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.

Is it the Right Time to Leave the Services?

An emphatic NO! This is certainly not the right time for you to leave the services. If you have been considering the option, rule it out for the short to medium term. That would be between six months to a year. Timing the economy is difficult and never very accurate. But it is presently plain to see that the current scenario is not an employment friendly one. Further, if you take the Sixth Pay Commission into perspective then if definitely does not make sense to leave now. I advice only those officers to leave who feel they either cannot continue in the services due to overriding factors - personal or professional or those ones who feel they are bringing special skills to the table which will ensure a top notch job immediately. All others wait and watch...

The economy is in a slowdown. Sentiment is low. Pink slips are having a field day and recruitment has been frozen. Even replacement hiring is not taking place (also read my earlier post - "Current Recruiting Environment").

For those officers who have already left and are in the process of looking for a job, doing a resettlement course or waiting for their papers to get through don't loose heart or feel discouraged. There are still good avenues available, though harder to find at the moment. The challenge is to be able to identify these opportunities and go for them. Plan harder, work harder and walk that extra mile to contact as many prospective employers and placement consultants as possible. Even consider options available on recruitment portals that promote your resume amongst prospective employers and consultants for a fee (my next post will delve into the manner to go about a good job search).

Ensure that your resume is top notch. Sometimes great candidates may be missed simply because their resume failed to attract adequate attention. Bear in mind that at this time there are those many more resumes floating in the market and far lesser vacancies than before which makes the task of finding suitable employment that much tougher.

Current Recruiting Environment

Is it the right time to take the leap now, especially with the economy going into a slowdown? Timing is very important in getting into a good company and profile. The current recruiting environment is not very positive. Over the past few weeks business and industry leaders have generally reflected an optimistic outlook of things but basic economic indicators point towards a slowdown in the economy. Some sectors like real estate, IT/ITES, airlines, etc. are definitely going to bear the brunt of this however one can expect recruitment across industries/sectors to take a hit in the short/medium term.

There is a silver lining though. There are certain industries/sectors which are going through an expansion (infrastructure, retail, entertainment, for example. There is an article in the Outlook Money dated 30 July 2008 - 10 Emerging Careers. A must read) and they will continue to grow and hence recruit, so the right thing to do now would be to identify these and try and get into them.

A few pointers:

1. Time your leaving the armed forces and your plans for further education/training, if possible.
2. Take time before you leave or during your course to tap any and every network you can (NDA, IMA, OTA, Rimcolians, Georgians, place types, company types, regiment types, unit types, etc... and no humour intended here) and ascertain which industries, sectors, companies and profiles are doing well and work towards them.
3. Read and keep yourself well informed through various sources. A few of them are mentioned in an earlier post.
   
4. Try and get into a company and profile where the skills you bring to the table are a core requirement for the company. This ensures your chances of growing faster. Also remember that there are cost centers and there are profit centers in a company. The former while being a part of the company and performing important/critical functions does not add to its top lines and an employee in this profile is a cost. The opposite is true for an employee who is a part of a profit center. Try to be a part of the latter.

(The timing of this post is important but it does not delve into too many details on the subject. I invite any reader with expertise/detailed knowledge on the same to contribute a guest post on the blog).