Friends/Indians/MBA Aspirants,
Every year, around autumn time, a strange phenomenon seems to afflict the youth of India. With starry dreams in their eyes and hallucinatory dollar registers ringing in their ears, they rush to the nearest bank branches, not to apply for vacant Bank Probationary Officers' posts, but to shell out a princely sum that will allow them to test their dame luck at the great academic roulette wheel of our nation - the Common Admission Test. The reasons for this mass hysteria are not hard to fathom. A benign alignment of the astral constellations for 2 hours in the first week of December, these dreamy youth hope, could significantly alter for the better, the manner in which they would spend the rest of their earthly existence. And the specific stimulus for this apparent increase in the adrenalin levels of a vast majority of them is a dubious statistic that gets quoted in all newspapers under the item "International Placements in the IIMs". However, what these happless victims of media hype, which by the way is engineered with active assistance from b-school authorities, alumni and other similar misguided and ill informed characters of their own ilk, is that there are a few other acts that could better qualify for the title of "The greatest con job ever pulled off" than this one. And whats more, the show runs to a packed theatre on an annual rerun, a-la a Gemini circus in a pre independence Andhra town.
For the uninformed, let me tell you that these coveted one way tickets to the west, dont come without their troublesome baggage. For starters, they are not avilable to just about anyone in the IIMs. A stamp of approval by way of a 9 CGPA in IIT or a top rank in the MBA graduating class is almost of a neccessity to even land an interview with one of these H1 visa disbursing agents. Whats more the positions that they interview for are what are filled by undergrads of the US universities. So, your cousin brother who went to a Maryland or a Michigan while you were cramming for your December d-day will just be a few years and a couple of designations ahead when the two of you (if ever) report to your wall street boss. "But, didnt he also spend that many dollars more?", you may ask. Could have been a valid point, except that graduating from an Analyst to an Associate in an Investment Bank almost always calls for an extra degree, read, a US MBA. That would explain the fact as to why almost all of the brown skinned folks who get shipped out from across the seas end up again spending those $$$ and years to get a second MBA. So much for your supposed intellectual prowess at cracking numerical tests. Long live your dumb Maryland cousin. And not to mention the roles that such "fortunate" folks land with. If you thought that the US is the utopian melting pot of cultures, where you will be garlanded on arrival at the JFK airport for your famed abilities to contrive complex valuation models in a jiffy, and whisked away to a glass tower in Lower Manhattan in a Michael Jackson-esque limousine to put those skills to use, think again. The lifelines of consulting and finance industries in the US are powerful networks that get built during long courses of time. And that my friend is a preserve of the Harvards and Whartons of the world, and may I add, to some discomfort of our friends who are sensitive to political correctness, it is also largely a preserve of the "white man". So, what about our desi cousin who just got into a Sardar Driven New York cab and is now peeking out with his jaws dropping at the sight of the monstrous Manhattan skyscrapers? Well, rest assured. He will be provided with a couple of green screen IBM PCs where he can stare at tickers that move in random jerks, which he can stare at for 10 hours at a stretch every day, day after day for years on end, while the hair on his head grow from black to grey to non-existence as a result of the prolonged bouts of mental and physical stress that his body is subjected to.
Yeah, talk about earning dollars and enjoying life. Whoever wants that stupid job in Air India, where all you do is sip tea and shoot the breeze all day in the fifteenth floor of an exquisite Nariman Point building. For me, west is best while home is a place where I can get my wife from.
Long live the "INDIAN" Institutes of Management!!
Yours,
WISE

