Archive for April, 2010
SPJIMR Interview Experience
Posted by Kinnar Shah in Mix-Up on April 1, 2010
Fact File
SPJIMR:
Top 10 MBA Institute in India, good ROI with ~6.3L fees and average package of 10L+, Posh location in Mumbai
Me:
Applied for Marketing Specialization, CAT 96.6%ile, XII 91%, X 90%
Good extra currics, High involvement in social sector with a project spread across more than 25 cities
Zero formal work ex
The day before
A day to relax and focus on the day to come. Confidence level was good as there were just me, my past and my brain that would eventually matter.
Got things ready for the next day (read: portfoio etc) and hung out in Mumbai in the evening. Had fun with friends and met new people.
The D-Day
Reached SPJIMR a good hour early. Went to see my dad’s college(Sardar Patel College of Engg.) located just across the building. Came back at 10:15.
Interviewees were told to assemble in a classroom where we registered and were told to fill up a psychometric test (more on this later).
I got alloted batch 10D for the GI.
Batch Break up:
4x Marketing (includes me)2x Finance1x IT ManagementWork Ex: 4No Work Ex: 3Males: 2Females: 5 (gender inequality at its peak!!!)3 from Ahmedabad (Strange coincidence)
The wait for the interview ensues.
Encounter # 1
Room NCR VI. A panel of 4 interviewers(2 Males, 2 Females) welcomed us. I have to say… the panel was very congenial and had us opened up in no time at all.
And the encounter starts.
Question # 1: Tell us something about yourself in 2 minutes.
Was easy to answer. Some people had quite clearly ratto-fied the answers and went on for much more than 2 mins (3-4 mins) ( 
). Came to know the the group was more diverse than I assumed. Looked like it would be fun.
). Came to know the the group was more diverse than I assumed. Looked like it would be fun.Spoke random stuff about myself for some 1 min 15 seconds.
Question # 2: As the gender ratio was oh-so-skewed, they asked us to discuss the Women Reservation Bill.
It was an amazing discussion with equal points being made for and against.
I was primarily against the situation of women being the front face while decisions ould be made by husband/father/party, etc.
Also, I emphasized the fact that if a woman is capable, she will rise in the political domain just like Sonia Gandhi and Pratibha Patil. You dont need reservation for this.
Also, I demarked the line between the need for academic reservation and political reservation.
Question # 3: Why an MBA and why in Marketing?? in 30 Seconds.
I explained my past work in event management and social sector and correlated it with my future goals with some flashy description like : “I will do a rewind and a Fast forward” 
It went good and the look on the face of the panel was that of satisfaction.
Question # 4: If you had to select a person other than you for the position, whom would you select? in 15 seconds
I selected a very confident girl by the name of Sukita as she had very precise understanding of her future goals and had her path chalked out very well.
Suprise factors:
No tech questions
No Marketing related questions
Nothing from the profile sheet
No explanations of any kind asked
Encounter # 1 : The Killing
The results were declared after a few minutes. 3 of us had progressed to round # 2. Surprise Surprise… I was one of the selected people.
I was the only person without work ex to make it to the second round here.
And yeah Ms. Sukita was not.
A time for cheers, all-the-bests and bye-byes.
The Psycho-metric test
We all had to fill up a psychometric test for the second stage.
It contained 30 personality traits divided in 3 sections. The answers had to be graded as:
a)Strongly agree b) mildly agree c) mildly disagree d) strongly disagree
Also we had to select 2 important traits from each section and justify why we selected them.
Answering the test was total fun. \m/
Encounter # 2
The second GI for the lucky people consisted a discussion based on the psychometric test which we had just given. We were a batch of 6 people again from diverse backgrounds and specializations
Batch break up:
2x Marketing (includes me)2x Finance1x IT Management1x Operations ManagementWork Ex: 5No Work Ex: 1 (poor me.. alone here)Males: 5Females: 1 (gender inequality at its peak… but in the opposite way!!!)
It was a pretty chilled out discussion in the beginning with the panel of 2 interviewers taking a trait and asking you to justify the response you have given.
All were pretty good in justifying their personality.
Things heated up a bit when they asked for a direct discussion between me and another guy with totally oppsite beliefs.
He believed that fate guides our lives. I believed that we guide out fate.
It was a heavy discussion which I rounded off by saying: “Good fate is an opportunity for which we were prepared. Bad fate is an opportunity for which we were not”
(Coincidentally, this is the gist of a book of Deepak Chopra, a fact that the panel told me)
Then I was asked if I would marry a girl of my parent’s chocie or my own.
I made the atmosphere a bit light by saying that both can be true if I find the right girl. On a serious note, I said I ould go for marrying a girl of my choice.
The next question: “Will your family approve??”. Me: “A: My family is very open in this respect. B: If the girl is good, my family has no reason not to approve.”
Another question asked was if I usually know whom to approach when I have a problem.
I answered in assertive and explained that once you get into any system, you get to know the machinery in a short time and then you do know whom to approach for what.
I also put in parameters like urgency of the situation, structure of the organization(amorphous or crystalline), attitude up the heirarchy, comfort zone, etc as things which influence my choice on the person to approach.
Also to make the most of the opportunity I put in the point that I dont have formal work ex. So things might be different in the corporate world.
I could not help but notice that the panel was happy. 
The End
The amazing experience ended with an informal discussion mbetween us, the members of the second batch outside the room.
I got positive reviews for my performance and people found it hard to believe that I don’t have work ex.( something to be happy about )
)We filled up another sheet which solicited feedback on the Psychometric test (shows how important they consider it to be).
So, like all exciting things, the interview process ended with us in anticipation of the results.
Lets hope all turns out to be super duper good…
