Behind the Scenes with Bosch in Germany with IILM Global Study Program

General Blog, Global Study, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Undergraduate Business School16 AugustNidhi Piplanicompany visit, Global Study Program, IILM Global Study, IILM Global Study Program, IILM UBS Global Study Program, industry visit, students visit

The IILM BBA (2016-19) Batch 1 students visit BOSCH plant and R&D centres in Stuttgart, Germany on 2nd August 2017. The IILM BBA students were treated to an up-close view of the Robert Bosch Corporation that few get to experience.

In an endeavor to provide world class exposure to its students, IILM Undergraduate School of Business makes it mandatory for its students to be a part of its Global Study Program. The IILM Global Study Program takes the form of a study tour of a 3week to one of its partner universities in Canada or in Europe.

The IILM UBS Global Study Program was conceived to benefit the budding entrepreneurs and managers to immerse themselves in another culture as well as experience the challenges and opportunities facing organizations around the globe. It also extends global awareness and enhances the international perspective of IILM BBA students. During such tours, students meet leading executives and government officials while visiting businesses, industries, and cultural sites.

A visit to the Bosch World Wide Headquarters building in Stuttgart The company visit began with a thorough tour of the Bosch World Wide Headquarters building in Stuttgart, Germany. Very much like the gigantic Bosch corporate entity and identity itself, it was hard to judge how big the place was – with its office tower just disappearing into the low clouds behind the German countryside.

Once inside, our IILM BBA group got a better idea of the scope of things. The Bosch Group of companies has well over 350 subsidiaries and regional companies in 60+ countries and gives employment to nearly 300,000 people. Power tools make up 16% of Bosch business, while the automotive industry is responsible for 60% of its business. Appliances and countless industrial and energy related products make up the rest.

During our tour of some of the best corporate research and advanced engineering labs including that of Bosch, we were exposed to some of the latest developments in “smart” materials, photovoltaics, and Lithium-ion battery technologies. We can’t be more specific than that, but suffice it to claim that things move pretty fast at Bosch – the Bosch corporate research department files an average of 12 patents a day.

To conclude, the trip to the Bosch World Wide Headquarters building in Stuttgart didn’t disappoint the group! It was amazing to visit and get the first-hand experience of the business and functioning of this corporate giant.

BBA in Entrepreneurship and the Significance of Digital Marketing Module

IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Undergraduate Business School16 AugustGurpreet Singh BhatiaBBA in Entrepreneurship, Digltal Marketing Module, Global Study, Global Study Program, IILM BBA, industry visit, Seneca College

This is an era of the digital, and your customers have become smarter and are engaging in various tasks on different digital devices including purchasing as well. So, the management professionals and entrepreneurs have to go digital as well.

Digital marketing holds huge promise for BBA Entrepreneurship students. It promises to prepare them for a new wave of marketing roles in different firms, as well as equipping them to explore new avenues in family business management and new entrepreneurial ventures. As technology continues to drive business in the 21st century, mastery of digital marketing operations and techniques is a prerequisite for success. IILM BBA in Entrepreneurship prepares students for this huge opportunity and makes sure that its graduates start thinking Digital.

On August 10, 2017, we had the commencement of two-day Digital Marketing Class at Seneca College, Toronto for the Batch 3 of BBA in Entrepreneurship (2016-19) as a part of 3 weeks Global Study Program. 19 students were in the batch to attend to the class given by Prof Greg Locke. The workshop mapped the current scenario in the digital media ecosystem, the challenges businesses face, areas where entrepreneurs and management professionals get stuck up and the way ahead.

It was a two-day module – in which our student participants got an overview of fundamentals of Digital Marketing and how they can leverage Digital Marketing effectively for their business or brand. The module had sessions on Display Advertising, Search Advertising, Social Media Marketing and Mobile Marketing along with Analytics/how Digital Marketing activities can be measured.