right said fred

good observation indeed

u must see tht disclousre article in placement section

Hey Wiseman,
Completely agree with whatever you have said. And this is especially true in the current scenario where even those number crunching jobs that the IIM grads were getting recruited for are also being increasingly outsourced to India. It is certain that the no of int'l jobs that IIMs will be posting will also come under severe pressure.
Also, wanted to add the foll points about the famed IIM int'l placements:
a) As u rightly said, an IIM degree is not considered as an equal to a US MBA degree. IIMites are recruited for analyst positions, which are meant for undergrads in US. The only exception to this as far as I have seen is that ISB "CLAIMS" that their grads have been recruited as an Associates (which are typical post MBA roles) by Lehman brothers and Goldman Sachs. I dont know how far this is true.... one will have to see if that is really a fact...
b) During the boom time, BCG recruited many IIM grads with the promise of placing them overseas, just to woo them from other consulting firms. One of my friends from IIMC, who fell for this joined them with great expectations. But, when he landed in US, he found that his designation was 2 levels less than that of a US MBA. So, he was sorely disappointed and he returned back.
c) In his same batch, the topper of IIMC along with many other hi-fi charecters were recruited by Mitchell Madison group for a New York role. His interview was tom-tomed in many newspapers with great fanfare. What the newspapers didnt report however was that they shut shop in 6 months and the entire batallion came back home and took up jobs in TCS and Infy and so on...

I can go on with such episodes, but to cut a long story short, the US cos are not fools to come and recruit from an IIM when there are so many Harvard and Wharton grads roaming wall street and silicon valley without good jobs. There is always a catch. I am not saying that people should desist from taking up these jobs. It is one's own personal preference whether he wants to be treated as second class in an alien place and earn more or stay in India and earn less, but live like a king. But all i say is that the newspaper and IIM placement reports paint a totally wrong picture of reality. They make it appear that all the Goldmans and Lehmans of the world are literally falling over each other to recruit IIM grads and give them plum postings in Wall Street or London or wherever. But, the truth is completely different. So, one should be extremely cautious and not take these things directly.
ITS HIGH TIME SOMEONE CALLED THIS BIG IIM BLUFF

Sure, you have a point.

But one could say the same for any of the roles today where Indians are plugging in to a western economy.......IT outsourcing, BPO( Offshore or Onsite). these are all back-office or support functions and even a so-called Manager role in many of our blue-chip firms is a glorified subcon who hires,retains and juggles labor. As for jobs in the domestic sector, most suck, because the culture is not professional and of course, endemic corruption and sluggishness.

All looks bleak and you wonder whether it is worth it all :-) :shock:
Yet all of this is hyped...not just IIM International placements.

On a different topic, I work in a US MNC. the perception of India is that of a operational services group. I am certainly not on par with a US MBA.....one can deride me( like this post has) or one can take stock of what is an inherently unfair situation and use some desi smarts to fix it and restore the balance. Most guys back themselves to do the latter...and that's why they keep going west.

man one can always be pessimistic. and remember ppl alway move from one state to another higher state. it is not tht UK was always such a civilised state but wealth provided them that opportunity. In india majority of ppl just worry about a job and totay even a third pass BA gets to work in a ACoffice where he gets paid well and live a life of comfort.

So cheer up, History has completed its cycle and India is going to give back to west

Well, you guys obviously didn't make it to an IIM. I'll keep this short -

Your findings seem to be based on hearsay.

> A stamp of approval by way of a 9 CGPA in IIT or a top rank in the MBA graduating
Wrong. 'Top rank' translates into top 20% atleast. Which is fair. As for 9 CGPA in IIT. Do you know how many non-IITians get foreign offers?

> Goldmans and Lehmans of the world are literally falling over each other to recruit IIM grads
Who said that? All they take is a handful of people. That doesn't qualify as 'falling over themselves'. It's not our fault that you are naive.

The instances you quoted. You're going to generalize and say that applies to all IIM grads with foreign offers??

I agree, we're not treated on par with US MBA grads. And quite frankly I think that's common knowledge, But is that the point really? The point is that when these companies look to other countries for their hiring needs, and when India figures on their list, which campuses do they visit? Certain IIMs.

The point is the IIMs are THE destination for a management degree in India.

Heck, if we all had 40L handy we'd all go to Harvard; wouldn't we?

Hi

Completely agree with you.

Good observation

Cheers :D