Post MBA life! Phew!!

Ok, so I now have a job (a good one too), but apart from getting the right job, there are so many aspects that one has to consider post MBA, especially if that city you live in, ain't your home town or is not in your home country. For example:

1) Is this the place where you want to settle in? Do you go for the permanent residency or citizenship?
2) Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years from a job, life and location perspective?
3) Are you ready to buy a house?
4) And most importantly, how do you finance your life to success? You definitely have the outstanding student loan to pay for - remember?

Those are the rather broader questions that any MBA will have to answer somewhere down the line. You change locations, jobs and functions post MBA, so it kind of becomes important to answer these as well.

Some find it easy to answer, as they take a 'tackle life as it comes' approach personally or have enough expendable funds to support their post MBA life decisions as they come and go. For the ones who totally depend upon post MBA job income, the 'tackle life as it comes' approach works too sometimes, more so when there are too many things going on in parallel, and you want to sit back and enjoy the daily pleasures of life - ordering a pizza and watching a movie with friends, or catching those Pokemons! But you see, if the Googles and Apples of the world started taking this approach, they would just hit an all time low on their stock performances in a span of few years (a few days in the current world scenario) as the stakes are too high! And if you find yourself in such high stakes situation, then planning your life takes the number one priority!

As far as I am concerned, I am still trying to answer all the 4 questions, and I am yet to successfully plan my life at least for the next few years in the horizon. As I'm trying to figure things out, my simple motto, in the meanwhile, is to reduce my debt to earnings/savings ratio! That definitely does not mean that I'm not enjoying my day-to-day life! It just means that I'm not indulging into actions that require me to take on additional debt - such as buying the house of my dreams! To that end, I'm having fun with my friends, I order pizza when I want to (hahaha), play Skyrim on my Alienware, and often give in to my tech savvy needs [a new super awesome smart phone and/or an HDR 65 inch TV?].

Let's see when I come up with my immediate future plans, but there's one thing I can certainly say: owing to my MBA, my life is not commoditized enough [yet] in the job world, which buys me some time to sit back and breathe, while Google and Apple strategize and act on their respective game plans day in and day out! What does that mean for you? Go get an MBA of your dreams - if you really want to, while MBA still holds the prestige and until it doesn't turn into the (For instance: Male + Engineering + IT job profile amongst millions of prospective MBA students from India) commoditized career path of tomorrow! 

It has been forever!

Well - I do believe it has been forever since I last posted! But that's because life had been crazy all this while.

Let me go back a bit in time and touch upon my Summer experience.

Summer at RBC was one of the biggest eye-opening experiences for me so far. When I started, I pre-assumed that working at the biggest bank in Canada, would be extremely smooth - the processes would be fluent, the architecture would be top-notch and the teams would be very-well organized. To the contrary, I have to admit - that while RBC is one of the most stable banks, it still does have a highly entrepreneurial culture. Things are not as rosy as you would imagine - and I do believe it is a good thing. In these crucial times of increased disruptive innovation, harboring such a culture will prove advantageous eventually.

It provides you with all the opportunities to bring new ideas to the table, and deal with the resistance, quite maturely. If I learnt anything at all, it was how to get steps closer to turning into a successful influencer, while capitalizing on the opportunities to deliver.

And on a side note, I moved a bit closer to the finance world, something that I had never imagined myself doing, ever! All in all - a valuable experience nonetheless.

First one and a half months post Summer were intense. I started working part-time at RBC (continued with my summer role), pursued 5 full blown courses at school for my 2nd year MBA and was deeply involved in the club activities of South Asian Business Association. Amidst all of that, was the hunger to secure a well-suited full-time recruitment opportunity. It has been almost two weeks since I accepted my offer, and the feeling has finally sunk in - I do not have to have to worry about my immediate future anymore!

It is often said that it is almost impossible to pull off a triple jump post MBA - change in geography, function, and industry. To be very honest, I never paid attention to this triple jump convention. I had always known that I would aim for a role that I will be the most comfortable with. In the end, at least as far as I can foresee, I do believe I have successfully launched myself into such a role. And co-incidentally enough - it turned out to be a triple jump.

When I moved to Toronto (a by default change of geography), I saw myself pursuing the strategy function, and believed that the industry agnostic consulting world, (owing to my past extremely positive and thrilling consulting experience with Deloitte) would be the most appropriate path for me. I soon realized that while consulting was a great path to take on, not all consulting was equal to strategy, and nor was all of vice versa true.