This digital marketing class was a comprehensive program in online marketing and analytics. It was a two-day program that combined pedagogy using lectures, case studies, hands -on exercises, assignments and practical. The training class very well equipped the participants to understand the nuances of digital marketing and prepared them to make appropriate marketing strategies using all forms of digital media. The class left the participants capable of understanding the key elements of online marketing in creating an effective digital marketing strategy for businesses.

IILM BBA Study Tour to Stuttgart, Home of the Mercedes-Benz Headquarters

Global Study, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Undergraduate Business School14 AugustAnisha RaniGlobal Study, Global Study Program, IILM BBA, IILM Blog, industry visit, Mercedes-Benz Museum, study tour, Stuttgart, Undergraduate School of Business

An IILM Undergraduate Business School leader steps out to explore what lies beyond the familiar, to develop a well-rounded perspective. It is with this aim that as a part of unique BBA curriculum the college takes its students for Global Study Program every year to provide them an experience which is unmatched, in terms of global exposure and lateral thinking.

The IILM BBA students tour Canada or Europe as a part of its Global Study Program to avail of the unique opportunity to study in a global environment and learn holistically. During the BBA study tour, our students visit industries to understand the functioning of the units and also experience the local festivities of the area.

This year we visited the Mercedes-Benz Headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany on 3rd August, 2017, as a part of our Global Study Program. The gigantic and ultramodern Mercedes Benz Headquarters in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim displays a huge collection of historic vehicles owned by the world’s oldest automobile manufacturer. In addition to cars, the headquarters also displays trucks, buses, experimental vehicles, and racing cars built by Mercedes Benz. I was leading the group with one of my colleagues Ms. Nidhi Piplani.

Germany in general and Stuttgart in particular are synonymous with the purr of meticulously engineered motors and the sheen of polished chrome. Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Volkswagen all popped up on the world map from this central European country, and Stuttgart may very claim the honour of being the origin of two such highly regarded automobile manufacturers. Car enthusiasts certainly covet the opportunity to spend some time in the cutting edge state to feast on the sight of the enviable, antique vehicle collections on display at the world renowned Mercedes-Benz Headquarters and Porsche Museum. We visited both, Mercedes-Benz Headquarters and Porsche Museum.

Almost three times the size of the famous Porsche Museum, the Mercedes-Benz Headquarters majestically spotlights the 125 years of magnificent automotive history throughout its nine intertwining levels. The building design was inspired by the form of a DNA double helix; its layout mind-bogglingly twists. With well over 1500 exhibits and 160 vehicles on display, visitors to the building are transported back in time as they slowly spiral their way through galleries highlighting the world’s very first motorized vehicles. Then they move to the bottom level of the renowned building where the contemporary Mercedes-Benz awaits its recognition.

Overall, the industry visit to the Mercedes-Benz Headquarters as a part of our this year’s Global Study Program gave us an opportunity to actually see and experience for ourselves the application of the theory which we study in the classroom. This tour enriched the students and the faculty member who felt that it was a lifetime experience. This is what makes IILM UBS a top BBA college with a remarkable difference!

IILM Global Study Program and a Visit to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart

Global Study, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Undergraduate Business School11 AugustNidhi PiplaniCompany Visits, Global Study, Global Study Program, IILM BBA, Porsche brand, Porsche Museum, Porsche Museum tour, study tour, Undergraduate School of Business

Just to give you a brief background, in its endeavors to provide world class exposure to its students, IILM Undergraduate School of Business makes it mandatory for its students to be a part of its Global Study Program. The IILM Global Study Program takes the form of a study tour of 3 weeks to one of its partner universities in Canada or Europe.

The IILM UBS Global Study Program is so designed as to benefit the budding entrepreneurs and managers to immerse themselves in another culture, experience the challenges and opportunities facing organizations around the globe. It also extends global awareness and enhances the international perspective of IILM BBA students. During such tours, students meet leading executives and government officials while visiting businesses, industries, and cultural sites.

