here it is how it all went for me
My Journey began on the first of April 2011, I had a meeting scheduled with my mentor at 10 am at the Connaught place office.. As soon as I reached the office I was told to wait and after a few minutes my mentor came out to meet me, Conversation began with a brief informal introduction, he told me about his background that he completed his MBA from a US university and joined this bank around 7-8years ago. He talked about how started as a cashier, or a teller, then even had to dispense cash into ATM. He said that he was taught everything about how a bank operates , he told me to break all myths of thinking that once you pass out as an MBA , you will get plush office and secretary , it’s tough ride ahead , and If I seriously want to work for a bank then , I need to buckle up for it .
After 8 years of experience, he now is working as an Associate Director for Private Banking Division (Sales and Relationship Management Division). He told me growth opportunities were huge, given that one is willing to work hard. I was given a research project, to study the market dynamics of private wealth management business in India, try study understand their major competitors, their future plans, and make strategic recommendations for them to implement in a short time and long time scale.
The research started out with understanding worldwide macro-economic changes in the private banking sector post recession. The study also included understanding changes in the business models around the world, understanding growth in Asian markets, changes in consumer behavior in while managing their assets or investment strategies, in terms of risk /return implications.
Subsequently focus shifted from global to understanding Indian market dynamics, understanding key competitors in this segment, understanding their competencies, future plans. The next phase was to understand the potential competitors and their future plans. And the last phase of the research included exploring the obstacles for the growth of private banking in the Asian or specifically the Indian market and making strategic recommendations.
Some findings of the Research….
The Study indicated that post recession Clients have begun looking for alternatives to their low-performing investments and are increasingly willing to participate in the upside potential of riskier products to make up for the losses they incurred during the crisis. High-net-worth clients expect much more clarity and transparency with respect to risk/reward ratios and the true performance of their portfolio after all fees are taken into account.
The private banking business models have taken new shapes, “The One Bank Approach” adopted by various banks is a perfect example of such a adaptive business model that extracts synergies between different banking domains i.e consumer banking, wholesale banking, providing them cross domain capabilities and better services to the end consumer. Private Banks have committed to emerging markets, where having an inimitable value proposition will be critical to success. Private Banks will also need new client service models to restore client trust while ensuring compliance to regulations and cost-efficient servicing. The pressure on margins due to unrelenting competitive environment will make further cost reduction measures unavoidable.
At the End of the day ….
My experience was smooth, I didn’t have to go to office daily , may be 2-3 times a week at max, as the project was more on secondary data research and analysis, but I was in constant contact with my mentor throughout the project. It worked well for both of us, as I was given constant guidance even though my mentor was travelling across the country to manage clients. The project went well for me helped me understand this domain to the depth, understanding how Asian, more so India is becoming a huge market for these MNC banks, to expand business in India
One of the interesting things he told me that in banks, typical profiles for MBA students are restricted to sales or operations. Under Sales the growth opportunities are huge, but stress is huge as well, also suggested me to go back to IT, as it’s much better than many domains in the management world, growth opportunities are also great. But if I wanted to join a bank, I need to start from the lowest level of the value chain, to understand how banking domain works, else I will be an incompetent manager with partial base of knowledge, one more thing he told me that no matter how much you earn, you won’t have the time to look at your account, as most of the time will be spent convincing clients to trust you with their money and handling their account …
A good learning experience for me to work in a domain different from IT , helped me understand corporate world from a different point of view all together , a good value add for me in terms of knowledge and learning
