Career counseling session at IES MCRC gave clarity to pursue PGDM in Pharmaceutical Management, says Nageshwar

After completing my Class 10 exams from CBSE board, I opted for Science. Since then I was fascinated, attracted to the corporate world though I understood very little about it. After my Class 12 board exams, I completed my graduation in BPharma from Dr LH Hiranandani College of Pharmacy. It is a course that gave me an excellent understanding of the pharmaceutical sciences.

I decided to work and chose a job as a Medical Representative at Hegde & Hegde Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a rapidly growing pharma company in Derma Segment, for one year. In this period, I got an exposure of the Indian pharmaceutical market and learned hardcore selling. My role as a Medical Representative included meeting doctors, KOLs,  implementation of sales strategies, tackling competition, doing the prescription audits, handling stockists and product availability at retail chemists. It helped me realise the myths about sales jobs and gave me insights and accountability for business.

With exposure and experience, my aspirations too grew when it dawned upon me to study MBA as I was clear that a management course from good B-school will enormously help me climb up the ladder in my career. IES Management College and Research Centre is a pioneer in introducing the Post Graduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Management. I learned from many of my seniors that:

This college provides excellent exposure, grooming and opportunity in the industry and a hand holding that helps students achieve their goals.

I started my preparations to get into this college through  MHT-CET 2019 and I wanted to get into IES MCRC because of the optimistic and encouraging reviews about this place that I came across from Shiksha, colleagues, alumni and other social media platforms. Fortunately, a couple of IES MCRC alumni were working at Hegde & Hegde in Brand Management and they became a big source of inspiration to me. Further, a career counselling session at IES MCRC gave clarity in making the right choice. I also undertook in comparison with other institutes offering similar programmes. I was more than convinced that IES MCRC will provide me superior education and many opportunities.

A career counseling session at IES MCRC gave clarity in making the right choice. I also undertook comparison with other institutes offering similar programmes.

Being employed, left no chance for going to coaching classes; but it also meant that I had to do a lot of hard work on my own. The phase of admissions was challenging. Aptitude Test, GD, PI needed good preparations, hard work, reading, mock sessions, counseling and, above all, determination to make the grade.

I got into the habit of reading newspapers, TV news, editorials, social, political, economic issues, sports and events. Simultaneously, I kept upgrading myself through my job, company which helped me a lot.

After getting admission in this College, I take pride in my reaching closer to my dream as I know that I have taken the right decision to excel in my career.

The teaching methods at IES are interworking and engaging. The teaching faculty implement many unique and innovative teaching forms which have only made us more interested in attending all the lectures and focus on the syllabus. The best part of the syllabus is that it covers all functional areas such as HR, Sales, Marketing, Finance, accounts, Information Technology, Economics, besides giving a complete understanding of the pharmaceutical industry, business, policies, healthcare landscape in India. There is so much to learn before one embarks on fulfilling career aspirations.

Apart from the academics, we imbibe values, ethics, commitment to corporate governance, principles, which gives us a strong character & build integrity.

The experience-sharing guest lectures by corporate guests, richly experienced Visiting Faculty from top-ranking pharma companies add great value. There are Industrial Visits, Self-Learning Courses, and Interactive Seminars with Industry representatives which helps us to understand the Industry perspective and business environment.

Along with the Leadership & Training Module, we also have competitions such as debates, paper presentations, and events to manage.

We organise INSIGHT, which is a student-driven pharma conference attended by almost 300-400 budding management students having a science background. INSIGHT is an enlightening, exciting and brainstorming session with Industry delegates with competitions. This helps us in building confidence, developing our skills as well as bring result-orientation. We at IES MCRC, are fortunate to have personal mentors assigned to us who regularly give direction, guidance and motivation.

I am excited about my summer internship at Zuventus Healthcare Ltd. This will give me good work exposure and opportunity to acquire new skills. I aim to build my career in pharma marketing and see myself in the top management leading an organization.

About the author:

Nageshwar Yadav is currently pursuing PDGM in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Management from IES Management College and Research Centre. Besides, academics hi is fond of travelling, sports and fitness. Yadav likes to keep himself updated about current affairs, politics, sports and share market.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha