Indian MBAs and a recessionary job market

According to Business Week,  Indian MBA grads are facing a tough job market in the current worldwide economic slump. According to the report, in a sharp reversal from last year (where peak international placements got offers up to $360,000), this year the highest salary is just a paltry $86K.

And so the story of gross excesses during boom time and the inevitable contraction during not-so-good times that follow go on all over the world. According to the report, the elite Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, only 57% of the students have managed to get a job offer.

To this blogger, both extremes described in the article seems excessively reactionary, a little over the top.

In good times, for 23 year old kids (most, without a single day of relevant work experience) to land offers that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars always seemed an egregiously expensive way of hiring talent. I admit that most students coming out of Tier 1 business schools in India are exceedingly bright and very motivated. However, real life experience does not replace sheer intellect and I firmly believe that most offers from leading business schools in India have been over-valued by companies. So it is natural, given the traditional costs for companies to recruit talent from these schools, to pull back when the economic indicators are as weak as they are.

This too shall pass. But the trick is to wisen up and not be unrealistic about one’s market worth and value.  One can be bright – but like in ISB’s case, 12 months of academic experience does not replace years’ of experience in the trenches. And when expectations are about instant gratification and insane incomes straight out of school, something’s got to give. Sometime.

And unfortunately, it always does.

And another attempt to come back

Making another attempt to get back to blogging. Ever since starting with Business School, I haven’t really had the time to get back to blogging. Most importantly, I think it was the lack of time to do any meaningful thinking between school and the constant traveling and schedules that my work entails.

However, feel like getting back. Once again.

So, the world changed in the interim. We had the mother of all financial crises which is still playing itself out. The Taliban is on the verge of taking over Pakistan (well, maybe that’s a slight over-exaggeration of the facts), but it controls significant territory within that country, the Mumbai attack on hotels , train stations and Jewish centers happened, Apple sold a billion applications on the App Store, the year turned to 2009 and finally, on a phenomenally good note, Barack Obama got elected.

And that is just what is on the top of my head.

Regardless, I think, there is a general consensus that we are going through times that are going to be regarded by historians in the future as pretty defining. Global Warming is accelerating (so is the mobilization of the world community in general to tackle the problem, thankfully), the world-terrorism-extremist-Islamic-hegemony idea is making dangerous inroads in parts of the world uncomfortably close to home, the financial crisis has spawned numerous debates on the role of governance and the efficacy of unregulated free market capitalism, the Middle East crisis rages on, as does the un-ending conflict between the Tamils and Sinhalese.

Its easy to paint the world in a brush of gloom and doom now a days. But this is probably as good a time as any to be a mediocre commentator of world affairs on the unregulated blogosphere.

And also provide some colored commentary on my B-school experience, while I am at it. Problem is of course, I am already done with two terms and have been entirely unproductive in the past 8 months. But the intent is there.

So watch this space! Intend to light it up some!