1) INTERVIEW WAS FOR: IIM Bangalore
2) ABOUT YOURSELF : B. Tech. in Engineering Physics from IIT
Bombay in 2006, prepared for IAS exams, taught at IMS
and now working at Zeus Learning, calls from all 6
IIMs.
3) No. OF PEOPLE AT THE PANEL : 2
4) BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE INTERVIEW : It was an okayish interview. I stumbled in the
first half, but did well in the second half. They were
smiling throughout the interview, sometimes laughing
with me and sometimes at me. But on the whole, I got a
nice feeling. I have given an almost-complete
narration of my interview on my blog,
http://chitranshu.wordpress.com . 5) KIND OF QUESTIONS ASKED: One professor began by
asking about my background, a question on string
theory, analysis of current political developments,
and one question on geography. Then, the other one
asked about my job, and from there, it somehow went to
Mahatma Gandhi (they had asked a question in the GD
summary form - who do you think was the most
influential person in the 20th century, and I had
written Gandhi). The second half of the interview was
entirely a discussion on Gandhi. 6) DURATION OF THE INTERVIEW: 15-20 minutes. 7) HOW WAS YOUR PERFORMANCE: I believe it was OK. 8) AREAS WHERE YOU COULD HAVE PERFORMED BETTER: The
interviewers covered a lot of different areas in 20
minutes, and I faltered a bit on physics (which I
studied in college) and politics (which I studied for
the IAS exams). 9) 3 QUESTIONS THAT YOU FOUND DIFFICULT TO ANSWER:
Tell me something about string theory.
Why is Vilasrao Deshmukh not being sacked as CM of
Maharashtra? 10) FINAL RESULT/ EXPECTED RESULT: Can’t say. Final
calls expected sometime in April. 11) YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR THE UrPERCENTILE.COM
SUBSCRIBERS PREPARING FOR INTERVIEW: Be calm and
confident. Revise what you studied in college, current
developments in that field, and general current
affairs. However, you never know what they might ask
in the interview, sometimes just to see how you react.
FOR GD:
1) GD WAS FOR: IIM Bangalore 2) NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE GD: 8
3) NUMBER OF PEOPLE EVALUATING: 2 (the same 2 who took
the interview)
4) ABOUT THE REMAINING MEMBERS IN THE GD: Don't know.
5) GD TOPIC: Should the government set up more IITs
and IIMs, or should it use that money for primary and
secondary education?
6) BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE GD: It was the worst GD
I have seen so far, with most people just talking for
the sake of it and not willing to listen to others. 7) DURATION OF THE GD: We were given 10 minutes to
read the case and write down some points, about 15
minutes to discuss it, and then 10 minutes to write a
summary and answer 2 questions - who was the most
influential person in the 20th century and why, and
what are your career goals and how does a PGP from
IIMB fit into them?
8) HOW WAS YOUR PERFORMANCE: Just average. I spoke
twice, and loud and clear enough for everyone to stop
and listen. I also made good points, which 1-2 people
referred to later. I also tried to stay away from the
general fish market that prevailed.
9) AREAS WHERE YOU COULD HAVE PERFORMED BETTER: I
could have spoken a little more often. 10) YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR THE UrPERCENTILE.COM
SUBSCRIBERS PREPARING FOR GD: Co-operate rather than
compete. Think before speaking. Listen to others also,
instead of just fighting for your own speaking time. 11) FEEDBACK ON THE WEBSITE URPERCENTILE.COM: It is a
good forum for people to share their knowledge and
experiences, and help each other perform better in
achieving their goals.
From : Souvik Sen
This is my GD/PI experience of IIM Bangalore. The venue of the interview was The Kenilworth Hotel, Kolkata. I reached there around 1 hour before the schedule. All the candidates were split into three groups. There were three absentee and all three were from our group. So our group consisted of only 5.
FOR GD :
1) NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE GD : 5
2) NUMBER OF PEOPLE EVALUATING : 2
3) ABOUT YOURSELF (Education/Work Experience) : I did my graduation in Electrical Engineering in 2004. Since then, I’ve been working in IT industry. At present I’m deputed in Edinburgh , UK .
4) ABOUT THE REMAINING MEMEBRS IN THE GD : One person had around 4.5 years of experience. He works in Railway. The other three were freshers. One among them got 100 percentile in CAT and is in final year of his integrated masters (5 years course) in IIT Kharagpur.
5) GD TOPIC : Kaushik wants to launch a new FM channel ‘Radio Khichri’ in Kolkata. His concern is whether he should launch it in vernacular (Only Bengali) or in ‘Verninglish’ (Bengali + English). There was an earlier instance in Bangaluru where ‘Radio Khichri’ was launched in ‘Verninglish’ (Cannada + English) but after that a local channel came with vernacular (Only Cannada) and overtook ‘Radio Khichri’. What should Kaushik do in Kolkata?
6) BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE GD : The GD was quite peaceful. As only 5 people were there in the group, everyone got sufficient scope of speaking. We came up with quite a reasonable solution.
7) DURATION OF THE GD : They gave 5 min for reading the case, 20 min for the discussion and another 15 min for writing the summary of the discussion.
8) HOW WAS YOUR PERFORMANCE : My performance was ok. Spoke 5-6 times. Gave some valid points. In the summary, I wrote almost all the points those had been discussed.
9) YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR THE UrPERCENTILE.COM SUBSCRIBERS PREPARING FOR GD :
IIMB is giving case to discuss. So not much to prepare beforehand. It depends on the case.
