My TAPMI- Manipal Interview

For College   TAPMI, Manipal

Course           PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management)

Location of Interview

Venue              IIFT Campus, New Delhi
Slot                  3^rd April, 8:30 am

Profile:

Cat 2010

QA    98.65

VA    82

DI     59.33

Aggregate  90.77%ile

Work experience                      21 months   11 months   Soft-Skils Trainer

                                                                      6 months    Verbal Trainer(TCY)

                                                                      4 months     IT (Infosys)

Any Special thing about you:      Infosys Drop-Out by choice. 

Rank-1 in India’s list of most Unlucky people. (Have close to a dozen  rejections to my name).

Group Discussion (Elimination Round)

There were 13 people. We were Tagged with numbers from 1-13.There were 2 panelists. We were given 20 minutes to discuss.

(While the panelists went out for a moment, I got  friendly with the group & told them that 20 minutes is a long time & all of us could make points & then may the best WIN but if there was a Fish-Market, then chances are that the whole group would be eliminated. The group happily relented.)

Topic for GD   (20 minutes)

“Should the use of Tobacco products be banned in India?”

(The discussion turned out well though the group could not summarize. The result was announced with-in few minutes.7 people were asked to leave while 6 were selected for the written case-study followed by interviews. Yours truly was one of them. )

Written Case-Study  (8 minutes)

A case where an employee who also happens to be great friend of yours was asked to leave as the project for which he was to work was lost & his services were no longer needed. Also, he had applied for the loan for which the mandatory condition was that he was to be working for a company. The bank is to call within 1 week to take the confirmation & his employment cannot be extended. He has already built his new home & the last phase of possession is left for which he needs that loan. So, your friend has asked you to give the confirmation that he is working which is against the policy of the company. How will you handle the situation ?

(It was a 1 page long case study having lots of information & we were given exactly 8 minutes to pen down our thoughts. No format was given & there was no word limit.)

Personal Interview   (12 minutes)

Panel Members Intro:  3 panelists.  For the sake of convenience I shall call them by :

YP (Young Punjabi Dude, may be an Alumni,    30+, Left side)

FP (Female Prof, asked a lot of questions          40+, Middle)

OP (Old Prof, observant & mostly listener        45+, Right Side)

Me (Yours Truly…)

Personal Interview 

Me :  May I come in ?

FP  :  Yes you may

(Pleasantries exchanged)

FP  : So, tell us something about yourself

ME : (Well rehearsed answer) They were keen on it & went on to ask further questions.

FP  : So, you have worked Pre-Engineering. Tell us what did you learn from it?

ME : Told (they were convinced)

FP  : So, what was this quota issue ?

ME : Told

OP : So, did you lose out on a college because of that ?

ME : Yes Sir ,I did, If there were 85% quota for UT instead of 50 %, I could have got PEC   (Electrical).But because of quota issue, I was getting Metallurgy & so I preferred to take Electronics in CCET. Since it is the only Govt. College under U.T Administration & is also affiliated to Panjab University (P.U), I took Electronics.

(In reality,because of the quota issue, I was being offered PEC,Civil Engineering & not Metallurgy. This was in 2005.It was foolish of me to have left PEC,Civil. A blunder of a  decision that is costing me till date. My reasons, irrational & from the Gut as ever, were that Civil involved a lot of drawing & I sucked at Drawing & that it was always nice to brag about Electronics than Civil)

FP : So Sahil, tell me about your final year project?

ME : (Arey Academics, mujse.. Ma’am, kya btaun … paise deke bahar se banwaya tha..3 ka group tha.Unhone working samjha di thi presentation se 2 gante pehle..Bas fir kyat tha, main aur meri Angrezi..….)

(It was time for some dramatics skills to be shown across the table)

Ma’am, we had built an Automatic Counter using Microcontroller & Microprocessor (aaye!! aaj to bade bade words use kar rahe ho..).It was a team effort. The basic application was that we could count the number of people entering any temple so as to avoid any stampedes. The counter would increment by 1 when-ever someone would cross the gate. By that means we will have the count of total no. of people in any place. This can help avoid any untoward incident.

