DUAL SPECIALIZATION: The New Business Jargon?
The air was heavy with the overwhelming waft from my mother’s cooking. It was homecoming for my elder brother, Anuj, following three whole years of virtual conversations. While the anticipation in the house grew with each stroke of the clock, my subconscious took me through an assortment of worries that none but I knew of. With every glance at my watch, I was reminded of the target that hung above my neck, while time slowly slipped away like a sly snake with absolutely no regard for anybody.
A few impatient hours later my brother was at long last home and of course, we rejoiced in a sheath of enthusiasm of a family reunion. For a blissful few minutes my mind remained occupied with all that my brother had to say when again, in a single dull moment, the numbers reared their ugly head again. Not one to miss out on my lack of enthusiasm during a conversation, Anuj caught up with me. Was I glad that he did? Maybe. Anuj is also an MBA Graduate, except he graduated almost 5 years before I did and unlike me, marketing didn’t interest him at all. If there had to be anyone that a fresh and completely inexperienced MBA graduate like me could rant to, it simply had to be Anuj.
To begin with, I had seemingly a very simple problem. While I had absolutely no trouble navigating through my specialization, I just could not manage to bring a team together to achieve our targets. I could possibly blame it on my utter and complete lack of people skills, yet was I to think that my entire career was veering towards an untimely demise owing to this? I did not have the slightest idea of human resource management, neither had I anticipated that such a requirement would arise even in its most general application. My trail of thought lead me to think about those, like me, who are also in all probability attempting to break through their own expectations but are limited by a handicap of a specific aspect in their stream of work.
My Big Brother, took it upon himself to enlighten me about dual specialization. It seemed that dual specialization was the answer to those that wanted to opt for specializations in more than one domain. Quite so often the candidates choose combinations of Finance & IT, Human Resource Management and Marketing. While Dual Specialization is offered by a number of top MBA Colleges in the country, the rising demand for a dual specialization continued to plague my mind with an array of questions. How did I not know about this? Why was dual specialization starting to pique a growing interest among every aspirant? How does it benefit one’s career and what could possibly be the drawbacks? I conceptualized through the thought, trying to comprehend what it is that I had overlooked till now.
WHY DO YOU NEED A DUAL SPECIALIZATION?
Streams of specialization
MBA with dual specialization is particularly helpful for entrepreneurs and business visionaries. Many of the top MBA colleges in India offer dual specializations. In this, the students can pick one stream as majors and one as minors. The candidates can choose specializations according to their business necessity. A student with entrepreneurial ambitions would benefit from exploring more than one domain of business. As we know, multi-functional adeptness is a primary requirement for an entrepreneur.
As the business sector opens up, industries require applicants with solid capacities for multitasking. There’s a gigantic interest for applicants who can fit into expanded parts with sufficient productivity. What’s more, an MBA degree with dual specialization fits this interest supply crevice. A standout amongst the most famous dual specialization is MBA Finance and Marketing. Both specializations are vital parts of the business. Similarly, one can see the rationale in combining MBA in IT and Operations studies so as to have a more enriched and dynamic academic profile.
HOW DOES A DUAL SPECIALISATION HELP A CANDIDATE?
A number of benefits accrue from graduating with dual specialization
1) Dual specialization implies a higher exposure. Each business function has its intricacies and getting introduced to the diversity in functional perspectives would clearly enhance understanding. Students develop unique domain expertise and perform diverse assignments at the same time with equivalent productivity. The belief that dual specialization provides for a higher scope of placement holds true since the candidates are qualified to sit for different organizations for different positions.
2) General management profiles are highly coveted and the top MBA colleges in India strive hard to obtain a distinguished repute in creating professionals suitable for this category of jobs. One can naturally infer the advantage that dual specialization courses would have over single specialization in this aspect. Recruiters would feel more confident in picking students with demonstrated academic exposure across disciplines for such profiles.
3) Networking is an esteemed craft in MBA. Organizations and recruiters anticipate that MBA graduates will have an extensive network for successful business transactions. Dual specialization requires networking with a wider group of peers during lectures and for projects, thereby fulfilling this requirement in the most natural way.
Climbing the corporate ladder
A Praqtical look: There are distinct advantages of having dual specialization in an MBA program. However, seeking the dual MBA program from one of the top MBA colleges in India is of paramount importance. The best minds flock to high ranking institutes, be it students or faculty. The collective experience that one goes through in MBA is as important as the coursework itself. Therefore, the reputation of the college is a primary consideration while selecting colleges.
There is one noteworthy argument against the perceived advantage of dual specialization. Some organizations suggest that dual specialization MBA courses are excessively wide in nature. Absence of focus is one of the greatest contentions that businesses pit against dual specialization. Recruiters even argue that most job profiles are not designed with dual specialization in mind.
Top MBA Colleges in India that offer dual specialization option
What are your thoughts on dual specialization? Share with us in the comments section.
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Image Sources:
- http://www.skips.in/specialization/
- http://marketingland.com/growth-hack-marketing-career-2016-153743