Tag: MBA

Vaibhav got an admit to ISB PGPPro with 20% Scholarship : Read his story.

Vaibhav got an admit to ISB PGPPro with 20% Scholarship : Read his story.

The interview prep work and mock interviews with Anshul helped a lot and also helped me achieve a 20% tuition scholarship.” says ISB MBA candidate Kumar Vaibhav.

Vaibhav’s story represents the victory that he sought to achieve. He worked with Faith Career’s Co-Founder Dr. Kumar Anshul and within a matter of some weeks, he achieved what he wanted to – an offer letter from ISB. In addition to the offer letter, the ISB admissions committee also gave him a tuition scholarship!

Faith Career has a consistent record of helping our students bag scholarships. Read our alumnus Nikhil Bhonsle’s story of receiving offer letters from 5 B-schools based in the UK and 25% scholarship from two schools, even after applying in the last round of admissions and without a GMAT score. Faith Career’s Co-Founder Tanmay Singh helped him achieved this seemingly impossible task only within 4 months.

Hey Vaibhav! Thanks for joining us today and for agreeing to answer our questions for our audience and readers. Many congratulations for receiving an offer letter from ISB with 20% scholarship! We are excited for your journey & career.

1. Can you tell us briefly about your profile?

I have around 8 years of experience as a Project Manager in the IT industry. I have worked with various Fortune 500 clients as well as government clients. I consider myself lucky to have started my career as an Associate Project Manager right after undergraduate degree and my 8-year career span in the IT industry has been with MNC as well as various startups.

2. Why did you choose to pursue the PGPpro program, instead of PGP, from the Indian School of Business (ISB) ?

I have 8 years of experience in Management and leadership, and my current CTC is already above the average CTC offered after graduating from major MBA colleges in India. Hence, I did not want to take a break from my professional career and spend time in college. However, I felt that in order to further develop my skill sets and learn the finer aspects of leadership, I needed an MBA degree. I had availability on weekends and I researched a couple of colleges and such programs are offered by NMIMS, Great Lakes (Chennai), IIMs, SP Jain, XLRI, MDI, ISB, and various other colleges. My research led me to shortlist IIM-B, IIM-K and ISB. I shortlisted ISB out of them as its FT ranking is above other two colleges and it’s a reputed academic institution which is known for providing outstanding quality of education. Also, I feel pursuing an MBA after gaining experience is more valuable than joining a college right after a bachelor’s degree.

The PGPpro program was recently initiated by ISB in 2016, and other colleges followed suit and launched similar programs. They also have a limited batch strength with the most active alumni group compared to the 400-500+ students in IIMs which ensures you get learning opportunities as well as attention. Prior to applying to the program, the admissions committee organized various Zoom sessions to educate the candidates about the course. This was quite helpful and even though the tuition fees is the highest among all colleges, the quality of education and the opportunities are immeasurable.

MBA in UK with Scholarship? Click Here to Know More.

3. Why did you choose to work with Anshul (from Faith Career) as your mentor?

I chose Anshul as my mentor as I knew him from my school days and he was always a promising student. When he switched his career from the Medical field to Business Management, I followed his growth and I must say that he has tremendously grown his skill set.

I went through the glowing testimonials his mentees had written for him and on further speaking with Anshul, he answered all my questions very well. Initially, I was not aware about the selection process but after my conversation with Anshul, he instilled confidence in me and I finalized him as my mentor.

4. How was your experience with Anshul while working on your application?

Working with Anshul was nothing less than awesome. He ensured that I thoroughly understood the essay topics and gave me pointers on how I can articulate my thoughts while writing the essay. There are some mentors who write a candidate’s essay themselves, but I feel if it is not something written by you, you’ll never be able to relate to it.

Anshul on the other hand, explained ISB essay topics and after I had written my version of the essays, he went through all the 3 drafts and marked the changes for me. This helped me during the interview preparation as it was my own words which I was speaking to the interviewer.

Anshul also helped me with the interview preparation which included 2 mocks and answered my multiple questions even late at night to quell my anxiety. The interview prep work and mock interviews with Anshul helped a lot and also helped me achieve a 20% tuition scholarship.

5. How was the interview experience? What questions did the ISB panel ask you in the interview?

The interview experience was really good. I had 3 interviewers and a moderator on the remote session and the interview lasted for 25 mins. Even though the interview started 15 minutes late, I had already practised a few mock interview sessions with Anshul and I felt prepared and confident. The interviewers were warm and they gave me enough time to answer the questions. I was also able to crack a joke or two to lighten the mood and the overall experience was great.

