Dr. Ashish Chandra, all the way from University of Houston, for guiding Jaipuria Institute of Management students through college dynamics, placement goals, and early career stages
When an International faculty visits your campus, you pick his brains about global roles for future managers, demands of the industry and tips to make yourself stand apart. And Dr. Ashish Chandra is not just another faculty member from a foreign university. The winner of the Outstanding Professor Award given by the University of Houston – Clear Lake Alumni Association in 2015, he is clearly a favorite with his students. With over 20 years of teaching experience and more than 75 research papers under his belt, the marketing expert with a niche in Healthcare Management, he is just the right person to give future managers a roadmap of what lies ahead.
Prepare for the future smartly
Dr. Chandra was at Jaipuria Institute of Management recently conducting a course on Marketing and OB. He brought his vast experience to the table as he offered students valuable insights about markets abroad and how they can prepare themselves for global manager roles. He also had some practical advice for students when he said, “Three years from now you won’t be working with the people sitting next to you right now. But at the end of the program, when you are looking for placements, they will be your biggest competition. The key is to grow into an environment of healthy competition while finding your own identity.”
Important attributes to impress future employers
Dr. Chandra has the same rationale when it comes to teamwork. He asserts that for college projects students should be thrown into diverse teams because that will be the scenario for them in a professional setup. Your future employers want to know whether you can work in a team that you have not picked for yourself. “Besides being a team player, you need to be flexible. How mobile you are willing to be can go a long way in determining your value in the world of Marketing. Your communication skills are crucial too because sometimes you need to be an educator for commercials. You need to educate your audience about the products,” he says.
How to navigate through initial career stages
Over the course of two decades, Dr. Chandra has seen many young graduates go on to build successful careers. But he asserts that students cannot expect to be completely happy as soon as they get their hands on the Marketing degree. He believes young graduates need to have a passion for what they do, and they can’t realize whether they fit in till they start working. “You have to know that the first few jobs will be rough, and no job is perfect anyway. As marketing professionals, you have to go out there and experience things. Don’t quit because you don’t like a job; the gap in your CV reflects badly. Every experience counts,” he adds on a profound note.
