How B-schools are attracting retired armed forces for a career in management
Despite their unparalleled work for the nation, armed forces personnel face an early retirement from service. Business schools can play a crucial role by bringing them back under productive employment for a management career.
The pride and satisfaction of being armed force personnel serving the nation are unparalleled. Having a tag of a Defense Service Officer under one's belt is indeed a lifetime achievement. However, armed forces personnel face an early retirement from service compared to their civil counterparts.
However, they are still productive and can put their experiential management skill and system knowledge to contribute to the growth of an organization.
To solve this problem, business schools can play a vital role in providing a smooth transaction of a retired armed force officer from his military life to the corporate life of the civil world.
Retired armed force personnel need a second career
Short service commission officers retire after 10 years of services, premature retirement officers after 20-23 years of services, and full tenure officers after 30-35 years of service.
Like any other individual, after an early retirement/superannuation from service, armed force personnel need to look for a career option to socially and financially support their own self and their family.
After a full term in the armed forces, officers look for resettlement in the civilian society as an important contributor, mostly through social initiative or new entrepreneurial ventures.
Due to the vast difference in the skill set required and the nature of the job performed in the military and corporate world, armed force personnel require a transformation of knowledge and new skills for successfully building a career in the corporate world.
A business school can play a major role in this transformation.
How the skills of armed force personnel can benefit the corporate world
Armed force personnel possess excellent experiential management skills and leadership which is acquired by the nature of tasks handled and teams of men lead by them while performing a diverse range of assigned responsibilities in the armed forces.
The technical knowledge learned and honed by armed forces personnel is of a specific and targeted nature for military applications.
While management and leadership skill is required in the corporate world, there is a requirement of modulation and enhancement of their skills to deal with the civilian workforce.
Further, the business requirement of a corporate industry needs to be understood along with standard and proven approaches of corporate management, since military knowledge and expertise may not be applicable in a straightforward way.
Academic institutions develop MBA courses exclusively for ex-defense personnel mainly because of the fact that people with defense background tend to be more disciplined, focused, sincere, organised and have leadership qualities, and these are the qualities that every corporate house digs.
Although the trend is gradually changing, it is still tough to gain entry into a completely new field. An MBA degree makes it easier to get a head-start as it not only provides relevant training and skill-sets but also opens avenues in the job market.
Etiquettes of civil and corporate world are incorporated in the training of armed force personnel by B-schools to enhance their adaptability to the new industry.
Course details to get retired army personnel into a management career
The number of B-schools in India has increased and many are designing courses for ex-army personnel which match the industry requirements and an ex-serviceman's aptitude and needs.
The duration of such a course is usually six months. The intake ranges from candidates with 10-13 years of experience in the forces to those with more than 25 years on the job.
For those who wish to set up their own business, a management course is a good option to learn entrepreneurial skills in less time.
The topics covered in the course include Corporate Finance, Business Analytics, Economics, Strategy, Operations and Project Management, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour, Human Resources, Communication, Sales and Marketing, Information Technology, Supply Chain Management, Finance, and Retail.
Directorate resettlement, department of Ex-serviceman (MOD), empanels B-schools for imparting training and providing assistance for the corporate placements. General targeted institutions are top government institutions like IIMA, IIMB, IIMC, etc. or top rated B-schools like MDI Gurgaon etc.
Though a number of institutes are sufficiently empanelled but the choice for selecting an institute lies with the officers.
Indicators used by different rating agencies comprise some of the following or a combination of these: teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; faculty, accreditation, academic infrastructure, placements, learning and living experience; and future orientation, academic excellence and personality development.
Institutes always try to upgrade themselves by benchmarking the group of above indicators selected strategically.
The very motive of these institutions is to position themselves in the competitive market for automatic choice of potential candidates. Some institutes also attract students through marketing and branding apart from enhancing resources and infrastructure.
Focus group interview for army personnel
A focus group interview is conducted to identify the actual requirements of these retired army officers. The outcomes are (not in specific order):
- Brushing up concepts and processes as used in the industry
- Presence of faculty with strong research and industry experience
- Organized HR/placement assistance
- Industry connect/reputation of the institution
- Building the Alumni network
- Location of institute: near a lot of industries and job opportunities
- Excellent library and sports facilities
All these indictors are more or less similar to the indictors used by a B-school rating agency. The institute's extra focus on these indictors may give an upper hand in attracting armed forces officers for a management career.
- Article by Prof. Amit Kumar Gupta (PhD, IIT Kanpur), Assistant Professor, MDI Gurgaon
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