What Skills Do Employers Want Most in B-School Graduates?

What Skills Do Employers Want Most in B-School Graduates?

AND How ISBR is Preparing Its Students for Developing Such Skills

Employers consider many skill sets while recruiting graduates from business schools. These skills ultimately influence job profiles and salaries offered depending upon the industry. Skills are demonstrable aspects of a candidate’s Resume which can get him or her bigger starting salaries with better job roles.

While identifying the right candidate for a job, employers look for much more than just domain knowledge. Many employers require candidates who can demonstrate skills that go beyond technical expertise such as interpersonal communication and team-building skills. Companies look for candidates who can analyze business problems and help find possible solutions. Most importantly, they must have the ability to communicate with a wider audience.

Every year Bloomberg releases a global recruiter survey report to identify abilities that are most sought after by companies in budding managers. As per the findings of ‘Bloomberg Job Skills Report 2016: What Recruiters Want’, there are five truly valuable skills that recruiters want young managers to possess. These are leadership skills, strategic thinking, communication skills, analytical thinking and work collaboratively. The study reveals that corporate recruiters hire those MBAs who can fill key roles for meeting their organization’s goals for growth and expansion. For a majority of these employers, the top reasons cited for including recent MBA grads in their 2016 hiring mix included:

Building their leadership pipeline and succession planning
Supporting company growth
Innovative thinking and
Business acumen

(Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-job-skills-report/)

Across most industries these same factors appear, in varying order, among the top reasons why employers recruit and hire MBAs.

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) which conducts GMAT exam also does a study on what recruiters seek in graduate management students. The study found that among the five major skills sets which employers consider critical while employing recent business school pass outs for a mid-level position, communications skills is the most important followed by teamwork, technical, leadership, and managerial skills.” For candidates who meet these requirements, the rewards are substantial.

How ISBR is Preparing Its Students for Developing Relevant Job Skills

At the International School of Business and Research (ISBR), we believe in creating opportunities for our students to successfully build the requisite skills that employers look for with the help of an array of activities such as Power Conversations with corporate leaders, Conference engagements, Industrial visits, smart skills training, corporate networking events, panel discussions, etc apart from their classroom teaching.

ISBR has core activities that enable students to make significant improvement in their skills and perception to lead tangible improvements for the companies. As part of the Institute’s Learning Strategy Modules, students can hone their writing skills, communication skills, time management skills, leadership skills, critical analysis skills, decision making skills, interpersonal skills for effective team work etc. besides many others. ISBR’s Learning Strategy Module is design to help students to make the most out of their studies & provides a rewarding learning experience.

ISBR’s interesting delivery model provides good scope for developing analytical ability, innovative thinking and exposure to new advancements in technology and latest trends in the industry through internship, domestic & international guest lecture series, case studies, paper presentations, industry exposure visits and various other innovative modes of learning.

“C-Talks” is one such useful platform whereby students get an opportunity to interact and learn directly from CEOs, Directors, CFOs etc. of leading companies. During one of the interactive sessions organized under this series, the Institute invited Mr. Sandeep Tyagi, Director HR, Samsung Electronics to share some of the key lessons in management with young minds. Similarly, to combine theory with practice, the Institute recently organized an industrial visit of its students to Raymond UCO Denim Pvt. Ltd. (Garments Division). Raymond is one of the top producers of ring denim in India with 60% market share. During the exposure visit, students covered manufacturing units of domestic as well as foreign brands such as Spykar, Levis, Scotch and Soda, Jack and Jones.

Being located in one of the country’s most developed cities gives ISBR students a strategic advantage over others. Students have easy access to offices of some of the leading national and global companies headquartered in Bengaluru. Leveraging this advantage the Institute organized a one day visit to Adecco India on 25th April, 2017 for the students of MBA and PDGM 2016-18 batches. Adecco India is the largest HR solutions company in India. The visit provided students an opportunity to meet various working heads in the company and discuss emerging career prospects in the industry. Adecco India CEO, Mr. Priyanshu Singh addressed the students on the occasion and also welcomed them for internships.

In order to give global business perspective to young practicing managers, International Conference on ‘Contemporary Challenges in Business Management’ was organized on 24th March 2017 at ISBR premises. The Conference was organized in association with University of Mysore, The Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM), Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA) – A SAARC Recognized Body; and Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS).

With an aim to develop better analytical abilities and enhance decision making capabilities of students, a Case Workshop was organized for the students of MBA and PGDM programs. The workshop was conducted by Prof. PK Thomas, Faculty Entrepreneurship and Strategy Areas who is also a Serial Entrepreneur and an eminent expert with vast experience in case study method of teaching and training. His cases are widely published in various reference text books and other publications.

Besides, the above, ISBR’s association with leading Industry and Professional Bodies like Assocham, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA), The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), National Human Resource Development (NHRD), The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) etc. helps students in building stronger industry linkages along with learning the best and latest practices in global management.

Final Tip for Aspiring Managers

To conclude with a tip it can be said that in today’s dynamically changing business environment, the most fundamental trait that companies look for in fresh MBAs is “organizational fit”. “Organizational fit” is an evaluation of how well a candidate’s work style, attitude and values align with the organization’s work culture. For organizations, you are an investment. Therefore, apart from developing relevant job skills and other attributes, MBA graduates should also be able to adapt and align themselves with the business objectives of their prospective employer; a trait which can be mastered with age and experience.