This year we visited Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany on 9th August 2017, as a part of our Global Study Program. Porsche’s museum in Stuttgart, Germany is the world’s largest museum of science and technology, for which people are continually jealous of everyone that has the opportunity to visit it. I was leading the group with one of my colleagues Ms. Anisha Rani.

You will really be impressed if you are standing in front of the grand Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. The gigantic building of the museum is amazing and looks so light, almost like floating in the air. The museum building is resting on only three V-shaped pillars. The contemporary design of the largest science and technology museum continues in the building. In a plain and elegant surrounding, the development of the Porsche brand and the sleek sports cars are illustrated.

The entire reason for visiting Stuttgart was to visit the Porsche Museum along with the Mercedes-Benz Headquarters. Porsche best exemplifies good design values, which was obvious there, and which the IILM BBA group members appreciated. We found that the car company has an unbeatable lineup of vehicles that was achieved through an approach that’s very much different from that of Apple. The science and technology Museum is designed by Delugan Meissl and is situated near the company’s headquarters. The museum is executed meticulously and tells a mesmerizing story using great graphic design and installations.

Simplicity and the conviction of constant evolution are probably the strongest traits of Porsche as a world-class brand. This is what really strikes you move through the Porsche museum.

To conclude, the trip to the coveted Porsche museum didn’t disappoint the group! The Porsche museum tour took us through its prestigious racing history, the evolution of the Porsche brand, and its technological achievements that have revolutionized automotive industry today. Many of us in the IILM BBA group had a great time playing with the engine sound effect machine and looking at the cars but few even found enjoyment in the detailed descriptions of Porsche’s development of the tip-tropic automatic gear system and their weight reduced fuel pumps.

With a mind filled with great memories and edifying experience, bidding adieu to the Porsche Museum, at-least probably till next year!

Changing Leadership Competencies in the VUCA world

Career Development (Placement), General Blog, IILM Graduate School of Management, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Undergraduate Business School, IILM University, Uncategorized20 JulySanyukta Jolly

In the recent years, the world has continued to undergo a series of transformational shifts. As we know technology has made momentous changes throughout the world, leading to great benefits and adding challenges. Let’s face it, our lives, both at work and at home, are in a constant state of flux. The looming question before us is-“how can we manage effectively in this constantly changing, dynamic situation?” The words of Charles Darwin seem to resonate more poignantly than ever: “It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change”. The VUCA environment as we know it. VUCA is an acronym that recently found its way into the business lexicon. It originally derives from the military vocabulary in the 1990’s and reflects volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of general conditions and situations that we all find ourselves in. VUCA seems to be an apt description of our constantly evolving world.

So how does VUCA manifest itself in our lives? Volatility is nothing but the nature, speed, volume, magnitude and the dynamics of change. Gone are the days when leaders and managers would have the luxury of time to plan for the next change. Today the change is here, even before we realize it. Things change unpredictably, suddenly, extremely, especially for the worse. Change is now seen as way of life and we need to constantly adapt and innovate. As Alvin Toffler correctly quotes “The illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. Uncertainty is the lack of predictability of issues and events and gets reflected in all areas of individual and social life. It’s the lack of predictability which leads to chaos and anxiety. Complexity of the confounding issues and the chaos that surrounds us. The complexity of the VUCA world is evident. The past, present and future are perceived with confusion, but at the same time are extremely interconnected. This can lead to an inability to be decisive because we find ourselves overwhelmed with both information and choice. Clarity is no longer a commodity that can be easily gained. Ambiguity is the haziness of reality. Today, every decision presents a series of ambiguous dilemmas. Situations and events are open to more than one interpretation, and the meaning can be understood in different ways. This can not only create confusion, but even conflict. Thus, sometimes it may get very hard to make the ‘right decision’.

