Guest lectures by Alumni in November and December

Gurucharan Singh Gandhi from the batch of 2000 spoke on ‘Career Planning’.  He is currently Vice President and Head of Training with Bharti AXA Life Insurance.  Gurucharan is an avid reader and blogger and a runner of marathons! (www.mondaymusingsbyguru.blogspot.com). 
Gurucharan had the audience riveted with the ‘story’ of his education and career that spanned his graduation days, entry and time spent at IMDR and thereafter.  Gurucharan made a career switch from Sales and Marketing to Training and spoke about how he made this switch.  While freely admitting that he was no ‘guru’ with any formulae or mantras for career success he suggested that students should first identify what they enjoy doing and pursue it even if it does not fall in the ambit of their current job.  Citing his own example he spoke about how he used to teach at a prominent coaching class for MBA aspirants in Mumbai because he enjoyed teaching.  For this he had to work on weekends and travel a considerable distance in the wee hours of the morning.  However it opened doors for a career in Training for him.  Gurucharan endorsed a major tenet of IMDR’s learning processes: SDLS or Self Driven Learning System.  He sheepishly admitted that he never realized the relevance of SDLS while on campus but has since realized its value!  He emphasised the importance of students setting their own learning objectives and a plan to achieve these. 

Rakesh Mishra from the batch of 2009 spoke on ‘Careers in Finance’.  Rakesh did his PGDM (Finance) from IMDR and went on to work with Credit Suisse and Credit Capital Investments, a US based hedge fund.  His work profile includes Financial Modelling and M&A.  Rakesh is on the cusp of a new career as an entrepreneur!  His venture Fin Destination launched in collaboration with batchmate Jai Bhagchandani will focus on Financial training and solutions.
Rakesh started his talk by outlining the different types of career options in Finance especially in the area of investment banking.  He spoke at some length about the day to day activities performed by people in these profiles and made the roles more concrete in the minds of students.  Rakesh displayed the depth of his understanding of the financial sector when he was able to explain complex events like the sub-prime crisis and the eurozone crisis in an easy conversational manner that was almost like a story and therefore easy to understand.  This led to a barrage of questions and comments from an appreciative and interested audience!

Mukta Karandikar from the batch of 2002 spoke on ‘Resume writing and Interview Preparation’.  Mukta is currently Associate Vice President with Citibank in Mumbai. 
In a session arranged by PGDM 2 as a part of their placement preparation initiative, Mukta gave valuable tips on writing a resume.  She introduced the A-C-A (Action-Complexity-Achievement) format to the class, which suggests that a resume should include 3 things: what was done (action), what was the challenge (complexity) and what was achieved (achievement).  She reviewed samples submitted by students and gave detailed inputs.  She also conducted mock interviews and gave feed back on these.  Mukta put forth an interesting concept of an overriding ‘theme’ for a resume which can help candidates to position themselves better.  The recounting of her personal experiences was much appreciated by the students. 

Guest Lecture by Mr. Dileep Ranjekar

IMDR had organized a Guest lecture by Mr. Dileep Ranjekar, Chief Executive Officer, Azim Premji Foundation, Bangalore, on 23rd December 2010 at the IMDR auditorium.

Mr. Ranjekar spoke on “Professionals and Social Commitment”. He talked about the problems existing in the current educational system, about the declining gender ratio in India, school drop outs, the extent of people living under the poverty line. He discussed the work of the Azim Premji Foundation in the sphere of rural education.

Mr Ranjekar further spoke about the Foundation’s work in the area of developing new talent, engaging existing talent, research and development, and dissemination of information under the aegis of the Azim Premji University.

The question and answer session that followed carried the interaction further with students asking a variety of questions about the work of the Foundation in particular and social commitment in general.

Guest Lecture by Mr Radhakrishnan Nair

On January 29, 2011, Mr. Radhakrishnan Nair, Vice President – Talent Acquisition Group HR, Tata Services Ltd. Visited IMDR for a guest lecture on ‘The Challenge of Value System in HR’.  He talked about ‘value system’ not being a bunch of statements, but a way in which we live. He further discussed that value system is all about following what our conscience is saying. It is very difficult because in the modern world, we in a very careful manner, very calculated manner have killed that conscience. His session was very enriching and relevant in today’s corporate world, which the students would enter in a year or two.

Guest Lecture by Ms Sujata Deshmukh

The students of IMDR got an opportunity to attend an interesting session by Ms Sujata Deshmukh, Director with PwC’s People & Change Practice on February 2, 2011.  Instead of just giving a lecture to the students, Sujata chose to have a participatory session with audience participation. Her session was based on Edgar Schien’s Career Anchor Theory. 

She first administered a questionnaire and then explained the meaning, characteristics and relevance of each career anchor. She analysed and interpreted the combination of three career anchors and she counselled the students on the right career choice based on their career anchors.

It was a very interesting session for the aspiring managers on how they could make a right career choice in the near future, which would enable them to work effectively and successfully.