Why 1 Year MBA is the Ideal Choice for Experienced Professionals

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Why One-Year MBA is The Right Fit For Experienced Professionals?

14 Nov 2023
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Not being able to climb the corporate ladder?

Here’s the thing…

The contemporary workplace is undergoing rapid change due to digital disruption, AI, and remote work. Adapting to this evolution is imperative, particularly in redefining our approach to workplace learning to bridge the skills gap. Matt Sigelman highlights that 37% of job skills have evolved in just the past five years. Staying updated has become increasingly challenging.

McKinsey reports that only 40% of employees believe their companies actively prioritize upskilling as the need to keep the workforce updated on emerging trends, the rest 60% did not believe in upskilling. Another study suggests that only 29% of the employees received this support. The remaining 71% of the workforce did not.

What makes a one-year MBA relevant for a working professional?

A one-year MBA holds immense relevance for working professionals due to its condensed format, enabling career advancement without a lengthy sabbatical. It provides specialized knowledge, hones leadership skills, and bolsters one’s network.

The curriculum is often tailored for experienced individuals, offering immediate applicability in the workplace. Moreover, it’s a cost-effective and time-efficient approach, ensuring professionals can swiftly reap the benefits of their enhanced qualifications and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business world.

What Prompts Non-MBA Professionals To Pursue A Management Program?

What are the challenges faced by the freshers in the organization that become a hindrance to their moving up the corporate ladder? The executive might feel they lack skills that are valued by the organization. Certain things are difficult for the non-MBA graduate to grasp, immediately –

Lack of managerial skills

A fresher coming out of a school or a college would not understand the dynamics of the team, how interpersonal skills help organizations become more productive, how it makes a team a high potential team, and how to manage people with diverse thinking processes – this is something fresh graduates will not know. When these graduates join a firm, they join as individual contributors, who do manual work, which does not give them the opportunity to develop managerial skills.

Lack of decision-making skills

The key to managerial positions. The primary role of a manager is to maximize the limited resources available to them. A fresh graduate wouldn’t have the exposure, and hence the skills to make sound decisions, especially in the complex business environment that we are in, today.

Lack of a holistic Business perspective

The freshers do not understand the value, and the significance of their roles. An IT professional – a coder and tester do not understand how crucial their role is, and the amount of experience that the customer/ client will get through them is what will make them loyal to the company.

Choosing the right role

Freshers get excited by the fancy CTCs and join firms that come to the campus for recruiting. However, 2-3 years later, they realize that the role isn’t for them and that they would do better in other roles So, how do they move out? Pursuing an MBA gives them the lever to shift fields/ industries/ sectors.

The one-year MBA gives the youth of today, the opportunity to reorient themselves, if they are stuck at a job that they do not resonate with, and want to fast-track their career in an area of their choice.

How SOIL Help Professionals Reorient Their Careers?

The top B-school in India – SOIL has a very unique model. Its founder Mr. Anil Sachdeva – one of the most renowned personalities for human resource development in India, is the father of TQM (Total Quality Management) while heading ECS (Eicher Consultancy Services) one of the top management consulting firms in the HR space.

His idea behind founding this institute was to bring the industry together, in order to build an institution that helps solve the company’s futuristic problems. This led to 32 consortium companies coming together to co-create the SOIL Institute of Management. These companies were willing to collaborate in every function of the institute. For example – SOIL was the first B-school that had somebody from the industry/ corporate accompanying the faculty during the admissions process, to take the interviews. That’s when and how the consortium companies started to help the institute select the talent.

The faculty at SOIL is truly world-class! Instead of faculty who could provide students with theoretical knowledge, the institute wanted practitioners – who have more practicing experience than teaching experience. WHY? When a practitioner comes and teaches about the application of the concepts that are a part of the curriculum, the students reach somewhere. The faculty on board have long periods of industry experience.

Besides, 32 consortium companies have the freedom to recruit students once they have completed their program properly, and if the company has a requirement that students are eligible for.
How Does The One-Year MBA By The Top B-school In India Bridge The Gap Between Professionals And The Corporate Needs?

The model followed by SOIL has been suggested by the consortium companies. There are 3 things crucial for a rapid career progression for a working professional –
- Competence – People pick up jobs, but they eventually realize that it isn’t something they want, and they go to work with a lack of –
- Enthusiasm – Companies like Google and Microsoft have a very stringent selection process, and the employees there are super excited the go to work, they, don’t want to go home only. That should be the kind of enthusiasm every working professional should have for their jobs.
  SOIL helps these professionals identify their passion, and helps them to build a career in that particular direction.
- The character of the professional – The willingness to work hard towards a goal – is a character, similarly, not being offended by a team member questioning you – is a part of your character, and being open to constructive criticism – is a character because it suggests the professional’s openness to receiving ideas that could further refine theirs!
  SOIL has certain subjects that are built around developing a strong character and work ethic.
Let’s take a minute to know these subjects –
- Theatre – One of the best teachers of drama – Amrita Lal ji, and Lushin Dubey teach students to overcome their fears through theatre. Students come out with all their inhibitions and start expressing themselves as though their no one in front of them. They are trained to voice their opinions, which is how they open up. This is how personalities are developed.
- Yoga – A yoga instructor – Mrs. Suzie Roy comes from Seattle to teach the students about living in the present. She incorporates a unique practice called “the chup sadhana” which helps students bring peace to themselves by remaining quiet.
- Design Thinking – People usually use their left brain which is the logical brain. This course helps students use their right brain so that they can be creative. This helps them to observe their surrounding without any bias.
Picking The Brains

