Showing posts with label Indian education system. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian education system. Show all posts
All Talk and No Action Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A little more than a month back, a colleague and I interviewed an interesting pool of students for internship at Pankhudi.

The applicants came from one of the best educational institutions in the country, and overall, the interviews went off well, but for one factor.

After sifting through 33 applications, SOPs and resumes, the only facet that screamed out of all resumes was their complete lack of originality.

Every resume followed the same pattern, mentioned the same projects, highlighted the same achievements, showcased the same talents and bragged about almost similar percentiles.

If you struck off the names, you would think the same person had applied 33 times.

The entire process made me think of the institution as a manufacturing plant.

The colleague who was a student of the same institution, offered a few reasons for this state of negligence.

Lack of in-house mentors and the fear of missing out on big companies that visited campus, made everyone ape the other blindly.

While mentors were available for bettering one's academic performance, the students had no go-to person for guidance on resume building, interview preparation and overall personality enrichment.

This, of course, came as a surprise to me. Despite the lack of support infrastructure, the students here have always managed good placements.

However, that is the prize for attending one of the best colleges the country has. It can only take you so far.

This post is not about this particular institution. At my previous employer, I once handled a repository of applications from Ivy league colleges, again, for internships. Exactly same situation there.

None of the applicants had put in any effort to leave his personal mark on the resume.

Such incidents make me wonder : Does an ivy league education hamper one's risk taking initiatives? Does your pedigree come in your way of being different?

Ideally, your education must open doors for you to live as you wish and portray what you are.

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There is nothing wrong if you like following the herd.

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Snapshots from Hell and What they teach you at Harvard Business school are must read books for people wanting to pursue their masters at Ivy league colleges.

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Gossip :  While in Hong Kong, an Indian lady I had just been introduced to, mailed me her resume, by way of formal introduction.

Her mail read : "Hi, let's be friends. So, let me tell you who I am : Check out my resume. Now, which college have you been to??"

I was later told that this was a norm at the college she visited.

Show your resume and make a friend.

All Talk and No Action Tuesday, December 22, 2009

In a welcome move today, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has set out to review and alter its placement process.

Placements at the IIMs is a high adrenaline affair.

With their eyes solely on the number of interviews and PPTs to attend, most students lose track of the most important variable - that of the profile - Yes, something that you will do for the next few years and are supposed to be good at - gets trivialised.

It's no wonder then, that most graduates get disillusioned with the work content and leave their jobs within the first two years.

Compare this with what top tier B Schools abroad have to offer.

Having attended Career Planning and Placement talks of some of the better B Schools, I can vouch for the importance this particular function is accorded.

The focus is always "You". What it is you want, if you have a plan in place, if you can connect the dots and get there and some more.

Placement is not just about landing a multi million dollar job and a handsome bonus. It is as much about self realisation as it is about knowing your subject fundamentals.


Big names like Mckinsey, Google and Goldman Sachs are known to conduct a minimum of 10 interview rounds for laterals and 6 or more for fresh graduates.

It is measures like these that help them and the candidates decide if a relationship can be forged.

And, just so you know, all of them feature in the 100 best companies to work for, regularly.

If, you do not enjoy doing what the profile offers, even that bonus will play hide-n-seek.

In the run for the big $s, a lot of us forget about what we like and would love to do for most, if not the rest, of our lives.

And the Day Zero wrestling doesn't come in handy in our pursuit of happiness.

So, there would be much to celebrate if a saner system can be put in place, with atleast a month (wishful thinking, I know) of company presentations, coffee table discussions on it's trajectory, the work content and finally the take home.

How well participating MNCs can adjust to such a schedule, needs to be seen.

For now atleast, things are looking bright for the graduates.


All Talk and No Action Monday, July 6, 2009

This is some very disheartening piece of news !

Despite our government's creative, sincere and committed efforts to cause heart burn and blood pressure, HC today brutally dumped the bright idea of dividing School Students on the basis of their Boards !

Kiska mooh dekh liya tha subah ko?

This might have been heart breaking for the Maharashtra Government.. tch tch...

Can you imagine how hard it might have toiled to come out with this "Eureka" like policy?

After all, normalization of scores is one hell of a tough job ! Who has the time, the energy and the will to overhaul the education system??

Might as well let the CBSE/ICSE brats pay for their stupidity of joining Central Boards !

Don't worry dear Government. Don't give up just yet.

Cheer Up. You will never go out of business !

You shall have many more chances to come up with even more childish/humorous/bone tickling/mind numbing policies and suggestions.

Till India is riddled with a stupid education system, illiteracy and insufficient opportunities, you shall continue to have many more field days.

Chalo then, ciao, till your next heart attack inducing suggestion.....

Jai Maharashtra !

Jai Hind !!