Little by Little

By -


I remember talking to one of my former classmates a few weeks ago. He was pretty much bummed out because he felt that taking the MBA at the Asian Institute of Management was a good career move for his part, except that he took it at the inopportune time.

To be honest, his statement was quite accurate-- we graduated at a time when global companies are cutting jobs by the thousands and "freeze hiring" re-emerged as one of management's favorite buzzwords. We took the blunt of the global economic crunch as the shiny jobs that normally waited from MBA grads dried up like a well in the Sahara desert.

I'd often have chats similar to the one I just described with my former classmates in the first couple of months of the year. The theme was almost always the same-- the space for jobs for MBA folks were contracting and the lament was that you could count with one hand the people in our class who had pre-placement offers.

But things are slowly changing. (emphasis on the "slowly")

In the last month, offers started trickling in, with really good ones springing up. More of us have found corporate gigs and there are some who took the entrepreneur route. The situation is improving, but not so much-- if opportunities are being rationed, then we just have to wait our turn.

Comments

Paul said…
Nice to hear that, Sir. I also heard news overseas that some banks in the US have started paying off their debt from the government (from the bailout fund). I do hope this is the start of another cycle in our economy, and in our life in general. :-)
April 10, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Admitted to the MBA Program

By -
Let backtrack a bit: How was I able to get admitted to the Asian Institute of Management (AIM)? The admission process is a relatively brief process, but rigorous nonetheless. The AIM Website outlines the procedure on how to apply and the requirements as well. However, I found some old content at the AIM site that might get some users confused. But in spite of that, my experience in applying was a very smooth and hassle-free one. I made sure that I had the following accomplished: Application Form - This can be downloaded online . The application form is very long and has 14 essay questions! It is better to answer the essay questions briefly and direct to the point. Official Transcripts - This is my undergraduate transcript from the University of the Philippines - Diliman . Academic Recommendation Letter - I had a former professor of mine from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business accomplish this one. Professional Recommendation Letter - I asked a former superior make a recommenda...
Read more

My Experience with the Embassy of India in Manila

By -
Image
Are you a Filipino going to India? Be warned. You may be in for a great deal of frustration. I've been spending the past week arranging my visa for my Action Consultancy (AC) in India. (The AC is equivalent to AIM's industry internship for its MBA students; I'll blog more about this in future posts). The frustration has really been mounting because of the very confusing and Byzantine system of the Indian embassy here in the Philippines. First point of frustration: the customer service. I initially called the embassy to clarify the requirements and procedures. The embassy has an automated answering system that has a selection where a caller can get an itemized list of requirements. That's all. No information of procedures, steps or guidelines. I selected the option to talk to a staff member and when I asked my query, she told me I'll find everything I need at the Indian Embassy website . If you look at the site, there are some information, but not the ones I'm lo...
Read more

Asian Institute of Management in India?

By -
I've been following the "new campus" moves of the Asian Institute of Management as of late and while I said my piece a while back, there was some development that reached the media last week. I've speculated that AIM's new campus may be outside of the Metro Manila. But how about a new campus outside of the Philippines? President Francis Estrada said in an interview with Business Standard : AIM is an Asian Institute and is not just for the Philippines. We are thinking of creating campuses beyond the capital Manila and are looking at proposals to establish presence in India. My take on this is that from a strategic point of view, it's pretty sound.The Indian graduate education student market is very huge and talented and AIM had seen a big growth of Indian students since the start of the 2000's. Here's a fact: For the MBA program, the Indian population in AIM has steadily grown and if you compare the 2001 class to our class, the Indian percentage o...
Read more