What's in a name? ... that too in a MBA - ISB?

Well for once this post is not about how ISB as a brand adds value to your resume yada yada yada (it does).

This post is not about how the name of the school or the institute from where you have done your education and / or MBA matters etc. That debate we can save for a later date.

This post my dear friends is about our name (at least mine) and what kind of impact it has. While on campus and even today when I go to the ISB campus I land up meeting the sexily named Chopras, Mittals, Goenkas, Shahs, Sharmas, Kalras, Kumars, Reddys, etc etc and I suddenly squirmed at the "Yadav" tag in my name.

Now before you start thinking I am not proud of my name etc etc, let me set the record straight. I am too narcissist to not like anything that I am associated with including my name. So I do say with "garv" that I am "Yadav, Amit Yadav" and then follow it up with a "How you doin?" (This is where I failed most of my job interviews).

But me and another of my dear friend from my batch "Nishant Pandey" had this conversation once on the campus during the placement season. We discussed what kind of a mental image will the recruiter conjure up in his / her mind when they read the name "Yadav" or a "Pandey" on the resume. Will they think of a suit clad smart looking professional or a village baboon sitting on a buffalo and talking about strategy. This was a discussion in jest and now thinking back I think this surely would have been when Nishant was trying to console me when I did not make one of the shortlists. We laughed about it and also ideated about whether it makes sense to actually add a picture of ours to the resume (I know it would have been more detrimental in hindsight)

But that discussion did linger on in my mind for quite some time and every time I now get a resume in front of me I consciously try to gauge if there is a bias that is creeping in because of the name. Another thing that we experienced during the "Gender and Leadership" sessions in ISB - You will always have biases and can never be unbiased. The trick is to be aware of your biases when you are making decisions.  The prof (I forget her name) also said that if you ever get rid of your biases you will lose your sixth sense.

....... coming back to the point....... I did eventually get a job and so did Nishant and both of us are doing pretty well in our industries and roles. We did not notice any bias against any name during the process but the thought of me being pictured by some recruiter as a "typical" Yadav (don't ask what that means) was pretty funny.

In conclusion, there is nothing in the name : you may be a Yadav, Pandey, Fernandes, Goenka, Mittal, etc, your employer will still make the mistake of hiring you :)

ISB - Some Pertinent Questions

There are some pertinent questions that all aspirants to ISB (or maybe any B-School) have:

1. Is my Profile Good enough to get shortlisted in ISB?
2. Will I get through to ISB?
3. What can I do to improve my profile to get into ISB?
4. What GMAT Score is good enough for my Profile or what is the minimum for ISB?

and I think once a person is near selection or is selected

1. What is the payoff for this ISB - MBA?
2. What salary can I expect in the placements at ISB?
3. Is it worth it?

The funny and the frustrating part of this exercise is that you can easily guess the answers to these questions yourselves.

"IT DEPENDS"

This, I am sure, is true of any Business School and any profile. There obviously are some of the general concepts that you should know about.

ISB values its diversity a lot. What it cannot make up in the international diversity it makes up in its profile diversity. We have more than 10 doctors (experienced Surgeons etc), 60+ CAs who have diverse experience themselves, IIT Engineers with wonderful backgrounds, Journalists, Economists, Entrepreneurs, Consultants etc etc. Thus if you can add to this diversity then you are always welcome. However this does not mean that if you have a background that very few on this planet may have you have an automatic entry (the other criteria of Leadership ability, Need to do a MBA, recommendations etc are required)

This also does not mean that male IT Engineers are shooed away as is the common misconception. Nearly 50% of the batch is from a IT Background. But you still need to distinguish yourself from others and remember that the competition is tough.

I hope one day I get the time to write about what I think one should do to stand out in this competition. (My views obviously)