5 things MBA students must do before they graduate

Graduating this year? You are still five steps away from getting that dream job, says Amit Bansal.

India has more than 1,500 business schools as of now. Barring the top 50 to 75 colleges, most of the MBA colleges have very little to offer in terms of skills required to meet the demands of the job market.

Since MBA is a professional degree, all we do during MBA should revolve around building a good career for ourselves.

Students must strive to catch up with the industry needs and getting placed well. Here are five tips for MBA students to focus on in order to make themselves more employable.

The author is a career counselor and trainer and heads PurpleLeap, an organisation that works with colleges to make students employment-ready.

1. Brush up your language skills

Communication skills, undoubtedly, play a real important and crucial role in professional life in corporate India. For a fresh MBA graduate, it becomes all the more important from the campus recruitment viewpoint. If you are an MBA student, focus on polishing your communication skills in English and also learn a second language.

It's not a bad idea to join a finishing school to develop your personality, body language, inter-personal and social interaction skills.

2. Develop corporate awareness

What a recruiter likes to see in a candidate is the application orientation. Students in B-school study the concepts of management in their classes but hardly understand how this knowledge can be applied in real business scenario; there is thus a gap in application.

As students, it is imperative to understand what business is all about and how you can contribute to the growth of any organisation. That's because if you can justify how your skills are going to add to the growth of the organisation, then chances are that the interviewer will consider you right-fit to the organisation.

3. Develop team skills

Concentrate on developing leadership skills. Your employer would like to know how effectively you can work in a team and able to manage a group of people.

Wherever you work, you work in teams. NO MAN IS AN ISLAND.

Do not treat your management programme as just another degree you are going to get after two years. Think of it as a skill-enhancing programme. Concentrate on soft skills while pursuing management.

4.Build knowledge

Keep updating and refreshing your knowledge through peer learning. Participate in all kinds of group activities like group case studies, simulations, industry interaction programmes and inter- college level academic and extra-curricular competitions.

Technical knowledge along with good inter personal skills are the key qualities companies look for in a potential candidate. Focus on improving these skills right from the commencement of the course.

5.Carefully select internships and placement

Search for internships while pursuing your course. Your internship is the only opportunity where you can exhibit your skills by translating them in performance. At the same time, you learn about a particular industry and its operations in detail.

Ensure that you select an internship in the same profile or industry you intend to work in future. It helps you justify your knowledge and leverage the internship during an interview.

Select a job / placement irrespective of the designation and salary. Starting career as a sales trainee should not bother you. The job description / job content should be the major consideration.

Going for an MBA programme is itself a very important decision in its own right, if we be a little careful about the things we do and the decisions we make while pursuing a management programme, we can ensure that things go well during the placements.