OSU alum Ravi Chandra talks with Watson Graduate students about job search process

Monday, November 23, 2015

Oklahoma State University’s Watson Graduate School of Management students received the opportunity to hear alumnus Ravi Chandra speak about skills needed for job searching.

Chandra, a quality assurance analyst for Power Cost Incorporated, is a 2011 graduate of Oklahoma State. Only four years removed from college, Chandra had a lot of advice about vital skills.

“Some of the most important skills you can have are friendliness, empathy, active listening, and sensitivity,” said Chandra. “I would rank activity listening very high. You would be surprised how much you learn by listening.”

Chandra also discussed the importance of perfecting writing skills not only for documents like résumés and cover letters but also for conversation documents such as emails. He informed students that proof reading and editing documents can be the difference in receiving a job offer or rejection.

Austin Hatch, first-year OSU MBA student, found Chandra’s presentation useful and relevant to his experiences in his life.

“The emphasis on soft skills was very valuable to me because they can be applied to all aspects of life, not just the workforce,” said Hatch. “Attention to detail is another important topic that was covered. Many things we may consider insignificant could be the determining factor of getting and keeping a job."

The guest speaker also emphasized that learning is something one should never stop doing.

“Realize that learning requires putting things into practice over a period of time,” said Chandra. “Be committed to learning and never stop learning.”

Professional development course professor Ajay Sukhdial invited Chandra because of his career in technology.

“The two reasons I got him is because, one, he is in the IT (information technology) industry and about 100 of our students are MS MIS (Masters of Science in Management and Information Systems) students,” said Sukhdial. "The second reason I got him is because he is an alumnus of Oklahoma State, and he’s a recent graduate. Sometimes it’s a little bit easier to relate to somebody who’s just out now, rather than somebody who’s gone through the whole thing and is now a CEO (chief executive officer).”

For more information on OSU’s Watson Graduate School of Management, visit http://watson.okstate.edu/ or call 405-744-9000.