Alumnus Avlokita Narang shares her IILM experience

IILM, a great place to begin!

Alumni, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Stories, Testimonials15 MayIILMAvlokita Narang Experience, IILM alumni, IILM Alumnus, IILM experience

HR Analyst at Google, Alumnus Avlokita Narang shares her IILM experience

When writing about my experiences at IILM, I have so many thoughts playing and dancing around in my mind. There is so much to say yet to sum up the lively and life changing experiences in one blog is rather difficult. Summarizing the amazing and awesome memories and learnings into a few hundred words seems like an injustice to the holistic and multi-dimensional experiences I had at IILM. However, let me pen down some of my thoughts and memories for you.

Caring and Supportive Faculty Members at IILM

The foremost thing I want to share about is the faculty at IILM. They are all brilliant minds brimming with knowledge. The faculty members at IILM taught us not just theory but explained all the concepts through experiential learning and case studies that helped us understand the theoretical concepts better and how to apply them to real situations. They trained us, groomed us, and trained us to make great presentations as well as how to speak and conduct ourselves with confidence. Although the daily routine and long hours of teaching sometimes felt tough but the professional environment and the strict code of discipline constantly pushed us to learn and improve ourselves, I am really grateful for it because it prepared us well for all the future challenges.

While the professors believed in academic rigour, they were caring and warm. They were always approachable, ready to lend a helping hand to students academically and emotionally. I developed strong bonds with my professors and some of them are still like family to me.

Industry Exposure at IILM

We were exposed to industry and their working style as IILM regularly organized industry visits, conferences attended by industry leaders, invited international guest faculty and internships. All these activities made us corporate ready by increasing our understanding of how the real-world works. The learning in the classroom and beyond had a long-lasting impact on my professional choices, decisions, and journey.

Exposure to International Education at IILM

The study abroad program offered by IILMprovideda great exposure to the students and we learnt about the nuances of business studies in other parts of the world. I had gone to University of Winnipeg in Canada and was exposed to a new culture and society as well as learnt about international business practices. I gained confidence and was able to do much better in my personal and professional interactions because of the study abroad program. The exposure was especially helpful when I began working in the corporate world.

After completing my PGDM I began my corporate journey and my experiences at IILM helped me to successfully manage my professional life. I can successfully approach problems, find solutions, and make right decisions because of my training at IILM. The encouragement received has also helped me to continue with my passion for public speaking and creative writing.

Thank you IILM for making me believe in me through an all-round educational experience, a holistic exposure and the support of your caring faculty

Avlokita Narang
Batch 2016-18

Whatever I am is all because of IILM: Satyaveer Pal (Alumnus, Batch 2006-2008)

Alumni, Testimonials05 MaySona VikasIILM Alumnus, IILM University, MBA, MBA at IILM University

After completing his Bachelor of Science from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (MJP) Rohilkhand University, a young lad stepped out of his hometown Bareilly to fulfill his dreams in the Millennium City of Gurugram. A career-ambitious student, he landed at IILM to pursue a career in management. Meet Satyaveer Pal, Regional Manager – Sales (International Business), Aurionpro, Gurugram, an alumnus of Batch 2006-2008. His work takes him to places, literally. He has extensively traveled to Europe and the APAC and South Asia region, particularly Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Nepal where majority of his clients are based. His last International visit was to Indonesia and Vietnam in February 2020, just before the national lockdown.

I had the opportunity to speak with him recently, and he was reminiscing his experiences at IILM during his stay at the campus. Considered as a studious person, he was the CR (student Class Representative) for two consecutive years, and this helped him tremendously in improving his interpersonal skills and leadership qualities. His favorite faculty was the marketing professor, Dr. Priyanka Dhingra whose lessons in sales and marketing were a lifelong learning for him. Giving presentations, participating in quizzes and class exercises are among his best memories at the campus. He fondly recalled an instance when he had to make a sales presentation where he came up with an innovative idea of marketing and branding of pens. This activity – based classroom pedagogy made him realize that marketing was where his career lay, and today business development has become his forte.

IILM gave Satyaveer learning both inside the classroom and outside. He learnt how to respond and gauge behavior of other people. He acquired networking skills and learnt how to brand oneself. This learning has taken him to the pinnacles of success.

He got an opportunity to do his summer internship at Shoppers Stop Gurugram, and he was also part of a new outlet opening in New Delhi where he helped Shoppers Stop in setting up their retail business from the scratch. He gained hands-on experience during his SIP and developed a multidimensional approach to handling problems. He believes those students who do not take their SIP seriously are the ones who loose out on good placements later.

Satyaveer feels that he not just gained academic knowledge at IILM but also the soft skills that are required to be successful in the corporate world.

As he was an outstation student, Satyaveer stayed at IILM boys’ hostel, and that was a wonderful experience for him. He learnt to become independent and gained friends for life. He cherishes the memories of playing cricket after classes in the campus grounds, going around in the local markets and malls of Gurugram, and chit-chatting with his hostel roommates till late night.

