K.J Somaiya 2008-2010 GD/PI experience

[a2sh]

hi puys,

i had my intvw on 23rd@1.30pm batch..
reached well before the time so had to wait in campus of PESIT. at arnd 1pm we were called for ppt of KJ Som. We got some important info regarding the coll from there but the presentation members were not well-equipped to answer all our queries(!)
anyway after that registration was done. only our CAT admit, score card n KJSom form was viewed here. Sign in attnedance sheet.
Then the Essay writing started between topics:
(i) Historical movies trivialising Indian history
(ii) Judiciary system should be made time-bound
One has to write in about 300 words in 15mins
This was followed by a Psychometric test (45 qstns/10mins). 5 answers to each qstns.
Then we wr divided into 7 grps. I was GD No 5.
There were 73 persons present in our 1.30 pm batch
The GD was a case study of Heena (class X girl) havings probs in getting good marks in Hindi (mother tongue). So exams should be formal or grade-baed? Y ppl score mor in foreign langs rather than native langs? How can teachers help the study of lang to be more attractive to students?

Case Study began with individual feedback of the case for 2mins and then 18mins of total discussion. It turned into a fish market soon and panels stopped it after abt 10-12mins. We got out n saw other grps are also cuming out at same times approx.

We had to then wait for PI in the same room. After some wait I was called. 2 different panelists wr there.
Started off by asking me to produce original of work ex n xerox of it. then that KJSom form.
Asked about my company details, my work profile details. Followed by specialisation. I have marked as Finance..so why finance? Who is your role -model? Told them abt Warren Buffet...What thing of Buffet attracts u? What points do you consider while picking up stocks?..(seemed impressed coz in the end said 'good')
Lastly, do u want o ask anything abt us? I enquired abt NeN and MDP.


So there ended my process....

[tvn47]

Hi puys,

Sorry to being with for a delayed post.MY interview was on 23.02.08 1.30P.m
PES,Bangalore.

I was in the same slot as "srikutmunjal" was and all the process from 1 to 4 was a replica of the same(copy paste the same ).BUt my GD group was different from his.

GD:

Coming to GD the case study again was the same for all the batches and we were gien 1.5 Mins for a monologue on the same.Then the discussion started and unluckily it turned to a "MEAT MARKET" and the group was dismissed in 10-12 Mins.

The main reason for the same being two ppl had an ego issue on their points and none of were allowed to speak further and the entire scenario reflected a poor listening skill.

I was still lucky to AIR my issues three times and was satisfied.Instead of summarizing the GD I like to give the following inputs for a better performance.

1.Everyone including me believe that a person who starts the discussion and the person who speaks the most has an advantage.But this is absolutely wrong as the emphasis is on the "CONTENT AND NOT THE DURATION".The three times I aired my view was in minutes and I made some inputs which made sense.But two people had an unnecessary quarrel on a irrelevant topic.

2.If you are one of those person with a soft voice and is not possible to speak "AT LEAST LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE DISCUSSION",This reflects your listening skills and you may get your due.What happened in my group was around five people were reclining on the seats and were not speaking till the end.

3.People pl note that there were two moderators one made a note of the content and the second was monitoring the group.i was keenly observing him and he was making a sharp note of the peoples who not even bothered to speak,

4.The main reason for stating the above is that I truly believe that ppl who could not speak had a very good insight of the topic.Trust me I spoke to few such person who gave beautiful points that no one thought of?

Personal Interview:

I usually adopt a question and answer pattern but that will not benefit here.The reason for the same was almost 99% of it was purely job oriented (I am in sales for the pat two years and mt co is selling high end consumer durables).Luckily the person was having a very good knowledge of our products and was questioning on the same.I was able to address all his queries and the usual questions like "Why MBA/ambition?"

Again I like to highlight some points here which will be really useful.

5.For people who have chosen a different domain from their current profile pl be prepared with a concrete answer.(For eg: I met around seven ppl who were from software and wanted to an MBA in finance).Pl consider it as the most important question of the process.