Since VUCA seems to be the new normal, how can leaders today manage this transition and be more effective? The leadership process needs to undergo a 360-degree change. Therefore, what organizations need today is Leadership Agility and Cognitive Readiness. The leadership today is a contextual and a temporal process of constant learning and practice. Cognitive readiness is the mental, emotional and interpersonal preparedness for uncertainty and risk and the ability most required by leaders in today’s’ context.

Leaders are therefore required to adapt and change from context to context and it becomes imperative for the organizations today to understand and grasp the new meaning and usage of the word leadership. There is a clear distinction between developing leaders and developing leadership. To be successful in this VUCA world, the leaders cannot afford to lead and guide people, the way it was done a decade ago. Today the leader needs to ‘walk the talk’. Today, most organizations are in a constant state of flux, undergoing radical changes, the leader behavior also needs to undergo a transformation. Some of the successful organizations rely on the following strategies. First, the leader should provide guidance and direction to teams across time zones, cultures and organizational barriers. Second, invest in talent and help nourish talented workers by giving them opportunities to grow and progress, developing a high performance organization is more imperative today than it ever was. Third, closely related to the second, is to invest in people, create a work environment which is engaging and that will foster commitment. Last, but not the least, all stakeholders in the organization (customers, employees and employers) need to be the part of the organization growth curve.

Change is inevitable in organizations and is at a critical tipping point, the increased pace of change in today’s global environment has created even more problems for leaders struggling to help their organizations adapt. Therefore, simply managing change is not sufficient. Successful change, therefore, requires leadership. Change or Perish is the new mantra in this VUCA world……

SKILLING TO EMPLOYABILITY – AN INDUSTRIAL MEET HARYANA VISHWAKARMA SKILL UNIVERSITY

Career Development (Placement), General Blog, Guest Blog, Uncategorized11 JulyVikram SharmaIILM Blog, SKILLING TO EMPLOYABILITY

An Industry-academia meet was organized by The Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University on 7th July 2017. The meeting focused on the topic “Skilling to Employability”. An Industry-academia meet was organized by The Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University on 7th July 2017. The meeting focused on the topic “Skilling to Employability”.

The Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University has been enacted by the legislature of the state of Haryana with an objective to establish a Skill University in order to facilitate and promote skill, entrepreneurship development, skill based education and research in the emerging areas of manufacturing, textile, design, logistics and transportation, automation, maintenance etc. and to raise skill level in various fields related to these areas.The event was honoured by Sh. Sudhir Rajpal, IAS and the Principal Secretary of Industries & Commerce Department, Haryana, Sh. Raj Nehru – Vice Chancellor, Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University and many other distinguished person. This meet encouraged and enhanced the interaction between the stakeholders for building a strong skilling framework. It served as a platform to discuss about the current needs of the industry in terms of skilled human capital and how the academia can help in nurturing the potential work force with desired skill set.

After the welcome message, Shri Raj Nehru, Founding-Vice Chancellor of the University addressed the gathering where he emphasized on the loopholes of the education system in India thus bringing in the reason for the establishment of such a University where vocational and skill education would be the prime objective. He also explained the 10-20-70 Rule. Where 10% is formal learning in classrooms, 20% is through Practical trainings and 70% is learning on the job.

Various industry persons from esteemed companies like Hero MotoCorp Ltd.. Maruti, HDFC etc. and various institutions like IILM Gurgaon, Amity University etc. also joined the meet.

In the end, Mr. Raj asked the audience to give their valuable advice on how they can improve their University. Some of the various suggestions were:

► There is a lot of emphasis given on numbers i.e. number of people registering for the skill courses. This should be avoided.
► The education system needs to be diverted towards vocational and skill learning rather than mere passing examinations.
► The students coming from various institutions are not job -ready, they still lack the required skills.
► The courses should have long term employability i.e. they should be structured in a manner that is relevant for the industry even after five years from now.
► A suggestion of a skill test also came up in which when a candidate shows his/her interest in joining the skill course, he/she would have to give a skill test, the results of which will indicate as to which course he/she should opt for.
► A suggestion of virtual courses also came up to facilitate the working class.

