Leveraging Experience at B-school -Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya

– Sandip Nimje, Class of 2009, IIFT New Delhi

Sandip Nimje did not have an English-medium background, or exposure to metro education. What he had was really sound work experience, clarity about his career objectives, and the determination to make it to one of the top management institutes in the country. Listen to him sharing his experience and advice with aspirants:

Tell us a little bit about yourself – where you hail from, your educational and professional background.

I completed my primary education in a village called Takli, 35 kms from Nagpur. In 1993 my family shifted to Nagpur so that we could pursue further education. My specialization in the 10th and 12th was in Vocational Training which inculcated an interest in me towards Mechanical Engineering. After completing studies in engineering, I have worked with Max International (in a beverage plant), HMT M/c tools and Canara Bank for two years each. In HMT, I was responsible for process planning and manufacturing of machine tools components by the application of modern production techniques. I was also looking after the outsourcing of various coating and heat treatment processes and dealings with other local suppliers. In Canara Bank I was responsible for industrial finance for technical, economic, financial, commercial and managerial appraisal of the project.

When and why did you choose to do an MBA?

While pursuing engineering studies, I had made up my mind to do an MBA, but only from one of the top 10 B-schools and that too, after I had acquired considerable work experience in the industry. During my work with three different organizations, I continuously realized that MBA is a necessary platform to understand how exactly the business runs and what strategies should be taken to achieve new heights in the corporate world. To cite a specific example, during my tenure at Canara Bank, I realized that an MBA from a good B-school would enable me to have more effective interactions and discussions with owners of companies who where visiting us for industrial loans.

What were the main challenges that you faced while preparing for B-school and how did you overcome those challenges?

Time was the most important constraint I faced because I was so bogged down by work pressure at the Bank. I also faced problems in reading-comprehension as I had studied in Marathi medium up to the 10th standard. It was initially difficult for me to even attain the cut-off marks in reading comprehension in the mock tests that I solved. But I eventually managed all these, primarily by reading two newspapers - ET and The Hindu - regularly. Newspaper reading also helped me score nearly full marks in the GK section of the IIFT entrance test. I also worked on question selection and solving them strategically to manage time optimally.

Looking back, would you say that your professional experience made you a better candidate for B-school in any way?

I strongly feel that manufacturing and banking experience helped me a lot to understand things better while discussing and presenting in class. The most important thing was the fact that it made my approach towards solving any case study or preparing projects with analysis different as compared to other students, for which I won appreciation from time to time. My work experience always helped me develop special interest in subjects like project appraisal, corporate finance, industrial marketing, international trade operation and international supply chain management etc.

What would you say are the most important skills and qualities required to make it successfully through the B-school selection process?

I feel that the interview is a very critical part of the process and to clear that, one needs to have detailed knowledge and clarity about what he has mentioned in the application form. So it is important to be able to support and defend those points with good presentation skills. Talking about IIFT interview preparation in particular, a candidate must study issues of trade, WTO, repo rate, reverse repo rate, CRR, forex reserve, current account, capital account, BOP in addition, of course, to general current affairs. Candidates must also always be prepared to answer why he wants to join a specific institute and how he has a special interest in the points that distinguish that school from other top B-schools.

As far as qualities are concerned, one needs to be articulate and should have the willingness to listen to others and express his own viewpoints politely but convincingly. This helps candidates to become different from others.

What has been your biggest learning at IIFT? How would you advise aspirants to prepare themselves for life at IIFT?

Besides study patterns and things which are common to all good B-schools, IIFT differs in its teaching of some subjects with specific international business focus. My biggest takeaway from IIFT has been the knowledge acquired on topics such as trade-related practices, calculation techniques for international market entry, SME sector growth and dereservation impact, export and import procedure, documentation etc. I feel there is no need to ‘prepare’ for life at IIFT - just keep yourself flexible and allow yourself to float to the Institute’s rhythm.

Where do you move from here? What is the role that you will be playing in your first post-MBA position? What excites you most about it?

I have been selected from campus by Mitsui, which is the number one Japanese trading firm. I am going to work on Infrastructure projects as assistant manager for business development, planning and execution of the project. Mitsui has many projects in hand which will give me a great opportunity to learn about infrastructure projects. I have already handled industrial projects and want to learn more about the complexities of it and this curiosity excites me for the work that awaits me at Mitsui.

Finally, a lot has changed in the last one year about the traditional prospects and perceptions about the MBA degree, thanks to the financial/economic crisis affecting the entire world. How do you personally view the challenges and rewards of a managerial career in the post-crisis world?

This year, the economic scenario has definitely changed perceptions about MBA education and prospects and once again, there will be more focus on an MBA from the top-10 B-schools only. Candidates having more than 5 years of work experience may not choose to go for a 2-year fulltime MBA programme because there has been a decrease in salary packages. But on the other hand, this is also the right time to prove oneself by contributing and using new managerial techniques in business. I believe that those who can survive in such recessionary times actually learn many things which will keep them competitive and ready for an unpredictable future. Challenges vary from industry to industry – for example, in the software industry, the key lies in how to save your job by competing with others, whereas in the infrastructure industry, the focus will be on how to develop business, minimize implementation period and maximize profit on the project.