Top 7 MBA Placement Criteria You Need to Know

MBA placement is the ultimate goal of all management graduates. Whether it is through on-campus placement drives or off-campus interviews, the priority for all management students is to get placed in an organisation that will provide a kick start to their careers.

However, with the ever-increasing competition in the field of management, getting a well-paying MBA placement has become increasingly difficult. The companies have become quite selective of the candidates they hire. This selection is based on the market requirements and trends that an organisation follows to thrive in the corporate world.

In this article, we will discuss the various factors that organisations take into consideration while hiring an MBA candidate for a managerial position. These factors would thus, help the MBA students become industry-ready by enhancing their skill set.

MBA Placements: Eligibility Criteria

When it comes to defining the eligibility criteria for MBA placements, different companies adhere to different rules, based on the requirements of the profile and the company itself. Here are some factors that the companies test in order to determine whether a candidate is eligible or not.

Academic Record

Academic records are the reflection of an MBA student’s caliber. During MBA placements, the recruiters utilise these records to analyse the candidates' abilities and judge if they are apt for the work profile. It is a mere guide for the recruiters to consider all aspects of your academic experience. This includes:

• The college you received your degree from
• The difficulty level of the degree/major you pursued.
• The level of competition you might have faced as an undergraduate/graduate
• Your academic performance, both cumulative and within your primary area of study
• Any trends in your grades (if they improved or worsened)

However, the academic records do not contribute more than 5-10% to the recruiter's decision. As long as you have managed to maintain a healthy 65-75% average in your school and college years, you should find it easy to match the basic eligibility criterion for most MBA jobs.

Personal Background

In order to gauge the potential of an MBA graduate, it is important for employers to learn about their personal background. This gives them an idea of the candidate’s nature, as well as what motivates them to keep going. For this reason, some frequently asked questions during MBA interviews cover different aspects of a student’s personal history, including their families, friends, hobbies, and other points of interest.

It is important that students are honest and sincere about their backgrounds. It is also the best opportunity for explaining any gaps/backlogs in the academic record and/or any other unexplained problems that might affect your MBA placement.

Image Source: Social Media Explorer

Personality

Personality is one of the most dynamic eligibility criteria that MBA graduates are judged on during placement drives for managerial jobs. Often recruiters are looking for some specific personality traits that the potential in the candidate to become a competent MBA professional. Some of these traits include:

• Multitasking
• Strategic Thinking
• Decision-making skills
• Stability and Fairness
• Independent Thinking
• Team Player

At times, during the MBA placements, candidates with perfect academic and personal records end up getting rejected, since their answers don’t showcase the above-given traits. Hence, a piece of general advice would be to maintain patience and pleasantness throughout the MBA interview process and make sure you convince the recruiters that you possess the personality traits they are looking for.

Knowledge of Subject Matter

During every interview during an MBA placement drive, special focus is given on the subject knowledge possessed by the candidate. What concepts have you learned during your graduation? Can you apply these concepts to the practical world? These are some questions that are generally asked during an MBA placement interview. Remember, the interviewers try to determine the level of your seriousness during the interview. So, it is advised to go over your textbooks carefully and revise the concepts that you may have learned. Prove that what you have done was important to you and it also has a wider application.

General Knowledge & Awareness

It is almost impossible to survive in a business environment without a good grasp of general knowledge as well as a keen awareness of your surroundings. This knowledge can be used on a daily basis to make tough but accurate business decisions, as well as find/create new opportunities for the business. This is why proficiency in this domain is considered an essential part of the eligibility criteria for MBA placements.

It not only showcases a candidate’s willingness to learn and explore, but also their ability to apply this knowledge to improve their immediate surroundings, which in this case would be their colleagues, employees, and the business in general.

Soft Skills

Adequate importance is given to interpersonal skills during the personal interview round for an MBA job. These include various interpersonal, social, and other abstract skills that help management professionals manage themselves and their teams effectively. You can learn more about MBA skill development with our blog.

Given below are some of the soft skills that an MBA professional must have:

• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Project management
• Problem-solving
• Good work ethic
• Communication skills
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Positivity
• Learning from criticism
• Working under pressure

Soft Skills hold much importance in the life of every working professional since it is through these skills that a manager can grow and move ahead in their career. Hence, the recruiters are looking for candidates who portray such skills as they make the hard skills relevant. You can also learn about tech skills for MBA students with our blogs.

Work Experience

This is perhaps the only aspect of the eligibility criteria for MBA placements which is not compulsory. However, it still plays an important role in getting MBA graduates hired, thanks to the credibility it adds to the resume. Graduates with prior work experience are preferred by job recruiters since they already have the needed experience of dealing with the expectations of both employers and employees. They also have prior knowledge of how to utilise the concepts they learned in real-life applications, which reduces the training time required for new hires as well.

We are sure that by now you will have a good idea about what makes management graduates eligible for MBA placements. So, make sure you pay proper attention to each question and answer them all in an honest and forthright manner.

Even if you fall short in one or two aspects, you can still make up for it by being sincere in your explanations, as well as your commitment to improve in the future. You can also learn more on how to prepare for MBA placements with our blog. Hopefully, with enough preparation, you will be able to prove yourself worthy of the recruitment criteria and get the job of your dreams.

About Sunstone

Sunstone is a leading higher education service provider that works with academic institutions in up-skilling students for employability. Sunstone offers career oriented training interventions for undergraduate and postgraduate students at 30+ institutions across 25 cities.

Sunstone’s training programs are industry endorsed to enhance employability. These programs are designed for hybrid delivery with unparalleled focus on soft skills and personality development. Sunstone’s focus is to provide students with holistic educational experience.

FAQs About MBA Placement

Which MBA specialisation is the best?

Which MBA college gives the best placement?

What is the average package after an MBA?