How SP Jain’s ECAP initiative will help you empower your career

In this disruptive age, a fast-track career growth is defined majorly by effective personal and leadership skills.

The importance of having strong people skills transcends industry and profession; whether one leads people, aspires to lead people, or works within a team of professionals, one needs to apply people skills to achieve career objectives.

Based on a recent Bloomberg Job Skills Report, strategic thinking, creative problem solving, leadership, and communication skills are more critical than ever to any organisation which aims to stay competitive and be productive.

We, at SP Jain, decided to help our Executive MBA students develop these skills by starting a capability development program called the Executive Career Acceleration Pathway (ECAP), focusing on a strategic career plan for individuals. The initiative aims to facilitate individual career progression and develop skills by determining the gaps through self-evaluation and a self-goal-setting exercise.

What do we provide as part of this program?

Individual Attention Prioritising A Professional Growth Strategy

Instead of growing employee-skills to match the company’s needs, ‘great companies to work’ look for ways to grow the company based on their employees’ passions. They continually ask employees what they are interested in doing and how they would like to see their career unfold. Capitalising on this, one should define a personal career plan which emphasises a Value Proposition.

At SP Jain, our goal is to identify the area of potential development for each student, either specific to a skill or knowledge, allowing them to stay updated and upgraded. Emphasis is given to building a better CV, building interview skills, personal branding, and building better social media profiles.

The Corporate Interface

The ECAP consists of unique workshops designed to enhance personal growth. Each theme aims to hone a crucial skillset in the workplace and in achieving numerous career goals; be it Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Dexterity, Stress Management, Mindfulness, or Time Management.

We also have several sessions on current topics including Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain Technology. Experienced industry professionals lead these workshops, ensuring effective experiential learning in a short time.

A Strong Supportive Learning Culture

A truly strong learning culture offers mutual support, promotes trust, rewards efforts, and ensures that the learners are aware of their work’s worth. This is exactly what we do through our association with the Toastmasters International (TMI).

With over 345,000 members in 142 countries around the world, TMI is an international, non-profit educational organisation (established in 1924 by Dr Ralph C. Smedley) that operates through clubs worldwide for helping members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills.

To read more about the exciting activities of SPJ Toastmasters Club in Dubai, click here.

Linking the Right People – Increase NetWorth through NetWork

Personal connections and professional growth are often interlinked in getting the right information of the right opportunity at the right time. To help foster strong relationships, we offer opportunities like alumni networking events which help you connect with fellow graduates from all over the world.

We believe that students should know their peers; look around – the experienced industry is in your classroom; reach out and ask questions about how things work in their organisations; be inspired by the success stories of your alumni.

Based on these four broad principles – providing individual attention and prioritising a professional growth strategy, honing crucial skillsets essential in the workplace, building a strong supportive learning culture and connecting the right people – we define our vision to help students accelerate their career.

About the Author: Parmita Debnath

Parmita Debnath is the Global Head – Student Experience and Professional Development, EMBA at SP Jain School of Global Management. She is a qualified Human Resources professional and holds over 10 years of extensive strategic HRM experience, specializing in areas like learning and development, Talent Management, Succession Planning, Executive Staffing, Performance Mgmt / Coaching / Mentoring, High Potential Development and Change Management, working with different leading organisations including IBM India Pvt. Ltd., SABMiller, Adi Ispat and DAMCO Logistics.

Parmita is an MBA in HR and Marketing, from Amity Business School, Noida. She also has a Bachelors degree in Micro Biology followed by 2 post graduate diplomas in Personnel Management and Public Relations.