What industries expect from Management Students

What Industry expects from
management graduates?

Vinod Bidwaik
Head-HR
DSM India Pvt. Ltd.

Skill Gap Survey – 74 BFSI organizations

More than 2000 MBA programme are in India
Hired
 74% - fresh MBAs

 26% - MBA with 2-3 years experience.

Source: Skill Gap Survey conducted by The Higher Education Forum supported by 1SOS & Westat.

 Students from Tier 1 schools, in particular, “…are definitely
more prepared, but when you talk about value for [the]
money, and you talk about [value] per unit of money spent
on a particular candidate [or] the efficiency level per unit of
the money spent on a candidate, there is no major
difference”.
 When a new MBA comes in from one of the top institutes,
“he has bought some level of premium tag…”, but that
does not mean this candidate will have the most or best
practical knowledge.

Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes

 “We hire people for attitude and train them for the skills”.
 But what is the actual performance

On the scale of 1-5

Employer expectation rating and
performance assessment of newly hired
MBAs by attitude


MBAs by skill


MBAs by knowledge area


Personality

Relatively stable pattern
of behaviours and
consistent internal states
that explain a person's
behavioural tendencies
 How you behaves in
specific situations?

Big Five Personality Dimensions

Conscientiousness Caring, dependable

Emotional Stability Poised, secure

Openness to Experience Sensitive, flexible

Agreeableness Courteous, empathic

Extroversion Outgoing, talkative

Creating Perception About Personality

The combination of
personality traits &
knowledge base
generates Perception in
minds of employers

Personal Branding!

What does it means?

“Competencies are
a combination of

knowledge, skills and
attitudes which provide a
clear description in everyday
language of what a person needs
to do to carry out his or her job

effectively”

What is actually KSA means?
 Skills :
 The How - to’s of the role
 Capabilities that can be transferred from one person to another
 Knowledge
 ‘What you are aware of ‘
 Factual ( things you know) Can & should be taught
 Experiential (understandings you have picked up along the way).
Less Tangible and therefor much harder to teach
 Talent
 Recurring patterns of thought feeling behavior,that carve individual
minds
 If someone does not have the talent as part of his filter , then very
difficult for others to inject it.

Bottom line Test

 Can he do the job
(Competence)

 Will he do the job
( Motivation)

 Will he fit in ( Team /
Organisation)?
( Match)

General Expectations from
Management Students

“We hire people
for attitude and
train them for the
skills”.

What is Talent?
A recurring
pattern of
thought, feeling
or behavior that
can be
productively
applied

General Expectations from
Management Students
Generally any employer has following 2
expectations from any management student:
2. Behavioral Competencies-Personality Traits
3. Functional Competencies- Knowledge Base

Few Behavioral Competencies
 Leadership
 Planning and organising
 Developing others
 Problem solving
 Communication
 Customer Orientation
 Influencing
 Team Orientation
 Results Orientation
 Adaptability
 Self Development
 Innovation
 Analytical Thinking
 Strategic Thinking

Functional Competencies
 Selling Skill for Sales
 Negotiation Skill for sales and
purchase
 Change management skill for
HR people
 Expertise in functional domain..
Like
 SCM
 HR
 Sales & Marketing
 IT
 Operations

What is expected?
 Personality strengths
 intellectual strengths
 communicative strengths
 accomplishments
 Lessons from failures
 professional strengths
 Overcoming weaknesses

Then What Industries Expect?

Personal

Behavioural
Competencies

Interpersonal Thinking & Planning


Knowledge
 Full knowledge of the
discipline &
specializations
c) HR should know tax
structure and what CTC
means
d) Marketing should know
what is the product
composition and why it is
so?

Interpersonal Skills
 Team skills

 Communication skills

 Self motivation, dedication

and commitment
 Result orientation

 EQ

 Problem solving

capabilities

Leadership Qualities
 Value and ethics driven
 Thrust for success
 Strategic thinker
 Patient, Tolerant & Able to
work under stress
 Positive thinking
 Risk taker
 Proactive and self starter
 Change agent
 Influencing people
 Visionary

Please try now onwards….
 Focus on theoretical knowledge (Why)
 Get exposed to real world of Industries
(What & How)
 Focus on your own personality
development
 Do more projects, summer, winter trainings
 Join part time job
 Be flexible
 Participate in college activities, try to meet
Industry people.

Some more……
Answering questions:
 Answer to the point.
 Answer thoroughly with evidence.
 Use good grammar and choice of language.
 Avoid phony, canned answers.
 Give reasons for past actions, not excuses.
 Take full responsibility for past actions.
 Never bad mouth a department, school, supervisor
or employer – past or present.

Negative Factors

1. Lack of awareness about company or position.
2. No interest or enthusiasm.
3. Lying or telling the recruiter what you think he/she wants to hear.
4. Poor communication skills.
5. Too money oriented.
6. Arrogant or cocky.
7. Unclear or unrealistic goals or objectives.
8. No relevant experience.

1. Not team oriented.
2. Poor eye contact.
3. Poor appearance.
4. No campus involvement.
5. No motivation.
6. Disrespecting the recruiter.
7. Performing poorly in school.
8. Not having any questions to ask.
9. Not smiling.
10. Cursing or being rude.

1. Negativity or bad attitude.
2. No support for answers.
3. Inflexible.
4. Arriving late for the interview.
5. Poor listening skills.
6. Stereotyping.
7. Indicating job is just a stepping stone.

We also see

 Common sense
 Manners and etiquettes
 Body Language
 Telephone dialer tone
 etc

Thank You!
Questions Please…..

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What industries expect from Management Students

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