Ahhh Career Switcher ... Why did you wait so long?

With summer placements on for the Batch of 2011, I thought it is only apt to talk about what career switchers go through in the process - stories which are never glamorous enough to make it to media headlines.

Let me start with a question - Are you a non IITian, Indian-IT-male who is into his fourth year at IT work (it is important clarify here that IT work is IT whether done in a small Indian co. or a big international name. Infact bulk of what I write here is applicable for non IT "overexperienced" guys also.)?

If yes, then are you thinking of doing an MBA from the very esteemed institutes IIM(A|B|C) in India to switch into a bulge bracket investment bank?

If the answer is yes, you are in for a disappointment. While no investment banker will admit it openly, the bulge bracket banks do not want to even look at people with very high work experience (3+ years), especially when they are non-IIT. It is immaterial if you had a good consistent academic record and strong rewarding work experience. If you thought qualifications like CFA will show your strong inclination, you are wrong again. Therefore, before you buy that CAT form, it is my sincere advice, you switch into anything remotely relevant, even if in a boring data crunching/data mining profile at an investment bank and wait out there till you make it to IIMs.

Since a lot of us do not have very fixated career choices, one might ask what about consults? But then we are talking of people with non IIT backgrounds, who have had some successes in life. There will be enough top ranked IITians to overshadow these guys and barring very outside chances, consults are closed to these people.

Well what about marketing companies and general management companies - one might ask? The answer is no again. These companies typically have very structured training programs which are geared towards freshers and they generally do not like to look at experienced guys again.

Finally, what is left for these guys is the chaff essentially - some very niche consults or some surrogate investment banking jobs which are essentially data crunching/data mining jobs or some marketing roles in technology firms. Infact, one gets surprised that even some technology firms from the same background also do not want to look at these guys.

This.. people is the hard reality. You might hear of a few exceptions here and there. But broadly for the bulk of 'Indian,nonIIT,"overexperienced"-in-IT' males in IIMs this is the fate.

Since banks generally recruit from their summer intern pool itself and do not show up for finals, for these people the onus is onto them to persevere for their dream job post MBA by starting small and gradually making their way up.

It is a myth that gaining some experience adds value to your MBA. Well it may add value in terms of your understanding things well, but does not help you get your foot into the door of your choice. If you want to pursue an MBA here in top institutes in India, get in early or start looking out at top B-schools in US, where you won't see experience hurting you like this. While relevant experience would matter there as well, you have your fair chance of reaching out to firms and conveying them your passion. You hardly get your fair chance to communicate your interest to the firms here with over 100 firms crunched in 3 power packed days and with restrictions on reaching out to these firms on your own outside the placement process.