MBAs prefer job profile first than pay package

New Delhi, Nov 23 (UNI) For those who say ''money is everything'' here is an eye opener, with majority of MBA students in the country preferring a ''good job profile'' over a heavy pay package.

An overwhelming 95 per cent of India's leading B-school graduates are willing to forego hefty pay packets for the sake of a job profile of their preference even as 79 per cent of these most sought-after students are keen on working offshore right at the start of their career.

Contrary to the conventional lure of high compensation, the aspirations of young Indian management graduates narrate a differrent story.

These future industry managers prefer work profile combined with the growth opportunities, resisting the tempting salary offers, according to a survey by industry body Assocham.

Indian institutions imparting management education are the most coveted places visited by national and multinational companies for their annual placements.

Significantly, as many as 95 per cent of the B-school students participating in the survey conveyed in their replies to a written questionnaire that a job profile of their preference would help them in their long term career.

The Business Barometer Survey conducted on 271 students among top B-schools included Indian Institute of Management (Kozhikode), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Institute of Management Technology (Ghaziabad), SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Symbiosis Institute of International Business (Pune), Xavier Institute of Management (Bhubaneswar), ICFAI Business School, Birla Institute of Management Technology, Institute of Agri Business.

Surprisingly, a meager five per cent of these students opted for fat salary packets over a good job profile. Factors like desire for a higher standard of living, family expectations and responsibilities, compulsion to pay hefty amount of education loans, to save for investment in entrepreneurship, conventionally draw MBA graduates toward high paying jobs.

But, things seem to have changed with preferences changing for the future growth than the present rewards, the survey indicated.

When given a choice between working for a growing company or an established one, 60 per cent of the respondents opted for companies in the growth phase.

Sixty five per cent of the respondents wanted to land with their jobs in the United States. The United Kingdom and Australia were the next favourite destinations with 34 per cent and 24 per cent of them opting for these countries respectively.

Europe, Canada, Singapore and UAE were among the other countries of their choice.

Among the rest 21 per cent of the respondents who prefer to work in India, 44 per cent place no priority at all to location of job within the country during campus placements. Only nine per cent gave first priority to location.

Another 40 per cent consider location as influencing factor second to job profile, affecting their decision. Majority of them has expressed their reservations about working in the North-Eastern region of India and the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Banking has emerged as the most preferred sector among the MBA students to work in after their post graduation, as selected by 51 per cent of the respondents consultancy, marketing and IT sector are other sectors, which are high on placement agenda of these students.

Although, a number as good as 46 per cent are willing to forego a sector of their interest for a job which provides desired work profile supplemented with handsome pay packet.

Thirty four per cent of the respondents stated they would not sacrifice the sector for any perk in form of pay or profile.

Remaining 20 per cent have asserted that their decision would depend on the factors like job satisfaction, growth potential, ease of switching to desired function, company culture, working hours, relevance of prior work experience, challenge, growth, feasibility to switch to favourite sector, growth opportunities, current financial position, brand name of the company, feedback from the people of the company.

UNI SRS PV BD1923