IIM – Ahmedabad: Real PI Experience – 1 (Name Changed: Mr. Biswas)
The interview lasted for about 15-20 minutes. There were 2 panellists, a Lady of around 45 years and a Sir of around 50-55 years.
Panel1: Tell me something about yourself.
Me: I told them about my schooling, the place where I was born and brought up, recalling my journey from a small town of Banka to Kolkata and how topping there gave me self-confidence and self-belief. I also mentioned how my internship at Genpact as a consultant gave me the required push towards management, and told them my hobbies and interests.
P2: What principles of Arya Samaj did you learn in DAV – will it help you in management?
Me: I was quiet awestruck, but I cogitated and gave the answer. I told them I learnt perseverance, ethics and integrity which would help me more in handling a good business rather than being only successful. I told them how we were made to perform ‘havans’ and yoga in our extra period in school, and how they help me concentrate and focus better on the work that’s in hand.
P2: Seemed satisfied, but then asked can you tell me the name of a company that works with absolute ethics?
Me: Was caught absolutely off guard! I told them about TATA, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and the way Bill Gates invested most of his income in philanthropic activities. But my biggest mistake was to take the name of Reliance (Beware guys, do not tell anything which is not under the purview of your knowledge or understanding!!)
P2: Ha-ha!! Did you just say Reliance? My boy, you need to do some homework!!!
The baton was then taken by the Female Professor who was a little scary!!
P1: Okay Biswas, you have done secondary market research. Can you tell me what this secondary market research is?
Me: I explained that basically when you do a market study of the paper and information collated by a huge market research or consultancy firms like Gartner, PWC, Deloitte etc., then that is called as secondary market research.
P1: Was pretty satisfied. Then asked me what I had done in the project?
Me: I told them that my research areas which were basically the upcoming technologies related to the internet of things like cognitive computing, mobile financial services, automation of vehicles, future networks etc.
P1: Can you tell me a real scenario where you could apply IOT?
Me: This was the best phase of my interview (smile)!! I started by telling them that I have a start-up idea based on internet, of things which I would like to share with them. (Interviewers got excited!!).
Sir, I have got a business idea in line with OLA and Uber cabs. Sir/ma’am, we can connect sensors to our electrical lines. We would provide mobile phones to the electrician in a neighbourhood and connect the sensors to the respective mobile phones. Whenever there is a fault in the electrical line, the nearest electrician would be notified of the problem. By GPS the nearest mobile phone will be connected and he can come and fix the problem. In this way we can have things connected, like the electrical line to the net and can bring it under the purview of the internet.
P1 seemed Satisfied!!
Again the male Prof. interjected and started asking questions.
P1: Asked questions on probability distributions that I had studied in my engineering.
Me:I told them about normal, Poisson and Gaussian distribution (Was expecting cross questions and got extremely tensed as I am not a stats guy).
P1: What is basic difference between Poisson and binomial distributions?
Me: I explained with examples, but he was not satisfied.
The next question that was asked to me was quite shocking and a little funny.
P1: Have you ever visited a saree shop with your mother? Do you know which the most famous saree available in Midnapore district is?
Me: Completely surprised!!! What sir? I don’t sir, absolutely no idea!
P1: You would become a manager one day, but to be a good one you have to be aware of your surroundings. The place where you stay – what is it famous for?
Then my interview started taking absolutely a wrong turn!!
P1: Which handicraft industry is famous in Midnapore district?
Me: I said terracotta, and how the idols and utensils made of terracotta are very famous.
P1: Not really satisfied. Asked P2 if she had any questions?
P2 said no.
Then both of them said thank you and asked me to leave. I thanked them and took a breath of relief as my most difficult interview finally got over.
Verdict: Converted!
IIM – Kolkata: Real PI Experience – 2 (Name Changed: Mr. Asif)
In my slot, I was 1st in line to give the interview. The panel consisted of two IIMC professors and an IIMC alumnus. One of the professors opened the door and welcomed me inside the room. I greeted them with a smile and was asked to take a seat. I handed them the documents and one of the professors went through the file. The panelists were friendly and reassured me that they just wanted to have a conversation with me.
Q: Are you nervous Asif?
A: Not at all sirs, you made me feel comfortable from the moment I entered the room. I am excited to be giving this interview.
