Be the Brand Manager of your institute

 About the Author

Girija Dey (Co-founder InfoBin, IIM Visakhapatnam PGP 2019-21)

For most MBA aspirants in India, getting an admission call letter from IIM is prestigious. Though it takes a lot of effort and hard work to get a chance to join an institution like IIM, it also becomes more competitive after joining the campus as now you are among the best minds. You get to be prepared all the time to stay alive in the competition. MBA culture will force you to act like that, starting from class participation to group presentation until the placement process.

 

Being a fresher, you have to look for and participate in every opportunity to gain more and more experience and make your profile better. Trust me it is not an easy task to bring a fresher's profile to the level as compared to that of an experienced student's profile. It becomes very difficult for a student to manage a daily schedule with the burdens of assignments, projects, and other workshops. But you must hold on to a constant source of self-motivation, try to take some time out from your busy schedule to get relaxation, and then continue to work towards your goal again.

 

I joined IIM Visakhapatnam towards the end of June 2019. Gradually I started learning to work in cross-cultural environments and managing diverse team strength with focused objectives. It is always said that practical knowledge is more important than any theoretical knowledge. If one memorizes the Ansoff matrix, but never implemented it then the person might not befit to the criteria of the desired candidate range for an external hiring company.

 

We are taught many strategies through case studies, but have we ever noticed how old the case is? It's absolutely right that we get to learn many things through case studies. But in some cases, strategies change within a few years. Looking at the current scenario, after COVID’19 pandemic, several processes, activities, and operations in various sectors have been upgraded to online mode. So, in a few cases, it will not be helpful to reach our customers through offline mode. It can only be learned by live cases, not by reading old cases. The way to achieve this is by doing Live Projects and participating in various Competitions.

 

I remember, for the first time, when I submitted one case study solution, I had no idea how to approach what to write, how to make it presentable. I had to search for every small step to follow. At least it took 15-20 competitions for me to understand the sought of content, what to look for in the data, and where can I find it. Still, it is a continuous learning process for me. I go through a decent journey of learning for every competition I participate in. I get to learn about different aspects of industries, the way they operate, the factors affected by, the factors that influence their business, and a lot more to line up. I can briefly mention a few points on what you will get if you participate in a competition and live project.

 

o   Learnings:

1.     Experience in life business situations

2.     Being involved in the core function will give a brief idea about market demand (Useful for summer & final placement)

3.     You will be implementing those theories that are taught in class.

4.     You will get to know many more frameworks other than those present in study books. The main part is, you will learn this before your professor teaches this in class. Imagine how cool it is.

5.     Based on your performance, you might get PPI, PPO offer from the company, at least a LOR. Work for a month or two, get a PPO and relax for the rest of the MBA period.

6.     If you win a competition, you will be recognized on social media platforms by organizing institutions or companies. Some firms will publish your name in the newspaper. (See you are famous now)

 

o   Financials:

1.     You will be paid for your work on a live project. (Experience with Money. It's like someone is paying you to do your own work.)

2.     Winning any competition can pay you a lot of money. Believe me, it can range from thousands to lakhs.

3.     Sometimes your institution sponsors you the trip, in which you go to places in the final presentation round. (Free Trip)

4.     In some college-level competitions, they offer many incentives such as traveling abroad, and attending entrepreneurship events, presenting your ideas. If you get selected, you will get the opportunity to pitch your idea to investors on the spot.

Imagine how awesome it is! Work hard, travel to different colleges sponsored by your college for the final round, win the competition and get a free trip to Singapore. Yeah, this happened with me! I got a free round-trip air ticket to Singapore.

 

I guess I was able to motivate you. No? What if I say, by participating in all these competitions and live projects and winning, you are also doing the branding of your college! In some cases, institutions pay you for doing this. See you are already a Brand Manager of your college even before completing an MBA.

 

Let's talk about how you can tackle this and bring your name to the top. I can share what I have learned after participating in 100+ competitions, many live projects, and internships.

1.     First of all, learn a few analytics tools, which are common in every domain

2.     In case studies, do thorough research on the problem statement given

3.     Understand ground level problem by conducting primary research really hard

4.     Always speak with your data, show the numbers. Everyone knows the theory. (Every slide should have some data and information to support your statement)

5.     Present your primary research data with analysis, and here analytics tool comes into the picture.

6.     Be creative (While making PPT and creating any campaign in marketing)

 

This is more than enough to crack any case. Even if you fail, you will get to know many things. By participating and investing time in any competition, you will learn about the company, the industry, and most importantly, users' viewpoints for that particular product or service. Only by doing this, within two years, you would have gained knowledge about 200+ companies. It will force you to think differently, which will make you unique, and you will stand out in the crowd. You might end up starting your venture. I have gone through the same learning process, and it changed the way I look at any business now. I have co-founded a startup "InfoBin," which provides industry insights, best practices through infographics. It will help professionals and startups understand the ecosystem and formulate their winning strategies.

Visit our site to read more experiences !