KOLKATA: They are just as sharp and focused as some of the youngsters they train. And they could easily have been in their shoes, taking charge of the country's corporate sector. But they have chosen a behind-the-scene role of grooming business leaders, which has also proved to be a lucrative career option for many of these IIM and IIT graduates. Running a CAT coaching centre, they say, could be as rewarding as a multinational job if not more profitable and satisfying.
Take Naveen Saraff, for instance. The IIM-Bangalore passout quit a job with Reliance Capital in Mumbai to train CAT aspirants at IMS Learning Centre in Kolkata as a franchisee. The reason: he found it as promising and interesting an option as any job that he could land with his IIM degree. "I wanted to be in Kolkata and preferred doing my own thing rather than a regular job. Also, the jobs offered to us on campus were not as lucrative as some of them now are," says Saraff, now the city head of Career Launcher, another CAT training institute.
Saraff enjoys sharing
his experiences with students and helping them with
insights and inputs that only an IIM passout can give. "It allowed me to do what I wanted to. I was confident of earning enough," he adds.
A teaching stint at Time, another leading CAT training institute, changed the course of Rahul Reddy's career. The IIM-Calcutta graduate switched over to teaching entrepreneurship in Kolkata after holding senior posts in MNCs. "The entrepreneurship bug bit me on the IIM campus. I always wanted to be in the education field and try and do things differently. Also, I felt that I could help CAT aspirants do better and help more crack the test," he says.
Others like Nikunj Bhagat, a partner at Career Launcher, made the switch since it made his professional life more flexible. "Working 12 hours a day and living out of a suitcase was not my idea of happiness. I was better off without the pressure," says Bhagat, an IIM-Bangalore passout.
With a mechanical engineering degree from IIT-Kanpur and a management diploma from XLRI, Charapreet Singh never really saw himself as a teacher or an entrepreneur till he started teaching CAT aspirants at IMS as a part-time job. Singh, however, didn't take the plunge immediately. After successful stints with Tata Steel, PwC, Compaq and HP, he finally returned to his CAT training job as an entrepreneur. "I have no regrets," says Singh, who now heads the Praxis Business School.
A growing number of students from leading B-schools across the country are joining management entrance coaching centres. And IIMs are no exception. Last year, two IIM-Ahmedabad students and one from IIM-Indore joined IMS as managers. One from XLRI, Jamshedpur, did the same.
But are they losing in financial terms to pursue their interest? Yes and no, according to the teacher-entrepreneurs. "Considering the rise in the number of CAT aspirants over the last 10 years, the market has expanded phenomenally. When I started in 1999, around 3000 would take the test from Kolkata," said Saraff. "Now, the number hovers around the 14,000 mark and nearly all of them go through coaching. On the other hand, corporate salaries have gone up manifold. The highest salary offered on campus was around Rs 6 lakh when I passed out. It's five times that figure now. So, at the end of the day it is an individual decision." he adds.
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