Are Corporates Changing Expectations From B-Schools?

ONE  of the priority objectives for companies today is to ensure that they choose the right candidates that fit their particular requirements. They need someone who can contribute right away. Leadership, communication, presentation and business acumen are some of the qualities that they search for in their hires. The top companies pay a premium in salary packages when they identify suitable candidates. 

A common practice across many companies is to ensure that these new hires gain experience across multiple internal departments. This ensures that the candidates are familiar with the whole functioning of the company and their knowledge is not limited to a particular aspect or vertical. This holistic approach pays dividends if these candidates have to take a tough decision later in their journey with the company. 

The changing hiring requirements

Not only the Covid-19 crisis but also the constantly changing market demands have made companies deviate from traditional recruitment requirements and search for more. With work from home or a hybrid model being a new reality, candidates who are self-starters and can function without constantly being monitored are being preferred. 

In the current world of virtual setups, proficiency in giving online presentations is a valued skill. Many companies have introduced flexible working hours, hence, a keen sense of time management is also an added requirement. 

Also, some companies hire candidates for a role that is different from their specialisation. They make this decision by evaluating the candidate’s interview, personality and academic records. 

Retraining these candidates is usually considered a cheaper alternative to hiring someone with a specialisation in that field as the company would have to pay more for the specialist. 

That trend, however, is slightly changing as it is way more efficient to retrain candidates in person and companies are becoming more aware of the disadvantages and lack of efficiency of doing that through a virtual environment.

Companies have been conducting placement interviews virtually and this has facilitated them to reach out to more B-Schools than before. Even though companies are going through a lot more candidates than before, the number of hirings has been similar to previous years. In fact, the interview process itself has become more stringent.

Changes expected from B-Schools

Most companies have adapted themselves to this new world of the pandemic, lockdowns and other uncertainties. However, that has made certain requirements from B-Schools paramount. 

The curriculum needs to adapt to make sure the students are efficient both online and offline. B-Schools need to find and establish a mechanism of hybrid studying. 

The current generation of candidates seems very proficient when it comes to facing the camera and giving job interviews online. But a virtual interview from the comfort of your home is vastly different from having to present yourself by standing in front of multiple highly experienced recruiters. 

Companies need B-Schools to ensure that when the world resumes functioning as before, these candidates should have the required interpersonal skills to navigate physical meetings with the same amount of confidence. 

One of the key objectives of any company is to diversify its products or services. This has become even more important since Covid as no one can be sure which sector will get hit and which won’t in the future. 

Companies are constantly trying to scale fast and are looking towards the B-Schools to try and address this quick recruitment situation by introducing further sector specialisations. This means if a student is specialising in a particular subject, then it should be for a particular industry along with the general subject knowledge. For instance, specialisation in human resources should have further specialisations for various industries such as edtech, FMCG, automobiles and the like. 

Many companies want to collaborate with B-Schools and get involved in the curriculum and course designing processes as well. They want to make sure that the graduates of those B-Schools are a perfect fit when they graduate. This also makes financial sense for the companies as this will cut down training costs. 

In summary

Covid has changed many things in this world and it has impacted the relationship between B-Schools and companies as well. Companies expect the new generation of candidates to be proficient both online and offline. 

Traditional skills like leadership, analytical thinking and presentation skills are still highly regarded but candidates who are self-starters and have a keen sense of time management are being valued as well. 

B-Schools are expected to integrate further in-depth sector-specific knowledge in their courses so that the candidates have a fair amount of understanding on how the sector they chose to work in, functions.