Bottom line is - believe in yourself. It will lead you to one of the right paths for certain. I had the options of multiple parallel paths that I could pursue. And in the end, I do believe that I am excited about my future with RBC as a CBLP associate! A new world awaits - and right now, I am the farthest from visualizing what my future looks like. I paused at a forked path in my life, and chose to tread a path unknown. :)

The much delayed post!

Crazy time of internships is here!

This is it. The first time when you get to make or break your career. From tackling 3 interviews in a day to idle brain time - this Term 2 has it all. Course load is fairly balanced, given how much we stress over getting those internships! A breather for sure after the hectic Term 1.

While some of us have already secured their summer jobs, the process of interviews has just begun. This month has been the month for Finance and Consulting focused students. First round of interviews are on, some have had the second rounds. It seems like end of February would paint a decent picture for these functions.

That said, I cannot stress enough how important prioritizing your goals at Rotman is. Once you do that, you know exactly what you need to focus on. While some students don't really need to care about grades per se, Consulting and Finance roles siphon most students based on that and of course the profiles and cover letters and resumes. But if you do have the grades, you need to focus less on creating a stellar resume or cover letter, because a good grade and a good GMAT gets you the spotlight at least for the first shortlist. Whether you do well after that, of course depends upon how good you are at behavioral (and case interviews - for Consulting profiles).

I wish all our classmates a good luck for this entire grueling process! The phase of good news has only just begun! :)

HaPPy NeW Year 2015!!

With the advent of a new year, comes in new hope!

This New Year I wish that everyone gets what they want and deserve. Without getting much more philosophical - and I can see to what length I can blabber philosophy right now - here's wishing All Rotman alumni, current students and incoming students a very happy and grand new year!

P.S. A new year wish to all the Professors and Lecturers, Career Center, PSO, Graduate House and everyone else who's involved in making our Rotman experience a wonderful one so so far away from home!

BE SAFE.

Best wishes,
Dranzer

What's new - well old enough by now! (A tad bit of Consulting!)

There have been some really fun events that have taken place over the past few weeks!

Bain Super Saturday: Some invaluable insights into what consulting giants such as Bain look at when they interview you!

Deloitte Distinction: Awesome 2nd session about case interview best practices and how to rock case competitions!

Promeo Case Consulting: An ex-McKinsey consultant gave his insights into the best practices for acing case interviews!

MCA Internal Consulting Industry reception: About 17 of the major internal consulting firms graced Rotman with their presence, and helped students like me gain an insight into what the internal consulting industry looks like!

Forthcoming: 

Career Center initiative: ex- ATK consultant will help us with our case interview and behavioral interview preparations

MCA External Consulting Industry reception: All major consulting firms (including MBBs, ATK, Monitor), will grace us with their presence!

Keep a lookout for more insider information about the ever so happening life at Rotman!!!

Cheers!

Dranzer

That time of the year...

GBC Orientation camp seems like a time in a different era. Things just got real after the Pre-MBA 's fairly "chilled-out" life.

Managing time: That's the biggest challenge that I'm facing as of now. It's not that I do not get to complete things - many a times even before time. It's just that some things are far more important to me and I would like to have more time for those aspects of my Rotman life.

It's that time of the year when you have literally everything that you want to do on your plate. Right from overload of assignments, homework, presentations, reaction papers, to application to your prospective firms to creating application packages including videos for their special programs and attending innumerous info sessions to starting with the case competitions! All of a sudden, 24 hours are just way too less. Oh and BTW, coming Monday we begin our Foundations term exam.

So if any of you are considering doing an MBA program at Rotman, make sure you have your priorities sorted beforehand. That will definitely give you a head-start when you begin your program here! While you are certainly "allowed" to be confused about what you want to do post MBA, do make sure that you have clear options laid out in your mind, instead of "I'll see what I want to do when I get there" approach.

P.S. I was and I still am very sure about what I want to do - strategy! Whether its internal or external consulting- time will tell, and whether its not consulting at all- time is still the best judge. But you need to have your options open - if you don't have a high GPA, things might just get tough for management consulting jobs (pure strategy as many often say). Almost every external consulting firm values GPA quite highly as an interview selection parameter.

