Management students should focus on academic skills and soft skills during their MBA days to make themselves ready for the job market and meet the requirements of companies, said Mr Mohammed Abdullah, the Director of Condura.

Delivering a talk on employability for management students here on Monday at a guest lecture in Alliance College of Management, he exhorted the students to make the best use of opportunities opening up in the Indian market.

The event was organised by the Business Line Club. It was sponsored by Tata Photon Plus.

Mr Abdullah said that there would be rich monetary rewards for hard work. “A generation ago they used to dream of lakhs of rupees. In our generation, it (making such money) has become a reality. In your generation, even crores may become commonplace, as the Indian economy takes off,” he said.

He gave practical tips to students on how to face interviewers, on cultivating the right attitudes and how to mould body language to instil confidence. “You are selling yourself and therefore bring out the best in you and put your best foot forward. Overcome your inhibitions and face the world confidently. If you shrivel up inside yourself, however intelligent and knowledgeable you may be, you will fall by the wayside,” he told the students.

Mr Abdullah opined that there was too much gender consciousness in the conservative Indian society and therefore girls and boys should learn to overcome inhibitions. “In the workplace, men and women have to mingle freely and men should learn to treat women as their peers. It is quite possible that many of you may have to take orders from women. Be prepared for it,” he told the boys.

Mr Satish Kumar Kolla, the Director of the institute, and Mr T.V. Suresh, the regional general manager of The Hindu , also spoke.

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