During my talk, however, I told them that MBA qualification can at the most open doors for their careers. For continued career success, I suggested three C's - Communication, Competence and Confidence! 

COMMUNICATION: These days, the most essential start point for success is communication. There are times when one gets rejected instantly for lack of communication. For many Indian students, communicating in English has been a real problem, however ironical it is! It could be English language, organizing and articulating the thoughts...communication is the first window  for people to understand a candidate during the interview process! 

COMPETENCE:  As the discussion in the interview progresses, one needs to demonstrate good conceptual abilities in the chosen domain. It is not uncommon to see candidates who end up showing a marks list with good grades and at the same time unable to respond to basic conceptual questions. It shows the mismatch in our system - one may be qualified, but may not be competent. In the longer run, it is the competence that works better than mere qualification. 

CONFIDENCE: The third and most important C is confidence, on which the other two C's grow and balance themselves. It is not very clear whether communication ability and conceptual clarity feeds into confidence; or confidence helps them better in communication and conceptual thinking. On several occasions, I have come across candidates who have good ideas (Concepts), but due to lack of communication, fail to express. The more they struggle, bigger the drop in their confidence. It is also true  that sometimes confidence and communication can fill in for lack of conceptual ability. However, in the long run, it will surely hamper career progress.

I therefore suggested the students to focus on all the three C's.

Ask yourself, which of these three C's is a bigger block in your case?

That should be the immediate focus!