World of Career Opportunities for Management Graduates

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By Manish Jain

There’s no doubt that post-graduation in Management gives a lucrative first-break to aspirants in the corporate world to be the managers of tomorrow. Opportunities are abundant in – Marketing, Sales, HR, Finance, Operations, Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Retail, International Business and of course, IT & E-Biz. Every industry and sector requires management graduates to manage their work force, processes, execution, planning and strategising. A management graduate can easily enter any industry to choose their career paths and hold good positions when the opportunities emerge depending on his or her area of expertise and keenness to learn, perform and grow. Let’s explore the various opportunities an aspirant can look forward to and the qualities and skills they should possess to be there.

Marketing
With interests in entertainment, media, branding & promotions, advertisement, market research, sales and marketing & communications; Marketing is the field of your choice. It is the abode of creative thinking & creative strategies with the demand of meeting targets. It is highly desirable of people in this field to possess excellent communication & analytical skills, leadership quality and most importantly the ability to think on their feet! One can aspire to be in roles like marketing manager, brand manager, corporate sales manager, B2B sales manager, market research analyst, sales manager, media planner, product manager, account manager (public relations) and many more. With the digital age opportunities in marketing have widened, and opportunities have multiplied in the field of digital marketing as well in form of social media marketing, web marketing, content marketing, etc.

Finance
Being in Finance is about responsibility, because one has to manage, control and review the collection, investment & resources of funds that are required for various organisational functions. It is about the planning and controlling of financial resources for the organisation. Typically, a prerequisite for this field is number crunching ability along with analytical ability and sound decision making ability. With Finance, one can aspire to be part of the stock market, banks, NBFCs, audit firms and even the non-financial companies. The positions that one can be looking forward to include asset management, corporate finance, corporate banking, credit risk management, derivatives structuring, wealth management, private equity, taxation, auditing and lots more.

Operations
People in Operations have to deal with ensuring that products are obtained in the most efficient, cost-effective manner while meeting customer standards. It involves designing, executing, implementing strategies and controlling the process of converting resources/raw materials into the desired product. It deals with a wide range of decision making tasks such as forecasting, product designing, selection of process and technology to be implemented, management of the supply chain process, inventory, maintenance, and quality management. An aspirant should have good communication skills, leadership qualities, decision making abilities and problem-solving skills along with good computer knowledge, responsibility and dedication. One can aspire to be working in areas like supply chain, consulting, operations strategy, logistics planning, inventory control, strategic planning and manufacturing strategy. The horizons are ever expanding with some of these areas having taken centre stage in sectors like Retail & E-Commerce.

Human Resources
Human Resource is the principle or back bone behind any business and works like a catalyst for the organisation. At the strategic level, the main function of HR is to develop the balancing act in the growth of the business of the company and its human capital. An HR professional should be good in communication skills, open minded and emotionally strong despite differences. With technological advancement, good computer knowledge is also desirable of these professionals. Some of the functional areas to look out for in HR include recruitment & selection, manpower planning, human resource administration, compensation & benefits, industrial relations, training & development and performance appraisal.

Information Technology
With the use of IT to automate their activities and to stay ahead of their competitors; IT has seeped deep into companies & organizations. Like all the fields Communication skills is a prerequisite in IT along with Interpersonal skills, Analytical ability and excellent Computer knowledge. With the right mix of Knowledge & Practical exposure a Management graduate’s climb up the corporate ladder can be reasonably accelerated. With the fast pace of technological advancement around the globe, opportunities in IT can be safely said to be multiplying rapidly in near future. There are opportunities galore in areas like business analytics, business/IT alignment, IT governance, IT financial management, IT service management, sourcing and IT configuration management.

Retail
With the reforms of 2011 and the entry of retail giants like Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco, tremendous growth is predicted in the Retail industry. It is a people oriented industry and with expanding businesses the demand for trained skilled professionals has seen quite a steep rise. Professionals in Retail need to be excellent in communication skills, patient while dealing with customers, familiar with merchandising & advertising techniques, with good convincing ability and dignified conduct. With continuing expansion good Retail industry presents options like store manager, retail manager, buyer & merchandiser, visual merchandiser, supply chain distributor, logistics & warehouse manager, etc.

International Business
With globalisation of economies, horizons have widened for various organisations. New markets are being explored, with emerging need for specialised knowledge. The nuances of International Business include understanding of WTO, Trade barriers, Export-import policies and so on. Candidates with such knowledge are highly desired by Export-import companies, Investment companies, Financial institutions and Banks. Candidates can look forward to profiles like Export manager, International business consultant, International business development manager, International finance manager, Materials manager and many more.

About the Author:

Manish Jain is Founder & CEO, IBA Bengaluru. His academic qualifications include B.E.(Mechanical), PGDBM (Finance), and MBA (Marketing).

Manish has managerial experience at MICO & Tata-IBM, MUHEPL and is also presently the Director-Business Development MUHEPL. He was a nominee for ‘Jewel of India 2002 Award’ and a recipient of “Rastriya Shiksha Saman Puraskar” by Indian Economic Development & Research Association (IEDRA) for his contributions to quality higher education. He received ‘Distinguished Service Award’ at IIM Ahmedabad for his contribution of developing Management Education in India. He is the driving force behind IBA, ably guided by an illustrious Academic Advisory Council and distinguished faculty members.