Saturday, February 14, 2009

Placements Vs Economy

The moment I type “Slumdog Millionaire” on one pristine blank document unearthed from the unending repository of Microsoft Works , a corrugated , wavy line appears beneath Slumdog. Spell check error. Right click -> ignore all; only to see all the Slumdogs in the document breathing a sigh of utter relief on being wafted ashore. No. I really do not mean that those red corrugated underlines reminded me of a lake full of parasites. What I try pointing is that land and water are but the only two things left on Earth and being on one of them is but stark inevitable.
2009 is turning out to be the most happening of years that top B Schools are facing . The economy (or rather the lack of it ) on one hand and the campus placements across schools on the other hand. It has already taken a shape of a war.
How long will the time last , we don’t know , but what we do know is that the world is never going to look the same again. Here’s why :
One. An MBA will no more be treated as a short -term -end -realization -shot -in –the- arm. Only those who wants to get educated in the field of management science would plunge into it. Value addition is guaranteed and a return in the long term would be assured.
Two. MBA will stop being a buzzword for most wannabe hip-hops who are so often seen munching burgers and slurping gelatos in the thousand malls carelessly strewn across the city landscape. It would make sense only to the select little who has got grey cells running extra time and really want to do something worthwhile with their lives.
Three. Fields like Research and Development, Engineering Innovation, Traditional Sciences, Literature, Arts and Defense would suddenly start making sense to a good number of people, whose heart lied in the same but ran a risk of getting dislodged by the mega tornado called MBA.
Four , Only those who have it in them to make a ‘business’ leader will take up the MBA. The ones who see themselves turning into another Kalpana Chawla, Stephen Hawkins or George Clooney will continue doing what it takes to reach there. Because all professions will gain a recognition equity .Performance in any field is what is going to be the decider. Be it Design, PhD in Arts , Rocket science or yes, MBA.

In short , we welcome the new world order. But for the time being , am playing a moderate optimist of guessing that we will reach a day when 10% of our batch will have two job offers and the rest - one.
Keeping the fingers crossed in the shape of a “+”.