The JobOkPlease Blog

You know what is a sure way to ensure you never get too many good jobs in the future?

Disappearing after a job interview, good or bad, and never getting back to the employer.

Last week we had a couple of very eager applications from people wanting to work with JAM in various capacities. We liked both of them, well to a reasonable extent, and then told the pair to start working for us on an immediate basis.

They seemed pleased and went away. We've never heard from them again.

Never do that. If you don't want the offer always inform the person involved. Even if you begged to get the job in the first place. Don't leave employers in the lurch and vaporize away in a cloud of smoke.

And if you can't handle the inconvenient phone call then at least drop an email.

You never know who you will run into when you go for the next job change a few years down the line!

ALWAYS close correspondence after an interview. Eitherways. Don't burn bridges. It is a smaller world than you think.

Labels: interview, jobs

Not that it comes as a big surprise but Business Standard reports:

With salaries nearly double than those of domestic firms, foreign companies such as McKinsey, Accenture, Nokia, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank and Google have taken over the list of leading recruiters of management students graduating from institutes like IIMs, XLRI and FMS Delhi.

But here's a surprise:

However, the talent management acquisition arm of India’s leading corporate house Tata Group TAS has managed to break into the dominance of foreign firms by notching up the third position in the list of the top ten most preferred recruiters this year... TAS has been ranked even ahead of global investment banking giant Goldman Sachs and FMCG major Procter and Gamble (P&G), according to AC Nielsen Campustrack Survey 2007.

TAS was once a much preferred option for elite bschool grads. After suffering a decline in popularity, TAS has once again gained stature in recent years.

Another interesting finding of the survey: IIM students’ average salary expectation is close to Rs 19 lakh, up 30 per from last year (!)

While they expect an average package of Rs 14.2 lakh from domestic companies, the figures double to about Rs 27.4 lakh when it comes to foreign firms.

No wonder so few Indian firms are in their radar...!

Labels: IIM, MBA salaries

Pure distance learning is like trying to review a restaurant by merely looking at its menu. Despite best intention and sincere effort, you will lose out on the
actual experience.

Much of the learnings in an MBA come from student-teacher and peer to peer interaction. You get none of that when you simply order course material and pore over it alone.

Much of the value of an MBA comes from its selection process. While full time MBA admissions are highly competitive and grueling, and even good part time programs apply some selectivity, distance learning course dispatch their courseware to anyone who’ll fork out the cash for it.

The two most popular distance learning programs (apart from IGNOU, which most discount) are offered by Symbiosis Centre of Distance Learning (SCDL) and ICFAI. Students are quite happy with the quality of courseware from both institutes. They’re not happy with its lack of effect on their careers.

Delhi based Jaspreet Chandhok is pursuing a PGDBA (Marketing) from SCDL. A BCA from IP University, he joined BPO Convergys soon after his final sem exams. “Fortunately, I got chances to excel and kept learning lessons of the "Work /Job World", and hence am still sticking in the same organization, “ says Jaspreet. Hungry for a post-grad qualification, he joined SCDL (“considering the hype of Symbiosis”).

He now feels, however, that the course is of absolutely no use. “I did gain knowledge but much of it was pretty basic. One doesn't need to go though books and "online exams" to prove his skills in these areas.”

He’s seen no gains in his career linked to distance learning – and isn’t about it even in the near future. It’s much the same story with Harikrishnan J, an Infosys engineer who completed his “Online MBA” from SCDL 6 months ago.

“The courseware is very good, lucid and manageable for a working person. It has given me good understanding of business concepts”. But job prospects wise - no gains. “ None of my technical work (I work as a Software Engg @ Infosys since 2003) deals with management and hence it hasn't helped me in this regard. And since my company doesn't accept this kind of MBA this course doesn’t help me climb up the coporate ladder yet.”

Try shifting? You can get a higher paying technical job but not a functional role. “Most openings, when advertised, give a disclaimer that Part-Time / Distance MBAs are not considered”. Of course Harikrishnan believes many full time MBAs (leave out IIMs and ISB) are in a similar boat. “I know a guy here who did his MBA from Cardiff Business School UK and came back to Infosys . He is working as a software tester”.

The verdict: Keep a distance from distance learning, from the point of view of impact on earning. Of course, there’s no harm – if you really just want to learn.

written by Rashmi Bansal and first published in March 2007 in Businessworld's Mega Indian Bschool Guide.

Labels: distance learning MBA

Worried about what career to choose? Well then Fortune magazine has just the article for you.

Health care, education and financial services--if you're looking for work in the coming decades, these are the fields to get into.

What to avoid? The usual suspects.

An interesting read with a slideshow that talks about what jobs NOT to get into in the years ahead. Bad news for economists, programmers, radio announcers and such like.

And not so good for newsreporters and writers either. Gulp.

Read here -> The Worst Jobs For The 21st Century

Labels: jobs, work and study, writing