Many People, when asked upon – why you want to join an MBA program at our institute – cite networking opportunities as one of the central reasons for their MBA. What are these networks, who are the people who comprise this network, and what exact value or benefit does it bring to you?

Typical freshers just quote this term as they heard it from somewhere or heard someone speak about the great network of people a particular B School offers. They have no insight as to what does it mean, may be just an indication that if the network is good, he can jump to better and better jobs. Where are people who are really seasoned in the Industry, with around 4 to 5 year of workex behind them know the meaning spot on.
India is typically a country where fresh out of college graduate constitute an equal (if not more) percentage of a PGDM class. Whether it’s good or bad, it will be a separate discussion all together. But Networking is a borrowed term from the Western part of the world and it’s a very important criterion for people to select their institute, they just don’t say it for namesake. Typically, in US B-School , only people with more than 2 years of experience can apply, fresh out of college is a rarity, and average experience stands close to 5 to 6 years.
The entire Bschool experience of any person is Totally job oriented, which is precisely the selection committee in the GD/PI vary of and they want to pick students who can think beyond just getting a job.

In USA, Sales guys are one of the most highly paid people, unlike that in India, where the incentives and bonuses are increasing but still way below the western standards. 75% of Fortune 500 Company CEOs started their career in sales, and an average kid had his friend sales experience of selling Lemonade at a stall at the age of 6. From early on their get acquainted with the power of building relationships, nurturing them and continuously endeavor to get more on more relationships in their reach. Its very difficult to get an appointment from any person, there through cold calls and the first ice is very easy to break if you can strike a common thread with the person.

Second perspective to this will be Bschool is a place where you interact with a complete mix of people from various backgrounds, experiences and strengths. Moreover, for many like me, it will be a first opportunity to spend time with some 250 odd people 24 hours a day (or let’s say at least 18 hours a day). Not only you learn a lot of them, you also start respecting each of them for their specific values. By the end of two years, you will real know who can be an asset in which context. Suppose, you have a business idea and what start acting on it, it’s a golden opportunity for you to get your “partners in crime “ right there, as you can choose people who are obviously generally capable ( because of the selection procedure of the Institute) but also have specific strengths or background which will of value to your particular business. You get peers who are trained to lead business concepts and it would be comparatively easier to get them to work on your idea and offer stakes in lieu of salary. Once you step out of the institute, most of your peers will be working and It would take 3 times the effort to make them skip their jobs, relocate (often one of the major concerns, as you would have by then already started in your hometown, and he will only be inclined to leave his job, if he can get to his hometown not yours  ), and then last but not the least give up the earnings which he has already got a taste of.
SUN Microsystems is a startup by batchmates from Stanford, and there are examples of many such companies formed by batches from a Bschool.

Even if you start on your own a late in your career, you have a ready network of your own batchmates who know you, are earning well and well placed in corporate world. Not only they can help you crack important relationships, but can your first source of finance.

According to my experience the Alumni Network is a bit overrated. There are 250 students passing one batch and any good institute would be at least 20 years old. So, in average 5000 Alumni. But its human to only select those alumni who have made Big in life. But you are not the only one who wants to get his axe grinded, so by and large he has already been approached by over 200 of your seniors of some even more selfish reasons, while yours may be divine. This makes the alumni network already spent and kind of immune. So, the effort involved to get an alumni respond becomes almost equal to get any other dignitary to respond, given your cite your background and purpose clearly to the same.

Any reference of any personal interaction in the past increases your chances of recall and hence response. This is again where your “networking” within the campus can come healthy. So while in your curriculum you can actively interact with each of the speakers and professors.

But putting all the resources on one side, your biggest assets are you 250 batchmates, 150 seniors and 150 juniors = 550 people strong network who will make some active effort to get your work done within their influence zone.