An MBA degree, just 10 years back, was a prized possession for would be professionals, bridegrooms and scholars across the length and breadth of the country. After rims of newsprint and precious news space dedicating the rising need of management graduate to keep up with the pace of development in the country, after unmanageable rush to catch the next train to the nearest business school (quality gave in to convenience) and after a decade of experience, has the MBA tag lost the value it once promised to be.Here’s a curious case (I’m sure it is not the only one) of an MBA graduate. After three and a half years of graduating from a business school, he managed to get a job that does not demand him to be a salesman. Well, he is now drawing the same salary that he used to in his first job with a distributor of financial products. Still, he is happy to finally being able to shed the tag of a salesman. But that’s not the case all about – the status quo in his remunerations. The intriguing bit of the information is that he managed to get a job that does not demand him to be a salesman is by not revealing his employer that he is an MBA. He hid an important detail of his qualification to get the job. That is okay as long as he does not produce a fake certificate of an MBA degree from Harvard to get the same work.
Now, he is happy making data entry and taking some time off from the maddening world of salesmanship to calmly think of his future course of action -- a course in SAP or a certificate in Oracle, may be a course in financial analysis or planning. Starting a business is not a bad choice either. After all entrepreneurship is the current fad, all you need is the weirdest bit of idea that convinces an angel investor. There are so many of them. Ain’t they?
Well, you may think to drop the MBA degree from one’s resume in itself is a weird idea. Here is what he has to say. “As long as I showed my B-school degree and my work experience, they kept asking me for the job of selling products. They think MBAs are groomed to be good salesman and any other work for them is waste of their talent. So, I finally thought of selling myself to my employer. If price was the issue, I was ready to shed the quality tag. And the idea worked. I got the job. I am happy doing the job of an data operator without the fear of getting pushed to the sales department just because I am an MBA.”
True. After working, even if reluctantly, as a salesman for three years, if one cannot sell himself, it is a shame on his abilities and of course his MBA degree.
