Which Transition / Resettlement Course is the Best Option for You?

Upgrading one’s qualification is one of the critical considerations an officer evaluates on release / retirement from the armed forces. Deciding which one is the best option for you is a matter of personal choice since each officer is unique by way of his/her qualifications, experience, service profile, years of service experience, preference of a profile, etc.

A few inputs on the options available:

1. 6 month GMP (General Management Program) at Management Institutes (IIMs, XLRI, MDI, etc.): Helps you learn practices and theory of the corporate world. You get up to date with market news. Campus placements, when successful, can get you higher packages. However, these have not been successful for many courses for past year+. This might change now since the economy is on the way to recovery and corporates have begun hiring again.

2. 1 year executive MBA/2 year full-time MBA (ISB-Hyderabad, IIMs, and other management institutes): In any higher education program a lot of learning happens through interaction with fellow students and professors as well as through case studies where practical knowledge and learning play a big role. Thus one should be able to meaningfully give and take learning. With a purely armed forces background this ability is limited. Also, without corporate experience, one may even be unsure of which profile to specialize in. This option is advisable only to officers with minimum 3-5 years of corporate experience.

3. 2/3 year part time MBA: These are specially designed for working executives. Classes are conducted in the evenings or during the weekends. Classes can be real or virtual. This makes sense for executives who cannot afford to take time off from work to upgrade their qualifications. Some courses like the one conducted at the IIM-L campus at Noida and FMS are reputed and can add value to your profile while you continue to earn.

4. Correspondence Courses: These add value to your resume only by way of the tag. Besides basic management theory should you decide to seriously study the course material there isn’t much value in these courses.

Recommendation

1. 6 month GMP (Ser. No. 1): In spite of the poor campus placement record lately of the six month management courses, I recommend this option. However, for placement, ensure that all options are explored (especially networking as this option has worked wonderfully well for officers in the past) and do not depend purely on campus placement. Smart officers have been known to get reasonable placements even during the recession. Officers in the higher age bracket are at a disadvantage for placements, especially if they do not have any technical qualifications.

2. A part time MBA (Ser. No. 3) from a reputed institute is also a good option to take up.

Additional inputs on officers planning to take up Ser. No. 2 as an option immediately on release / retirement

While it is certainly beneficial to be able to absorb knowledge and information from fellow students, however, you might not be able to derive maximum benefit from a full time course right now. There are several factors for this:

1. If you only take and not give, you might be viewed as a 'leaner' thus changing individual / group dynamics against you.

2. At the present stage you would be like a sponge taking in everything. However, very important is the fact that there are two kinds of information / knowledge to be taken - basic and advanced. You will get so engrossed in taking in the basic that you might either not be able to take in the advanced or might not identify the knowledge as such. Consider yourself as a YO in the corporate world with the difference that given a few years your learning/growth curve will be very steep. Visualize sending a YO for Junior Command as against the basic YO course.

3. Since you lack corporate exposure, the information that you now seek will not be relevant to the level you are entering. Your peers will either be individuals with hard core corporate experience ranging from 15-20 years or young executives at the top of the heap. Interactions with both will be of an advanced nature. Business strategy, advanced management concepts, globally relevant subjects, advanced domain/sector/profile related discussions, etc.

In a nutshell and to put it very bluntly, your investment to return ratio will be much higher in the 6 month MDP / part-time MBA as compared to a full time course. Yes, you must do a full time course, but after at least 3-5 years of corporate experience.

Young Officers: An HR Goldmine for Indian Corporates

I came across a website through LinkedIn a little while ago. There is a US based company (Alliance International) which specializes in the recruitment of US JMOs (Junior Military Officers) for American companies.

US JMOs have recently been judged as one of the best leaders America has in a Nov 2008 selection with names like Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo), Lance Armstrong (Cyclist & Advocate), Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com), Robert Gates (US Secy of Defence), et al. Check out the links below:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/best-leaders/2008/11/19/how-americas-best-leaders-were-picked.html
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/best-leaders/2008/11/19/americas-best-leaders-us-junior-officers-military.html

Young officers leaving the Armed Forces and taking up corporate employment are a potentially huge HR goldmine who are not being given adequate attention by large Indian corporates. American corporations realized the potential of this group a very long time ago and former military personnel have done exceedingly well in the US government and corporate positions. Indian armed forces officers are judged as amongst the best globally... then why is corporate India lagging?

Another point to be made here is that while Indian Army YOs make great junior leaders and managers, they should be given adequate training / orientation before their complete induction into a profile in a company. The GMPs run in management institutes are not achieving this objective fully. They reinforce general management education / skills into officers who are already generalists not leading to adequate knowledge / skills to prepare them for the task ahead. These 6 month courses need to be specialized ones in functions like HR, Operations, Logistics, Marketing, Sales, etc. Further, on getting placed in a company, the company should have a 30-90 day orientation/training/induction capsule to prepare them fully for the role. Given a medium to long term view, these managers can contribute immensely to an organization.

I had also asked this question in LinkedIn to serving and retired/released (working in companies) armed forces personnel, HR managers and recruitment consultants. All the answers I received were in glowing reference to this group.

Where do Indian Army Officers stand if they were compared globally against officers of other armies on key parameters like leadership experience, communication and interpersonal skills, problem-solving abilities and the ability to perform under pressure. The question is in reference to an article in US News. If JMOs of the US Army can be judged as such and suitably absorbed & rewarded by corporate America, why hasn't corporate India discovered/recognized this HR goldmine?