Work Experience + MBA = Great Combination

Fatema Raja MBA Ist Year

 “Fatema, don’t you think that you are a black hat thinker?” sadly I moved my eyes towards the ground, feeling very downhearted. This title was given to me by my trainer during my Initial Learning Process (ILP) days. My heart melted and I sat upset for the rest of the day. I remember it was our last break for the day at 5’O clock. I sat with a cup of coffee in the pantry. Sir took a seat beside me and said “Do you know the black hat thinkers are most valued persons in the industry?” Nervously I tried to roll up my eyes and look at him. He continued, “these types of people are rare but in a group of managers they are always welcomed. But this growth is very slow from where you have started.”

 

This was the first time after entering TCS I thought to go for an MBA. But deep inside I didn’t wanted to leave this prestigious organization and therefore I decided not to abandon this job. Very soon I was allocated to one of the projects. I started working as a Data Analyst for one of the top auditing firms. Super excitedly the journey began. Entering corporate world pushed me to leave my comfort zone and taught me the importance of work life balance. I got unlimited opportunities to prove my capabilities. I became a trainer in very short duration, a QC (Quality Checker) for the team, a part of onshore calls and meets and sometimes even addressed as the right hand of my TL. But very soon I realized, for the position I wanted and for the critical advancement and growth I need to complete my post-graduation. The hunger for growth and development got deeper and deeper and finally I took a firm decision to leave TCS and landed up taking admission for an MBA program at Indira Global Business School. A little anxious and full of excitement I started this journey.

 

To my wonder the work experience I took prior resulted in not only mere 3 or 4 benefits but a long list to count on. I feel indulged to share some of these benefits with you.

 

1. ➧➤ Understand and relate your curriculum: 

In one of our organizational behavior classes, importance of work culture was being taught. I remembered TCS firing an employee because he copied from work of other peers. You must be wondering we all have completed almost all our assignments from those of others during our college time. But as per TCS this is oppose to integrity. Their work culture strictly follows integrity as an important principle.

See as I was able to easily relate the topics with the prior experience, I was really able to understand the concept behind the topic and it enhanced my long-range learning.

➧➤ Upgrades your skillset: 

When you are in a working environment you start observing the skills which you will need to sustain in a corporate environment and once you enter the MBA world you will start urging for those skills. Like other peers you really don’t need to search for the skills you are good at, you already know it and you will work on building those skills stronger.

By mentioning skills, I didn’t only mean communication skills or presentation skills but very minute skills like keeping record of each task you have done, making of agenda and minutes before and after the meeting respectively, greeting people whenever they cross you and many more. These minute skills will define you in a working environment.                                                

➧➤ Time management: 

A small part of my work also included activities relating to billings and there I thoroughly understood the importance of time. By a mere 2 minutes I lost my batch-run and by the end of the day the record was not created. Can you imagine the date? It was 31^st march when all the accounts are settled. 2 minutes difference and we lost our client forever.

 During MBA with a lot of assignments, projects, case-studies there would definitely be a tight schedule. With other peers experiencing roller coaster ride, an experienced person would be intellectual enough to plan and manage the work as he or she have already learned the lessons of completing work accurately well before deadlines.

 ➧➤ Makes you more innovative and competent: 

As 1 and 1 makes 11, Similarly experience combined with MBA changes ‘You’ to ‘Developed You’. Once our team was assigned a hefty project and as it first time, we missed our TAT. The stress level increased and I became more frustrated. Poorly I didn’t even know how to manage this stress. You all must have found various loopholes during your job, came across various problems and what hits hard is not having a solution to those issues at that time. Once you enroll for an MBA and you start learning those concepts and principles believe me at your back head you have already got a solution or an impression on how you should have overcome those situations. You will start taking prompt decisions and try to overcome complicated affairs in an innovative and competent manner.

➧➤ Stands out from other MBA’s: 

    Having a work experience add-on is like cherry on a cake. It’s a desirable addition and adds bonus to your resume. I remember during our early days we had trainers coming from Bangalore for a period of 2 months. Their travel expenses, Hikes and incentives, accommodation expenses were beard by TCS and it added up to a lump sum amount. If a work experienced person is hired these all cost can be eliminated and therefore organization look for experienced people.

 It’s a high time to first prepare for an MBA and then opt for an MBA. Apart from entrance exams, practical hands-on knowledge should also be a part of preparation for an MBA. To end with “Its always advisable to first sharpen your swords and then jump into a war”.

 

Written by....

Fatema Raja

MBA Ist Year

Indira Global Business School, Pune.