Quite often, getting a good MBA job isn’t just about the right certificates and adequate domain knowledge. It is about communication, presentation and observing basic professional etiquettes in a job interview scenario. That’s particularly true for MBAs, who are expected to be team players, and future leaders. If effective business communication is your worry, help is at hand.
Nasha Fitter, Harvard Business School graduate and communication expert who has trained thousands of executives for companies like Wipro, ICICI and HUL, authored a new book titled ‘YOU’RE HIRED! How to get that job and keep it too’. The book was published by Penguin India this month. Unlike most books of this genre, this book is a practical step-by-step guide with lots of real life examples from the Indian context.
The book is structured into four sections: English grammar, Pronunciation, Interpersonal skills & personality building, and finally, Job placement skills and professional etiquette. The book, YOU’RE HIRED!, uses actual CVs, emails and resumés to show the communication and soft skills errors, and how they can be avoided.
For instance, in Chapter 5, Nasha Fitter narrates a story of one Jyoti. Keen on getting into her dream company, Jyoti finally gets to meet the HR manager. Shaking hands, she mouths, “Hi, myself Jyoti”. The HR manager is certainly not impressed! Nasha goes on to explain why this innocuous little sentence can end the dream of an applicant. She explains that this is a frequently made mistake because of incorrect use of pronoun.
“In Hindi, some of the pronouns we use are: Main, Tu, Aap, Hum and Woh. One major difference between Hindi pronouns and English pronouns is that in Hindi you change the verb following the pronoun to indicate gender (Main gaya). In English, we don’t change the verb depending on the gender (went remains the same regardless of ‘he’ or ‘she’). Thus, when using most English pronouns (I, me), there is no way to tell the gender at all. It’s only when we use pronouns like she, he, her and him do we learn what gender the speaker is referring to,” writes the author.
In YOU'RE HIRED!, Nasha offers some pretty useful tips. For instance:
Grammar is important – It doesn’t matter how well you dress or how qualified you are, if you can’t put a sentence together without making a grammatical mistake, you won’t come across as professional.
Always have a good resume handy – Take time to create a well-written, concise resume that makes you look amazing. Keep it updated.
Don’t take things personally – Whether you get rejected from an interview, fired from a job, yelled at by your superior, don’t take it personally. Treat your career as a marathon and try to learn from every situation.
Dress well – As one of my mentors once told me, “Walk into the office looking like you are the CEO, and one day you will be”. How you dress and carry yourself will affect the way you feel, and how people perceive you.
Read, read, read! – Reading is so important, it helps to improve grammar, vocabulary, and your overall communication style. Read anything, newspapers, magazines, fiction, non-fiction, whatever engages you.
Be passionate – It is amazing how much more successful people become who are passionate about their work. Show enthusiasm, drive, and that you care about what you do.
Nasha Fitter is a teacher and expert on communications and soft-skills training. She has groomed thousands of young MBAs for jobs in companies like Wipro, ICICI Bank and Hindustan Lever. She has developed a curriculum and teaching methodology focusing on the issues that Indian executives face. An MBA graduate of the Harvard Business School, Nasha has also worked as an investment banker at Wall Street and for an NGO that seeks to narrow the digital divide in India. She is currently working at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington.
Priced at a student friendly Rs 199, this 434 page book is worth a good read.
