SCMHRD interview

I have not blogged since more than 6 months now, so feeling a bit rusty. Even my last post regarding my trip is incomplete and there are so many new happenings to tell. But let me start off with the first interview for a B School i underwent yesterday-the first interview of a long and fruitful season, i hope.

B School: SCMHRD( Symbiosis sentre for management and humanity resource development)
Venue of GD/PI: Pune
Time: 1.30 PM 9th Feb 2009

A background

We had to select our GD slots online so that was a convenient process. I reached Pune in the morning of 9th after sleeping peacefully in the bus on the way and meeting some college juniors at a highway Dhaba who were on their way to Daman at 12 30 in the night(ya its true). I was sleeping when the bus reached the stop where I had to get off, so I had to jump bus with my blanket and belt in hand and totally sleepy and dazed. Chintan came to pick me. By the time he came, I managed to look presentable [;)] We got to his flat(it was very cold-my eyes were watering) and met his friends- Abhishek and Priyank who were about to leave for college at 8 15 in the morning (so early). Chintan and I bakared till ten and he left for his lab. I lazed around, got ready and reached the venue by 12.45 (very early by my standards). I had a huge lunch in the rooftop restaurant there with Sourabh- passout form BITS Pilani and working in Pricewaterhousecoopers, and was just in time for the GD registration.

Registration

The process was very systematic and efficiently organized and it looked impressive. Moreover, the people managing the time and guiding the candidates were students of the college itself, so it felt nice to keep interacting with your would-be seniors. I chatted with a senior-Prerna and learnt more about the life there.

I was slotted with Ankit, Ankur and two more people with names starting from "A" (lol). I was A5. A1 and A3 were freshers while A2 and A4 were work ex ppl. A4 was smelling [:(]. We proceeded for our GD at around 2 15.

GD

The GD infact was a case study to be discussed only among the five of us. The case study was of 1.5 full pages so the five minutes given to read were actually spent only on reading. The topic was-Some background regarding Prime minsiter facing isses of reservation, crude oil price, inflation etc. The people want to vote for a good candidate due to Mumbai terror attacks. As a citizen, who among the given 7 candidates would we want to see elected for our local constituency.
C1: Kiran Bedi (Names were changed but characterstics were same)
C2:Narayan Murthy
C3: Rahul Gandhi
C4: Ratan Tata
C5: Lalu Prasad Yadav
C6: E Shreedharan
C7: Shahrukh Khan

Noone started at first. A4 then started by proposing Rahul Gandhi's name. He was cut in by A1 who wanted to discuss all candidates one by one who was cut in by me who wanted to list out favourable characterstics in a leader. So qualities listed out were youth, dynamism, honesty, transparency, experience, proactiveness etc.

Then discussion started candidate-wise. A3 was mistaken that this election was for prime ministership. I corrected him because all his arguements were based on this assumption. The moderator interfered in between by saying that as A5(me) has rightly pointed out, please focus discussion on local issues (brownie point for me, I guess). Since the group focussed only on the positives of Rahul Gandhi, I brought in the fact he will not be able to give ample time to his constituency. 20 minutes with only 5 participants gave enough time for everyone to express their views. We hastened discussion on C6 and C7 and came to a consensus that Rahul gandhi was the best candidate because of his contacts and experience and youth. The panelists asked each of us a question. A4 was asked about C4 but he answered about c3. I was asked how the candidate will be able to affect issues of reservation and increase in prices. I said that since he is at a local level, these macro issues cannot be determined by him, though he may represent the people's stand in parliament.

Interview

There were two Professors OP:old prof and YP:Young prof and M:me

OP:sit
M: thank you sir

YP: do you have any other calls?
M: yes sir. IIM C, K MDI, SIBM

YP asks about when each call is and i tell him

YP: what would be your preference of joining supposing you converted all.
M: 1st pref: IIM C. Not decided rest.
YP: not iim k after that?
M: No sir

OP: some variant of why MBA
M: started about my family business

OP was not much convinced
So i told him the problems faced by my company now and how after an mba i could solve them

OP: much interested: so u wont take a job from placement cell
M: no sir,if i feel the need to gain experience, but as of now i dont

YP: What else have you done in college?
M: College politics and Events head of a committee in college

YP: what do u do in that?
M(very happily): explained in as mcuh detail he wanted

YP: asked about cpt and what changes regarding ca pe 1
YP: difference between agreement and contract
M: I answered in my own words

YP: formula of standard deviation
M: goofed up a bit

YP: as u can see, i have only asked u fundamnetal questions which u r unable to answer. with this profile, u may get into iims but scmhrd focuses on the fundamnetals which u lack blah blah

YP: Any questions u want to ask?
M: placements of scmhrd
YP: answered in extreme detail

interview took approx 15 mins. It was quite casual in nature and the facult was interactive.