He even highlighted that the vision of the University was not just limited to India but it wanted to become a global mark. He also appreciated the hard work of his team members by pointed out that they did not work like government employees rather worked just like any other competitive corporate employees. He also mentioned Cooperation extended by IKLM, Gurgaon by providing students volunteers which helped greatly in making event a success. Lastly, he thanked all the industry people for contributing in the event and joining hands with the University.

Contributions from
Minal Gupta
Nikhil Gupta
(PG16-18)

Trip to camp “Mustang”_Manesar – Ice Breaking & team building activities.

Campus Life11 JulyVikram SharmaIILM, IILM bolg, IILM Gurgaon, IILM PGDM, team building activities

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.”

Camping trips are great way to experience nature and knowing your peers, especially for the students of a new academic batch. Our first trip happened at Mustang Camp, Manesar on June 30, 2017 & the trip begun at 8:30. We all left IILM Gurugram campus with fellow batch mates, few staff members & our faculty, Vishal sir. We hardly knew our batch mates as the IILM PGDM session had just begun. This travelling of one hour from IILM, Gurugram to Manesar helped us know each other better.

We reached there at around 9:30 and after having refreshments we explored the place. We all were the new faces to each other as it was like a freshly made bouquet from various varieties of flowers. It was required for us to know all the good and bad fragrances of all our peers from many geographical differences. Thus many ice breaking activities were conducted at that camp. There were so many team building fun based activities like pottery making & designing, air gun shooting, trampoline, burma bridge, ground games (volleyball, cricket, badminton & football), which refreshed us inside out.

By 11:00 our trainer had arrived who kept us engaged in various team based tasks starting with games like scouts claps, fire the gun, and other such small activities to revive our childhood memories. Then he divided us in 4 teams of 12 members each and gave us various tasks. There were many activities that were conducted in which team and team members were the most integral part of the same. Activities such as Murder Mystery Solving, Catch the dragon tails, Balancing the hola hoops and slogan making were organized.

The trainer provided by IILM was well known about the team management skills and how those will get enhanced with various team building activities. He also taught us many lessons which will lead us to be a better person first and then a best manager in the corporate world.

Before the declaration of results we had sumptuous lunch amidst the pleasant weather. Soon after that the trainer and IILM faculty asked us to share our experiences. Many students shared how they made new friends and also got to know their strengths and weaknesses through these activities. The day ended up with rain dance. We left camp early as it started raining but it was really a delightful day which created memories that will last the lifetime.

The ultimate purpose of this trip was to imbibe the signature of team management in fresh IILM PGDM students. This made us known to each other so as to increase our comfort and confidence level. We strongly believe that today’s preparation leads to the tomorrow’s achievements.

I will end my experience by quoting that, “WE are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit.”

Thank you IILM for such a great experience.

Inputs from
Rishabh Saxena
Monika Sharma

Saakshi Vijay
(PGDM17-19)

The rise of Indigo

Faculty28 JuneRahul K.Mishrahow Indigo rise, how rise of Indigo, rise of Indigo

Indigo is india’s biggest profitable airline with roughly 40 percent market share . The airline has risen in last 10 years. It has got 135 modern and new aircrafts. The story of indigo is all the more exciting as the established airlines like air india, jet airways and kingfisher have made huge losses during last 10 years. Kingfisher has gone for bankruptcy and is closed down Air India has debt burden of 50000 crores. And the government is planning to privatise it. Jet airways could be saved because of timely investment by Ethihad. What has gone right for the indigo? Obviously many things. That’s why it has gained strength in a very difficult market. The key word here is business model innovation and coherent strategy where each part of the action is linked to the other to create unique positioning in the customer’s mind.

