Employability bloopers to guard against

T Muralidharan

According to a report by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of Higher Education 2016 as many as 1.97 lakh MBAs passed out from B Schools. There are 5,500 B-schools in the country and most of these are producing unemployable graduates year after year leading to high rates of unemployment. Even those who manage to get a job, manage salaries as low as Rs 10,000 a month (a study by ASSOCHAM). Except for the pass-outs from IIMs and tier 1 B-schools, not more than 7 per cent of MBAs are employable. This is an extremely disturbing number. The ASSOCHAM report also said that about 380 B-schools have shut shop in the plast two years across various cities in the country. Campus recruitments have dropped by a staggering 45 per cent. 

In such a scenario, a smart MBA is the one who will identify mistakes that other MBAs make and steer clear of them.  Here is a list of mistakes that hamper the students prospects in the job market:

 n1They think they know the job market: The job market they know is limited by inputs from peers - but the job market is actually based on what's happening in the economy. Therefore, they want to apply for certain jobs based on their understanding, which backfires. 

 n2Superficial understanding of job roles: They see job descriptions but don't understand them. You need to understand a job role emotionally, and not logically alone, which normally happens once you have worked in that role. Or someone who has done that role only can explain it to you. If you see my book, An Expert's Guide to the Top 101 Entry Level Jobs for MBAs and Graduates - we have taken a Practitioner's view for every single job role who've spoken about what their typical day looks like, what are the challenges in their work etc. 

Every job role requires a certain personality to succeed. To understand that, you need to first assess and understand your own personality and then match the job role and personality attributes. You can go online and take some free personality tests on websites like http://www.queendom.com and http://www.tmie2eacademy.com/JPFitTest/Registration.aspx 

These tests are free and insightful. They give you an understanding of your personality and also of the kind of jobs that will suit your personality. 

 n3Their resume doesn't represent who they really are: MBAs say and write things to appear "sexy" to the listener or reader. The problem is that people can see through the farce, a few minutes into the conversation. They want to say and write something better than they actually are. Once the gap between your claim of who you are and who you really are in person, comes through, that is a point of no return in an interview. 

 n4Not doing adequate research on the employers: When candidates come for an interview, employers are shocked to see that they don't know anything about the company they are interviewing for. Many of them don't even know about the industry, competition etc. They come absolutely unprepared for the interview. Visit the web, read up the news, see their website, understand their business, the competition and draw up a list of intelligent questions to ask incase the interviewer asks you "do you have any questions?"  

 n5Basics are not right: Interviewers ask very basic questions based on the curriculum in semester one courses. Most of the candidates reply theoretically. You need to assimilate the theory, apply your mind and rephrase it in a way that the interviewer understands. Don't just mug up and repeat. The understanding of management concepts is very weak and the reproduction of that is even weaker. Revise, revise and revise. Revisit your text book and brush up on the management concepts to be able to respond confidently to the interviewer. 

 n6Taking the first available job: The mindset is, I will not get another job and hence candidates pick up any job that comes their way first. Almost 90 per cent of the people who pick up a job under pressure and have not applied their mind on the industry, employer or the job role, are unhappy and look for a shift very early on. They become so unhappy in their current role that they become desperate again and make all the wrong moves. This is not good for their resume and career growth. 

 n7Location: Majority of students want a job in the same city, stay at home and get all the benefits. Never forget that the first job is the foundation of your future, and therefore, you must be ready to step outside your comfort zone.

 n8Looking for companies offering highest compensation: Without realising, higher the compensation, higher is the productivity norm and higher are the chances of failure. It's better to take a lower compensation, deliver on that and move forward. Compensation as a basis of selection is not a very intelligent choice because everyone cannot succeed. Higher the compensation, higher the risk of failure.

 n9Low on communication skills: Many MBA grads can't even introduce themselves properly. They cannot frame grammatically correct sentences and communicate their thought process clearly — oral or written. This makes it very difficult for the employer as this is a basic requirement for most jobs. 

MBA education must equip you to succeed. All you need to do is focus on doing the right things and setting the right foundation of your career. 

— The writer is Chairman, TMI