CMYK

COVER STORY

By Arva Shikari

Employers unfold what would be b-school

grads level playing ground as they kick start
their professional careers. Adding
to it is the pinch of assessments
that would
a question of
take them
forward! employability
ne of the first things that comes to

O
mind when someone talks of what
employers look for in b-schools is
inducing fresh talent in the
organization and moulding it. This,
of course, is related closely to their
business strategies and plans. For example,
PepsiCo's talent acquisition strategy aims at
creating headroom for tomorrow by ensuring that
it is ahead of the curve in talent acquisition. "Our
business has seen exponential growth in recent
years, and through our Future Leaders Program
we aim at sourcing quality candidates from
premier B-schools that eventually feed into our
talent pipeline at a managerial level. This program
has now stood the test of time for over 15 years.
We want these young curious minds to work on
critical field projects and understand the ground
reality of the business, while infusing the business
with their fresh ideas," avers Pavan Bhatia, ED-
HR, PepsiCo India. And this, he adds, is a win-win
situation for both the business and the young
talent.
Acting on similar lines is Thomas Cook which
for the purpose of managing growth, the company
is in constant search of building talent pipeline.
"In the context of travel industry, where the talent
supply lags behind the demand, there is an acute
need of creating talent. Thus, acquiring talent from
b-schools is a step in that overall plan. Also, we
are seeking to broaden the talent base as part of
our growth plans - a key challenge for us is the
need to balance growth with inherent risks. We
believe that managers need to be nurtured for the
same, for, which we need to mould them at an
early stage," says Dr. D. Prasanth Nair, president
& head HR & special projects, Thomas Cook India.
Organizations look for talent from b-schools
for readily knowledgeable and employable
students; and also because half their work or pre

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COVER STORY

recruitment is done by the b-schools at the time of training turns into a surplus liability for shareholder
admission process that already screens the students. value. Thus, to ensure that b-school grads are
"The quality of education makes them work very hard, employable employers for one see their satisfaction in
prepares them with the language, hiring them; two, skills
structure, systems and processes Recently All India Management employers require and how
of work and domain knowledge. these grads fare; three, how the
And the ranking system of Association (AIMA) announced course content has affected
different b-schools differentiates that it is devising a new employability; four, the
one from the other wherein the usefulness of placements and
businesses have a fairly good idea
employability ranking for business work experience; and five,
of what the b-school has provided school graduates through an probable improvements in
the student. The companies then online management aptitude skill higher education.
only have to induct the graduates
into their specific organizational test (MAST) to ensure that there
Expectations from the
culture and work ethos," opines would be a uniform employability b-schools grads
Indira Parikh, president of
benchmark, replacing the Companies who hire MBA
Foundation of Liberal and
Management Education. management aptitude test. graduates from campus expect
Looking for fresh or that they ramp up fast by
MAST has been designed in a acquiring the right skills and
experienced b-school talent
involves companies to ensure that combined effort with IMRB and knowledge needed to be
the graduates are employable the first MAST would be held on successful in their roles since
since they offer inflated salaries, most fresh MBAs do not have
February 20, 2011. sufficient understanding of
and invest time, say anywhere
between 12-18 months of business or the industry they
classroom or on-job training to make them productive join. Although, two years of business school exposure
so that they are able to contribute towards enables them to understand new business more quicker
organizational goals. In fact, every employer wants than most of their colleagues that didn't get that
each new b-school hire to be successful in their roles opportunity.
or else the time, effort and money spent in hiring and Since salaries usually do not depend on present

