We have the distinct pleasure of welcoming our esteemed alumnus who has not only successfully navigated the academic journey at our institution but has also embarked on an impressive professional path. Their experiences and insights promise to be a valuable source of inspiration and guidance as we delve into their post-graduation journey.

Varsha – Hello, I’m Varsha. I’ve been working with Google for almost a decade now. Currently, I take care of business development for advertisers across CPG and retail vertical in India.

Subbhu – I’m Subbhu, a 2009-2011 batch alumnus. I currently work as a loyalty manager at Ikea India, with prior experience of 9.5 years at Future Group in the retail sector.

Arun Mohan – I’m Arun Mohan, also from the 2009-2011 batch. I’m currently working with EY in Kochi.

Hari Shankar – Hi, I’m Hari Shankar, from the 2009-2011 batch as well. I work with Signify and deal with rural markets for South India in channel sales.

Aparna – I’m Aparna, and I work with Mcafee as a customer experience program manager. I handle the customer experience program for my company.

What stands out as your most significant memory from ASB ?

Varsha – So when it comes to memories, it’s mostly about the campus, our interactions, whether it’s within the campus or like the kind of get togethers we had outside the campus. So it’s mostly around that and definitely Pragati and all the other events like the kalakriti, where it’s not just like your academic, but a lot of fun and entertainment and stuff. So, yeah, the campus itself is a big memory, and then all sort of extracurricular stuff like these hold a special place.

Subbhu – Okay, my main memory would be the place itself. Like, you know, the campus is very good. And then, you know, the walks and, uh, mountains and the whole view. And of course, Pragati , because in fact, all the events because I’ve been a part of Pragati, Utsav and kalakriti .That was the most fun part of being here. So, yeah, these are my memories.

Arun Mohan – So like, uh, if you ask about any memories, I have a lot . As I said in the meeting, also part of the all the committees, like we used to spend a lot of time. I mean, during pragati and all. I think we had sleepless nights for 2 -3 months. That was a very good experience. So it’s always there in my memories. And we got some good friends there.

Hari Shankar – So the main memory which comes to me in the last two years I stayed in the campus will be Pragati the b-fest because it starts from Organizing, that was the first time we as an individual, got into organising something which we have never faced earlier and interacting with other college students , organising the programmes with a small set of people who are doing separate allocated tasks. And obviously second thing will be the walks in the campus with my friends.

Aparna – The core memory would be Pragati and other celebrations which took place in ASB ,it brought us together and those are times we will cherish forever.

What was the class you enjoyed the most?

Varsha – I think since I had taken primarily marketing specialisation, I think some of my favourite classes were definitely DG sir’s classes and Shobana Mam’s BC classes, They used to be, like, very interesting projects around that, so that we really enjoyed doing and the energy and passion of Kulkarni sir in consumer marketing was outstanding. And there was a CRM, professor Prasanna presented that. I think these were some of the classes and obviously Bala sir’s , macroeconomics, microeconomics. How can we forget that? So I think, Yeah, these are like the top names that comes to my mind.

Subbhu – During the first year it was Bala sir’s classes and the second year it was Kulkarni sir’s sales classes. These two were my favourite.

Arun Mohan – Obviously Bala sir’s Micro economics . Apart from that,  we really liked every class . So as said , we liked kulkarni sir’s class , he was really energetic. And the way he inspired us to move into it was good.

Hari Shankar – More than the classes we liked all the professors.One thing which we got glued on was the capstone project, which was a game which dealt with strategy and planning and it was really interesting.

Aparna – I loved the Market Research session by DG sir and that was the subject which made me realise that was the thing I want to pursue as my career. I was very much into the project which was given in that course and even ended up adding it in my resume .I also like the economics classes by Bala sir for sure, where he made us read economic times and I would forget to bring the newspaper and end up borrowing it everyday.

What skill sets do you believe students should develop and strengthen before entering the corporate world?

Varsha – I think in the current scheme of things, when you know there is a lot of uncertainty in the economy, a lot of highs and lows are happening, you need to be very adaptable—and not just adaptable, you need to be very curious and open to new learning. For example, right now, for the last, what should I say, four, six weeks, you’re hearing a lot about ChatGPT, or Microsoft is doing this, or Google is doing this. A lot of conversation is happening around data science or artificial intelligence, or machine learning. Suddenly, these things have become the talk of the tongue. You really need to be open to seeing what’s happening in the market and upskill on the same way. You don’t need to be in a rut situation, like whatever you’re doing, but always have a look out on what’s happening in the industry and be very adaptive to learn new things, be curious. I think that’s basically like just because you have gotten to a job, that doesn’t mean that just be sticking to that. You should be knowing what’s happening in the market and upskill accordingly.

Arun Mohan – Those who excel in handling data, including tasks such as data visualization and analysis, find this job to be their true calling. It’s a role they hold in high regard and are truly passionate about

Subbhu – Irrespective of which job you are in, what role you are in, there’s a role that data plays like what Arun said. How much we can equip ourselves to read data? You need not be an SQL specialist, but when you see data, you should be able to understand what it tells you. And that’s what is lacking. A lot of people talk about data research, data, scientists and all of it, but are there enough people who are able to tell the story? Very less people. So that’s something that everybody, even people who are in the industry should also work on.

Hari Shankar – We have acquired some major skill sets such as negotiation and conflict management from our course and this has helped us further in the corporate world too.

Aparna – Say that one thing that doesn’t change is change. You would have set up a process, you would be running your show, but suddenly the next day, an idea could change everything. So be adaptable, be ready to change, be ready to experiment. That is something that never changes.