Jenkins MBA provides knowledge, experience for career advancement

When Guarav Chhabra, originally from New Delhi, India, begins in his new role as a global supply manager at Apple’s offices in Cupertino, Calif., later this month, he will be launching a career path that he set for himself when entering the Jenkins MBA program at the NC State University Poole College of Management.

“I always wanted to work in the high tech sector, so that I could leverage my engineering experience and my newly attained skills as an MBA,” said Chhabra, who graduated with his NC State MBA in May 2015.

With eight years’ experience as an electronics engineer, Chhabra said he entered the MBA program because “I wanted to broaden my horizons and get to know the business side of things. In the next few years I see myself growing as a business professional, but still using my technical knowledge.”

He explains his perspective on the difference between thinking like an engineer and thinking like a manager.

“The solution that an engineer provides is generally accepted by all. Multiple engineers will provide the same solution to a problem; there are no maybes. But thinking like a manager, you need to understand that there can be multiple solutions to the same problem: two plus two is not always four. As an engineer, one could solve a problem through math and theoretical concepts. But a manager has to employ all the levers, including theory, people management, number crunching, to arrive at a solution. It is not difficult to provide a solution to a problem, but a solution that will be acceptable to all is what defines a good manager,” Chhabra said.

He credits the Jenkins MBA curriculum for providing both the theoretical and experiential learning – on top of his prior engineering experience – that enabled him to stand out when meeting with recruiters and prepared him for his new role at Apple.

“The Jenkins MBA really helped me take that leap from thinking like an engineer to thinking like a manager. The two-year full time program made me think critically about business problems and how to go about solving them,” he said.

“Projects and coursework with different industries during the MBA program, the summer internship, networking – plus the right kind of exposure prior to my MBA – all were part of getting me the offer at Apple,” he said, adding that “companies are looking for various kinds of skills which one should be able to demonstrate.”

The Jenkins MBA provided experiences that enabled him to develop and demonstrate those skills, he said. For his supply chain management concentration, Chhabra completed projects for two global partner companies in the college’s Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC). One was a global textiles company; the other, a global food supply company.

“These were two completely different industries with very different approaches to supply chain management,” Chhabra said. “One project focused on how to manage supply chain risk in a global setting. As a team, we presented solutions on how to manage these risks and which KPIs need to be monitored.”

As a student, he said, “There are so many things that one learns in a project-based class. Studying something during class and being able to directly apply those concepts while presenting solutions to the client makes sure you have application of theory as well as classroom learning. You don’t have to wait until you start working to apply these concepts.”

Chhabra cited in particular a supplier management course taught by Dr. Rob Handfield, SCRC co-director, as providing “useful insights on how to analyze such business problems. The tools we developed in Excel provided a framework for the client to navigate through this problem. Analytical and critical thinking, working in a team setting, managing client expectations – all were skills that we were able to develop and put in practice during all these projects,” he said.

This experience provided him with “a deeper understanding of supply chain management as a whole. I will be directly applying these skills when working on cross-functional teams or while brainstorming through business problems” in his new role at Apple, Chhabra said.

The project-based learning also proved valuable during interviews with recruiters, Chhabra said, noting that he was able “to talk in depth about these projects and solutions, as many companies and industries are going through similar problems. It definitely gives you an edge in the market.”

Looking ahead to the next phase of his professional career, he said, “having worked with companies that have global operations has set me up in the right way to work with a company that has a footprint in almost every country of the world.”