Questions asked:

  1. Tell us about yourself.
  2. Tell us about the work that your organization does.
  3. Since you are working in the cloud industry, do you feel performance or data privacy is important?
  4. Why PGPpro at this time?
  5. Why ISB?
  6. Do you think you’ll be able to get the ROI from this course after investing so much money?
  7. How much time usually does an organization take to achieve ROI?
  8. Would you be able to dedicate time and efforts for this course?
  9. If your manager and colleagues have to define you in three words, what would they be?
  10. Since you are working from home, how do you motivate your team members?
  11. How do you manage multiple stakeholders?
  12. What would you bring to the table if you are selected?

Read ISB’s Real Interview Questions [2022]

6. What are your career plans after pursuing the ISB PGPpro program?

During the ISB PGPpro program, my goal is to implement the learnings in my current organization and observe the results. I have chosen Marketing as my specialization and after the program finishes, my goal is to get into a senior Marketing role in a SaaS product-based company as I already have 8 years of experience in managing customers and working on pre-sales activities. The learnings from PGPpro and ISB’s vast alumni network would be of huge help to help me grow in my role.

Thank you for sharing your experience, Vaibhav! We wish you well for your future endeavours!

Stay connected with Faith Career

How to find a corporate job after BDS before pursuing MBA

How to find a corporate job after BDS before pursuing MBA

Follow me on Facebook | Instagram for live sessions on career guidance for Dentists, blog updates and one-to-one QnA sessions. 

We aren’t living in an era anymore where pursuing Dentistry in your undergraduation meant that you are destined to be a clinical Dentist- either owning/working at a dental clinic or teaching at a dental college. I personally know Dentists in India who have successfully ventured out into fields which are completely unrelated to Dentistry- Gaming, Pharmacovigilance, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Graphic Design, Management Consulting, Finance and even Software Engineering!

I will be posting the success stories of these Dentists very soon. Follow me on Facebook | Instagram to get notified about those articles. 

This trend is has been more pronounced and prominent in last 10 years, mostly because of advent of Internet and then the increase in its availability and affordability. You can learn a new skill online while sitting in the comforts of your room and can even earn certifications.

Having said that, most Dentists, who want to ‘stray away’ from the conventional career path of clinical/academic Dentistry and foray in the corporate world, prefer to choose the safer & more pragmatic route of ‘pursuing an MBA’. An MBA from a reputed B-School opens multiple gates for you and the tag of IIM/ISB/FMS/XLRI etc stays with you for the lifetime.

Now most of the Top B-Schools in the country accept freshers to their flagship MBA Program (except ISB, where 2 years of Work Ex is mandatory), i.e. you can join immediately after completing your BDS, provided you score good enough in CAT/XAT and clear the GDPI (Group Discussion and Personal Interview) rounds.

But having a certain amount of Work Experience (1-3 years) before pursuing your MBA is always a good idea. Please keep in your mind that just securing an admission in a Tier-1 B School doesn’t mean you will have it easy in what lies ahead. A typical Tier-1 B School’s (such as IIM A, ISB, IIM B, IIM C, XLRI, FMS, SP Jain etc) batch consists of some of the smartest minds of the country (mostly from India’s top Engineering & Commerce courses such as B. Tech from IITs & NITs, BCom from SRCC etc) and most of them will be equipped with proper corporate/start up work experience with valuable contributions to their respective firms. It will be these people whom you will be competing with during the placement season. Hence it’s advisable that you gain a meaningful and relevant work experience before your MBA so that you can explain to your future employer during placement about why you are a good fit for the role you are applying to and how your previous work ex has shaped you and made you eligible for that particular role.

Now when it comes to Dentistry, you might think it’s near to impossible  to get a Managerial Role at a Corporate/Startup just after BDS because we aren’t trained for the necessary skill sets. But in this epoch making era of cheap internet, there is nothing that can stop you from learning a new skill and networking with someone who can help you land a job.

But this article is NOT ABOUT THAT.

This article is about how to find out a corporate/startup job with just your BDS degree (and the clinical knowledge of course), when you haven’t mastered any other skills.

The following list is exhaustive so I would suggest you to read thoroughly and carefully.

