The ABCD of employability for management graduates

Many of us know the fact that every year thousands of students successfully complete their course in management and business administration, but of them very few are employable and most of them end up doing some odd jobs to earn their bread and butter. This situation indicates that some thing is missing among students which is barring them from getting the job that matches their qualification.

This article is based on my experience of more than a decade and spread across three countries, India, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Throughout my life as faculty for management subjects, I have noticed so many factors which hinders the growth of even an intelligent student irrespective of how colorful the consolidate sheet is, among those many factors I have zeroed down to four major factors without which the success of any management graduate is equal to imagining survival of aquatics without water, Irrespective of the sub-continent the students are more or less same in their nature.

The most important aspect missing among the present generation of management students is Attitude [A], across the countries there is a dearth of attitude among students may be it is towards their betterment also. They lack seriousness even in those aspects which may determine their life and success. It may be because of their take it easy attitude which is not good at every instance. For the readers of this article, let me highlight the significance of attitude with this illustration.

If ABCD E -- is equal to 12345--- then the following calculations will open your eyes.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

LOVE = 12+15+22+5 = 54 , LUCK= 12+21+3+11 = 47

HARD WORK = 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 =98,, MONEY = 13+15+14+5+25 =72

Now calculate the ATTITUDE, and find out which attribute will make you 100%.

Now let us focus on the significance of behavior [B] for management graduates. First of all, the behavior is what you think and react towards others, it is that aspect which is very close to humanity and religion, most of the graduates I have seen in my academic life does have behavior but not positive attitude. By looking at their body language, way of talking, posture, hair cut and even the walking style are completely devoid of any sign of positive behavior. Let me explain this with an example that I have been telling my students all along, there was a student who passed the MBA course with flying colors and by virtue of prior experience he was even good at communication, based on our parameter we have selected the guy for campus placement. But surprisingly he was not selected by any of the companies for any job, we were very curious as to what happened with the guy who was the cynosure of all eyes. So I enquired with the HR of the company who took his interview then the fact came out, the most intelligent student has committed one single mistake it was “He was sitting before the panel with legs crossed and showing over confidence.” Here comes the behavior-even though you are having every required skill for job but if one doesn’t have behavior then the destiny is expected to be no destiny.

The third most significant aspect required for any management graduate in order to become employable is Communication [C]. I have seen in my academic life that even though the students had only English as medium of instruction in all the courses, majority of them lacked communication skills. Here, in this observational study, I found that the students need to improve their oral communication compared to written, at the time of the interview and during presentation you must show your excellent oral communications. This apart, the accent plays a very crucial role in your selection and in your job. It has been observed that most students when they speak English use words from their mother tongue or national language which not only gives improper meanings, but also becomes a matter of concern for companies.

Last but not the least is decision [D] making skills. I have met with so many students in every country who cannot take decision or time bound decisions. In fact, there are cases where due to prolonged analysis before decision some of them suffer with paralysis of intelligence, the students must have an ability to evaluate the alternatives and take the decision under the time frame. In this aspect, my elderly advise for management graduates would be to consult their peer group besides consulting their higher ups, and never take blindly the same decision that others take. So the bottom-line is any student who is a master in just four miraculous alphabets ABC and D can be employed any where and will be suitable for various positions.