How to make the most of your MBA experience

By Harpreet Singh

Two years of your B-school will look very short to adore your precious moments and to upgrade your knowledge, enhance your skills, attend classes, do projects and internships and finally get a profitable job on campus. All this and much more await you during this spectacular phase. In this profusion of learning opportunities, a few tips would ensure you are able to make the most of your MBA experience.

Be Proactive - Never hesitate to take an initiative whenever you can. It could be opening up a new club in your college, starting off a CSR campaign or organizing the college festival. All these initiatives go a long way in building up your leadership and managerial skills. And that’s exactly, what you would require once you step into the corporate world.

Improve your soft skills- Although your overall knowledge and experience would play an important role for your success in career, but to succeed in the long term having strong team skills and knowing how to build and manage relationships also count. Communication skills, time management, stress management all form a part of your overall development in soft skills. So look at honing these skills to get ready for a challenging job.

Networking- Networking is a skill often emphasized while you are in the B-School.  Meeting and interacting with other business students from various backgrounds is one of the reasons why many students do an MBA.   The contacts you make at your B-School serve you throughout your career.  Your peers could be your future business partners, employers, suppliers or your clients. Infact, these could be the people who have important jobs in the industry who could help you climb up the ladder.

Get involved in Extracurricular Activities- Most B schools provide varied opportunities outside classrooms like clubs, committees, sports and a host of other extracurricular activities. Try to be involved in as many clubs as possible, but be proactive in a few which are of your interest. These clubs help you associate with students of similar interest. The co curricular activities also help you apply what you learn in the classrooms while developing your skill set.

Summer Internship and Projects- B-School is all about on- the- job training and  learning and this is what you will get ‘on the job’. B-Schools provide opportunities to work on live projects with the industry. You will have actual job experience and learning at your summer internship .Talk to the colleagues and seniors, try to ask as many questions about the business, industry, office practices and give your best shot to the project and tasks allotted to you. Who knows you might end up getting a pre placement offer!

Work in Teams- Some institutes have a special ‘teamwork’ atmosphere that encourages interaction inside and outside the B-School. Working in groups, making group presentations and assignments, all these activities are done so that you can develop as a good team player. Here, you have an opportunity to learn all this through sports, clubs and other team building activities where you can display your team skills and improve on it.

Make Mentors- Mentors guide you through your two years at B-School and even beyond. You could look at guidance from your seniors, alumni, faculty and even visiting guests from industry. All of them can direct you with the diverse experience they have obtained in the past years. This will help you take pivotal decisions not just in your B-School days but also after you pass out.

 The next two years are going to pass fast, so ensure your investment in terms of time and money reap you the best returns.

About the author:

Mr. Harpreet Singh is a Post Graduate from IIM-Ahmedabad and has done his B.Tech from COAE - Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He has received a Gold Medal in Agricultural Engineering from Ludhiana.He is currently the President, JRE School of Management- Greater Noida.