  1. Sales or Product Specialist Role in a Dental Product Companies- Unlike yesteryears when many Dental MNC (Multinational Companies) used to operate in India through operators, most of them today have a direct presence. Moreover there are multiple Indian & Chinese companies too that have entered the market in the recent years. You can seek a role of Sales Manager/Product Specialist/Product Manager in these companies. Typically these roles require an MBA degree or a past experience in Sales/Product Management, but if you can convince the hiring managers that your Dental domain knowledge will be a value addition to the company, you might bag one of these roles. Some of the prominent companies are :- KaVo Kerr, Dentsply Sirona, Nobel Biocare, Straumann, Ormco, Invisalign, Vatech, 3M, Carestream, Planmeca etc. You can also find out the details about the major distributors of these companies and seek a similar role at there. LinkedIn is a great place to connect to the HR Leaders of the companies and enquire about any job opportunity
  2. Virtual Scribing :- A Virtual Scribe is a person who  listens to and documents the doctor-patient encounter in real-time. Virtual Scribe will be busy entering notes, CPT and ICD codes, eRx, orders, and other relevant data directly into the patient’s chart — while the doctor is busy seeing and providing care to the patient. These are relevant for US Healthcare but many companies have outsourced this work to India. IKS Health, headquartered in Mumbai is a major firm that employs hundreds of Dentists for this role. Though it’s not actually a managerial role but it still is a good way to enter corporate and get an exposure to US Healthcare norms.
  3. Lifescience/Research Analyst Roles at Consulting Firms :- Consulting firms such as Deloitte (and sometimes Boston Consulting Group too) employ Dentists for the entry level analyst role. Though these roles too typically require an MBA but there is no harm in trying. 
  4. Medical Advisor Role in Pharma Companies :- Though earlier this role used to be strictly reserved for MBBS graduates but lately I have seen reputed firms such as Abbott hiring Dentists too. Your knowledge of basic medical science (BDS 1st & 2nd Year) might come handy to bag such a role.
  5. Medical Underwriting:- Medical underwriting refers to the process by which a life or health insurer uses an applicant’s medical history to decide whether they can offer them a policy, and whether the policy will include pre-existing condition exclusions and/or a premium that’s higher than the standard rate. Insurance companies such as HDFC & Credihealth regularly employ Dentists for the same.
  6. Operations Manager in Dental Clinic Chains and Hospitals :- Dental Clinic Chains (such as Clove, Axis etc) and prominent Hospital chains such as Apollo & Fortis employ Dentists for clinical job but you can also make your way upwards into Operations if you develop the relevant skills.

PLEASE NOTE that some of these job profiles might not be conducive to your expectations. But they open the gates of corporate to a Dentist and then later on you can pave your way upwards with a suitable MBA degree.

Let me know if you have any queries in the comments.

Follow me on Facebook | Instagram for live sessions on career guidance for Dentists, blog updates and one-to-one QnA sessions. 

-KA

From Dentistry to MBA at ISB- My Journey

From Dentistry to MBA at ISB- My Journey

Follow me on Instagram ( @ansh_isb ) for more live sessions on career guidance for Dentists, blog updates and one-to-one QnA sessions. 

DISCLAIMER : My journey is neither extraordinary, nor one of its kind. The only reason for writing down this post is many people ask me how did I manage the transition from BDS to MBA so early in my career. And it’s not possible to answer this question succinctly, without narrating the entire story-because what looks like an abrupt career shift was actually a smooth transition over the years.

“I’m convinced that the only way to get ahead in this world is to live and sell dangerously. You’ve got to live beyond your means. You’ve got to commit yourself to an act or vision that pulls you further than you want to go and forces you to use your hidden strengths.” – John H. Johnson

It was during the mid of October 2011, during a very tiring day after Prosthodontics Pre-clinics, when I came across the notification about AIUGC (All India Undergraduate Conference) by IDA, Chennai. My first year in the dental school was over by then and it had left me completely perplexed. I wasn’t doing bad but I was convinced that I was just another face in the crowd. The notification of the conference fueled a hope in me that it’s a way to come out of the well and connect with the outer world of Dentistry, to know how exactly the Indian Dental scene is. But the issue was I really had no idea how and what to present.

At that time my online ventures – A dental blog “Dental Dominion” (it still exists, though I haven’t updated it since many years- http://dentaldominion.blogspot.in/) and the Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/bachelorofdentalsurgery/), both of which were created out of randomness, were doing good and getting great response from students across the globe. I had even got two advertisement offers for my blog- one from AIM MDS (Online Coaching Centre for MDS Entrances Exam) and the second one by Dr. Gowri Shankar (Author of Dental Bytes and TextBook of Orthodontics) for his private coaching center. I had even started social media marketing through my facebook page, working for a few dental clients, helping them in their businesses while earning a few bucks for myself (my first experience with ‘Entrepreneurship’)
I thought of making a report on everything and came with this really lengthy title for my presentation “Use of Dental Informatics in general and internet and social networking sites in particular in gathering the dental students on a single platform and disseminating information among them – A report”.