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COVER STORY
levels of productivity, companies offer higher
remuneration, in the hope that most of them would
develop and handle higher responsibilities earlier and
start contributing towards the growth of the company.
Further, the ability to deal and cope with uncertainty
is another important aspect that employers look for in
b-school grads. Unlike laterals, fresh MBAs mostly have
more classroom exposure and may not have enough
data to make a best possible decision. Sometimes,
businesses make decisions which are unfinished and
debatable, where some uncertain factors come in play
which are beyond the control of any employee and the
organization. To deal with such situations, companies
look for employees who can handle uncertainty and
make decisions based on limited information available.
It is interesting to not note that many business
functions are dependent on others to be successful.
For instance, a sales executive in an automobile
company may be reliant on marketing, legal, or
engineering teams to close a sale. MBAs effectiveness
in business roles are contingent on how they are able
to get work done from people who don't report to
them. Also, it is vital for b-school grads that they are
able to work with others in the company as teams to
obtain common organizational goals for which people
skills are necessary.
Reminiscent of these skills, organizations look for
specific skills related to their industry and company
culture and business. For example, PepsiCo India's
management trainees' start their careers where the
action is i.e. frontline sales role, plant HR roles, field
finance roles and so on. "This requires tremendous will
to exceed the tenacity, thus, we basically look for
students who have a questioning mind, passion and
aggression to thrive in an FMCG business that is growing
rapidly. Aside from functional knowledge and analytical
ability, they need to possess initiative and drive for
results," says Bhatia.
In the IT industry,
KPIT Cummins
Infosystems Ltd looks
at b-schools to hire
talent with front-end
capabilities for sales
and business
development,
strategic decision
making and creative
thinking capabilities
required for talent
management, account
management and key
strategic partnerships.
Besides, "Strong
fundamentals,
flexibility and
readiness for cross-
functional roles,
PAVAN BHATIA knowledge of
ED-HR ■ PEPSICO INDIA manufacturing
22 ■ November 2010
CMYK
domain, creative thinking and above all possessing a
solution mindset is what KPIT looks for in b-school
grads," reveals Sumedha Nashikkar, head, human
resources. On the other hand, a leader in the travel
industry Thomas Cook looks for capabilities which are
important for them like the ability to take a holistic
view of issues, bring in fresh perspective and ideas and
an ability to execute.
More so, majority of employers want MBAs to
display higher abilities in managing strategy and
innovation, strategic and system skills, knowledge of
general business functions, managing decision-making
processes, and learning, motivation, and leadership that
they may not be able see in other employees without
MBA at an equal job level with employees having a
MBA degree. "In addition to knowledge, skills, attitudes,
adjusting to the organization work culture, perform
for excellence, be committed and involved, work on
other roles, functions and interface effectively,
organizations look for employees who will stay and not
become nomads moving from job to job and above all
are good human beings with values," adds Parikh.
To understand that the specific and/or general skills
are instilled in b-school grads that employer's look for
they go through a series of assessments.
Assessing students
Organizations use different methods ranging from
general ability/psychometric tests to competency
interviews and case studies to assess candidates. For
example, KPIT Cummins' assessment structure includes
basic aptitude test on logic and reasoning, a test on
problem solving and decision making, a functional
interview to assess business function fit, and an HR
interview to assess DNA fit. Thomas Cook, given the
practical constraints, shortlists b-school candidates
through resumes based on their overall profile and
then has two rounds of interviews. Although, says Dr.
Nair, "We would like to structure the assessment process
where we can include: psychometric tests, group
discussion and detailed round of interviews with at
least two senior executives from the organization."
On the other hand, PepsiCo's selection process is
fairly stringent and includes at the onset filling of an
application form that is self reflective in nature, a tool
that measures leadership competency and at least a
couple of rounds of personal interviews comprising of
both probing into skills and competencies. In addition,
says Bhatia, "We also have a case study competition -
