What is the scope of an Executive MBA in India? – A Detailed Guide

Executive MBA, unlike normal MBA courses, offers a lot more than the vocational training of managerial skills. The course of an Executive MBA is crafted keeping in mind the evolving needs of the business sector. Also includes tricks and tips to satiate it by bringing the perfect blend of practical and theoretical approach. If you are a young professional and not a fresh graduate, but possess the stamina to learn more, then an executive MBA is designed for individuals just like you! You just have to figure out from which college and in which segment you want to pursue it. And also if you own the zeal to face and conquer unforeseen challenges, then you are just the right candidate to bag the MBA degree.

What is an Executive MBA?

To highlight the features of executive MBA, one first needs to understand how it differs from the original MBA courses available in most B-schools. Here, one can only think about opting for an executive MBA if and only if one possesses industrial experience in a particular domain for at least 4-5 years if one decides to sit for CAT. On the other hand, if you have acquired work experience of about 10-15 years, then CAT-based executive MBA institutes wouldn’t probably accept your scores. Thus, you have to consider giving another managerial entrance, the GMAT. These programs are crafted by faculties in such a way so that candidates can manage to multitask between learning and working. It is recommended to seek permission from the company you are working for so that you can take leave during weekends and exams.

The Benefits of Pursuing an Executive MBA

An executive MBA is as lucrative and advantageous as a regular MBA for a working professional. We have already covered its benefits in detail in one of our earlier posts, here we are again listing down some of the important points you can ponder while thinking about pursuing a course for higher studies.

• • Steadily Climb up the Seniority Ladder

It so happens in most multinational companies that after a few years of experience, growth and salary prospects would get stagnant. Most individuals in such situations decide to conquer the challenges of doing an Executive MBA from a reputed institution. The best thing is with your newly acquired skills and knowledge about the business world you could be assigned leadership or managerial roles in your current organization. But even if your company doesn’t have vacancies in the managerial department, then fret not, because you possess a chance to get promoted with a hiked salary.

• • Brings out your Leadership Skills

You would get most of your enriching experience by working in an organization for 4 or more years. But do you hesitate when someone asks you to take a lead? If yes, then you are still unaware of your leadership qualities. Thus to get a complete insight, you need to expose yourself to the simple but highly crucial tricks which would be covered in your Executive MBA course. Upon getting acquainted with the bonus knowledge you would learn how to defeat unforeseen challenges, instead of letting it defeat you. That is to say, you would begin discovering new solutions for the age-old problems.

• • Become a Prized Possession

Though this sounds unbelievable, yes, it is going to happen after you complete your MBA and join your organization in a managerial designation. This will happen only if your current organization decides to sponsor your Executive MBA. Now since they have invested in your education so your newly gained skills would possess a pretty high value to them. If your company sends you up for an Executive MBA you may have to sign a contract. This contract will hold legal terms stating that you cannot leave your organization for a specific tenure. This is made to ensure, that you return them the money (in terms of annual returns or skills) which they have invested for your MBA.

• • Flexible classes and timing

Learn and earn together, what can be better than this? You only need to take some time off your job during the weekends, presumably 2 days a week. You would only need to extract some time from your earning routine to digest some necessary skills.

• • Moderate scoring

Here one should not be depressed if the scores of the entrance exam were not of the top-notch. That is because one still poses the chance to enter a big institute, provided the next steps go well. That is if you can impress the interviewer with your acquired skills in your domain you may bag the opportunity. And also if you manage to score well in the interactive and writing sections (only for a few colleges) the interviewer has no other option other than to offer you a much valuable seat.

• • Interactive sessions with professionals

You can spot and engage in enriching sessions with professionals just like you. You can hear and learn about their experiences and maybe they can help you see if your skills and knowledge are lacking somewhere. The more industrial experience you would be exposed to, the more ready you will become to wear the coat of a manager. You can also motivate them by sharing your experience, doesn’t matter how limited that may be.

