CLASS 12, BUT I DON’T
ARE MY OPTIONS?”
and then zero in on what you are really
interested in.Q. Who does an MBA? Should that
be the next step if I wanted to become
a manager?
A. MBA is a master’s programme in
business administration and, yes, gen-
erally managerial roles are associated
with it though you may not start with
one in your first job. Again, MBA pro-
grammes come with specializations
like Finance, Marketing, Operations
and nowadays Systems Management
etc. Admissions to MBA can be through
exams like CAT, XAT, CMAT etc. The
Indian Institutes of Management,
Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian
School of Business, Great Lakes are
popular choices of students to pursue
MBA. In addition, there are five-year
integrated MBA courses offered by IIM
Indore and IIM Rohtak which is open
to students who have passed class 12.Q. Are there any other choices that
maybe I can look at?
A. Yes. If you have an aptitude for draw-
ing, designing, you could look at design
programmes and take up courses there-
in. Hospitality and tourism are other
domains you can look at. If you have an
aptitude for languages, then you could
take up courses in them. You can also
go for courses in design like industrial
design, fashion design, footwear design
and more. NIFT, NID are some insti-
tutes for design as well as the IITs,
IITDM Kancheepuram and Jabalpur,
which offer design courses in industrial
and production design, amongst others.Q. Okay, if I want to go into hospi-
tality, what kind of job profiles are
there? Is there something related to
travel?A. The industry is vast and growing. In
hotels, there are jobs in catering, food
and beverages, culinary arts, house-
keeping, administration, operations
and more. Chefs with good skills are
sought after so that’s another job profile
if you are someone who likes cooking.
NCHMJEE is one entrance exam to
take for getting into a good institute
and pursue courses in hospitality. Most
institutes offer BSc in Hotel Manage-
ment along with specializations.Q. You said something about lan-
guages. Where can I pursue language
courses? Can I go abroad if I do a
course?
A. Going abroad can be through many
courses. However, this depends on why
you want to go abroad. If this is to study
further, that’s possible. Getting a job
is another thing. You may need to do
post-graduation. Most universities offer
Bachelors of Art in many languages,
including Indian and foreign. The Eng-
lish and Foreign Languages University
in Hyderabad specialises in this. Other
areas you could look at are Economics,
Liberal Arts etc. These are courses that
are good but if you add a postgraduate
degree, you are better equipped to work
for a better future.Q. So, how do I go about choosing
something? I think now I have many
choices and I have to choose one.
What do you suggest?
A. We suggest you read a bit on each,
check some of the courses and then
decide what you would like to pursue.
You will have to pursue graduation and
ideally if you do something you like,
you have a better chance to succeed. So,
once you decide, come back and we will
advise you about the colleges, how to
apply and further steps to take.Write to prabha.dhavala@
careers360.com on any query
that you have regarding a course
or a career or if you want to know
more about how to participate in
a career clinic.MBA is a master’s
programme in business
administration
and, yes, generally
managerial roles are
associated with it
though you may not
start with one in your
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programmes come
with specializations
like Finance,
Marketing, Operations
and nowadays
Systems Management
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MBA can be through
exams like CAT, XAT,
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