Since it was HUES (annual fest of my college MCODS, Manipal) time, I had to go all alone and the time spent in Chennai was memorable and very informative. It was a feeling of immense joy coming back to college with the Best Paper Award (Later the same presentation won me 2nd prize and a cash prize of 200 Euros in Virtual World Congress of Dental Students in May 2012).

Next reason to smile was to end up 3rd in the world among 2000 applicants from all around the world in the Campus Ambassador competition organised by iversity in January 2012, a German academic website. It was yet another wonderful experience I was blessed with. Iversity is a German higher education course management platform which merges an online workplace and a social network. I started a dental study group in the website which soon attracted attention and thus I ended up being 3rd in the competition. Along with the prize money of 250 Euros, I was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation as well as a Recommendation letter from the CEOs of iversity.

In February 2012, I came to know about ESA (Elsevier Student Ambassador) Competition by the renowned publisher Elsevier. After clearing 3 round of a competitive online quiz (Based on Human Anatomy, Physiology and biochemistry), an essay and a 25 min interview over the phone, I was finally selected for the post. I even won the 1st Prize (Apple iPAD 2) in JUDGE THE BOOK contest for ESAs where my book review on “Pharmacology for Dental Students’ by Shanbhag, Shenoy and Nayak was adjudged the best reviews among the reviews submitted by 55 ESAs (Medical and Dental UGs and PGs from 5 countries).

I went ahead with presenting papers at conferences and winning most of them (3rd Prize in the 1st International Students’ Dental Conference, Sharjah, UAE and 2nd Prize in Dentistry 2012 conference organized by IDRR (Indian Dentist Research and Review).

But the phenomenon which will keep my undergraduate life etched forever in my life is the launch of IDJSR (International Dental Journal of Students’ Research). I realized I can leverage my strong web presence and traffic to do something substantial and hence with 2 other dental students from Delhi & Karachi (Pakistan), I launched International Dental Journal of Students’ Research (http://idjsr.com/), world’s first peer- reviewed medical research journal started by undergraduate students, in 2012.

The 1st issue of IDJSR  (online and peer reviewed) published articles from 5 countries and hence we launched with a bang!  During that time the journal was completely free and was under the aegis of Indian Medical Students’ Association (now Indian Medical Association- Student Wing). In December 2014, I (along with my co-founder and executive editor Dr. Harsh Rajvanshi) registered my startup with the name of Cephorb Medline International Pvt Ltd and brought the journal under this registered company.
Today IDJSR has seen 18 issues with articles published from more than 30 countries, making it an international journal in a true sense. It has an exhaustive Reviewers Panel comprising of more than 40 reviewers from around 10 countries and it is indexed in more than 10 databases and online libraries of various universities across the world. We have also started publishing the journal in print with around 10 Dental Schools subscribing for the print version.

My efforts  eventually didn’t go unnoticed. I was awarded with ‘The Budding Dentist Award’ by IDRR (Indian Dentist Research and Review) and ‘ Best UG Student of the Year Award’ by Orofacial Chronicle in August 2014, just before I started with my internship.

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Receiving the ‘Budding Dentist Award’ by IDRR (Indian Dentist Research & Review) by Dr. Sibi Xavier- August 2014

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The Group Picture at IDRR Awards, August 2014

 

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Receiving the Student of the Year (UG) Award by Orofacial Chronicle at Indore, August 2014

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At Famdent Excellence in Dentistry Awards, Mumbai, December 2014

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Student Of The Year (Undergraduate) Award by Famdent- December 2015

Follow me on Instagram ( @ansh_isb ) for more live sessions on career guidance for Dentists, blog updates and one-to-one QnA sessions. 

Because of the various initiatives that I undertook in the digital media space, I got the job of Marketing Manager at Oliveboard, an Ed-tech startup, where I joined immediately after finishing internship in August 2015.  Transitioning from dental clinical practice to digital marketing & business development was smoother than I had thought and within 2 month I was able to get results. Oliveboard, at that time, was bootstrapped and hence the allocated marketing budget was limited. I had to strategize & plan each marketing and ad-campaign in a cost- effective way and hence I learnt a strategic and structured way of solving problems and identifying unmet market needs. I relied heavily on consumer insights and customers’ data to continuously tweak my marketing campaigns and product offerings to optimize the same.

