IIM C Interview Experience

Friday, the 13th. Not quite the best of days you'd usually pick for an all-important interview (IIM Calcutta!), but the candidates are never asked anyway. A bright and early start for the 9.30 morning slot, and I was at HMATC in Mumbai (feeling like I spend a little too many days here now) over an hour early.

As I got there, I learnt that candidates for Indore were headed to the rooms I was by now familiar to, and the interviews for us were being held in rooms on the side and a little to the back of the institute - IIMC was probably being treated as a poorer cousing to IIMI because of late booking. I read through the noticeboard to discover that I was tenth on my panel with a couple of overseas candidates to follow me at the end (groan, it would be a long wait for my turn!).

The first part of the process was verification, where they cross-checked the marks entered in the admission form with original marksheets, and asked for photocopies of the national/state level certificates (for the working professionals, photocopies of their final marksheet and work-ex certificates are also required).

Next we were headed to the Group Discussion - the topic at hand was 'Assets are liabilities'. Surprisingly, about three-four of the guys didn't have blank paper on them, and they had to ask for a page. The group did well on the whole, covering a lot of ground and some good points were made. I started the GD (for the first time) and I was fairly satisfied with my performance. At the end, we were asked to give individual summaries - the panelists didn't say when to stop here and quite a few droned on and on...and on.

As I mentioned before, I had a pretty long wait in store for me, something which was compounded by the fact that the first five candidates were grilled for nearly half hour each. I whiled away the time chatting with people - I ended up knowing quite a few. Prateek, my classmate from AIT, also had the same slot and he'd accompanied me to the centre in the morning, but was in a different panel. Then, there were a couple of old faces to talk with (Nikhil from IMS and IIM-L call, Anurag from IIM-A call and Harsh from IIM-L again). I spent most of the time with new acquaintances - Malika from Deloitte New York, Cyrus with an ISB call in hand, Kedar with a 99.99 and Dipesh Mehta working at Barclays'. I think the famous 'networking' at a B-school that they talk about was pretty much on display there.

Finally, I was called in at 1.30 pm. The panel had three members - Prof. Subroto Mitra, a Lady Prof (whose name was similar to Aparna) and a young alumnus, wearing a yellow tie and working at DSP Merrill Lynch - he seemed pretty jovial. I think I will call them P1, P2 and P3. P1 hardly spoke, while P3 did most of the talking.

The interview went something like this.

P1: Give me your form and your file of documents. (Oh yeah, that's one weird thing about IIM-C, they don't look at your application form before you enter - you hand it to them at the start of the interview)

P3: We are running late as you can see. So very quickly, run me through your background and why you want to do an MBA.

I: (Spoke in brief about my army background, passion for writing, responsibility at school and college...when I mentioned General Secretary, they realised that I was still at college and P3 remarked on it.. I continued with my comp engineering background and then finished with 'Why MBA' talking about value addition of skills, network and brand)

P2: Which college are you from?

I: Ma'am, Army Institute of Technology. You might have heard of it - an alumnus of my college is currently in the final year of IIM-C. His name is Georgie Mathews.

P2: Which Matthew?

I: Georgie Mathews, he's placed in BCG (if they recognised him they didn't show it)

P2: And which school?

I: Ma'am, seven-eight schools in all, but spent most of my time at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Public School, where I was awarded the 'Best Boy' in all the Bhavan's schools of the country.

P3: (He had been grilling everyone on Why MBA) Are you placed?

I: Yes, sir. In Tata Consultancy Services.

P3: So why don't you work there for a few years and then come to do an MBA.

I: Sir, I'll acquire all the necessary skill sets - hard skills and soft skills - at IIM-C. Plus, I was talking to some overseas candidates, and they are people who have worked for a number of years in companies like Deloitte, Barclays' et al and yet they have the need to pursue an MBA course as they move up the ladder. It'll be a more efficient and effective path for me to take the course right away.

P3: What do you want to do once you've done an MBA?

I: I would like to join a strategy consulting firm and then eventually move up to the higher echelons of the company. Later on, if I get the opportunity, I'd probably start my own company.

P3: If you join a consulting firm with no experience, why would someone from a big company like..(I think he said Telco, not sure)...listen to your advice?

I: (Spoke about building my base through connecting to different people, and the IIM brand affecting their perception of me. He then removed perception from the table, to which I talked about how I'd be like a breath of fresh air with my ideas. Also mentioned bringing innovation to the table, after which he seemed happy and took a back seat.)

P2: You've mentioned in your career goals that you want to author a couple of books in the next ten years. Which type of book - drama?

I: Ma'am although I read a wide range of books starting from Mahabharat to something like The World is Flat, I intend for my books to be based on my experiences - my first will be based on my college life.

P2: So it will be about the army?

I: No, ma'am. If you'll allow me to elaborate, I can tell you the plot.

P2: Alright, 30 seconds.

I: (Went on to give her a brief outline of the book that I have written a prologue for already. Can't reveal it here - too hush-hush.)

P2: So it's fiction.

I: You could say that. It'll also include a youthful energy like in the Harry Potter series, plus I'll add a scientific angle to it.

P1: (Looking up from my file) You have this subject Financial and Industrial Management. What did you study in it?

I: (Aha, they'd asked this in IIM-L too) The basics of economics like inflation, GDP and basic stuff about managers - their roles in a company, etc.

P1: Did you also study about balance sheets and !#$%^&* in the course?

I: No, sir.

P2(to P1): What is this Financial and Industrial Management?

P1: A subject in his second year.

P2: How much did you score in it?

I: (Answered and went on to describe the strict guidelines in PU, they checked my scores in my form after that)

P2: (Thumbing through the form) Oh, you went to KBC Jr? How much did you win?

I: (Well, well.. another question encountered a second time! I told them about the experience and the final question)

P2: Oh, if not for that, we might have been sitting in front of a crorepati.

(All laugh, I smile)

P3: What's your CAT score, and how many calls do you have?

I: 99.95 sir. I had K and L here last month and A last week. And on Monday I have got a call from I.

P1: Alright, thank you.

And, that was it. It lasted just about ten minutes. Yet another interview where I didn't encounter any technical questions at all. Well, I'm not complaining.