Indigo is low cost airline. For any low cost airline to survive , it has to bring down the cost operations to the minimum without affecting the quality and as well safety of passengers. Indigo bought single type of aircraft that was A 320 . The single type of aircraft brought down the cost of maintenance as well training to the staff members. The turn around time for one flight to another is also minimum. The company and its staff members reap the benefits of experience curve economy. As you gain experience doing same same things over and over again, your productivity and efficiency increase. The idea is to keep the aircraft flying for maximum number of hours to gain more revenue

Indigo gave bulk order to the Airbus industries and got maximum possible discount. That brought the the most essential fixed cost of buying aircrafts. The aircrafts are owned by the subsidiary company of the indigo which has leased the aircraft to indigo . While giving rent to its subsidiary, the cost of buying plane does not show up on its accounts. This is business model innovation which has made the airline profitable after first two years of its operations.

Indigo work force is young and aggressive. It has been able to ensure that flights are on schedule. Flights getting delayed have been very common in India By improving processes, it has been able to get almost 98 percent of flights on time. Punctuality has been the biggest driving factor for the growth of the airline. There many small process innovations which have made indigo such a powerful airline.

The airline spends good amount of time and money on training of the staff. That shows up in the operations. The rise of indigo has proved that if companies can get their acts rights and innovative , they can manage the tough external environment too.

In my workshops with executives on innovation , I try to emphasise that innovation should not be misunderstood with new product launch and research and development, it has got far wider meaning of doing new things, improving processes, doing business model innovations and looking at the innovative pricing to crate unique positioning of the company’s product in the minds of customer. The rise of indigo reinforces this view .

Review of Mergers and Acquisitions deals in 2016-17: A record year for India

General Blog22 JuneDr. Geetika AroraBBA, Finance

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are considered to be one of the most important ways to expand the business inorganically and respond to the changing market conditions. The wave of M&A activities is not new across the globe and India. The last financial year 2016-17 was a record breaking period for M&A deals in India. The monetary worth of M&A transactions increased from $27.62 billion (2015-16) to $61.26 billion (2016-17). The reason of increase in the volume of M&A deals is the consolidation of various sectors such as telecom, energy & cement and increasing interest of Foreign Instutional Investors (FIIs) in the Emerging Indian market.

Source: Livemint

Graph 1: Representing deal value ($ billion) and no. of deals of M&A in India

The consolidation wave of merger in the cement industry included large players focusing towards building of capacity and bringing in synergies through the acquisition route. Some of the most strategic deals included acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates’ Cement Plants in five states and a grinding unit by Ultra Tech (owned by Aditya Birla Group) for $2.41 billion, Lafarge India’s 11 million tonne (mt) cement business acquisition by Nirma for $1.4 billion and ADAG Group’s cement capacity acquisition by Birla Corp’s (MP Birla Group) for $710 million. This consolidation wave has led to concentration of 58 percent of market share in the hands of top five industry players.

Another most prominent consolidation wave has been witnessed in telecommunication sector. Idea Cellular led by Kumar Mangalam Birla agreed to merge with the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone (U.K. Telecom Company) for $23 billion to form largest telecommunication company of India. This merger will have a capacity to serve approximately 400 million clients by capturing 41% market revenue and 35% customer base. Post the announcement of Vodafone and Idea merger, other telecom giants like Airtel and Reliance Communications (Rcom) also announced various mergers and acquisitions. In 2016, Rcom acquired Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd. (SSLT) operating under MTS brand which added approximately 6 million customer base. In 2017, Rcom announced its merger with Aircel which will lead to increase in its customer base by 81 million approximately. In 2017, Telenor’s Indian group was acquired by Bharti Airtel. Telenor is a Norwegian government entity operating in India since 2009. The major reason behind this telecom consolidation wave included spectrum gain; 4G Edge; increase in subscriber base; footprint in densely populated areas such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, UP and Assam; and lastly to gain edge over competitors.