After joining Oliveboard, I started preparing for GMAT and appeared for it in January 2016 and then applied to ISB after scoring a 730 in GMAT. I got through ISB via the EEO (Early Entry Option), which meant I was supposed to join after one year, ie April 2017. I continued working at Oliveboard for that one year and finally joined the flagship MBA course (called as the PGP- Post Graduate Program in Management) at the Hyderabad Campus of Indian School of Business.

ISB Pic
My First Lecture at ISB

I hope this post helps dental students/Dentists to take an informed decision while making career choices post graduation.

I will be writing more about career options post BDS. Just hit the FOLLOW button (right side of the screen if you are reading on desktop/laptop and on the bottom of the screen if you are reading on mobile phone) and subscribe to the blog. It will help you get notified whenever I post in future.

Follow me on Instagram ( @ansh_isb ) for more live sessions on career guidance for Dentists, blog updates and one-to-one QnA sessions. 

How to build your profile for B-School admission.

CV

“How to build my profile” is the most common question that the MBA aspirants face as some of the topmost Indian B-Schools (such as Indian School of Business and SPJIMR) are relying heavily on the profile of the candidate while considering them for the admission. Even for other B-schools, having a strong profile is always advisable as it will help you to stand out during the Interview stage and will help you to present yourself as someone having an all-rounded personality. Importance of a strong profile further increases for freshers as they have to compete with those having Work-Experience. I am listing a few ways through which you can improve your profile and increase your CV points. Please note that the list is not exhaustive and only includes of activities that I could think of while writing this post.

Internships

I am not from Engineering background so don’t have much idea about it but I am pretty sure that quality internships done during your undergraduation years help you a lot. You can search for internships in the following forums :-

Internshala :- An amazing website where you can enter all your details and requirements and they will mail you all the internship opportunities in your preferred location.

AIESEC  – AIESEC is making its presence felt in many campuses and it is a good organization to gain some leadership experience as well as international internships.

Campus Ambassador Programs

Various national and international organizations and institutes have campus ambassador programs. You can apply and be the face of the organization in your campus. This will provide you leadership opportunities and you can add this experience in your CV. Here are a few such programs.

Online Courses

There are various websites from where you can learn almost every skill on this earth online. Most of these courses are free while a few are priced very nominally. Join a relevant course, complete the assignments and earn a certificate! Some of the online learning forums are Coursera, EdX, Udemy, Iversity,  etc.

Content Writing

If you are good at writing, you can search for content writing jobs on internet and earn your pocket money. ContentMart is one such place where you can find such jobs. Do not forget to ask for a certificate from your employer

NGO

Voluntary Experience is valued a lot during B-school admissions and also during campus placements post-MBA. Find out the NGOs in your city and contribute on weekends.

Certifications

CFA Certification for Finance Enthusiasts is an extremely valued certification. If you can afford, prepare hard (it’s not easy) and go for it. It will pay huge dividends. Join this facebook group for more info.

For Sales & marketing enthusiasts, you have SMStudy certification. Similarly, there are certifications for Product and Project Management.

Foreign Language Course

Join Alliance Francaise in your city for French, Cervantes Institute (or certified by Cervantes Institute) for Spanish and Max Muller Institute for German language. They have weekend courses too which you can conveniently join. For other languages and other centers, you can search on UrbanClap. If you cannot afford classroom courses or don’t have time, you can even learn online and earn certificates on EdX.

Paper/Poster Presentations

Undertake small research projects with the help of your faculty and present them in various national and international competitions. They will act like a jewel in your academic crown.

MUN (Model United Nations)

MUNs are extremely profound platforms to hone your public speaking skills, to keep yourself aware of recent happenings in the world and to make new friends. Find out which MUN is taking place in/near to your city and take part.

Initiatives

Nothing is considered more valuable than building up something on your own. It can be as grand as getting your own startup/NGO registered or having a regular tech/movie/food review blog. Think, speculate, brainstorm. Do not sit idle.

Hobbies

Apart from all these, you can also choose to just indulge in your favorite hobby and win accolades in that field. It can be music, sports or anything under the sun that interests you. The catch is to build an all-rounded personality.

That’s all I can think of now. Do FOLLOW my blog (Green colored tab on the left side of the screen) as I will be writing more on GMAT, MBA and Indian School of Business. If you are following the blog, you will get an email whenever I publish a new post.

-KA