Dr. Pingali Venugopal is the Dean (Academics) and Professor (Marketing) of XLRI, Jamshedpur. Dr. Venugopal is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He has been a Marketing faculty in XLRI since 1994. He has also been the visiting faculty at top MBA schools like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow and the American University of Armenia. Before joining XLRI, Dr. Venugopal had held managerial positions in the marketing divisions of two agribusiness companies.

Dr. Venugopal has authored the books ‘Marketing Channel Management: A Customer Centric Approach’ and ‘The State of the Indian Farmer: A Millennium study’.

In this exclusive interview with MBAUniverse.com, Dr. Venugopal talks about XLRI, how to choose the right career and gives his suggestions to MBA aspirants on how to carve out a career in management.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: What are the qualities that you look for in a candidate while selecting them for XLRI?

Dr. Venugopal: We check whether the candidates have proper knowledge, interest and depth of the subject or not. We also test whether the candidate is genuinely interested in doing MBA or is just following the common trend. XLRI also looks for certain personality traits in the candidates. We look for all those qualities which a manager must have, such as communication skills, leadership qualities, and awareness, to name a few.

Q: How is XLRI unique from the other top MBA schools?

Dr. Venugopal: XLRI is always helping students choose the right path. Our vision and mission leads us to fulfill social responsibilities. We stimulate students to understand themselves and their potential. Overall, we enrich the students with social, political and environmental responsibilities.

Q: What has been your experience in the Marketing sector?

Dr. Venugopal: Marketing is a very stable area. Unlike Finance and IT sector, it does not fluctuate much. Being in this sector is a learning experience, as it involves visiting various markets, meeting different people. It gives a different kind of satisfaction for those who are keen to learn new things and interact with people.

Q: What would you like to suggest the MBA students who are on the verge of choosing their career?

Dr. Venugopal: You have to choose your career very carefully. You should select the right path on the basis of your interest and instincts and not on the basis of peer pressure or high salary.

Students who have mechanical ability, who prefer to work with objects, machinery and tools should choose Production and Operations. Students who love to observe, learn, investigate, analyze, evaluate or solve problems, interact with people and have a good communication skill should go for Marketing.

Students who have artistic, innovating or institutional abilities and like to work in unstructured environment using their imagination and creativity should work for the Strategy sector.

Students who like to work with people to enlighten, inform, help, train, or are skilled with words should join HR and those students, who like to work with data, have numerical ability, carry out tasks in detail or follow through on others' instructions should go for Finance.

Q: What is your advice to MBA aspirants?

Dr. Venugopal: Firstly you should be able to ensure yourself that you really want to be an MBA for a purpose of your own and not blindly follow the latest trend or succumb to parental or peer pressure. Be cool while writing the MBA entrance exam. Don’t let tension hamper your performance. During the Personal Interview stage, be truthful and be yourself. Don’t be artificial as that kind of attitude doesn’t help you. Choose a good MBA School and a suitable career for yourself. A bright future won’t be far away.

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