Academic knowledge is important, but companies look at a job seeker’s attitude, ability to think critically and communicate effectively before making any recruitment, a senior company executive said on Saturday.

These are traits that matter and management graduates should cultivate the same, Mr. Karunakaran Vinayagam, Assistant Vice-President (Talent Acquisition) at Genpact, said while speaking at SOA Scalerz-2024, a day-long mega management conclave, organised at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA).

The theme of the conclave, an annual event organised by the Institute of Business and Computer Studies (IBCS), SOA’s faculty of management sciences, was ‘Beyond Boundaries: Empowering Minds and Enabling Growth’.

Delivering the keynote address, Mr. Vinayagam said management graduates should understand that a person can get picked by an industry even without the requisite experience. “Academic knowledge alone is not enough, what matters is your attitude, ability to think critically and solve problems in business situations,” he said adding other traits looked for are resilience and ability to communicate effectively.

The conclave was inaugurated by SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda who said while focusing on academics, the university was also endeavouring to train students as to how to face the challenges in the world and thrive in difficult situations.

The university, which was ranked 15th in the country by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), aimed at creating new knowledge, impart high quality education to the students and contribute to the society, he said.

Interacting with the students, Mr. Vinayagam said he did not think that the incursion of automation into industry would lead to reduction in manpower. Companies go for such action only when the situation warrants it, he said.

Asked how much time a recruit should spend in a company before thinking of shifting elsewhere, he said there was no binding rule for it. “The company provides you a platform to harness your skills,” he said.

The program included two separate panel discussions on the subjects ‘Future of Work—Aligning MBA Curriculum with Industry Needs’ and ‘Developing Soft Skills for Career Success: What Employers Look For?’

The panelists included Ms. Anupma Ranjan, Vice-President --Talent Acquisition, FactSet, Mr. Solomon Devavaram, Head of HR—Senior Director, Mondee Holdings, Inc., Mr. Karthik Mulakaluri, Director--Talent Development, Omega Healthcare, Ms. Rashmi Sinha, Director--HR, FarEye, Mr. Bhushan Khanore. Site HR, Faurecia, Mr. Swapnil Vilas Shendage, Talent Acquisition Manager, Trinamix Inc, Mr. Debashish Ghosh, Senior Vice President—HR, Berkadia, Mr. Amit Kataria, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder, Saras AI, Mr. Sumit Gupta, Associate Vice-President, HighRadius, Ms. Surabhi Prakash Dixit, Head—Campus Relationships, RBL Bank, Mr. Nikheel Sutrawe, Senior Manager—HR and University Relations, Schneider Electric and Ms. Gunjan Paul, Assistant Manager—HR, RNF Technologies.

Mr. Yashwant Lal and Mr. Amit Tripathy, SOA’s Soft Skill Mentors, moderated the panel discussions.

The conclave was also addressed by Prof. Anup Samantaray, Dean of IBCS, Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students Welfare) and Mr. Ripti Ranjan Das, SOA’s Head, Corporate Relations and Industry Engagement.