Sorry, we don't want you, you are an MBA!!!

“We don't want to hire you……..”

“As you are an MBA, we fear you may not remain in this job for a long period. If you get a better job than this, you will surely jump to that. We incur heavy expenses in training each candidate joining us. So it will become a loss of expenses that we may incur by training you, if you do not remain in this job for long. ….Sorry gentleman…”

And I completed my fourth unsuccessful interview. This time it was a construction firm for the post of marketing executive. The only drawback for me is that “I am an MBA.” It is the same story with the other three interviews which I attended earlier. In these recessionary times, every company is highly cautious in recruiting candidates. As every company is trying to reduce its training expenses, selection becomes strict.

After completing my MBA in a B-grade MBA school, I joined a retail organisation where I was in charge of the stores. As it is an off- role position and the salary was very less (below Rs.6500!!) I decided to quit it after seven months. Otherwise, I can't start paying my education loans. Every month I need to pay a particular amount as loan repayment, which is more than what I got as salary from that job.

Even small companies are taking advantage of MBAs in this recession period. They get people like us for less salary. I attended one interview in an advertising agency in Kerala. They liked my profile and offered me a job there but there was a condition — in the first two months they would pay only Rs.2500 (they called it training period) and, after two months Rs.7000.They were avoiding the risk of hiring an MBA. Even if I quit that company after two months, they would have made me work for more than what they offered.

An excellent strategy. This is the situation faced by most of the MBAs coming from B-Grade and C-grade Business schools. This is not because we are poor in logical reasoning or decision-making, or lack leadership.

--Magesh