My journey from an MBA Aspirant to a Corporate Professional

It would be no exaggeration to address a B-School as a mini-corporate house where

aspiring managers are groomed to become future industry leaders. Considering this
view point, a B-School becomes a crucial turning point in a student’s life. It is the
B-school that imparts and inculcates the corporate etiquettes and prepares the
students to face the demands of a fast-paced corporate life. Having known this fact
at the time of inspecting the B-School landscape, I carefully shortlisted a few B-
schools across the country where this fact is taken care of. After all, I didn’t want to
land up a job without having the know-how of how to conduct myself.
During my shortlisting process, Sri Balaji Society (SBS) was one of my top choices.
SBS is one of the leading B-schools in Pune and is famous for its curriculum and
discipline. I had heard this from many of my seniors at the UG College, who had
pursued PGDM at SBS. So, though a bit apprehensive about how I would fit in, I
went ahead and applied anyway and was selected too.
The training at SBS started much before the batch began on 8 th June in the form of
guidelines that arrived in my inbox explaining how to dress up from Day 1. On my
first day at SBS I was stunned at the sight of students dressed up smartly. It was a
great day for me as I learnt a lot about corporate dressing. Never in my undergrad
had I come across students or even professors dressed up in a corporate attire which
is appealing to the eye and gives a sense of responsibility to the person. This was my
very first lesson of an MBA, “Dress how you want to be addressed”.
This was just the first brush with the SBS way of grooming. With the current MBA
program at SBS, I had numerous opportunities to groom myself and get familiar with
the corporate world.
Another such learning came during my Corporate Interface Program (CIP). We got
an opportunity to interact with the corporate stalwarts and work with them for a day.
This was an enriching experience for me as it taught me two important learnings:
1. How to approach the organization
This scenario is the most crucial, as this is the initial stage of creating an
impression. As it’s famously said, “The first impression is the last
 impression.” But carving the first impression was not a problem thanks to the
intensive training given to us before the CIP.

2. Corporate Communication
Interacting with the corporate leaders helped me understand how Corporate
Communication actually takes place. How a person should deal with clients and
handle the situation. I realized, “If you just communicate you can get by. But
if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles.”

To sum it up, CIP taught me the nitty-gritties of becoming a Corporate

Professional. From a raw bundle of skills to becoming a person with polished
interpersonal skills, I think I have come a long way. And, I have only SBS and
my wise judgement of choosing the right B-school, to thank for it.

I believe that with the hand holding and grooming provided by SBS, I will be
able to transform myself to be a Corporate Professional in the true sense.