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.
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