6.Secondly,I observed that they had around seven parameters from which they questions were fired.For each an every reply you give they allot a mark(Do not be intimidated it just their process for the PI has the highest weight age)

I believe that the idea of KJ Som is to allow the candidates to speak as much as they want and extract the details from you.This is a Bit different from other interviews which follows a strict Question and ans basis.

Be focussed on the three Cs Content,Confidence,Cool

To the agony of other members my PI lasted for 35-40Mins(Sorry GUys.Mein kya kharo?)

The entire interview was pleasant .For from the previous threads I could derive that the main questions one could get were from their native place and the WHos who there?Like a IAS interview i was preparing about theCM/FM/governor and the cabinet ministers.BUt nothing was asked to anybody.

This made me laugh at the end of the interview(If ppl do not get changed in the cabinet I will use it for BIM)

Finally good day/good PI/Good colorful campus with divas(Beware of those dangeros curves - I mean the turns in the college are steep/and the end of the day to be celebrated with the "KING OF GOOD TIMES FOR THE ROYAL CHALLENGE I HAVE FACED"

Hope this was of some help and any queries pl post the same I will help u

ATB to all the PUYS

If i convert the call I will report this in this very same post and request other PUYS to do the same as it will give a good insight for the others.

Dear Aspirants,

As I always do I am posting the result of this GDPI.As on 13.04.08 I have been waitlisted will be knowing the status only on 28.04.08 kmfc>

[coolroy]

Since most of the candidates have already given a very good account, I will keep it short and simple.

I had the KJS Interview on the 23rd at PESIT, Bangalore.

First the registration. Then a short film followed about SIMSR. Then came the essay. 15 minutes. There was a choice of two topics.

1. Rich countries are responsible for environmental degradation.
2. How can small shop owners survive the rich retailing MNCs ? (Dont remember exactly !)

Then Psychometric test followed. 45 questions. 5 levels of approval. 10 minutes.

Then came the Case Study. 12 members. 2 in the panel. Topic : Is old age a curse or a time to be carefree ?

It was a Pseudo - GD. Because the case was not a an example of so-and-so in such-and-such condition, rather a generic problem of old age and its afteraffects. The panel member warned that preventing other from talking would result in -ve marks. After general discussion, we were given 1.5 minutes to summarize individually, although I felt it was actually not more than 30 seconds.

Interview panel was different than that of the GD. 2 in number. Basically asked questions form the proforma sheet.
Questions:
1. Tell me something about yourself.
2. Since you graduated from a pvt college, did you take up the IIT entrances ?
3. Why did you not make it through the IIT Screening ?
4. What does that(not qualifying for the IIT Main entrance) prove ?
5. Now that you look back at passing out of a pvt engineering college, do you regret it ?
6. What have you missed out in graduating from a pvt college ?
7. About my job profile.
8. My interaction with foreign colleagues, since I was involved a lot with them.
9. Differences in foreign colleagues and Indian colleagues.
10. Suppose you are the project manager and you have a delivery deadline tomorrow to go live and you have a foreign client. You haven't finished testing the product fully. What do you do ?
11. What is more important - Efficiency or Effectiveness ? Why ?
12. Asked why did I opt for that particular specialization ?
13. What do I read ? Said TOI. Asked whether I had read today's edition. Said No. Yesterday's ? Said Yes.
14. Asked to summarize any article on the frontpage, business or the sports page.

Thats all I can remember now. Interview lasted 20 minutes. Remember to sort out all the documents that you give them beforehand. They were a little haphazard in collecting the documents, as in they did not ask for specific documents, they took whatever you gave them.

All the best !

[tvn47]

Originally Posted by a2sh

hi puys,

i had my intvw on 23rd@1.30pm batch..
reached well before the time so had to wait in campus of PESIT. at arnd 1pm we were called for ppt of KJ Som. We got some important info regarding the coll from there but the presentation members were not well-equipped to answer all our queries(!)
anyway after that registration was done. only our CAT admit, score card n KJSom form was viewed here. Sign in attnedance sheet.
Then the Essay writing started between topics:
(i) Historical movies trivialising Indian history
(ii) Judiciary system should be made time-bound
One has to write in about 300 words in 15mins
This was followed by a Psychometric test (45 qstns/10mins). 5 answers to each qstns.
Then we wr divided into 7 grps. I was GD No 5.
There were 73 persons present in our 1.30 pm batch
The GD was a case study of Heena (class X girl) havings probs in getting good marks in Hindi (mother tongue). So exams should be formal or grade-baed? Y ppl score mor in foreign langs rather than native langs? How can teachers help the study of lang to be more attractive to students?

