One of the most taunted questions of any fresh graduate, even i had the same
question ringing in my head when i had very very limited chance of getting into
a prestigious B-school in U.S. with a GMAT score of 720 and Zero years of work-exp.
A recent post( http://iimaexperiences.blogspot.com/2011/03/do-experienced-candidates-really.html) by one of my good friends has re-ignited my otherwise dormant thoughts.
Goal Clarity : May be a majority of Work-exp people have a particular position in mind before they join an MBA program. But, there are equally good number of freshers with similar goal clarity (at least at that point in time). Yes, their goals tend to change with exposure to the corporate world. In the current indian educational system, with very less emphasis on practicals/ real time industry problems a freshers goals are set by the environment he is in, from what he reads in news papers/magazines/books. The grass is not always green on the otherside. If only everything were ideal there would be no arbitrage, no Stock market and no "hefty packages" in the first place. yes, there are always exceptions to these common rules and hence they are called exceptions.
To cut the long story short, why do corporates offer huge packages and higher positions to the work-exp guys ? It is neither due to their sectoral expertise and nor due to their technical know how. It is mostly attributed to the precious softer aspects,the network they built and their strong exposure to the ground realities (which unfortunately can learnt only through experience).
The same story applies to 2-year MBA's as well. A traditional MBA is more about sharing your experiences and learning from each other rather than gaining a bookish knowledge. On other side you may argue that freshers add a new perspective away from the mundane and often fixed mindset of his/her work-exp counterpart. But, hey are'nt we generalizing ??
Please pour in your views in the comments section.
Point taken about the 'grass greener on the other side' bit but not about the pay. Finance firms pay more for relevant work-exp(unlike Consulting firms for whom every work exp is relevant), and not do not pay more routinely to work exp guys.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I mentioned in my post, sharing experience and learning from each other depends on the person's life experience(workexp+extra currics+ travel+ competitions + friends+ schooling), as also the persons attitude. And I do respect work experience, but that does not always impart responsibility, work ethic etc(viz we cannot generalize)
Blackbook to fachcha doubts
ReplyDelete