6 Best Ways To Enhance Your MBA Career With Corporate Competitions

Testing one’s skills and knowledge is of utmost importance for upskilling oneself. Accordingly, competitions may act as a big tool to test ourselves through self-assessment and get opportunities for improvising through constructive feedback. Corporate competitions these days play a big role in the expansion of MBA career opportunities. This works by laying down platforms for acute self-development and corporate networking. Having a strong foothold and connect in the industry is a must for all B-Schools these days, the reason being the exposure and inclusion of corporate culture in the educational set-up.

Corporate Competitions adrenalize the learning ecosystem of the B-Schools by organizing various competitions. These, for instance, are hackathons, case simulations, scenario-based challenges, research challenges and many more. A few of corporate competitions to be mentioned are Hul L.I.M.E. challenge, Godrej Loud, Mahindra Warroom, Amazon Ace, L&T Outthink, E&Y Quiz, L’Oreal Brandstorm, Pepsico Change the Game.

Opportunities are plenty, but the question is, how do you make the most out of them? What are those ways through which you can expand the MBA career opportunities for yourself to the next level?

Well, the following are a few tips that we have concocted for you to make the most out of the corporate competitions being held in your B-School.

1. Consume the corporate culture and embrace the exposure

The biggest benefit of corporate competitions is the massive exposure they offer. With the companies coming in to conduct various competitions, the start could be you registering for almost all of them. Such competitions usually revolve around real-life business challenges to check the knowledge, acumen, and team-building skills of the students. Such competitions also provide an opportunity to get a thorough understanding of the industry or area around which they revolve. This can help you become a knowledgeable professional and in turn, increase future job opportunities.

An example in light could be the Mahindra WarRoom; which is a strategy competition that unfolds with students solving real-time problems faced by the company. Students prepare business strategies to solve the case studies. They in turn, get an opportunity to brush their strategic mindset and learn ways to strategize optimally. Shortlisted teams get an opportunity to present their work in front of Mr. Anand Mahindra and the Executive Board of Mahindra Group.

Another great competition is Amazon Ace which revolves around the area of operations and consumer business, and requires students to solve live case simulations; battling on three fronts - Innovation, Strategy, and Simplicity. Winners get exciting cash prizes to the tune of 1.5 Lakh and get a chance to share the stage live on TV with Amazon leaders and network.

This is a great learning platform where you solve live challenges and practice how the work is actually done on the ground level which, enables you to check and analyze your skills to note down points for upskilling at places where you lack.

2. Make the most of the networking opportunities

With the executives from various companies coming in, it calls for eagle-eyeing every opportunity for corporate networking. Expanding your network and strengthening it can greatly fuel MBA career opportunities after you exit your B-School. When companies visit your campus, they mostly observe students who are pro-active, smart and carry a curious mind towards things. Well, why should it be that only they scan for the most valuable ones amongst the lot? Secondly, making the most of such encounters can keep you in the good books of the company and add value to your network.

3. Showcase your worth for creating value for yourself

Corporate Competitions calls for a lot of participation and testing which in-turn gives you limelight to showcase your skills. Many competitions may also give you the opportunity to showcase your business ideas and prove their validity by solving real-world business challenges. Many a time, companies conduct PPIs (Pre Placement Interviews) during such competitions to look out for prospect candidates. Appearing for such interviews can increase your connect and expand job opportunities. They might even get you short term projects to validate your knowledge. In some cases, if they get impressed by your ideas, they may also willingly give expert guidance, help register for IPR, train you for future placement, or even sponsor strong business models.

One such example is RB Maverick’s Markerting+Entrepreneurship competition which gives students a platform to step outside the academic boundaries. They work with the local community to understand their needs and come up with prospective business models or campaigns applicable in a real-world environment. Shortlisted student teams are given sponsorship to the tune of INR 1 lakh to pilot their idea. Well, who knows it could be you? Be an opportunist.

4. Achieving the dream takes a team

Being an MBA student calls for understanding the essence of team collaboration and team building. Corporate competitions harness such an environment that needs teamwork to solve business challenges, hackathons, case simulations, etc. You get an opportunity to develop your people management, work division, and leadership skills and also learn delegation for that matter. All individuals have different skill sets and expertise, and making the most out of them is the most logical game plan.

So, divide and conquer by allotting work as per the person’s area of expertise. This would increase your team’s efficiency and quality of work. Collate at the end to review as a team and give the final finishing. Innovative and lateral thinking along with the exchange of ideas amongst the team members can help gain great insight and look at challenges from varied perspectives. Keep in mind that the efforts of all the members lead to victory. Understanding this is the quality of an ardent manager.

5. Make a compelling Resume

All the exposure that such competitions give leads to a lot of learning and upskilling. It brushes your communication, public relations, decision making, problem-solving, networking and leadership skills. It channelizes all the knowledge that you gain in your classes, put it to solve business challenges and gives you a glimpse and better understanding of what working in a corporate or the industry is like. All this exposure helps you build a better portfolio reflecting your skills and showing just how big a game player you are.

Let’s not forget that such add-ons show you as an experienced and knowledgeable candidate who could be trained easily. Recruiters are very fast to shortlist candidates based on the particulars of the resumes and what catches their eyes is beyond academic section. Such co-curricular and extra-curricular activities add value to your resume and increase your chances of getting selected in the company of your dreams.

6. Inheriting that competitive edge

Taking part in such competitions leads to a lot of brain-storming and creates a healthy competitive environment. This gives that extra little jerk that one needs to keep on growing. These competitions will help you get out of your comfort zone of attending 9 to 4 classes. Thus, getting you in action. With so many of your peers taking part and all trying to stand out from the rest, such an environment creates a competitive feeling amongst all which is considered very constructive for growth. Perennial participation in corporate competitions will help you gain a competitive edge which will always help you grow in your career.

Conclusion

Hence, we may say that corporate competitions can help inculcate industry-oriented skills and harness holistic development. In today’s competitive times, it is very much necessary to have that extra edge and be a distinctive personality. The question in light is how are you different from the rest? Something like the #10yearchallenge might help you analyze your growth. But, never forget that you are your biggest competitor and that should be your benchmark. To be YOUR best self.