While undergoing her CA articleship, Komal Salunke realized that it is not something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Quite rightly portrayed in the film 3 Idiots, it's always difficult to convince your parents that you want to pursue a career completely different from what they have already invested their hard earned money in! Komal Salunke was also in a similar dilemma a few years back. But, a 100 percent academic scholarship from FLAME University changed the course of her life. Not only did she pursue marketing as a domain of her choice but bagged an internship from
Nestle as well, during the ongoing pandemic. Now placed in BirlaSoft, a part of the CK Birla Group, Komal looks back on her journey in this conversation with InsideIIM. Here is an excerpt from the conversation with her:
You have a B.Com degree and then you cracked the 100 percent academic scholarship from FLAME University and joined a B-school. How did this shift take place?
Along with my B.Com, I completed CA-CPT, CA-IPCC and my 3 years of CA - Audit assistant and article training. However, during the article training, I realized this was not really the career progression I was looking for.
Although it was a tough idea to convince traditional Indian parents, I accepted their challenge that I would be allowed to switch my career only if I found a way to pay for it on my own. There were two ways to do it, either get a full scholarship or take a bank loan. I had worked in banks during my article training and understood how one ended up paying way higher than what one borrowed and the interest portion would keep them in debt for quite a long time. Hence, scholarship was the only way out!
And, there were three aspects of getting a scholarship at FLAME University. First, I required a good academic record, second was to get a good score in the MBA entrance exams, and the last was the interview which I decided to play to my strengths. It is through these that I finally got the scholarship.
Was sales & marketing always something that you were interested in or it germinated in you after you joined FLAME?
While I was pursuing CA, I understood a few things about myself. I could talk to convince, and I had a knack to understand what’s needed to create a win-win situation for me and for the other party. When I came to FLAME, I found my inspiration in Dr. Dwarika Prasad Uniyal, Dean - School of Business, FLAME University. Listening to him, gaining insights from his knowledge and seeing the career progression he has had in Marketing became an aspirational and motivating factor for me.
You have described yourself to be someone who doesn’t like ‘two workdays to be exactly the same’? In this context, tell us about your internship that you bagged from Nestle?
The Internship at Nestle happened during the lockdown, so although I would have loved to be on-field and try my skills in an FMCG setting, the opportunity was confined to sitting in front of a laptop. However, one thing I believe in is to
never let an opportunity go waste. So to ensure that two workdays were not exactly the same, I decided to go above and beyond the internship brief given to me. During the office hours, I would work on the tasks assigned to me and then I would work on two new strategies that I felt the brand could adopt. When I presented the report to the company, I received a lot of appreciation. I look forward to seeing if the brand implements these strategies in 2021 when we expect to have some semblance to “normal”, as we knew it.
What were some of the learnings from the institute that you applied while you were interning with Nestle?
The most unique and by far the most beneficial aspect of FLAME’s curriculum is inclusion of liberal education subjects in MBA such as psychology, sociology, public policy and organizational behaviour. As a marketing intern at Nestle, while technical knowledge was extremely important, the other important factor was to understand people and you can’t do that by only studying technical MBA subjects. With loads of practical training that professors put me through at FLAME, the real-life work environment seemed familiar.
You have been placed with BirlaSoft, a part of the CK Birla Group which has over 25,000 employees across 41 manufacturing facilities around the world. How do you think your B-school education will help you going forward in taking a massive responsibility like this?
The Indian education system does not really prepare you to work in groups or teams which is a very important challenge that corporates face. FLAME prepared me for corporate challenges in a multitude of ways that have brought subtle changes in my overall personality. To mention a few here, FLAME puts students in teams from the day you enter the classroom, which helped me tremendously in polishing my interpersonal and communication skills which are two very important things to have a successful corporate career.
It has also prepared me to look at each and every project with the objective of how I can add value to it and how to make decisions that will result in maximum satisfaction to all the stakeholders involved.
How do you think the alumni and the network that one builds at the university helps bag dream roles in varied sectors?
I feel that the biggest asset of any B-school is its alumni network. At FLAME, we spent more time in guest lectures, conclaves and attending off-campus seminars than in class rooms. I have met over 200 people who are doing great work in their fields, people who tell you what the ground reality is and prepare you to face the world outside of the comfortable environment at a B-School.
I felt that the FLAME alumni played a big role in helping me secure a placement during the lockdown. I had seniors who were working at BirlaSoft and the guidance that they gave me helped me immensely in understanding what the offerings of the company were, why it was a sector that remained least affected by the pandemic, how resilient the company’s processes remained and why it was a good fit for me.
To students who are looking for a perfect B-school, what would be your advice?
The Perfect B-School is a myth, but what is not a myth are B-schools that have revamped curriculums and included liberal subjects like design thinking, critical thinking, visual art and foreign languages. These B-Schools bring together a set of individuals who come from every corner of the country, giving you the opportunity to grow the horizons of your mind with diversity. It's time we go beyond RoIs, and think about how this B-school can add value to me as an individual. B-schools need to stop looking like a factory - churning out the same product over and over again, and look like those who can nurture every student for his/her unique abilities.
Do not expect opportunities to be served on a silver platter; learn to grab them when they come your way.
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