Winter term Update

There are 2 and 1/2 months left for this term to be over. After that, all of us Full Time MBA students shall look for jobs or internships. What is going on in our minds right now?

• Need to find a good internship for May 2012
• Need to study our subjects well and be well prepared for internship
• Need to focus on the courses this term and complete all the assignments.

While there are still a lot of events and MBA parties going on, I am not able to participate in parties or go to all the MBA events. That is NOT a priority for me. It is not just about spending money at these events, it is about TIME. Time for me, is waaay more precious than money right now. My main and only concern right now is to complete this term with excellent grades and find a good internship for May 2012.

And why is time important? Coz there is a LOT to be done by April 15th, 2012 !!! Yes, this date is extremely important as this is almost the last date of this last term of the MBA program.

Let me tell you something - and this is my personal opinion only - Yes, it is important for an MBA student to be well rounded. Yes, networking is good. Yes, volunteer experience is nice. Yes, it is nice to be multi faceted and social. Perhaps it helps to be a party animal.

BUT - and there is a big BUT - not everybody in the business world works in the front end. Not everybody works face to face with the customer. Not everybody needs to have a million dollar smile. But there is always the need to GET WORK DONE! If an MBA is not good at Finance or Strategy or Marketing or any of his core subjects, he can not be confident about working with 100% confidence. He can not be confident of his internships getting converted to jobs in the future. It is not enough to have a great dress sense, great smile and good social skills. There has to be SOLID knowledge base to complete that. And even if they do succeed, come recession, their heads mauy be the first to roll.

My personal opinion is that - it is important to have STRONG knowledge of the FUNDAMENTALS. There is NO forgiveness and no excuse not to have these.

If I had a huge corporation right now and had a hundred job applicants right now ---> I would choose strictly on the basis of academic ability and clean track record - just 2 things. I would not worry about anything else - coz all else can be taught (almost). I can teach an Einstein to relax with a beer and do some Volunteering work. But I can not teach someone who is not good at MBA stuff to do a job well.

A corporation's job is not to teach MBA grads. A corporation would love to hire MBA grads who can teach them how to do business better !!!

- Gerry Som.