Case Study began with individual feedback of the case for 2mins and then 18mins of total discussion. It turned into a fish market soon and panels stopped it after abt 10-12mins. We got out n saw other grps are also cuming out at same times approx.

We had to then wait for PI in the same room. After some wait I was called. 2 different panelists wr there.
Started off by asking me to produce original of work ex n xerox of it. then that KJSom form.
Asked about my company details, my work profile details. Followed by specialisation. I have marked as Finance..so why finance? Who is your role -model? Told them abt Warren Buffet...What thing of Buffet attracts u? What points do you consider while picking up stocks?..(seemed impressed coz in the end said 'good')
Lastly, do u want o ask anything abt us? I enquired abt NeN and MDP.


So there ended my process....

Hi,

What does NeN stand for? Hope MDP is - Management development program.

[a2sh]

Originally Posted by tvn47

Hi,

What does NeN stand for? Hope MDP is - Management development program.

NEN : National Entrepreneur Network

Remember they spoke of it in the ppt?

[lalit_sharma]

hi friends....

I had my interview at the PESIT campus in bangalore on Sunday,24 feb,9 am slot.The process was same as has been mentioned by my fellow puys.


I will just write my experiences in brief....

I reached the center at 8:30 and they had already started the Registration process...Saw many familiar faces from previous days IMi interview and some from MICAT....
When i entered i found that they were just checking your CAT admit card,marks card and the personal information form....
they were in a cheery mood....
After that they showed us a brief clip about SIMSR....It was nice...
Then we were asked whether we had any questions...one guy asked some thing..dont remember....

Then we were given a blank sheet of paper and were asked to write almost 300 word essay in 15 min....
The topics were:-
1)Are the news channels raking up trivial issues.
2)The great indian economicc divide-What do you think can be done about it?(something like this!!!!!!!!)

Most of the people i asked said that they had written on the first topic,i chose the second one...and wrote it well(hopefully didn't make any grammatical error!!!!!!!!)

Then we had a pschometric test,abt 45 questions 10 min,be true to yourself and it will be fine(personal viewfcourse try to be as close to positive aspects as possible!!!!!)


Then we were divided into 7 batches of almost 11 each.....i was in the first one...
Then we were asked to go to respective rooms which were assigned to us.....

There were 11 of us,one from previous days batch....Gd pattern was same as earlier days...
Our topic was "Should junk food companies(co-operates) be allowed to take social responsibilty"....

It was mentioned in the case about an initiative by Coca-Cola called ELIXSR to provide money for giving facilities to rural people etc...It was mentioned that although these corporates have time and again been found to flout rules like when it was found that coca-cola bottles had high level of pesticide content....It was said that these companies are using stars and such advertising to improve their image....
in the end,the question was that should they be allowed to take social responsiblity?

eveybody chipped in with points...i was 8 in line...so most of the points were covered by the time my chance came...so just repackaged the whole thing and added two or three points..At this time,saw that the moderators had ticked across certain names...i dont know why?!!!!!!
The discussion was healthy and almost all chipped in...only one guy was against it...weren't able to properly summarize...
won't explain the whole gd..it will become too long...

Then we were asked to wait outside...
one by one we were called for interview...the questions asked were general and most interviews finished in 5 minutes...Interview for 7 guys before me was over in 45 min!!!!!!!

mine latesd for around 8 to 10 minutes....only basic questions from the form were asked...

some questions which i remember are:-
1)why mba?
2)why finance?
3)why dont u want to join IAf?(my father's profession!!)
4)u said u have taken part in essay writing...tell me 3 sentences that come to your min if i say the word "TREE"...
5)some questions on where i have worked with underprivilaged?(written in the form..)
5)Why did u get so less marks in VTU university(ECE)?it is considered easy!!(i disaggreed ,gave some points to support my point)
6)about my work profile?

i dont remember anymore...some related questions....

just wanted to add that almost everybody i had a chat with was a fresher(most of them were from cognizant,chennai!!!!!!!!) or with less than one year experience!!!!!!!
and they didnt ask for any documents either...

i dont know what are the chances....except gd which was average,rest of the process went of fine.....but i always have hope!!!!!!!!!

hope this helps....

all the best to others...