‘Become Indra's Advisors’, the winners of which get to
present to Indra Nooyi at our offices at Purchase, New
York. We offer pre placement offers to these winners,
along with pre placement interviews for the runner
ups. These set of people, too, and then go on to join
the ranks of our future leaders."
These assessments would focus on some of the
common factors like appropriate educational
qualifications (area of expertise), a good past
performance in classes, projects, GPAs, etc., a pleasing
personality and strong communication skills, mind
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alertness and motivation, vigor and intellect, positivity
in attitude, determination, self confidence and maturity
and the drive to stand out and create an impression.
Of course, companies are not obsessed with marks/
GPAs, but, definitely look out for transcripts primarily
to see how the grads did in the classes that are most
relevant to the function. In fact, more than GPAs they
focus on personality, attitude, behavioural
competencies, etc. like the most critical bit for PepsiCo,
is a MBA's personality and attitude. "We consider people
who have been consistent performers and possess the
base functional knowledge. However, a negative,
overbearing attitude is a definite no in our company,"
expresses Bhatia. PepsiCo's culture like any organization
is unique and fairly demanding with immense sense of
achievement hence, it is important, that it gets people
who fit its culture coupled with the strong desire to
succeed and learn.
Similarly, Thomas Cook is also not very concerned
about GPA's, but focuses more on attitude and overall
profile which includes projects undertaken, summer
stint, involvement in extracurricular activities,
memberships of different bodies within institute and
beyond. "All this enables us to get a feel of the grads
with respect to his/her interests, ability to work in
teams and skill in execution," states Dr Nair. KPIT
Cummins too, look at the personality and attitude
attributes in a candidate, which provides the company
an opportunity to assess the candidate's cultural fit
with the company and their preparedness to take up
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COVER STORY
bigger challenges.
Companies seem to focus more on attitude of
candidates than marks…more on the lines of…'hire
for attitudes and train for skills'. Attitude is the positive
or negative evaluation of objects or events in the
environment and psychologists have examined attitudes
in terms of three components: cognitive (mental),
behavioural (action) and affective (emotional/feeling).
Dr. Manavi Pathak, an organizational psychologist and
consultant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, India
analyzes the attitudinal differences of millennial b-
school candidates with this framework. She shares: the
cognitive dimension consists of beliefs and perceptions,
which is formed by direct experience and learnings
from the environment. When the country saw one of
the worst periods for management graduates in the
last two years. Students from best b-schools were
unable to find suitable jobs. There was about a 10 -15%
drop in salaries and many first-timer companies came
to recruit. There were very few international offers
which were limited to top-tier B-schools only. There
was also a change in the usual mix of recruiters which
came to the campus and PSUs and other similar
organizations got a larger share of the recruitment pie.
Students who in earlier placements were spoilt for
choice, had little choice and had to take whatever
options were available. The global economic meltdown
made people realize that although MBA education
creates 'superheroes' that are out there to rule the
world, they are also vulnerable to the prevailing
November 2010 ■ 23
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COVER STORY
economic conditions. No one is invincible and one
needs to be better equipped to handle such situations
(uncertainty). However, with the economy recovering
there is a lot of hope and optimism, but, it has also
made people realize that simply collecting more degrees
does not make individuals immune from labour market
challenges especially during economic downturns. The
change in beliefs and perception here will result in the
change in the action or behaviour.
A student from a tier-two college in Bangalore
shared his experience: "Soon after I set my foot on
campus, we got to hear tales from the seniors about
problems in getting jobs and placements in 2008. I was
frantic and decided to take my summer internship
very seriously. I got my summer internship at a private
bank and strongly hoped to get at least a PPI'. From
this experience one realizes that students who were
anticipating and dreaming of jobs with brand name
organizations, hefty salaries and perks got shock and
a rude awakening. "Initially they were angry, frustrated,
and wondered why it had to happen to them. However,
