Musings Of An MBA Freshman

“So, do you know what a spike is?” The senior asked to the class. “Well, a high point in one’s career?” Somebody from the first row exclaimed. “Yes sort of, but to paraphrase it more clearly, it’s something a person would remember about you after going through your 1-pager CV, and you know right, the company selectors only have, like 30 seconds to flip out the resumes of 449 people. If they don’t do that, the process would become, quite infeasible, wouldn’t it!?”

Hearing this in a MBA college is nothing new, but the realization becomes profound when even after multiple iterations, the spike just isn’t visible.

“May be because there isn’t any?” I suggested. “So what if I cleared an entrance in which only 2.5% of the candidates are successful, half of my class has done that. But, I did join a lot of clubs in my undergrads you know.”

“Look, It doesn't matter if you tried your hand in different activities, did you accomplish anything substantial? Where are the numbers? Will you be able to get them verified?”

“Umm, let me see, the professor with whom I worked with wasn’t really happy with me, and the manager who nominated me for the award has left the company. I have lost a few of my extracurricular certificates and couldn’t clear any Olympiads, since I was busy preparing for entrances.”

“You aren’t aiming for fin-consult right?”

“Yes, I mean no, of course not, I am interested in pursuing marketing. I have always been interested in selling things. I remember almost all of the advertisements they showed on TV in my childhood.”

“But, that’s not really what you get to work on in the first 2 years. Don’t you know that?”

“Well, now I know. Huh. So, what should I do then?”

“Well, try to balance between the all the verticals, prepare CV, prepare HR answers, get into a committee, improve your academics, I mean get at least a 7, pursue extracurricular, try to win case studies, live projects. Long answer short, do anything and everything, which can make that goddamn selector remember your name.”

“If this is the long answer short, what the hell have I been doing all my life!”

“Introspect.”

“What?”

“Dig your personality, what impacted you in life?”

“Competition, I guess.”

“Good, dig some more, get precise.”

“Uncertainty also.”

“Some more, you can do it.”

“Yes, fear it is!”

“God! No, the last one was better.”

“But isn’t that right?”

“Yes, it is. But don’t say that in an interview for god’s sake, Okay?”

“Okay.”