“One needs to understand the nuances of business in different cities and be able to adopt their culture and, if possible, learn the language”
On 28 June, the Master of Global Business (MGB) students were invited to an Alumni Mixer where Alumni from various batches and programs were invited to share their experiences and insights with the students.
Despite the heavy rain, the Mixer saw an attendance of 24 Alumni from MGB, GMBA, and the EMBA programs. The event started with an informal dinner followed by a panel discussion. Students from the Placement committee asked questions on behalf of the entire cohort.
The topics covered were - current job market in Singapore, importance of internships and projects, tri-city experience value perception by companies, and guidance for entrepreneurs.
Some of the key takeaways from the session were:
- Don’t close your mind to any roles – be open to roles that may not be of your specialisation.
- Don’t be too fixated on a stream – (Marketing, Finance etc.) especially for people without experience. One should be willing to explore different opportunities. "You don’t know what you enjoy doing until you try it out first.”
- If you are getting an offer in an organisation and it is a bit different what you are looking for, try to take it nevertheless. One tends to pick up skill sets on the job and excel over time.
- Be passionate about learning and have a great attitude, build a learning mind inside of you - know what is happening in the world, in the market, in your field.
- During your tri-city exposure, learn and pick up the unique business practices. Eg., learning that you cannot make a work call after 5:00 pm in Sydney.
- As foreigners, one needs to understand the nuances of business in different cities and be able to adopt their culture and, if possible, learn the local language. SP Jain provides this opportunity to the students as they travel to different cities. Students should be able to understand business, cultural and social etiquettes in each location.
- To extract the maximum from their internships; learn about different functions in an organisation, network within and out of the organisation during the internship.
- For entrepreneurs, it helps to have prior work experience in the industry and it is also important to have good mentors.
Overall, it was a very interactive session with great insights shared by the Alumni.