To change or not to change? A dilemma every MBA aspirant, MBA student and an employee has to face. For aspirants, it’s pursuing a masters in the same field or doing something else. For students the dilemma while choosing a specialisation and for an employee, it is the decision to switch jobs. How does one make sense from this perpetual state of confusion and uncertainty? Well, Subha Chandrasekaran, an XLRI Alum, ex-Citibank and founder of RainKraft Creative Solutions (OPC) Pvt Ltd can give you some answers. This article captures her journey, her decisions and a career path that made her what she is today. Read to know more.
This is a part of the SCMHRD initiative.
Also read: Learning From Outside Classroom | Sr Procurement Manager, Condé Nast, SCMHRD Alum
B-school Journey
Question 1: How did you decide to pursue an MBA and in what field?
Answer: I finished my engineering at a time when everyone was writing GRE to study abroad. Very few were actually interested in the management line.
For me, engineering was a good foundation, but I wanted to widen my horizon.
I felt I needed to understand the business world better before I jumped into it. I did my CAT and XAT prep and after the whole B-school interview process I got into XLRI, Jamshedpur. In the first year of XLRI, we were taught almost all domains. I chose systems because I could relate it to as an engineer and I also chose Finance as it appealed to me more than Marketing.
Question 2: Where did you do your summer internship at? Please tell us about your summer internship project.
Answer: My summer internship was at HSBC, Mumbai. They were just setting up their wealth management offering for high net worth individuals and I was placed in that team. In my project, I had to calculate the risk and reward indicators for various mutual funds and suggest methods to quickly analyse funds and recommend them to their HNI clients.
Question 3: What were your 2/3 major takeaways from those 2 months at your internship?
Answer: Key insights were:
- Meet as many people as you can. Don’t just get lost in the particular project
- Make sure you are learning something
- Be curious enough to ask questions
- Get a good sense of other departments and the organization
Most of all, you can’t learn everything in two months. So, during your internship take time to explore the organization you are working in, get to know the work culture and what else happens there. This will help you understand if you want to come back and work there.
Question 4: By the end of the 2 years at B-school, had you figured out a career path for yourself, in terms of any dream roles/organizations that you wanted to work for?
Answer: During the final placements, obviously a lot of people were focusing on Day 0/Day 1 companies – the big consultants and FMCGs and Banks.
Getting a job in the IT sector was a logical choice, but I really wanted to be part of the core work and its execution. I was sure I didn’t want to work on a project that is used by someone else. I was interested in more in-house projects. I sat for Citibank’s pre-placement talks and I noticed that they have a significant in-house technology development. And I wanted to learn banking and systems. Hence, I decided to sit for their placement interview process. The job role that they were offering was pure banking. I asked them if they have any vacancies in technology. Luckily, they did. I had to do a telephonic interview with the Technology Head and was offered a job at Citi.
Corporate Journey (Few lines)
Question 1: Please describe your career trajectory (Designations and responsibilities).
Answer 1: I started off with Citibank’s Global Technology unit in Chennai. I was a project manager, managing a team of developers at Polaris Software. My role involved working with Citibank Poland, Citibank London and Citibank Hungary to develop various features of Citibank Internet banking for their end clients.
After a year and half, I moved to Corporate Banking in Bengaluru as Citi decided to sell off their technology division. After another year and a half, I was asked to move to Hyderabad and head the corporate branch operations of Citibank. As a Branch Head you have to manage everything, from the employees, to the customers, to your relationship with the RBI. I continued to work in that role for about 2 years and 6 months.
Then, I moved to Mumbai where I worked in Capital markets operations, Custody operations and I was leading the Asset servicing & Technology teams.
In 2008, I moved to Gurgaon and around the same time Citibank sold its BPO unit to TCS. They needed someone to set up the governance and risk management framework defining how we would interact with a third party. I had to manage that.
After a few couple of years working there, I moved back to Bangalore and took over the South branches and India Cash Operations as a Senior Vice President.
Question 2: Can you talk about your current role.
Answer: I am a founder of a company called RainKraft Creative Solutions. I have a small all-women team of writers, content creators, and also design and technology experts. Most of them are in their second career too and choosing to do what the love and get to work from home. Our work is focused on content development, research, planning and writing. My role is primarily to work with individuals/organizations and provide leadership capabilities either through coaching or workshops or designing and executing content strategy for businesses. I also mentor career restarters and small businesses.
Question 3: What were the fact factors you took into consideration while working for Citi for so long?
Answer: A common reason why people move to a new company is because they start experiencing stagnancy in their career or learning. In my case, that didn’t happen. Every 2 or 3 years there was a change in a role, field or place. Every time, it felt like I was moving into a new organisation.
You can change as many companies as you want but do it for the right reasons – look for a better role, more learning and of course better rewards.
Question 4: At the end of 2015 you decided to have an entrepreneurial venture of your own. Did you have anything from the very beginning at the back of your mind that you want to do such a thing down the line or did you figure it out later?
Answer: I made the decision due to various factors. I wanted a change, and a job that could offer flexibility, as I have two growing children. Apart from that, I have learnt many things from my experience, and I wanted to use that to help aspiring leaders.
My company does a lot of mentoring, coaching and organizational workshops in leadership. I find my work very rewarding as I get to interact with people across industries.
Question 5: Anything else that you would like an MBA aspirant or an MBA student to know, which you have learnt from experience and might have not come under the purview of any of the above questions?
Answer: Now there is access to information, so please use that for your advantage. Don’t just blindly walk into something. When looking for a job, do your homework. Try to learn about the job, the company, what they do, will you fit in, etc.
Also, don't limit yourself to college courses. Learning is a continuous process. Pick interesting things apart from your studies and start learning.
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