MR. PANKAJ SARIN, FMG-7

Profile: Regional Manager – Enterprise Cloud Services (North & East), Hewlett Packard

In my opinion, during summer internship, students should try and maximize the gain from the opportunity at hand by being effective and working hard. The corporate world is small and well connected. Leaving good impressions on colleagues and developing cordial relations will influence future growth and references. Students should bear in mind that Summer Internship and the projects they execute will continue to have a bearing on their career for a long time. They should take the projects seriously, since this also works as a litmus test for final placements. Recruiting organizations evaluate the ability of candidates on the basis of their summer projects as well. It is very important to be on time and ensure that they are respectful to people within the organization and irrespective of their colleagues.

Whether in communications or dress code, they should leave a positive impact in people's mind by means of a thorough professional conduct.

MR.TARUN MUDGAL, IMG-1

Profile:Channel Manager, Corporate sales, Bharti Airtel

Speaking from personal experience, the students should reach the office on time as it creates a good impression and talks highly of your personality. It's very important to look professional even if the mentor assigned to the students or other people in the office are casually dressed. As they would be carrying the tag of their college, they should be polite and behave in a proper manner. With reference to the students who would be doing their internships in the field of finance, they would need to be well equipped in excel. Students should try and practice basic excel formulas as they would be expected to know such things. They should also revise their fundamentals before joining the internship as it will prove to be handy. Also it is required for them to focus more on the process of doing the project rather than the outcome of the project. In order to avoid last minute problems in Summer Internship Project, students should keep their college faculty mentors updated about the title of the project that they are doing, the methodology being adopted, midway changes if any and most importantly take guidance from them.

Mr. Manoj Chandan Jain, FMG-1

Profile:Vice President and Business Head for South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Birlasoft (India) Ltd.

My Wonderful Days at FORE
It was my final year of Engineering and like all other students, I also had to make a choice whether to study further or join a job at a private manufacturing company or at a PSU or may be, spend around 2 years preparing for UPSC without any certainty of success. The government employment was the craze among the majority of engineering guys across India.

I finally chose to study further and appeared in GRE and TOEFL as I wanted to do my Masters in Industrial Engineering in US. But probably as luck would have it, I could not get the scholarship in the college I wanted to do my MS and thus had to drop the idea. But no dream shattered as I got to know about FORE School of Management, and co-incidentally the entrance exam dates were matching with my calendar. Finally I landed in the first batch of FORE School.

There were people from across different parts of India from Kerala to Orissa and from Punjab to Tamil Nadu in the first batch. It was lively batches of young and energetic bunch of guys, fully aware of the fact that being in the first batch means carrying a big burden of proving themselves. I think the enthusiasm got boosted with a bunch of wonderful educational institutions in surrounding and a peaceful, serene and green environment around us. We all were as much committed as were our renowned faculty and management.

Everyone working in one's capacity to make FORE a great institution of the future. Sessions like Anubhuti where we met with folks like CR Rangarajan, then RBI Governor, Mr. Ashok Soota, then Wipro's Sr. Executive (and now a great entrepreneur), Mr. Muktesh Pant a big name in FMCG Industry, Mr. Lal of Eicher group and many more. I remembered that we got the world class faculty in those days and Professors from FMS, IIFT, IIT and IIMs were there apart from actual industry stalwarts teaching us all the view-point of management education. The most wonderful experience was study of Eastern Management principles which talked about growth of Japan; and movement of China on growth trajectory. We now see how China is driving the world business. This was, then coupled with the amazing experience of YOGA in the sunken garden by expert Yoga guru.

Best content, great faculty, encouraging environment for entrepreneurial endeavors, connectivity with industry and a very good placement in its first year are probably the reasons of why most of my batch mates are doing exceedingly well in their professional life. A little stint of mine as an entrepreneur in year 2000- Dotcom days also had its inspiration in my education at FORE. Of course, the dotcom failure of mine, have opened great opportunities of professional success and growth subsequently for me in Indian IT Industry. I owe it to my alma mater and my teachers there. Thanks FORE School of Management.

Mr. Neeraj Tomar, FMG-6

Profile:Senior Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle

Mr. Tomar was kind enough to answer a few questions put to him before speaking his mind to the students in Rendezvous.

What is your fondest memory of FORE?

"There were so many of them; it would be unfair to highlight one".

What is the one suggestion you would like to offer to the batch currently in the pipeline to join the industry?

"The best advice I can give is be thoroughly read. Be fully prepared. One has to know everything one can about a particular topic. Nothing beats the fundamentals".

How do you manage your work life balance?

"Well, I don't work on the weekends; they are reserved for my family. That's not to say that I'm a weekend dad. I watch my kids play football and even act as the manager to their school football team. They play every Sunday. It's important to unwind on the weekends after a tiring week of work"

How relevant do you think Management education imparted to students is in real life?

"I know it's going to sound clichéd but it's vitally important. Management education acts as a stepping stone into the corporate world. It teaches you to stick to deadlines, work in groups and most importantly how to multi-task. The situations and problems taught in B-Schools actually do happen in real life and having dealt with them before helps a lot"

Mr. Vivek Malhotra, FMG-1

Profile:AVP-Marketing, Idea Cellular

What are your fondest memories of FORE?

"There are too many memories of my two years at FORE to pick any one. However, the parties and get together remain the most cherished. I have a number of colleagues at Idea who are FORE alumni, so it's good to stay in touch and catch up on the old times"

What is one suggestion you would like to offer the batch about to join the industry?

"Apart from bookish knowledge, companies look for a pleasing personality and expect honesty from employees. Show total commitment to whatever job you undertake"

How do you manage your work-life balance?

"It is a tough balancing act. You need to be conscious of your responsibilities in personal life and always remember that work is never ending but you need to work towards managing this balance"

Do you think management education imparted to students is relevant in real life?

"Education is meant to prepare you to understand situations that may arise. However, only when you actually face a situation you learn to handle them and education imparted at management schools helps in achieving this. However, Students need to bear in mind that in the present scenario where knowledge becomes redundant very quickly, you must only strive to always keep learning"