FOR INTERVIEW :
1) No. OF PEOPLE AT THE PANEL : 2 (Both of around 35 years)
2) BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE INTERVIEW : The interview seemed to be like a normal conversation. It never seemed to be too serious. They asked me about my job for sometime and then asked some questions from business. The panel members were in a congenial mood.
3) KIND OF QUESTIONS ASKED : Me : May I come in, Sir.
Panel – Yes.
Panel – May I have your file please.
Me – Sure, Sir (gave my file and one of them started inspecting my file)
P1 - What are you doing now?
Me – I’ve been working in IT industry for last 2.5 years. Currently I’m working with TCS and deputed in Edinburgh , UK . The project on which I am currently working has given me quite a good exposure. I’ve been given a leading technical role in it. I’ve got chance to work in all the phases of the software development lifecycle here.
P1 – Oh. So you have come down from UK to here for this interview!!
Me – Yes Sir.
P1 – Too expensive an interview.
Me – I guess it is worth that.
P1 – Where do you stay in Edinburgh ?
Me – Roseburn.
P1 – Did you go to the Hogmany party this year?
Me – Sir, this year Hogmany was spoilt because of heavy rain. It was cancelled.
P1 – Yes I know that. If you need to leave TCS what will you have to do?
Me – There are several options Sir. I will think about it later. One option is to take a study leave.
P1 – Do they give leave?
Me – Yes TCS gives Leave without pay for two years.
P1 – And what is the cost of that?
Me – If TCS sponsors the study then I’ve to stay in TCS for three years after I complete my study. Otherwise one year
P1 – What if you don’t?
Me – I’ve to give a large sum as compensation.
P2 – And what if you don’t take a leave at all?
Me – I can resign but as I’m in abroad at present as per TCS policy I’ve to stay in TCS India at least for 6 months. Otherwise, again I’ve to give 5 lakh as compensation.
P2 – So what are you planning to do?
Me – TCS always encourage higher study. So probably I’ll try negotiating with them about the compensation amount.
P2 – What if you don’t pay the sum?
Me – They will not give me any release letter.
P1 – Why do you need release letter?
Me – I guess I will require that for joining in IIM.
P1 – Who has told that? I assure you that no such service certificate will be required for joining in IIM. Have you ever heard that any educational institute asks for service certificate? We may ask for your graduation certificate but not the service certificate.
Me – Well. Then I think I’ll at least need it sometime later. Maybe during a job interview.
P1 – Not even so.
Me – As I know, even in campus recruitment of IIM people with job experience get a little edge. So don’t these companies ask for previous job certificate?
P2 – During the job interview only your experience in IIM will matter. They will not ask for any service certificate. They may ask you few questions from that but will not ask for the service certificate. Moreover I think there is no legal validity of this bond because TCS has also earned money from your being in abroad. So why will you negotiate with them? Even if the compensation amount is of twenty rupees then also you should not go for that.
Me – Well Sir. I did not know that I’ll not require the service certificate for joining in IIM. But still I think I’ve worked in the company for around 2.5 years. Now if the company has some rule I should have that much of loyalty to at least negotiate with them before I breach that. I can raise all these points while negotiating with them.
P1 – Do you think loyalty is important?
Me – Yes.
P1 – Ok. Now it is up to you. If you take our advice or not it depends completely on you. Now tell me why you want to do MBA at all. It seems you are doing quite well in your job. You are in abroad. Why do you at all bother for an MBA?
Me – bla bla
P1 – Now you have decided to switch in business field from technical field. Have you been aware of the news, events in business world?
Me – Yes Sir.
P1 – Tell me something.
Me – I had been studying how RBI was going to curb the inflation.
P1 – Ok. Tell me what all are being done?
Me – RBI has increased the CRR twice. Once in December and another on yesterday.
P1 – What is CRR? (He did not allow me to complete my answer. I had to say about the repo rates etc. also)
Me – Cash Reserve Ratio. Gave the exact definition of CRR.
P1 – How does change in CRR affects the inflation?
Me – bla bla
P2 – Suppose there are two persons. One is lending money to the other. No banks are there in the scene. How does change in CRR matters here?
Me – If CRR is hiked the bank interest rate will be raised. The person who is lending money will also get the money from bank. And if bank raises the interest rate he will also raise the interest rate.
P2 – What is money? And he asked some sub questions from this question like is credit card a money. Cannot remember all.
Me – I answered all of them but not sure whether all are correct. I said whatever seemed to be logical to me.
P2- What is inflation?
Me – bla bla
P1 – Ok. One last question. What do you think is good for the society. Positive inflation, zero inflation or negative inflation?
Me – Here I made the blunder. I said zero inflation which is wrong. A small positive inflation is good for the growth.
P1 – He looked at me in disbelief.
Me – I’m not sure Sir. It seems to me zero inflation should be ideal but don’t know whether it is correct.
Panel – Ok. Nice meeting you.
Me – Thank you Sir.
4) DURATION OF THE INTERVIEW : 20 Minutes
5) HOW WAS YOUR PERFORMANCE : It seems to be ok.
6) AREAS WHERE YOU COULD HAVE PERFORMED BETTER : I could have answered the last question correctly. Also not sure whether all the answers to the questions on business were correct.
7) QUESTIONS THAT YOU FOUND DIFFICULT TO ANSWERS : Nothing as such.
8) YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR THE UrPERCENTILE.COM SUBSCRIBERS PREPARING FOR INTERVIEW : Don’t get nervous at all. They are sometime taking stress interview. My previous experience in IIM Indore had probably helped me to keep cool. Also have some idea about the recent news, events in business world because they asked this question to some other guys also.