FP : Have you heard of a famous temple Tirupati Balaji ?

ME : (arey Main Atheist hun..mujhe kya pta…).Yes Ma’am, I have heard about it but have never  seen it.

 

FP  : Do you know how people are managed there ?

ME : (stumped…)(with a smiling face) No Ma’am, I’m not aware of it.

 

OP : Ok, Sahil..you read these auto-biographies. Tell me one which you have liked the best ?

ME : Sir,I am greatly inspired by Lee-Iacocca’s autobiography.

(told them in detail about why I liked him & about his career achievements. Ended by saying that he was one guy who rose through the hierarchy.)

OP: So,this guy was not an MBA ?

ME : No Sir…

OP : Then why Sahil,do you want to do an MBA ?

ME : (He set me up nicely..I was impressed).(With a smiling face).

Sir,Yes there have been many cases in history where people who have contributed significantly to an organization have not been MBA’s.Bill Gates is also an example that comes to mind. But  Sir, I can speak for myself.& I believe that a 2-year dedicated course  with Majors in Marketing can definitely give me a head-start.

(OP nodded his head in affirmative .I involved the other profs as well)

The case-study methodology followed in TAPMI can help me learn immensely & I think it is the right time for me to enhance my learning.

OP : Agreed Sahil, but don’t you think so that this would deprive you of the hierarchy that your ideal Lee-Iacocca followed & hence you would not be able to experience the learning’s like your ideal did ?

ME : (aaahh.!!!.You are quite smart..aren’t you & hence rightly on the other side.)

Definitely not Sir.  Post my MBA in Marketing, I would like to enter Sales & hence know about my end- customer. This would help me to understand ground realities of my product & the needs of the consumers. Later on, while shouldering responsibility at higher levels, like say Product Management, such learning’s would help put me in a better stead.

OP : So,you don’t mind entering Sales or starting from the lowest rank even post your MBA ?

ME : Absolutely not Sir

OP : Fine Sahil (while nodding his head)

(Now that Smart Young Punjabi Dude, who I felt would have a soft-corner for me but he had other plans for me…)

YP : So Sahil, tell me something about Chandigarh?

ME : Chandigarh gets its name from Power of Goddess Chandika.It happens to be the only city designed by a single architect Lee Corbusier. (and continued to tell about the well planned roads etc.. )

YP : OK Sahil, where is Sector 13 located in Chandigarh ?

ME : (with a smiling face) Sir, there is no Sector 13 in Chandigarh

OP : Sahil, who is the speaker of Lok Sabha ?

ME : (thinking…)  Sir, she is a female  (look at that angrezi..where did I learn that…)

I am sorry Sir, I know the name but I am unable to recall.

OP : Fine Sahil, no problems.

OP : We are done…

ME : Any other questions Sir..

FP  : No, that would be all.

YP : One thing Sahil, before you leave.(Looking at my profile-form).I’m a little confused with your hand-writing. Where did you get that kind of hand-writing?... I mean I have never seen a Punjabi Guy having that kind of handwriting (he spoke in a touch sarcastic way)

Me :Sir, as I mentioned that I did majority of my schooling from St.Stephens, Chandigarh where the focus  was on cursive hand-writing ,which is bit slanting.While moving to a Model School, the focus was more on writing fast.Hence the combined effect is that…

YP : (He smiled slyly…) Fine Sahil, I’m done…

ME : (with a smiling face) Thanks You Sirs & Ma’am. Thanks for your time…

Panel : (with a smiling face) Thank You…

Post-Interview : There was an interview for 5-7 minutes with Director of TAPMI. It went smooth with he saying that you must have made hay in Group-discussion part because of your experience. It followed with some other questions.

(I could not believe that I forgot speaker of Lok-Sabha. It was an easy one & could have been answered.)

Verdict : Awaited