ALUMNI INTERACTION REPORT

 

In an endeavour to connect with our old selves and juniors, we the alumni, Ms. Lavanya Krishna, Mr. Nikhil Kumar and self, decided to have an interaction with our sophisters, final year students of BBA and BCom in our dearest alma mater-Dayananda Sagar Business Academy on 23 March’19.

We conducted an interactive session at around 10.15 am in Room G-04. About 20 final year students attended, which included both BBA and BCom. The session was about the challenges of the job market in today's scenario, the skill-sets and attitude required to be imbibed in candidates so that they are able to deal with the roles and responsibilities of the job demands, which they would be encountering in a couple of months’ time.

 

 

 

We dealt with the concerns of the juniors as well, their questions about the right choice/right role, how the salary structure plays a part in MNCs and so on.

Being from various facets of industry, like HR, Banking & Finance helped, as, we were able to understand their concerns and queries to a considerable degree, for instance, the kind of situations they would face, prospects, opportunities etc. Mostly, it came to the basic concern- in the initial stages of one’s career, whether to choose the role/job profile or the CTC offered, what to choose finance or marketing, what would be the expectations out of them, what holds more value, studying further or taking up a job?

We had an hour’s time for interaction and we hope we were able to address all their concerns!

 

Students were also told about the various additional qualifications and avenues that they could pursue, like the armed forces, railways and various other government sector jobs that they could apply and appear as soon as they complete their graduation. They were also briefed on the amount of training and dedication required to pursue the above-mentioned jobs. We spoke about the additional certifications like SAP, CFA and CFP which would add value to their resume and also enhance their skill sets.

This was followed with a discussion on the importance of strong and refined communication skills that is imperative and essential in today’s world.

 

In the second half of the session, we had another alumnus [Batch 2016-2018] Mr. Vishesh Tiwari, who joined us. He was able to shed some light about his success with the students. He said that in his final year campus placement, he was selected and placed with DELL, has a good position and is doing pretty well for himself in his career.

He spoke about the challenges that were faced by him, and how the training and support of the institution and the faculty helped him in becoming a better individual and a thorough professional. He recounted on the importance of various certifications offered by the college and urged the current final years to take them up seriously and better themselves so that they would be well prepared when they are on their own. He encouraged them to use the opportunity given in college in organizing events and fests so that they can develop their managerial and leadership skills. He motivated and invigorated them to be passionate in their lives, so that they could follow their dreams and make their lives more fruitful.

 

In the last segment, we shared our contact details with our juniors so that they could reach out to us for any kind of help or support academically or in their careers, and we also introduced the concept of alumni to them as they would be joining us shortly and they would be an alumni themselves when we will conduct the next alumni meet. We also spoke about the alumni mentorship programme and told them that we are in talks with the management and we are hoping to start it with the upcoming batch of new comers; so that, we the alumni, can assist them right from the beginning and inculcate the values of ownership and responsibility that would go a long way in helping them in building a bright future.

The students were very happy and thankful for our time and so were we! It felt good talking to them, as we were also in a similar dilemma and a decisive state not long ago.

 

The session ended at 11.45 am, after which we had a brief conversation with Principal sir, Dean ma'am and HOD ma'am about the outcome of the day and we also had a discussion on the future initiatives that we would like to undertake – the mentorship programme that can be launched during the bridge programme for the new batch of students. We also spoke about how we can improve the alumni network, ensure more of our batch mates join and involve them in future activities.

 

 

 

It was a wonderful opportunity for us to share our experiences with our juniors and we thank Dr. [Brig] Sandes, Principal; Dr Veena K N, Dean and Prof Nikitha Srikantha, HOD for all their support and their encouragement that helped us conduct this session in a successful manner.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                       Aditya Raghuraman

                                                                                                       Alumni Association