Other top ten acquisition deals in India includes Appirio acquisition by Wipro for $500 million, Geometric Limited acquisition by HCL Technologies for $200 million, Cutrus Payment Solutions acquisition by PayU for $130 million, Jabong.com acquisition by Flipkart owned Myntra for $70 million, The BIO Agency acquisition by Tech Mahindra for £45 million, Babyoye.com acquisition by Firstcry for ₹3.6 billion, Caratlane acquisition by Titan Company Limited for approximately ₹3.5 billion, Happy Creative Services acquisition by Dentsu Aegis Network for $44 million, Ocular Technologies Sarl acquisition by Sun Pharma for $40 million and Forever 21 India acquisition by Pantaloons for $26 million.

The wave of consolidation among various sectors in India can be viewed as a catalyst for expontential and linear growth. M&A have become the integral part of the economies across the globe and will continue to trend, as inorganic growth is considered to be fastest and safest mode to grow the business. Furthermore, it becomes inevitable to grow business organically in the current era of volatility.

LinkedIn Profile Checklist For Students!

Career Development (Placement)07 JuneCharu SharmaLInkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Profile tips, MBA Students, Placements, Tips for LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is a professional networking site which has grown from just 500,000 users to 50 million users over the years. It is not only said to be a social-professional networking platform, but is considered to be a necessity tool for every person out there wanting to connect with each other for business, hiring, research or networking purpose. Yes, personal branding is as essential as marketing a product in the market.

For today’s millennial generation, who are aspiring to enter into the world of corporate space (and strategies!), it is so very important to keep a regular check on LinkedIn profile essentials.

If you are just starting new on LinkedIn, the process can be a little overwhelming for you. To make things easier, we have made a quick checklist for MBA students, and all other kinds of aspirants to help you get started on the right track.

Here is our 6 point checklist for your LinkedIn profile :-

1. First Step To Start

You must have over 100 connections
Make sure you put a professional photo
Your profile should be SEO driven. Keep a check on your keyword strategy, it should be in place for higher & right visibility of your profile
Work on your unique LinkedIn profile URL.

2. Headline/Job Designation

Headline is possibly the most important thing on your LinkedIn profile. It permits you to use 120 characters to define yourself in every right and attractive manner for a user to simply click on your profile.

3. Summary

Your profile summary is a short description of your experience; skills, talents, and how you could (or can) add value to a company.
A summary should definitely include the quantified results with numbers and figures that was achieved in previous companies.

4. Experience

This section gives you a systematic way of displaying your work associations with previous employers, and also to add relevant amount of media files/pfs/blogs to portray your work establishments in a much extensive manner.
It is highly recommended to be detailed while writing the specifications about your work experience by providing employer’s background, years of association with the particular organization, project details, accomplishments & KRAs.
This section also permits you to proceed with filling in some specifications about – Education, Courses, Certificates etc.

5. Recommendations & Endorsements

For right LinkedIn optimization it is suggested to at least have top 3 recommendations filled in. Recommendations are the best way to make your own profile speak for you from your references.
Endorsements are the display of your top skills on your profile. You must keep a check on the endorsements you receive from your network (and what you give back to your LinkedIn connects). Endorsements work like a give and take strategy. The more you connect with people on LinkedIn, the endorsements increases with time.

6. Networking & Connecting

Be a part of at least 10-15 relevant groups on LinkedIn. There is a large community on LinkedIn that could help you know what’s trending and bustling in your chosen domain around by just digitally interacting with them.
It is said that sharing is important, but only if it relevant & effective. Post relevant articles on your profile at least once a week.
Make sure you connect with two new much relevant users on LinkedIn on a monthly basis.
Messaging on LinkedIn is one of the strongest tools to sustain your network. You must message to your known network, one to an unknown LinkedIn user on a weekly basis.
Make sure you follow at least 5 new companies that you are interested in.

References :
– LinkedIn
– Levo League
– Career Contessa