they soon did a reality appraisal of what was available
and where they actually stood with their abilities to
contribute to the organization. The changes in economy
created tough differentiators between excellent, very
good, good and average. The students also recognized
the reality of uncertainties of life, larger economic
realities impacting their individual lives and how global
economics impact countries," analyzes Parikh.
There are many others who have worked hard and
taken up their summer internship very sincerely as it
ensures not only a job offer before placement also it
gives a good chance for the candidates to 'impress' the
prospective employers, informs Pathak. In fact, the
A case in point
A large IT consulting company had been facing problem
of attrition for couple of years amongst its fresher's.
Consultants from Thomas International examined the
recruitment process and realized that their method of using
GD to shortlist followed by interview was eliminating good
candidates and they were selecting average candidates,
which is a classic case of Type I and Type II error. Thomas
set up online assessments for all the applicants. The
interviewing team studied the reports and prepared their
interviewing strategy before leaving for campus. It helped
them focus and probe in an effective manner. The selected
candidates' reports were further shared with the
line managers leading to faster induction and
better team work. The result has been a sharp
fall in the attrition and increase in the performance
of the hires. Thomas International's research has
shown companies hire people for their skills and
fires them for behavioural faults, thus, it advises
people to hire for attitude and potential and train
for skills.
(Source: Thomas International)
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spoilt attitude that was displayed earlier by MBAs
sobered down from last two years as companies
experienced that candidates understood that they ought
to accept a good offer that comes their way and not
aim to gather as many as they can; candidates have
become more focused; they pursue roles they are truly
interested in; most students understand the bigger
picture and have become more flexible about position
and location.
There are some who are more daring and want to
unfold a different story altogether. It is not unfamiliar
to find students in b-school who want to start as an
entrepreneur. Saurabh Gupta, a second year MBA
student is of the view that "today entrepreneurs
anywhere can create value with relatively little capital.
Barriers to entry in almost every industry have come
crashing down, opening vast opportunities for small
companies. India is a developing economy and it is for
youngsters like us to show the way with innovation and
determination". With two-thirds of Indian population
under 35, this seems to be a healthy trend.
On the affective or feeling dimension, says Pathak
there is a sense of challenge and euphoria. The
millennial b-school candidates have grown up with
stories of 9/11, Enron and dot-com bust and this has
prepared them to develop a mind-set and skills to
handle situations as they come. MBA from IIM might
be a terrific credential; however one needs to develop
his or her own way in an economically inhospitable
world. In short, the corporate job requires EQ with IQ,
though that comes with experience, but, in today's
competitive environment one needs to inculcate it early
in one's career.
Assessments tools do measure the relevance of
candidates, but, some may fair well in them than the
others. Those candidates that KPIT Cummins selected
and those whom it didn't both excelled in one or the
other area of assessment, however, the final selection
had those who have demonstrated consistency in their
performance across all stages of the selection process.
Nashikkar gives an account of a particular incident
where KPIT Cummins did not select a candidate and
selected few others. She says, "The one who wasn't
selected was so keen on joining for the role that he
offered to work on a project for two months to prove
his capabilities. We provided him the opportunity and
were impressed by his quality of work and offered him
an opportunity in our organization mid of his project
work." Nashikkar personally believes candidates who
are ready to take challenges and also have the strength
to challenge the status quo have great confidence in
themselves and emerge as super achievers. Well, here
is a paradigm shift. From what it was some years back
when academic excellence was the most important
benchmark, there seems a shift - where there is
increasing recognition that it is not just academics, but,
'beyond academics' that actually enables success at
work place. "At the same time, we see a trend where
managing expectations of passing out grads is becoming
very important," points Dr. Nair.
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COVER STORY