I hope this helps you get a hint of what the first few months of a full time MBA would look like at Rotman! All that said - it's an exciting phase of life! And despite busy schedules, it sure is a great learning experience! One of the most practical MBA programs out there in the "market". ;)

The other side of the MBA coin

If you are reading this, either you wish to know more about my life than you already do, or you yourself are interested in pursuing a career via the MBA route.


For the former ones, I hope this post does serve the purpose (and I'm forever thankful to all my well-wishers - thank you for being there always - lots of love, Akz); for the latter - I wish to congratulate you on taking this important next step in your lives - be it you, just starting your research, or you, trying to take that decision of our very own 'to join or not to join' dilemma.


So where do I begin... Hmm.


For starters, I have always been passionate about pursuing an MBA abroad (I'm from India, and you all know how many options we do have here, pun intended: hint - the very versatile Quota system, and the undue importance to the 10th and 12th %age).


India no doubt has some great colleges that are successful in making you win your bread and butter (well lots of it), if you relatively do well in those colleges. And I'm glad that our colleges are enjoying much more limelight than before at the international level.


But here's the catch - the education system - 'that' gets to see no change. You still have those hankerings for that 1 grace mark. You still are less practical. You still are more inclined to be theoretically adept. You still do not wish to share much and silently learn at another's expense. There is that 'buttering' that still works at an MBA college in India, and then there are a few of us, who take less interest in what other people perceive us as. We wish to do well, and we wish to make our mark: without fighting for that impression based last mark ( oh well GPA is still important at any college, pun not intended at all); or without that careless attitude that it's yet another college, where we get to secure a decent enough placement; and without an attitude that screams 'not a care in the world about the actual learning, as we are so intelligent that we can just think on our feet when the need be'.


Now you might say that I'm a hypocrite - if I get selected by a prestigious college would I not do the same things?


Again, here's the thing. The sentiments shared above are just the surface emotions - the ones you say to yourself and to others to prove that MBA abroad is the right decision. Now whether it's true - I will only know when I actually study at one of the top Indian colleges.


My passion to study abroad is fueled from the simple fact that I get to inculcate a global perspective on business - which I will never get at any Indian college - let's face it,  most of the students are from India and have an experience on how things work in India: but most firms have an origin outside India and the Indian offices are mostly the technical divisions of much global, varied industry related, firms.


I wish to grow, and not just have a limited growth - I wish to spread my invisible wings that simply cannot be put to use here in India.


While I sit here implementing the solution proposed, the actual solution is brainstormed and proposed at some US or UK or Canadian office ( considering the major clients, in general, in a consulting firm for the Indian offices). While I sit here and perform more complex tasks at my job, a fellow employee at the same level as me, has a more valuable job than me in the Americas - in terms of responsibilities, in terms of superiority and in terms of returns.


A business technology analyst or a consultant, or a manager or anyone for that matter, in the US still gets to dictate his terms on his Indian counterpart - Why? I'm afraid I really don't wish to attack that notion.


That said, I really wanted to get out of this cycle once and for all, and actually understand what happens and why, by self indulging into the business world abroad. After all, I cannot sit here in India and keep judging why something happens when it happens.


Why do I wish to convey this other side of the reputed MBA coin on this blog? Because nothing is ever as smooth and shiny as it appears to be.


Bottom line - you need to know why you really want to do an MBA and why from that particular college? Mere rankings on FT MBA or simply following your peers - 'well what the heck - everyone else is doing it, so will I' : just won't work. Without the soul searching - an MBA is just another degree that gets you a decent job - you still won't like your work, coz you never spent time on yourself to really understand what you would have liked to do.


This was just the beginning of the long journey ahead of : taking the GMAT, shortlisting the colleges, applying to those colleges, getting shortlisted for the interviews, receiving the offers from the colleges, securing scholarships, accepting one offer, and then breaking the news to your family that you are yet again ready to drain their valuable resources, part of which they might have set aside for your marriage by now (esp. If you are a girl), or part of which they intended to use to buy their own house.


This post was just a trailer to what you can expect from this blog in future. (hint - do count 'stark reality' and 'the world as I see' amongst a few)


Stay tuned to 'The life and lies of MBA served hot!' for more juicy bits of my MBA life as I chronicle my thoughts and experience in the upcoming posts.


P.S. After much research and my needs and my finance capabilities ( read my family's ), I narrowed down Rotman School of Management, Toronto - which is where I'll be heading for my MBA this fall.