IMPORTANT UPDATE....

Hi friends!!! I hope you all had a wonderful week (yes, im being sarcastic)...finally! we can relax till our exams start on november 19th right? Not exactly....

First of all,this coming Tuesday and Wednesday we have Confluence, our Jamia Career n Placement fair..Its a pretty big event, and we have given ads in national newspapers, delhi radio, invited students of all major Colleges, etc.. Though most of the companies who are coming to place are not looking for management students per se, it will still be a great opportunity to meet top level people..I think that classes might be suspended on both the days, but i no idea about it yet, i have to confirm it...The most rewarding event for us will be the seminars given by the senior executives of different companies on both the days..I will be very beneficial for us if we can attend it,as we can learn what are these companies expecting from their future employees (hopefully us!)..They will also give information and advice on various career prospects and the fields that have a lot of scope..Im personally looking forward to the talk on Sports Management, and another talk on Retailing in India....There will also be talks on general preparation, skill building, etc...at the end of every talk, there will be an opportunity for us to personally interact with the speakers, and im sure it will be invaluable for us...MIB and BBS students are very excited about these events, and we should be too....This is an ideal platform where we can let everyone know that Jamia MBA program is alive and kicking....So im looking forwards to a lot of interactive participation from you guys..Remember, a lot of executives from top companies are coming to jamia for the first time...If we can impress them,then they will definitely rturn for placements, and then CMS students can reap the benfits... Mohit and Nadeem have volunteered from our class...and I might me anchoring the second quarter of the first day's events along with our senior sheeba zaidi...

Next on the list is Rubaroo, our alumni meet..for the first time (i think)we are going to hold it outside our campus, and its going to be a MEGA event...we have sent out invitations to almost ALL our CMS graduated students, and many of them have accepted and are comin...i shall update you guys on the exact date this coming week...its tentatively on the 24th of this month...that leaves us very less time to get everything organized..needless to say, organizing such a big event will surely give you practical exposure to management, so if anyone wants to volunteer, please let me know..its going to be held in a conference room, and lunch will be catered by a 3 star restaurant..the alumni meet will be the most enriching experience we get from this semester...we can directly meet and talk with all the people who graduated from our college itself, meaning that their experiences will be the most relevant for us..they have already been out there in the job market, and have succeeded..they had gone through a lot of hard work and sufferring, made alot of mistakes, and learnt from them.. but that is exactly why we need an alumni meet..they can tell us the mistakes they made, and the short cuts they took and the contacts they made and how they made them..they can tel us what are the pros and cons of working in a particular sector or company.. they can guide us on how to prepare ourselves for interviews, what kind of questions our employers might ask and most importantly, what employers expect from us..they can instruct us on how to negotiate our salary and perks and ow to move up the corporate ladder...how can they do all this, you ask? simple...they have done it recently, or are in the process of doing it right now...they can provide us with an insight into the markets like no one else can, and ensure that we dont have to take unnecessary pains or hardships...

But there is one small thing all of you have to do, and do it VERY QUICKLY…you have to get your business suits stitched…I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of our business suits, especially since we are MBA students…A business mans’ suits is his most powerful asset, im sure most of you will agree to that..whenever you see a successful business man or senior executive or any manger on TV, magazines, or even in real life, what is the one common thing that they have? A powerful business suit, that speak volumes about what kind of person they are.. Plus, they are MANDATORY for all placement events and interviews in our college…(and a MBA graduate without an official dress? UGH..what an insult....) Since all of us have to have IDENTICAL suits, we all have to get it from the same place…Mehul, our GS, can arrange very high quality cloth from Bombay Dyeing at more than 50% off…so we have to get them quickly, and get them stitched ASAP…So im kindly requesting you to bring Rs. 3000 on MONDAY itself and give it to our class CR, Sarwar…This includes our contribution to Rubaroo as well….im sure all of you will agree that 2500 is quite a bargain for a suit (go checkout Westside or pantaloons or Bombay Dyeing showrooms…..no suits come under 4000 rs, and they are of crappy quality)..the average good suits cost 6000 rupees atleast…remember for all you skeptics out there, that to earn something, you have to first spend something…and according to me, our business suits will be directly linked to our final placement offers, as it’s such a powerful tool to impress prospective employers…

So to sum it up, any volunteers for Rubaroo please contact me…and EVERYONE please bring Rs. 3000 and submit it on Monday itself..you all know that finally, you have to pay up the cash, whether you like it or not, and there is no way you can escape from it…

To end on a lighter note, did you know that an alumnus is a “A male graduate or former student of a school, college, or university?” the plural of alumnus is alumni….A female graduate is called an alumna and its plural is alumnae…that something for the feminists to lose sleep about…all the alumni meets happening around the world...

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Varun Valsalan Nair,

(The “pathla” Varun)