Q: Asif, tell us about yourself.
A: I started “reciting” a well-prepared answer and 25 seconds into the intro, they cut me off and asked me the next question.
Q: Do you drink?
A: No sir, I do not drink.
Q: Why not?
A: My religion abstains me from consuming intoxicants. Moreover, it is a personal choice.
Q: Isn’t success intoxicating? Your life has been successful till now, wasn’t that intoxicating
A: The successes I achieved until now have enabled me to have a good life. Success would be intoxicating only if I let it feed my ego. As long as I treat my successes the way they are meant to be, by not letting them get to my head and cloud my judgments, I would not consider success intoxicating.
Q: Fair enough. Which are the four religious scriptures in Islam?
A: I am sorry; I do not remember all the four. Taw rat, Injil and Qur’an are three of them. The Qur’an has superseded the older scriptures and we thus follow it now.
Q: Consider a hypothetical scenario wherein your subordinate comes inebriated (drunk) for a very important client meeting. How would you handle issue?
A: Sir, I would advise him against attending the meeting and ask him to come back to work the next day, once he is sober. I would also strongly warn him to not repeat this in the future.
Q: He was trying to jeopardize your company’s name in front of your clients; don’t you think you should fire him?
A: Sir, I would not fire him, as laying-off people is not my call. It is the responsibility of the higher management and the HR to take action against him.
Q: Asif, you are giving a very theoretical answer. Tell us know what YOU would do.
A: Yes sir, it is a very theoretical answer. But, this is what I would follow anyway because theories are meant to be followed. I don’t have the authority to take such an extreme step against my subordinate without consulting the higher management.
Q: Fair enough. Let us think about a bottom-up scenario (The other panelist asked “Did you just say bottoms-up?” and everyone started laughing. I laughed with them). Imagine your manager comes inebriated (drunk) to a client meeting which he is supposed to handle. How would you handle this?
A: I would politely request him to allow me to handle the meeting because as his teammate, it is my responsibility to have his back in the time of need.
This was abruptly followed by a few questions on academics. They handed me a notepad and pencil and asked me the following questions.
Q: Write Bernoulli’s equation.
A: It was fairly easy question and I was able to write it.
Q: Draw P-v graph for this equation (‘P’ along y-axis and ‘v’ along x-axis)
A: I stated my assumptions and drew the graph (Plot 1)
Q: Draw h-v graph for this equation (‘h’ along y-axis and ‘v’ along x-axis)
A: I stated my assumptions and drew the graph (Plot 2)
Q: What will happen to the P-v curve if ‘h’ is doubled. Draw on plot 1.
A: I explained how the curve will change and drew it on Plot 1.
After this, the interviewers glanced through my application and asked me the following questions.
Asif, you’re a chemistry enthusiast (I had mentioned in my application that I had won third prize in National Level Chemistry quiz competition). Name your favorite chemical.
I thought for 10 seconds, looked around and said “Water is my favorite chemical”.
Q: Relate yourself with water
A: I paused and thought again because my response to this would make or break my interview. “Water is adaptive. It takes the shape of the container you put it in”.
Q: So basically, you don’t have a personality of your own?
A: I responded with a smile, “That is not what I meant; what I meant was that I am very adaptive and no matter what situation you put me in, I will be able to come out of it with flying colours. I was completely thrown out of my comfort zone when I left India for a 3-month internship at Quebec, Canada. However, I was able to adapt to their culture, food, weather and people in a short span of time, making it one of the most memorable experiences of my life”.
Q: We believe you are aware of the current corona virus situation in India. What do you think is the way forward?
A: Yes sir, I am aware of the situation and in fact, Bangalore encountered its first Corona virus positive case yesterday. I believe social distancing is the way forward to tackle this issue. Public places such as theatres and malls must be closed. All the companies should adopt work from home practice. And last but not the least; follow good hygiene habits as suggested by WHO.
The panelists concluded the interview. I thanked them for giving me the opportunity and wished them a good day, and left the room.
Verdict: Converted!
IIM – SHILLONG: Real PI Experience – 3 (Name Changed: Mr. X)
2 panellists: 1 male (P1) and 1 Female (P2).
I was in Panel 3. 6th and last candidate to be interviewed. So I had to wait longer than anyone. Asked to enter by P1. Politely greets panellists. Asked to have a seat.
