"So Mr. Bhup Singh(can't think of a better fictitious name), how much work experience do you have?"
This is the most common an stereotypical question in any interview. With the MBA fever catching people like the dotcom boom had people in its wraps about a decade ago and H1N1 had people last year, the number of underemployed MBA graduates is increasing almost at the same rate as the population. While there was a time when as soon as you had finished your MBA you were the toast of the town(read neighbourhood) and all of a sudden the prodigal son or daughter became the pride of the family. And in a typical indian environment hit the headlines, if not of the national newspaper, atleast, of the matrimonial column of the local newspaper. Suddenly there were marriage proposals pouring in like the fan mail in Amitabh Bachhan's mail box n aunties who had eligible (or even not so eligible) children would all of a sudden remember that she went to school with your mother on the same rickshaw or some such weird relation with the proud mother of the MBA graduate.
That was the scene "Once upon a time in India". I was recently talking to a friend (read Bhup Singh)who had just finished the "prestigious" MBA degree. The moment he went for a job interview he was tormented by the question which makes up the first piece of the satire (if i may call it so). As soon as he answered in the negative he saw the colour fade away from his prospective employer's face and needless to say he couldn't really bring it back and came back as free as he had walked in. No tension, no hassles and no job either. Not to be fazed by these minor impediments he bashes on regardless.
By the third day he realises that he's got determination, academic qualification, fresh ideas, a zeal to work but no experience and so no job. Whoever spoke of bright young faces with fresh new ideas was obviously delivering one of those high flying fancy sounding annd morally upright lectures and didn't mean much of the script his seceratary had typed out while he was giving his office boy a mouth-full for the cold and tasteless coffee that he had only brought into the boss, in this case the self righteous speaker's room. Coming back to my inexperienced friend he carries on and lo and behold he finally finds a job with an employer who expects him to churn out in an hour, the same work that he crawls through in a day. After quittting two jobs in three days my friend realises that life after an MBA isn't as rosy and cosy as he had imagined it to be. The bubble hath burst.
Having done my first bachelors degree from JNU (i am serious. Please don't laugh) and currently pursuing my second bachelors degree also from JNU (c'mon..i requested you not to laugh) i haven't had to go through the pain of doing an MBA or the worse ordeal of being an unemployed MBA graduate. All i can say to this highly educated and erstwhile terribly in demand race is, "Plough on. I am sure there is somebody out there who recognises fresh ideas and not just how may hours you've already spent in a box made from the cheapest possible plastic (read office cubicles). All the best. You will get you NAUKRI by chance."