• • Job security

Since you would still be at your job, you wouldn’t suffer from anxiety about the probability of bagging another one in your future. You desire to get hired with a bigger salary but at least you wouldn’t have anything to lose, apart from the money. But hey, you would still have the certificate which would assist you quite a lot in your future. And not to forget, the much necessary exemplary skill which would push you few notches up the ladder.

Are there any Probable Drawbacks?

• • Not enough social life

One shouldn’t expect a social life and networking opportunities with batch mates because you are spending very limited time. And also since you are multitasking with a 9-5 job and a weekend MBA course you wouldn’t have much time left for yourself. So, it would be quite a daunting task for you to engage in any other recreational activities.

• • Fees

Normally the fee structure of executive MBA courses is quite higher than the full-time MBA courses offered by the same institution. This is due to the fact that the faculties in charge are advised to complete the whole MBA Syllabus within just a year. The faculties with overwhelming years of experience would make sure that you can latch on to the knowledge taught just within the tenure of 365 days. Why should you go for an Executive MBA course? Let’s illustrate this answer with a real-life example (source). According to media reports, a 31-year old man, Mr. Dhananjay Rastogi, was associated with one of the giant organizations after graduating from one of the IITs of India. While talking to the media spokesperson, he stated ‘that after pursuing an Executive MBA course from one of the esteemed institutes I was hired with a 100% salary hike by Trident technologies’. So did you get a glimpse of what can you get just by doing an Executive MBA course? Apart from the 4 years of work experience he had, his skills combined with his experience had pushed him to grab the role of Vice president in his young thirties.

What is the scope of pursuing an Executive MBA in India?

As you have already assumed, that this genre of MBA, when completed with an AAAA+ grade, can earn you ample opportunities, provided you own the tenacity to absorb them. Another report says to get this 100% hiked salary professionals usually have to wait for 4-5 more promotions in their current job, without an MBA degree. In 2016 one of the top B-school noticed some of the professionals being offered senior roles with the salary climbing up to INR 1 crore. Recruiters regularly hunt for candidates possessing the right blend of academic knowledge and industry experience. Apart from the salary, one should also remember the glory they are gifted with the senior managerial roles in the renowned industries of all time. Even if not senior roles than one with a maximum of 6-8 of industrial experience after completing the post-grads from one of the renowned B-school can at least expect up to 60-70% salary hike than their previous job. You can also put it in this way, some organizations besides sponsoring their employees’ executive MBA courses also put them in senior roles thereby hiking up their salaries. Thus, if you are not too keen to switch your company, you can directly talk it out with your managerial head. If you are getting all the industry exposure and rich knowledge as well as huge team support from your organization, you should keep yourself latched to the job and consider sitting on the Vice president’s throne after completing the MBA course. If you are worthy to your company, they wouldn’t mind promoting you thereby incrementing your payslip figure. The scope of an executive MBA is huge, but if and only if you extract the best of it by studying hard and extracting all the knowledge, and implement them in the industry. What to check before opting out for an institute to pursue the executive MBA course? Firstly ask yourself this question ‘is an executive MBA worth it? That is to say, can you provide penultimate efforts into it to make the resultant much more gigantic and exemplary? If you are confident and brave enough to study after leaving college for 5-7 years then no one can stop you from reaching your goal. If you are ready to gift yourself the competitive edge which you think you may have been lacking them remember these points before making your decision final:

• • • Only a few private B-schools, which are amongst the top 5 or top 10 conduct recruitment drives for their students. If you are keen to switch to a better job, then you better enquire whether your dream institute is really living up to its reputation.
    • If you want to earn while you study, then you must choose the tenure of the program carefully. The most suited for the Indian professionals in the 1-year executive MBA course. However, you can decide about studying from an online program if it satisfies your needs.
    • Executive MBAs can be expensive, so if it’s you who are applying for the course and not your company then you better take a good look at the recruitment records of the past few years.

Conclusion

Here is one of the mind-boggling facts to sum this all up. According to an Indian newspaper most US and UK recruitments taking place in India usually hire the top scorers of the Executive MBA programs from the top management institutes. So, now, what more reason can someone possibly want to pursue an Executive MBA today?