I have pursued a B. Pharma, and I have been working as a marketing executive in a pharma company for the past 2 years. My goal is to become a product manager in the same industry. Can the one-year MBA land me in the desired role?

100%, provided you understand the concepts of product management, how new products are developed, and the real meaning of product management. As a marketing manager, you have a fair idea about how the products are sold, the customer, and their needs. So, if your target is to become a product manager, the one-year MBA by SOIL will help you achieve your goal.

Which has better placements – marketing OR finance?

The question shouldn’t be about marketing or finance, it should be about where you see yourself 15 years later. If you see yourself as the CEO of a company, you must master both marketing and finance. However, marketing is a more popular subject among students. So if there are 25-30 students in marketing, there would be 10-12 students in finance. However, both roles have equal placements.

Most MBA aspirants desire a consulting role at the end of the management program. How can SOIL help to achieve this goal?

Aspiring to be a consultant is one thing, the other thing is knowing what it entails! It seems glamorous to see how graduates land consulting roles at top companies like Deloitte, KPMG, etc, however, it is also equally crucial for you to understand that they have all moved to these roles after gaining a reasonably good amount of time and energy in understanding the domain that they are in. So, it’s always better to opt for the domain level, gain a robust grounding, develop expertise, and then move into consulting.

To give an example – SOIL’s alumni Sheeza Shakeel started her journey as a pre-sales executive at HCL. She mastered that role, and today she is the sales director at Accenture.

I am a B.A. graduate with no work experience. I want to become a product manager, which program will be the most beneficial? – one-year MBA in HR, OR PGDM?

There are a few things to consider –
- You can not become a product manager directly after an MBA, because you are a fresher!
- These kinds of roles are given to candidates with experience with the product/ or with the market.
- It is a business role, not an HR role.
- You can pursue the PGDM, a two-year MBA program, and join as a product manager trainee, or a management trainee, and then achieve your desired goal after a few years.
I have 3 years of work experience, however, I am still not sure which career to choose after my MBA. Will SOIL be able to help me figure this out?

Definitely! The moment you join SOIL, you are selected based on a psychometric test that identifies the personality traits of the candidate, and what roles would be ideal for that personality.

They are assigned internal mentors, as well as external mentors who are industry leaders. These mentors work in partnership to help you clear the fog in your head and help you identify the best career trajectory keeping your educational and professional background in mind. You can take the first 3 months to navigate what would be the best career for you.

This is what SOIL specializes in – helping students figure out their passion.

How rigorous is the one-year MBA? Since there is no internship, how does SOIL cover this gap?

SOIL’s one-year program is very rigorous. Be prepared to invest 12-14 hours, reading 100-200 pages, solving case studies, making presentations, and multiple exams, every day.

Since the one-year MBA is designed for professionals with work experience, the curriculum doesn’t require an internship. Students collaborate intimately with corporate entities to identify needs and engage in hands-on projects with organizations, navigating and addressing real corporate challenges.

There are a large number of students who want to change their roles/ sectors/ domains, who are encouraged to pick up live projects and are assisted through SOIL’s network, friends circles, and placement division. This gives them exposure to the domains that they did not get exposure to in the past. For example – people previously in manufacturing who want to move into marketing roles are encouraged to pick up live projects on marketing, giving them exposure to the domain.

I want to get into business analytics. What should I be well-versed with, before entering this domain?

Prospective candidates for the one-year MBA – PGPM in Analytics at SOIL need a minimum of 2 years of industry experience. If you want to pursue Analytics, you should be in love with data! While passion in analytics is beneficial, the world-class faculty at SOIL is adept at harmonizing diverse cohort, before specializing in their field of interest. So, if you lack specific skills, there’s no cause for concern. You can, however, enhance your resume and capabilities by obtaining certifications in areas such as digital marketing, AIML, big data, etc.

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What Prompts Non-MBA Professionals To Pursue A Management Program?

Lack of managerial skills

Lack of decision-making skills

Lack of a holistic Business perspective

Choosing the right role

How SOIL Help Professionals Reorient Their Careers?

How Does The One-Year MBA By The Top B-school In India Bridge The Gap Between Professionals And The Corporate Needs?

Picking The Brains

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PGDM Batch 2025-27 Orientation Start Date - 20th June 2025

Never miss a beat. Get Blog updates regularly in your inbox

PGDM Batch 2025-27 Orientation Start Date - 20^th June 2025