My Motivation To Complete The Masters Of Management Course In Australia

My name is Harshit Kumar. I was born and brought up in the city of Ranchi, India and currently reside in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. My father is an officer in the Indian Armed Forces while my mother is a homemaker. My younger brother is currently pursuing civil engineering at MIT, Manipal University, Karnataka, India.

Talking about my academic profile, I completed my schooling from Army Public Schools across the country (CBSE Board) with the latest one being in Secunderabad, India, where I passed out from my 12th grade in 2014. Thereafter I selected hotel management for my undergraduate studies and graduated with a Bachelors in Hotel Management (4 year course) from one of the premier private colleges in India- Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA), Manipal University, Karnataka in the month of May 2018, securing an impressive aggregate score of 9.47 GPA. Coming from an army background I got exposed to a plethora of cuisines, cultures, festivities, languages that are followed by the local communities of those places, and they had a major influence on me for selecting hotel management as a career path. We kept getting posted to a new city every two and a half years or so, and this taught me how to adapt myself to different places, cultures, and new faces as well. Since I had to keep on switching schools which was difficult initially, it later on helped me mix up with people from different backgrounds, it removed the possibility of feeling social awkwardness and so I chose hospitality as my subject of interest.

During the entirety of my four-year course, I was a regular participant in different events organized by our college. During the 3rd year of the college, we were inclined to take up major managerial roles in the event. Our college was responsible for organizing various food fests throughout the year where we invited students from across the Manipal University and the locals as well to experience food and hospitality at the most premium level. I've headed various departments such as F&B service, Accounts, Logistics and Sales & Marketing which gave me the ability to work under pressure. On top of that, I was an integral member (Course Representative) of the student council and represented my entire course for the last two years which indeed helped me to develop as an individual as it required extra hours to put in after college and required me to manage the daily queries of the students regarding their academics, attendance etc. It also gave me insights on how to manage students and thus, developed my people management skills as well. We were subjected to undergo internships at the end of each year during the summer break as it was a part of the curriculum carrying major weightage, where the internship comprised of 6 weeks of training. After the completion of the third year, the training period was extended to 6 months. It gave me an opportunity to work in some of the best five-star hotel brands in the country such as Starwood, Marriott, ITC, etc. For my 6 months internship module, I got selected for the Marriotternship program at the Jaipur Marriott Hotel and was luckily given the opportunity to work in all operational (F&B, Housekeeping, Kitchen and Front Office) as well as non-operational departments (HR, Sales, and Marketing). As a hotel management graduate, I absolutely dreaded the kitchen department simply because it just wasn't my cup of tea. Regardless, my work ethics, attitude towards work and moral beliefs did not allow me to waste my time and instead I worked hard in the kitchen and got appreciated and recognized by the staff for the hours I put in and even received a letter of appreciation from the HR manager. This, in my opinion, speaks volumes about the professionalism, mentality, and attitude towards work that I possess and ethics that are required to be successful while working in an organization. It was during these 6 months of internship program where I had developed an interest towards sales, marketing, and human resources and found myself working with better motivation in these departments when compared to the operational departments and wanted to understand the intricacies of business management, marketing, and people/customer management outside of the hospitality sector.

Hence, after graduation I decided to pursue masters in management which is ideal for fresh graduates to grasp the knowledge required to work in international companies and it gives me an equal understanding of the areas I'm interested in, plus also provides me with information that will boost my practical and theoretical knowledge which are needed to work in an organization outside of the hospitality industry. I would love to expand my horizon in management not only specific to hospitality, and the Macquarie Graduate School of Management is the ideal place to study for the same. The MIM program at Macquarie is one of the finest in Australia and is among the few countries where MIM has gained popularity in comparison with traditional MBA's as it gives the companies young aspiring graduates who can be molded to their needs. It has an international reputation for excellence in management education and is consistently ranked in the top tier of business schools worldwide. As explained to me by the university representatives of Macquarie, this program is designed for students who have recently graduated from an undergraduate degree from any discipline and who are looking to build up their skills and experience for a career in business management or management consultancy which is exactly what I'm looking for. Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) develops leaders with a global business mind-set and a look at the employment statistics show that 90% of full-time students employed within three months.

MGSM is not only among the top business schools globally but also accredited by AACSB. The Masters of Management course is flexible and lets me decide the perfect combination based on my interests and ability. The academic plan will help me gain the required skills to analyze large amounts of data to increase the organization's efficiency and improve decision making. The subjects provide background in managing technology, market demand, bottlenecks, international accounting, corporate finance, risk management etc. I believe graduating from MGSM will help me in finding new job positions, will open new career paths, increase my earning potential, improve my professional skills, help me enjoy greater job security, grow world perspective, expand my professional network, and therefore it will be a dream come true if I get shortlisted to study at this university.

While researching about my options for an education, I decided that since I completed graduation in India, I should keep an open mind and explore all other English speaking countries to diversify my horizon and also keeping in mind that most of the business schools in India are known for their MBA programs (requiring a minimum of 2 years of work experience) rather than MIM which led me to select Australia as preferred destination.

The decision of completing a MIM program from Australia was very much supported by my family and if I get the opportunity to do so they will be completely supportive. I have many friends and seniors who have gone to Australia for their post-graduate programs and they have shared their experience as to how to different the work and study culture is and how everyone shares a positive view. Apart from this, the main reason I selected Australia as a preferred destination for overseas education is because upon researching I found it is one of the most student-friendly countries across the world, and putting aside the excellent education facilities, the post-graduation work visa of approximately 2 years is helpful for students to bag some work experience which will be an added boost to my profile and on returning to India it will surely help me fetch better job and salary as well since I will have an exposure to the Australian market.

In comparison with other countries, the duration of degrees in colleges in the United Kingdom is one year long which is not considered highly as a postgraduate degree in India and will cause employment issues in the long run, you also only get 4 months post-study work visa approximately to find an internship and gain valuable experience before returning to India. The United States, on the other hand, was quite expensive for my budget. While Australia provides a standard two-year degree with comfortable work along with study options that will help me support my stay, it also boasts a first world multicultural society with friendly natives and beautiful wilderness. Australia being one of the world's most popular destinations for studies exposes an individual to students from different backgrounds and field of study and the opportunity to increase your network is huge. I come from India which has one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a strong tertiary sector and an atmosphere for a start-up culture which has shaped my mind-set and anchored my identity. I believe, after the completion of this degree, I will have the required skills and knowledge to explore and grow to my full potential with an understanding of not just one but two different countries. Upon to returning to India, I will be fit to work as Management Trainees in organizations like Tata Consultancy Group, Deloitte, Institute of Economic Growth, Hindustan Unilever, Accenture, Genpact, EY (Ernst & Young) etc. which fits my career design.

Therefore, there would a whole range of career opportunities for me once I qualify with this life-changing course that offers practical life-skills for the industry along with industry related contemporary knowledge. I do not see a better place to study this course other than Macquarie University that is so down to the industry and demands of the sector.

I further would like to declare that the information provided above is true to the best of my knowledge.