I had my XIM Bhubaneswar GD/PI .
The GD topic for my group was:
Good economics is bad politics.
I did not fare particularly well in the GD and would rank myself
4th perhaps out of a group of 8. But I was betting on my work ex
(15 months at Infosys) plus a decent performance in the PI to
take me through.
The PI was an entirely diferent from the one I had faced last year
at the same institute. On of the panelists recognized me from
last year's PI and the initial few questions were related to why I
couldn't make it last year. I managed to insert a humourous
element to the interview while citing out that I wasn't really asked
many questions last year, no was I given much time last year.
The first few questions were about my company, what could we
do to improvise on our existing markets, and our recently opened
ILI at the Mysore development centre. There were a few
questions on banking software that we make, and our rivals in
the market (I work in the financial domain). These questions
were easy to deal with thanks to my familiarity with their
answers.
They wanted to know how my work ex woul help the people I
study with, and how I could relate to Infosys when I do my MBA(I
did mention rigour as the common lin of thread).
The next set of questions were about my personal life, more on
the things that I do away from office. When I mentioned reading
as a new hobby, they wanted the category of books that I
read....so Anurag Mathur featured somewhere in between. SInce
I belong to Orissa, there were questions about the rivers and
industries in Orissa.
And finally they wanted to know if I will make it this time around. I
mentioned that I was relatively better positioned than what I was
when I started the PI (I told them I was skeptical about my GD
performance, and there was an analysis on why I could have not
performed well). All in all, I was satisfied after having spent 20-
22 minutes in the PI. The panelists had a hearty laugh each time
I had something funny to answer, or my honest yet risky way of
dodging away with tough questions. I don't really know whether
humour works with everyone, but then I guess if one can portray
it in her/his personality, there is nothing wrong in that!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at
UrPercentile and the members of this group. It is a wonderful
way of sharing "success" or means of success. I would also like
to wish all the future and current aspirants all the very best in
their motives.
P.S - Just in case I don't make it, I will be an active member of
the group for the next shot at glory...my longstanding dream- the
IIMs.