MBAs struggle to secure good jobs

Despite management colleges mushrooming all over the city, promising plush positions once the course is over, jobs don’t seem to be coming easily for the passouts.

While many remain unemployed, those who do manage to get a job are not satisfied with their job profiles, which they say is below par.

Samir Shah, 24, presently working for a call centre, had set out a few years ago to pursue a management course and had dreamt of a job with a renowned company as an executive. However, even after a year of completion, he is yet to accomplish his dream. He says, "I could have got this job even without doing a management course. I feel I have wasted two years."

Alok, 23, pursuing MBA at a management school in the city, says his seniors could not get good jobs and working small time in order to "gain experience" is a prerequisite for most of the good companies that come to the campus. He says, " How can we gain experience until we get a job." He added that there are management schools coming up everywhere and are churning out "professionals" in great numbers but the job market is bad considering the fact that many of those recruited are getting in as marketing executives for which even graduates are taken and paid the same salary.

However, authorities of these management schools portray a different picture. They argue that they can train people and make them suitable for the job but can hardly create jobs. Nearly all institutes boast of a placement record of over 90 per cent. Dr Kavita Parikh of Som Lalit Institute of Management Studies claimed, "Our placement is definitely more than 90 per cent." Dr Kakone Saha, officiating director of SLIMS, said every student of the institute got the job as desired. But she hastens to add, "It’s true that new jobs are not created but jobs are definitely out there to be grabbed." She denied that economic slowdown has affected their placements.

Rajendra Sharma, a professor at the H.L. College of Management Studies, while admitting that passouts have been working with call centres and small time companies, said the placement record of the institute has been over 80 per cent.

Explaining the reason for lack of suitable jobs, an official at the Gujarat Law Society Institute of Management said the top rung companies prefer to go to premier management schools. Another official said the centralised admission procedure of the Gujarat University compromises with the quality of students.

Many management institutes have already initiated efforts to bridge gap between industry and students by organising special events and tide over the crisis. Whether they will be successful or not only time will tell.

Republished from The Asian Age