Of the typical assessment techniques, some candidates for business through b-schools, it has been
companies have started assessing candidates through tough for the b-school grads in the initial few months
their social networking profiles like Facebook, MySpace, to adjust to our performance standards needless to
Twitter and LinkedIn. This research informs employers say the demanding nature of our work. While the
about how a candidate interacts socially. For example, functional knowledge is all there, at times the attitude
views Nashikkar "Social becomes a big question. For
networking profiles help KPIT example, some students
Cummins to understand the Certain skills are hard to identify in a resume or
refuse to acknowledge the
personality better and in few of an interview. For example, like critical thinking
criticality of a sales stint,
the cases we have been able to that involves effective problem-solving skills, well-
while pushing for a role in
do referral checks through reasoned decisions, improved strategic thinking
marketing. It's vital to realize
mutual connects." Employers and better planning, and implementation. Thus, that marketing is about
check pictures, references to organizations use tests like Watson-Glaser Critical knowing your consumer and
drinking and drug use, opinions Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA) when selecting customer - that knowledge
about earlier employers and employees as it is helps companies assess critical can stem only from a field
colleagues in case of lateral thinking skills of candidates. stint and not through
hires and online insights' reports." Here's a
When assessing the learning ability of candidates
communication skills like case of a typical career path
writing on walls, blogs, etc. without taking into account their language
proficiency the Raven's Progressive Matrices, a that a high-potential b-
through these social networking schooler will encapsulate at
sites. And then decide whether non-verbal test helps measure problem
PepsiCo: a. joining and on-
to offer a job or not to a identification, problem solving and learning agility
boarding (the Future Leader
candidate based on the content competencies in the candidate. This test is relevant
Program); b. stint 1: across
discovered on a social for companies during campus placements, as a
sales; territory development
networking site. Networking in quick, but, effective first level screening when
manager; c. stint 2: across
travel industry is important and faced with volumes in mass hiring scenarios. marketing: assistant brand
given a scenario where all other (Source: Pearson India) manager; d. stint 3:
things are same, Thomas Cook international project; e. stint
would prefer an individual whose networking skills are 4: brand manager; and so on.
good. "Although, this necessarily does not mean that KPIT Cummins has been regularly hiring from top
we will hire somebody whose blog is populated and tier and tier 2 b-schools and the experience has been
has about four digits friends on Facebook - not really very encouraging. The company's basic expectations
a criteria for consideration at this stage," adds Dr. Nair. include team work - ability to work across teams and
across levels in the hierarchy; flexibility to take up
Aftermath of campus hiring cross functional responsibilities; involvement in
Once hired, employers have some expectations out of organizational events; bringing up new ideas; and
their b-school grads. Generally, it is to perform and preparedness to go an extra mile to understand the
grow, but, different companies go about it in different business and expectations from the profile better.
ways. For example, Thomas Cook feels the key to make Once on board, organizations expects b-schoolers'
people perform and develop is to design a flexible to settle down fast, become part of the teams and
organization structure which will enable an eco-system functions they are working with, experience the
which the grads can identify with. organization culture, and truly take an interest in what
In PepsiCo, it is critical for students to know that they are assigned. "Organizations are confronting
career growth cannot be at the expense of learning. "It competitions, timelines, deadlines and quality and
is important for any employee in general at PepsiCo require stable and consistent employees who have and
and fresher's in specific to know the business cold - i.e. acquire a rhythm with the organization," implies Parikh.
to know how we make, sell and deliver our products. Further, she believes that the way businesses are
We want them to ask questions about the processes working today is going to change dramatically. The
and people. Hence we make them start from ground challenge for the future for business is alignment of life
level and help them gain experiences and learning as space, and work space with stages and phases of life
they progress," asserts Bhatia. Thus, expectations from of individuals and the organization. The second
b-school grads are to get a deep understanding of the important aspect is the relationships within the life and
business, while contributing to the growth of it at work space in the context of systems, structures and
PepsiCo. Although, the company can't claim a 100% interfaces across roles. There is an increasing need for
success rate, it has been very fortunate in its choice of an underlying philosophy of life and spirituality
management trainees who are now rapidly filling the tempered with a quality of life, wholesomeness and
ranks of the company's middle and senior management well behaving, emphasizes Parikh. Organizations and
in India and abroad. individuals have to address these issues as life and life
Certainly challenges come up and as Bhatia says, and institutions as well, as the world becomes complex
"While PepsiCo has had success in sourcing the right across race, religion, colour and gender. HC

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