I bring to you an exhilarating
(or XL-arating as he puts it) conversation with Mr. Raman Shridhar, Senior Branch Manager, Olam International. He is an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur. In this conversation, he shares with me very valuable insights on how to get into a top B-School and the perseverance needed for the same along with some instances where he overcame challenges to succeed in his career.
Tanya: When you appeared for B-School entrances, how many calls did you get?
Raman: I had pre-defined my goals when I was preparing for entrances. My target was to do an MBA only from one of these - IIM-A, B, C, L, XLRI, SP Jain or FMS. I converted XLRI (BM & HR), SP Jain (Ops), IIFT-D, MDI, NITIE, New IIMs with A 100 % strike rate in all my interviews.
T: From your two years in XLRI, what is the one key learning that still impacts you?
R: I learnt how to persevere. During my time at XLRI, I got the opportunity to interact with the brightest minds in the country coming from diverse backgrounds. It was during those interactions that I learnt how they manage to persevere despite all odds. This learning of perseverance still propels me to continue hard during my corporate stints where sometimes the end results are quite different from what one would have thought at the start of the project
T: What was the biggest challenge you faced during your XL days?
R: The biggest challenge was to prioritize the most important tasks amongst the very important tasks at hand with similar time-frames. During one's MBA, time is the biggest constraint and one who is able to manage time well during those two years is the one who is very successful. One has many concurrent deadlines to manage - usual class assignments, competitions, college activities, sports activities, networking etc. There are many things trying to grab one’s ‘Time-pie’ during college and sorting and giving a deserved share to each of those activities is a skill only a few are able to master well.
T: Where did you do your summer internship from and how was the experience?
R: I interned at ITC where my project was in Logistics and Supply Chain domain. It was a very good experience for me and it acted as a window into the world of Operations & Supply Chain which is where I wanted to pursue my career.
T: With placements being seen as the core of any B-School journey, do you think students put way too much pressure on themselves for the same?
R: I would strongly urge current and future students to take on-campus placements of MBA schools a bit lightly as there are a whole lot of opportunities off-campus as well. In fact, I got two job offers during my MBA studies, one through competitions and the other from final placements at college, I joined neither of them and went for a more lucrative role of handling a regional P&L in a Spanish firm before switching to Olam International.
I believe luck and other externalities play quite a considerable role in the campus placements with other factors like slotting of the companies, college-specific opening of roles etc and thereby a lost opportunity which isn’t the case in off-campus jobs where one can target as per one’s passion in a more focussed manner.
T: How has the journey been so far, as a Senior Branch Manager in Olam International?
R: I decided that I wanted to work in an expat role during my undergraduate internship at a steel plant in Egypt. The kind of remuneration & facilities provided by the companies and the thrill to travel and explore different parts of the world were my key driving factors and Olam International rates very high on all those parameters. It has been a challenging but at the same time a very fulfilling journey at Olam.
T: What are the top three qualities that will help a young professional succeed like you?
R: A dream; clarity on how to achieve it; and the perseverance to continue until one achieves it.
As per my experience, these are the three things that MBA colleges look for during selections, companies look for during placements and teammates look for during corporate projects.
T: What’s your take on work-life balance and how do you maintain it?
R: According to me it is work-life-health balance. For a successful career and a fulfilling life, one must maintain a strong balance between all these three factors. These three are inter-related and thus, I focus extensively on all these aspects. This is a sure-shot way of ensuring a long successful and healthy life.
T: If you had to give one piece of advice to the MBA community, what would it be?
R: Learning should be the primary focus and not grades. So try and spend as much time in the library as possible. Once a person enters the business world, one misses the wealth of knowledge that they are exposed to in their college. So, pay attention to classes and try learning as much as you can from your professors and your peers.