Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management [PGDBM] (Part Time) From XLRI, Jamshedpur

Having friends at XLRI, I can only suggest you keep in mind these few facts if you're passionate about getting into any high-quality B-School. 

• Understand that people at B-Schools care about your marks very seriously.
• The competition level at any B-School would be so intense that the panel would not just consider people with a great academic background. They would take a month/year's work experience into consideration, too.

The status that XLRI or any great B-School carries would not be put at risk by admitting candidates who do not have a quality academic background. You have to at least maintain a minimum of the criteria that these institutes demand. 

• Recruiters that approach these reputed B-Schools for placements belong to different firms. For instance- Finance (Citibank, SoftBank, Goldman Sachs Group); Consulting (PWC, BCG, McKenzie); Marketing (P&G, Nestlé, HUL), and others. 
• These companies check the candidate's academic background. 
• The minimum percentage level they take into consideration for shortlisting is 60% at the graduation level. If your score is beyond that and you have been a university topper, it would be a plus.

Because of the reputation factor, FMS/XLRI/SPJIMR, etc. would not put their reputation at stake by admitting students with a poor academic background. Therefore, instead of focusing on that, it will be wise to focus and perform well in other exams like - MICAT, NMAT, SNAP, IIFT, CAT, XAT so that you can get a call from any one of the top 20 B-Schools of India. 

Despite a 50% score in your graduation, you still think about getting into a reputed institute like XLRI. This shows how much faith you carry in yourself.

Although choosing a course just based on placement records is not a good idea, there are some insights you must know before deciding.

• Placement is for the first job which you might do for 2–3 years while your career will span for 30–35 years. You should choose what you feel you want to be doing.
• You must have heard that HR roles offer you better work-life balance but it might not be true in every case. It depends a lot on the company, your manager, and your role. If work-life balance is your criteria, you might feel a shock when you join a company. HR might not have business targets but you may face other pressures.
• Placements in any campus depend on your luck too. HR batch strength increase in XL might make the competition for the good roles a little higher because the number of HR roles is limited. BM batch is still divided amongst Fin/Mar/Ops camps giving them specific roles but the number of opportunities might be higher. 

All in all, placements won't secure your future in any way if you choose a field where you aren’t interested. 

One of my friends is studying at XLRI. To her, there is no difference or classification of the amount of international exposure or on-site opportunities, based on specializations. The points below provide a clear picture of the modes of international exposure that students of XLRI receive during their course and afterward.

• There is a student exchange program in XLRI, which provides foreign learning opportunities to students.
• The institute has tie-ups with several international business schools like ESADE, Audencia, Darden, and EM Lyon.
• Almost 20% of students from the batch get the opportunity to spend a semester in one of the foreign institutes. Among them, most of the seats are available to HR and BM students.
• Students get the benefit of interacting with international students and get used to the global perspective of MBA.
• In terms of internships and placements, the working experience of candidates totally depends upon the job role offered by the company.
• In certain cases, companies send their summer interns abroad to their offices.
• There are HR interns from HUL, who worked in the United Kingdom during their internship period.

Therefore, specialization is not the mode of distinguishing chances for on-site opportunities, and the factor is entirely based on the company’s business requirements.

It is not a question about whether or not BM is bad, and HR is good. XLRI is more known for HR because it has stuck with the brand. The brand XLRI primarily had an established legacy in Industrial Relations (IR). Which later converted into HR. XLRI established its reputation as an IR concentrated institution following the Independence of the country.

BM, on the other hand, was inaugurated only afterward alongside older IIMs. This has somehow resulted in leading to the XLRI brand getting generally and mostly associated with HR, and not BM. It’s rare to find any industry or top-tier companies in the country where the top HR personnel is not from XLRI.

Now when talking about BM at XLRI, there is definitely a strong and successful alumni base from BM in the industrial sector. In fact, for further recruitments, alumni of XLRI get placed in McK, BCG, and several more from the BM sector.