Real time performance measure.

Here at ISB, after every course is over, the students are asked to fill up a satisfaction survey ( asking to rate the course & the instructor on a semantic scale of 1-7 on various parameters). Supposedly, these ratings are used by the academic office to decide whether the student population likes a particular professor & the course or not. This data is then used for tweaking the course structure for next batch. Previous year ratings for some of the elective term profs are made available to the batch while bidding for course electives. (So that you can pump in more points if a Prof has a star rating or can skip a course if that is rated high on workload, etc).

However, like most market research techniques, there is a high chance of biases/counfounding creeping in people's judgements when they are asked to do so based on their memory. I would like to think that most people (who fill up the survey diligently) do that on a general basis of 'feel good' about the course or the prof. & that is also highly influenced by the last few classes. If a prof didnt really evoke a lot of interest in last 3 sessions but did a rocking job in first 7 of them, he is more likely to suffer in his ratings. & Other such data collection issues.

Been thinking about a better way of judging how a prof/course is doing. One could be to ... Just obeserve the number of people with open laptops in the class. This could be observed over say more than (say) 3 classes to remove special effects of events like ongoing cricket match (whose score needs to be tracked ball by ball on cricinfo.com) or an impending shortlist of a company due in the day (which requires F9 pressing every 30 sec). Think most people would agree that we dont need to pass time on a laptop when the prof is rocking or when the course itself is interesting.

A large number of students in the class having laptops open is akin to a person presenting in front of a disinterested audience. I wonder why dont some of the profs take this sign as a real time measure of their performance in class.

Branding.

So, you can say ...

Companies like Coca Cola, Microsoft, GE, Intel, etc come to recruit at ISB for various management positions.

Or you can say ...

Top 6 out of global top 10 brands trust ISB graduates to lead them to a position of global dominance in the ever changing business environment.

No no. Am not writing a brand line for ISB or anybody. Not qualified enough to do that.

Essence is that in this season of ppt's, job postings, resumes & job talk everywhere - you better package your seemingly commonplace skills as earth shaking capabilities ... just exactly fitting as what was being required of that job posting.

I need to brush my consumer behaviour lessons to make sure that I make the absolutely right impact in the first nanosecond a recruiter sees me or my resume.

Cause & Effect, Front Loaded, Action & Impact are some of the buzzwords in use.

They say that recruitment is a selling process. You are the salesman & your resume is your product. There are some excellent salesmen around carrying great products. These are the sureshot day zero sharks. Real fun is in the tussle between great salesmen with duds & poor salesmen with super products. Who shall win?

Hummm

Stumbled upon this article in Gladwell's website. We've seen this before in the MO course. Good read, esp in the interviewing season :-)

So, it began...

The real thing. Thats what we came here for. Thats what everyone's been slogging a$$ for. Placements. No not the official season. Thats still a month away. But an MNC came & interviewed ppl for US positions. Seems some offers will be made but cant be officially communicated until the actual week starts (else biggies will get pissed). Lots of excitement. Ppl moving around in suits. Shortlists pe shortlists. Lots of rumors. Lots of iff & buts. Lots of smiling faces. Lots of congratulations. Lots of expletives. Lots of gyaan. Lots of philosophy. Lots of frustration. Lots of resume reviews.
In short, this place is teeming with life now. & Its just the PPT time & a sporadic incident of companies coming before the season.
It sure gonna be one helluva ride. Hope most people do get their desired jobs. Although, imo, the placement week format, in a place like ISB, does forebode a number of misfit placements & later quick attrition. But thats part of the story.

btw, Term VII started. Taking 3 courses. Nothing really to talk about them.

IT.. Marketing ...

No no... this post aint about placements or my grand(!) career plans. Was browsing through the archives of a marketing gyaan related site when stumbled upon this article. Has some thoughts on how Marketing & IT functions in an org can cohabit & (maybe) co-operate.
Could prove to be useful blabber in interviews incase one is coming from a tech background & pitching for marketing roles.

btw, another useful read here. Funda on something called as 'Sales Learning Curve' - analogous to Learning Curve effects in manufacturing.

Welcome 2006.

Happy New Year to everyone.
Term VI end term exams tomm. Lots of stuff to study. With these, three quarters of our ISB education would be complete. & would be officially entering the placements game, which is an entirely different game from the struggles of past 6 terms. Important to play this game well. 1 term of preparation & then 1 week of climax.

'05 was a great year. Here's hoping that '06 is much better in all respects than that.