It is such a pleasure to have an alumnus as Satyaveer. His colleagues praise him unabashedly. I was going through some of the recommendations he received on LinkedIn and my heart swelled in pride. Considered as a good task master and team player, his peers and managers hold a remarkably high opinion of Satyaveer. According to them, he comes with a very infectious sort of energy; always warm and outwardly sociable, he gets along with people very easily. He is good at making new connections and is the live wire of every conversation.

He is still in touch with his faculty, Dr Radhika Madan and Dr Sujata Shahi, presently the Vice-Chancellor of IILM University. He has had positive interactions with them in the past and due to these, he has retained the connect with his Alma mater. Dr Radhika had in fact taught him and still considers him as one of her brightest students taught till date. She has seen Satyaveer grow in his career path over the years. A very vigorous person with a clear vision, she feels that he knows how to co-ordinate assignments and the workforce he deals with. She has found him to be a very dedicated and committed person who strives to achieve his goals with full commitment and sincerity. His positive approach to all his challenges is what differentiates him from other students.

In the past twelve years of graduating from IILM, he has earned the reputation of an enterprise leader with an excellent track record of contributions that streamline operations, invigorate businesses, heighten productivity and develop business strategies.

He visits IILM Gurugram once in two months – either as an industry speaker to share his insights with the present batches, or as a jury member for a campus event – contributing in every possible way. He has also recommended several students for taking admissions in MBA, the flagship programme of IILM University Gurugram. One of the most connected alumni to his alma mater, he takes out time from his busy schedule whenever IILM requires his presence.

He is currently residing in the corporate hub of Gurugram with his parents, wife Abha and a three – year old son Arkin. On being asked, how did his stay at IILM impact his career, he proudly said, “Whatever I am is all because of IILM.”

My Journey with IILM continues… by Alumnus Joseph Davis

Alumni, Campus Life, Guest Blog, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IILM Stories, Testimonials02 MayJoseph DavisAbout IILM, Alumnus Joseph Davis, IILM alumni, IILM Alumnus, IILM Story, MY IILM, Why IILM

The engineer, not by choice, who wanted more from life than just the mundane, regular and ordinary! Relatable much? I’m Joseph Davis, the head of research and insights wing at Consocia Advisory and this is the story of my journey as a management professional.

The scary realization of the ordinary life awaiting me if I continued in the path of a chemical process engineer during the time I worked at Aramco’s process design consulting firm Petrocil Engineers, made me choose the management career path, as I dreaded the no-communication work style I was part of. I quit the job, prepared for the management entrance exams and scored well enough to get into some of the best management colleges in the country. Being a Keralite all my life, this was my golden chance to explore my opportunities across India. Thus began the research to find the institute that’s the best fit for my aspirations.

2 months and tons of research later, I was at IILM Greater Noida’s entrance for my interview. IILM’s 3 Palmes of excellence ranking making it officially recognized in the category of “excellent business school with reinforcing international influence” by Eduniversal, making it a top B-School offering a PGDM program, was one prime reason for IILM being my go-to choice after several shortlisting stages. Visiting the splendid campus further reinforced the validity of my choice. My management entrance success ensured a 50% scholarship. Yippee! I interacted with the faculty and as my course ensued, I realized that IILM has a dynamic yet structured program with top notch teaching methodology including the concept of flipped class, where the student gets an opportunity to be the teacher and discuss concepts with the professor being a facilitator to clarify the outcome of the discussion enhanced through case studies and course materials by Harvard and many other global universities.

The global study program was a high point of the program with the opportunity to visit Dortmund, Germany as a foreign student at ISM, Dortmund for 4 weeks. I for one, used to the opportunity to the max by visiting 7 European countries over weekends, as we had a Schengen visa. The 4 weeks at ISM gave me a deep understanding of international concepts around Intercultural communication, strategic management, International Finance and Operations Management.

The industry exposure offered at IILM was world class as we had international faculty visiting the campus for specific courses in each trimester apart from the well qualified Ph.D. professors and lecturers coaching and mentoring me to be the best version of myself, both personally and professionally. The experiential learning I obtained as opposed to theoretical ramming one has experienced with the conventional educational system was a game changer in making me ready to face any and all challenges that I would face as a prospective manager and impacted my perception of the corporate world as a seasoned professional. This helped me in my placement at Protiviti Consulting, a U.S based consulting firm as a research associate.

Then came the convocation day. I was awarded the gold medal for the best academic and co-curricular performance over the 2 years at IILM. The grand ceremony hadn’t marked the end of my relationship with this spectacular management institute, but it had evolved into a beautiful connect as an alma mater which I continue to this day. 3 years later, I was back as a guest speaker at the International Sustainability conference representing my company. It was indeed a proud moment being back to impart some insights to the next set of intelligent minds.

My journey with IILM still continues and looking back, I am grateful to the almighty for helping me stick with my decision to choose IILM. To anyone who reads this, life at IILM will certainly change you for the better. Metamorphosis at IILM is real. The question is, are you ready for it?