I was recently looking at a survey result and was surprised to find Astrology named amongst the top read columns in newspapers by Indian teenagers. I quickly grabbed a newspaper to take a closer look at the column. And yeah, it was indeed a hilariously interesting read. I then grabbed a few more newspapers and each had a daily fortune forecast column, either by an Astrologer or by a Tarot Card reader. Two striking commonalities with all newspapers were – Forecast for the day revolved around Love, Money and Health and this column is placed by the side of cartoon comic strip (still wondering whether this is intentional or coincidental)!

Love comes first and then Money, where has Career vanished? You’ll be surprised if I tell you that each of the twelve sun signs has ample appetite for pursuing a management education and based on your sun sign the most suitable specialization can be predicted. Take a pause, think of what are the sun signs of all your loved ones, that of your ex and of course yourself, and now continue reading further.

Aries: The first sign of the Zodiac are born leaders; they make good business development professionals. Their high-energy levels and go-get-it attitude make them successful sales professionals. The only hitch is that these natives face is, they easily lose patience and get disappointed or bored very soon. And hence, many a times they are criticized for not being able to achieve their targets. They can easily overcome this limitation by wearing a diamond (birthstone).

Taurus: People born under the sign of Taurus are most noted for their dependability, patience, determination and perseverance. These qualities often lead them in being successful Finance professionals. Additional traits that are natural to Taureans are – they’re quiet and reserved; they can also be secretive, stingy, and suspicious. Well, these are the perfect traits that any company looks out for in their CFOs. A small little hitch; Taureans are popular for being stubborn and not being fond of change. They just don’t upgrade their Tally and other financial software, but a large MNC recently found a solution – they gifted all staff in their finance team an Emerald and that has not only boosted their performance but has also made them more open for adopting new versions of all essential software solutions!

Well, if you are still reading this crap, it suggests that you are genuinely interested in understanding what MBA specialisation is suitable for you; and it also suggests you are quite lost and at the same time very determined to make the right choice! Now, without wasting further time, let’s see what’s the best way to go about making the selection! I call this the game of five – interest, aptitude, opportunities, financial attractiveness and satisfaction. While the first two can be perfectly gauged at the time of decision making, the following three are dynamic and you may not be able to gauge precisely before you actually start working. Further on, this article will not focus on what opportunities different MBA specializations offer; the focus is on how you should go about with the decision making. In case you are looking at what are the different MBA specializations available, please read: Top 5 MBA Specialisations in India (and you can Google more information).

Interest: This is the first and the most important determinant. A few of you may like to pursue management education because you have made an incorrect choice at the graduate level. You may have pursued Engineering (or any other degree program) because your father (or mother, or cousin and the list is long in the Indian society) wanted you to do so! Well, many of us share this story; but the good news is that you are well aware that you have no love for machines. So be careful now, this is your final chance for damage recovery! People may say, “Engineering and Finance is a fantastic combination or Engineering and Operations is the most logical combination…….” This is noise; please block it! And now you can hear a small little feeble voice; listen to it, your heart is saying something. Aha, that little voice is again confusing you with several options; don’t worry, just gather them all!

Aptitude: A human heart is highly ambitious and primarily driven by emotions. It’s time for you to start thinking rationally and probe over each option. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your preferences, likes and dislikes? Every specialization may require unique skills and traits, do you fit in to those requirements? Are you a sole contributor or team player? Does your health permits extensive travel that a particular type of job role may demand? In general, Finance is known for number crunching, Information Technology is known for analytic thinking, Operations is known for systems approach, Advertising and Marketing Communication is known for creativity, Human Resource is known for being people centric and so on. Thinking over all these, you will cross out a few options you had generated in the stage one. A few of you may still have two or more options on hand. Go to the next stage.

Opportunities:  We keep talking about trends in campus placements and many students make a decision based on the third parameter (ignoring the first two). It’s important to note that hiring trends could prove myopic and decision of selecting specialization on the basis of the same could prove fatal! Trends could be seasonal; for instance, with FDI opening up in the Retail sector, hiring may have shot up for Retail Marketing professionals but the same trend may not sustain till the time you pass out and so on. A few believe that there is always demand for Finance, Marketing and Human Resources; a few believe exploring niche could give an edge. Considering the average career span, what we specialize in should have a long term attractiveness as well as ample opportunities of employability and growth.

Financial Attractiveness: Post completion of the post graduate program, everyone aims for a decent income. But defining the term ‘decent’ is very important. For some of us, the only consideration is financial returns and for others, returns is a combination of financial and other non-financial perks. Keeping in mind both – our definition of returns and average pay scale that a role offers, one should come to a logical conclusion on the Financial Attractiveness that a particular specialization would offer!

Job Satisfaction: It is important to ask ourselves truthfully - what kind of work is of interest to us? What work will not seem stressful even after a few years? Steve Jobs was passionate till his last breadth and Sachin Tendulkar enjoyed his last match. Another food for thought – will you be able to balance your work and values (some may call it principles and others may call it ethics)? To clarify, I’ll cite an example Two singers - Lata Mangeskar and Anuradha Paudwal are well respected and loved for their melodious voice; while the former moved on steadily with her mainstream career filtering out a few incidences as professional hassle, the later quit her mainstream singing career when one of her songs that had good lyrics turned out to be a vulgar on-screen dance performance (from her perspective; as per her value system).

So to summarise, when you consider your interest and personal traits (not as per your sun sign) and combine them with job prospects and job satisfaction, you can chalk out the most suitable specialization for your MBA.