IT has long been your dream to get into a good B-School. But you realise it is not to be, at least not this year. Do not despair. Career planning is an ongoing process and a reality check on your decisions allows you to make adjustments and see if your desired outcomes are being achieved. This does not mean your initial decision was 'bad'. Each one of you must look at 'what if not?' options to the Holy Grail of modern youth - Common Admissions Test (CAT). This re-evaluation may lead to minor changes in your career choices or a complete revision of the options on your table.
There is a plethora of career options awaiting you. To evaluate these options objectively, you must first answer the following two questions honestly - what am I good at? What would I enjoy doing in my career? If you return 'MBA' for both, you may lose sight of some of the very promising options cited below.In this list, we have deliberately omitted some of the more popular career choices, and included some, which you may not even be aware of.
* Banking and Finance
Banking courses include Operations Management, Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, International Finance, Strategic Planning and IT. After completing a banking course, you can hope to be absorbed into a bank as a middle-level executive officer. Several universities offer banking courses. The most popular exam to gain entry is the Bank Probationary Officers' exam, popularly referred to as the Bank PO. They are conducted depending on vacancies in PSU banks. The Banking Service Recruitment Board (BSRB) conducts this test. Your preparation for MBA exams will come in handy in these exams too. PSU banks recruit mainly graduates at the entry level on basis of all-India level examination. However, professionals like engineers, doctors, technologists, lawyers, ex-defence personnel, etc, are also recruited for senior positions through all-India tests.
* Actuarial Courses
Actuaries are experts in assessing the financial impact of tomorrow's uncertain events. Their job is to look at the past data and analyse it. They provide future models to enable decision making with confidence. In simpler terms, they assess risk and interpret it in financial terms to help in decision making. It helps to be a graduate with a background in Mathematics, Statistics or Econometrics. The course has no fixed duration. You have to pass the requisite number of subjects to be awarded the fellowship. The placements are primarily in the insurance sector.
* Chartered Financial Analyst Of late, this programme has become very popular. Even students at premier B-Schools seem to be doing this, along with their core curriculum. Any graduate can pursue it. You need to master its study material and take the test to become a charter member. Once you become a CFA, the opportunities in finance will open up significantly.
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There is a plethora of career options awaiting you. To evaluate these options objectively, you must first answer the following two questions honestly - what am I good at? What would I enjoy doing in my career? If you return 'MBA' for both, you may lose sight of some of the very promising options cited below.In this list, we have deliberately omitted some of the more popular career choices, and included some, which you may not even be aware of.
* Banking and Finance
Banking courses include Operations Management, Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, International Finance, Strategic Planning and IT. After completing a banking course, you can hope to be absorbed into a bank as a middle-level executive officer. Several universities offer banking courses. The most popular exam to gain entry is the Bank Probationary Officers' exam, popularly referred to as the Bank PO. They are conducted depending on vacancies in PSU banks. The Banking Service Recruitment Board (BSRB) conducts this test. Your preparation for MBA exams will come in handy in these exams too. PSU banks recruit mainly graduates at the entry level on basis of all-India level examination. However, professionals like engineers, doctors, technologists, lawyers, ex-defence personnel, etc, are also recruited for senior positions through all-India tests.
* Actuarial Courses
Actuaries are experts in assessing the financial impact of tomorrow's uncertain events. Their job is to look at the past data and analyse it. They provide future models to enable decision making with confidence. In simpler terms, they assess risk and interpret it in financial terms to help in decision making. It helps to be a graduate with a background in Mathematics, Statistics or Econometrics. The course has no fixed duration. You have to pass the requisite number of subjects to be awarded the fellowship. The placements are primarily in the insurance sector.
* Chartered Financial Analyst Of late, this programme has become very popular. Even students at premier B-Schools seem to be doing this, along with their core curriculum. Any graduate can pursue it. You need to master its study material and take the test to become a charter member. Once you become a CFA, the opportunities in finance will open up significantly.
Read more