P2: So where are you from?
Me: Mumbai, but native of Gujarat.
P1: Oh Gujarat! So which part do u belong to?
Me: From North Gujarat near Mehsana region.
P1: So who stays in your village and how is the culture there?
Me: Responds stating no one stays there, but we go once in a year for religious function and stay there for 3–4 days.
P2: Okay you are Jain. So tell me why is it mandatory to become monk in your religion?
Me: (Good observer I see) I explained stating that it is not mandatory to be a monk, but recently many people are taking this path and explained some facts about it. (Seemed convinced)
P1: So what you have studied and where have you worked?
Me: Answered
P2: What was your role in the job? How is GST involved in your trading business? (Had mentioned background about family business. Hence the Question)
Me: Answered how manufacturer levies GST and gave some basic explanation about input tax credit and gave benefits of buying products from GST registered vendors and non-GST registered vendors. She seemed satisfied.
P1: So how many employees work, and what is the annual turnover?
Me: Answered.
*Now the rapid fire began*
P1: Do you know anything about North East?
Me: Yes, the seven sisters. Named them including Sikkim.
P1: Are you sure Sikkim is there?
Me: Yes Sir. As far as I remember but not 100% confident.
P1: Which is the main river there and what is the issue?
Me: Answered Brahmaputra, and talked about China blocking passage of flow of water.
P1: What is Deccan plateau?
Me: Gave answer about what is Deccan region and said didn’t exactly know about Deccan region.
P1: what is Setu Bharatam?
Me: Asked whether it is about interlinking of rivers? (Face palm moment).
P1: Do u know about Ram Setu? Where is it?
Me: Yes Sir. Southernmost India to Sri Lanka. Told about Lord Ram and Ravana from Ramayana.
P1: Why is China interested in Sri Lanka?
Me: Told about how China had extended Billion dollar rupees and had taken Hambantota port and trying alternative route for South Asia and Africa for trade since India didn’t join BRI and cornering India from 3 sides. Told about recent China meet about same trying to divert him to that area.
P1: What do you know about Syria war? Why are US and Russia interested in Syria War?
Me: Told about ISIS and regional war and how US sending troops to eliminate them. Told them US are interested since Syria has good amount of Oil Reserves.
P1: Is ISIS only in Syria? Is oil the only reason?
Me: No. Told about presence in Iraq and said yes Oil is one of the reason (Should have kept quiet this time).
Now P2 enters discussion.
P2: So you did MCom too. What are you planning ahead? And what is your favourite subject in under graduation?
Me: Yes. Completing MCom this year. Did specialisation in Finance. Had subjects on Portfolio Management and investing. Cleared CFA L1 simultaneously.
P2: Oh portfolio management? So what is Arbitrage pricing Model?
Me: Ma’am we didn’t study that. Moreover, it comes in CFA L2 curriculum and I haven’t started studying for it. (Relieved).
P2: What is random walk theory? How it is used?
Me: Ma’am we didn’t study this either.
P2: So what are the valuations methods?
Me: Answered correctly.
P2: What is technical analysis?
Me: Answered.
P2: What are the indicators in that do you know any?
Me: Answered and gave example of one of my strategy learned online. Seemed Satisfied.
P2: What is efficient market Hypothesis?
Me: Answered and gave examples.
P1: So, what is the environmental and sanitation issue with Mumbai?
Me: Told about Aarey colony issue with metro car shed being planned and AAP protesting to shift to other location and saving green cover. Also, Maharashtra govt. initiative about waste collection but lack of awareness leads to mixing of dry and wet wastes and problems related to that. Plastics being banned recently but allowed for certain industries.
P1: What other than that?
Me: Told about Deonar dumping ground being filled and no alternative has been found out yet.
P1: So is it usable area or barren land?
Me: Told it is not a usable area. Plus alternative sites are there but they are too small to sustain and therefore real problem still lies.
P1: What do you think about weather of Mumbai? What problems you are seeing?
Me: Sir, being a Mumbaikar, I feel hot and humid 12 months a year (it’s true though). Nothing great except occasional rainfall in summers.
P2: Okay we are done. Take as many candies from the bowl in front of you as you want. Since you were last.
Me: Politely took 2 mentos, thanked them
Verdict: Converted!
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