CANDIDATES WITH WORK EXPERIENCE SHOULD BE GIVEN MORE WIEGHTAGE

Work experience means different things to different people but in essence, it is any form of
work that you do before you start your career. Even experience you get as part of your
career (after graduation) can be counted as work experience. The most important thing to
remember is that all work gives you some experience, including bar work, volunteering and
Saturday jobs. The experience could take the form of short term, long term (e.g. one year)
or part-time employment, and could be paid or unpaid.

An organization populated with freshly minted MBAs or even Doctors, Lawyers, etc… always
is of limited value. Simply put, successful organizations need more than smart people with
credentials and limited life experience. The real contribution value of an individual is not
instilled in a classroom. Rather, it is developed in the world of life experience where
mentoring combined with the thrills of success and the agonies of failure teach people how
a given organization works within the abilities/limitations of a give set of players trying to
achieve success in a given market.

Firstly, without experience, a candidate cannot be sure whether they are cut out for and
are genuinely interested in a career in business.

Additionally, when participating in the case studies and peer group sessions that an MBA
course consists of, a candidate with work experience will be able to play a constructive and
creative part in the discussions amongst people who, most likely, have spent quite some
time in a managerial position.

Even if you are an exceptional student, and schools are fighting over themselves to offer
you a place in an MBA programme, my advice is against this simply because you won’t be
able to extract the most from your experience at the school. You won’t be in a strong
position to know exactly what you want, and to contribute fully to the programme. Thus,
experience is imperative.

A survey report says that Indian MBA's lack industrial experience, and hence they are not
able to survive in the fast world or the pressure of the organization. Once they join an
organization, marks and certificates do not matter and the work environment is much
different from the academic environment.

In India, there are 1600 MBA colleges. The standards of MBA's from institution other than
the leading B-Schools (like IIM's) not up to par; a good MBA student should have a
combination of academic and social capabilities. She/he should have both qualitative and
quantitative analysis capabilities, and be able to make informed decisions. Since she/he is
heading for a position in management, leadership potential and some persuasive ability is
important. She/he should be able to work well with others (teamwork) and should have
strong oral and written communication skills. She/he should be organized and responsible.
An internship and the meaningless summer project be improved to give a real world
experience to the students.

Apart from the MBA entrance exams and GD & PI performance, MBA institutes include work
experience, academic record and extra-curricular activities in their selection criteria. Usually
work experience is given weightage only if it is a full-time experience after graduation. In
most cases, any work experience of less than six months is not considered during selection
process.

“We prefer students with at least one year of work experience,” says Dr. Sahay of MDI
Gurgaon.

Admission statistics of five of the six IIMs indicate that this year, of the 1,379 candidates
admitted, as many as 1,043 have had some work experience. That’s more than 75.6 per cent
of the total admissions.

Of the 1,127 students who joined the course last year, 780 (or, 69.2 per cent) had worked
before. These figures suggest that though the IIMs have expanded their class strengths to
take in more students, they are also filling a growing proportion of seats with candidates
who held jobs before.

These facts clearly state that the work experience should be given more weightage and it is
given in the current scenario.

The reason behind it being that the growing proportion of candidates with work experience
may have something to do with the placements that happen at the end of the course.
Multinational and big Indian companies increasingly ask for outgoing students who have had
some work experience before joining the MBA course.

“The learning cycle in any organisation is very short and they (experienced MBAs) are
productive almost immediately on joining,” says Sanjeev Parida, HR vice-president Tech
Mahindra.

While the MBA curriculum is designed to give you all the knowledge you will need in order
to fill a managerial function in an organization, it also presumes a certain level of maturity
and exposure to a few years of working in a business enterprise. This is because all the skills
required to become a good manager cannot be taught from the classroom alone. Many of
these skills are taught naturally by life while you go about your daily tasks and routines and
live through your social and familial relationships. The MBA classroom can polish and hone
those skills to perfection once you’ve acquired them. It cannot get them for you.
The actual, sensory knowledge of workplace dynamics gives you the founding material on
which your MBA education can be built and your life experiences contribute to your
emotional and physical maturity which, in turn, makes you better able to relate to and to
absorb the material taught in an MBA curriculum.

Teamwork and group assignments are more rewarding and you can participate much more
in the peer learning and networking process if you already have the confidence and
exposure to a work culture

If you are applying with a strong GMAT or GRE score it is undoubtedly true that you are
excellent at the theory part. But what is required at the B schools is the ability to apply this
theoretical knowledge in real life situations. The teaching methodology is completely
different for top b schools. Hence, many of them have made work experience mandatory. If
you have a good work experience of 2-3 years full time in any field you may become an
indispensable part of group work and group discussions at your program. Further you may
also understand the practicality of your subject and then extract the maximum from your
peers and teachers. It will also help you take active part in discussions at class and will also
give you an edge over the others.

After you complete your graduation, with prior work experience, you can easily apply to
executive positions and attract higher salaries unlike your peers. It proves beneficial at the
time of team management and working in a group. People with a work experience of more
than 6 years can also apply to Executive MBA.

During application, it makes you a better applicant and so when you have it, flaunt it!