Change of guard for armed forces: From battleground to corporate world

Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurugram, in association with Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR), Ministry of Defence, has been conducting six-month course for retired armed forces officers.

This specialised course assists and guides the participants in various fields of corporate sector including sales and marketing, operations, information technology, supply chain management, human resource, finance, retail, telecom, strategy management, education and so on.

Since defense personnel come from a background where they are well-trained and crafted in handling crisis situations, quality management training with great leadership exposure can further enhance them in becoming the most sought human resource in no time.

MDI has designed the specialised program to make officers well equipped in managerial competencies for the corporate world. The program can be opted by both retired as well as by short service commissioned officers.

An added advantage of this course is that the military MBA aspirants can impart useful and effective leadership experiences to their civilian counterparts.

Parul Gupta, Course Director, said: "The program consists of 3 semesters with 50-60 participants in the batch. She also said the course is sponsored by DGR (Directorate General of Resettlement), Government of India, as it provides 60 % of the course fee which is Rs 2.2 lakh per participant and the rest 40 % has to be paid by the applicant. This course is in great demand as it has been very effective and the participants have gained lots of practical exposure related to management."

Squadron Leader Praveen Singh with the Indian Air Force from the short service commission, who opted for this programme after serving 10 years for armed forces, said, "This initiative of DGR and MDI is commendable for ex-servicemen to find a firm footing in the corporate world."

Squadron leader Smriti Dixit, who joined the course, retired in 2015 after serving the Air Force for over 11 years, shared her experience and hailed the structure of the program. She even went on to say that there is no institute that can enrich and cover the larger syllabus at such a short span of time, which MDI is doing.