[tvn47]

Hi Puys,

Any idea on the dates when the results will be out.I like to hear the one told by the institute as I have already posted my projected dates.

[midnite_blues]

hi to all the puys,

GD/PI slot : 24th morning 9 am slot...PESIT, bangalore

P.S : all of you definitely carry your cat id card, cat admit card and student profile... also do carry attested copies of your mark sheets (becoz a friend of mine from the work ex batch was asked for it and those who didnt have it had to get it attested and submit it that day itself)

the person who checked my card and profile form mumbled something about me wearing specs and my photo not having it etc...

Anyways that was followed by a presentation on the college...

Written test :
Duration - 15 mins

Topics : 1) Are 24 hr news channels reporting trivial news

2) something about economic divide etc (didnt bother to look at it too much)

as soon as i saw the first topic i decided i would write on that...

P.S :
1) make sure you practice simply writing something a day before the gd/pi day...because my hand was hurting like anything and 15 mins will just fly by if your not quick enough...

2)just spend 1 min or so to collect your thoughts as to what you are going to write....coz they specifically mentioned that they are looking for some logiv in the writing also....

3)be very careful of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes

Psychometric test : just be your honest self and dont try to pull off any tricks here....

Group Discussion : we were split into batches of 11-12.... i was in the 4th batch...Panel of 2 members were observing us

the topic was the same thing as above about "should junk food companies be allowed to engage in corporate social responsibility"

P.S : try to make as many valid points and contribute to the gd... interrupting someone just for the heck of it and just to get airtime is not at all appreciated there. no need for any prior knowledge as such because all the facts you need would be in the given sheet itself.


Personal Interview :
the panel who sat for the interview were 2 other people (not the ones who sat for the gd)...It was basically like a stress interview but i had real fun attending it...

the panel consisted of a young guy(P1) and a middle aged madam(P2)

and then there was me (M)
ill give you puys the details of whatever i remember coz time just flew by for me in there....the interview must have been for 15 mins or more....i dunno...

P2 :So what is the relation between marketing and your engg background
M :gave the reason that i have some skills which seem to indicate that i should take this....blah blah blah....then even connected it to why mba after engg....blah blah blah

P1 : you say that your creative....give an eg to substantiate that
M : narrated an incident from college life...blah blah blah...

P2 : so you play football?..(i had mentioned one of my hobbies as football)
M : yes ma'am... i do
P1 : but you dont look like a footballer (my body is on the slightly heavier side you see...)
M :i said its just a hobby and that i just enjoy playing it.
P1 :so what are the qualities that you gained from the game of football
M :immediately said team chemistry (thanks to all the EA SPORTS - FIFA games i played)....said its a noisy game hence we cant talk a lot, we have to communicate thru our eyes etc...
P1 k lets say your a defender, your team mate is going to score a goal, you want to communicate to him, how will you do it???...
M :sir, if thats the case then i would prefer that my team mate be focused on scoring a goal than waiting for a communication from me....
P2 : so you also cook?...(another hobbie of mine...im a major league foodie)
M : yes ma'am...said i mostly experiment with fast food...
P2 : so do you like to cook for your friends?
M : said its a pleasure for me to see other people enjoy my cooking...
P1 : so, will you cook for your friends in the hostel also
M : sir, nothing mainstream but ill definitely help wherever i can...
P2 : so lets say that your hostel has no mess, what initiative will you take to provide food for all the students from outside???
M : said that would depend on the type of people, whether vag/non veg etc
P2 k lets consider a totally veg hostel full of north indians ...and your a south indian ... and the management is gujju ...(the last comment took the cake)...what will you do???
M : said that regardless of northie or southie there some basic items like (roti, dal, rice) that are commonly consumed by all indians...will provide such things...

then there were many more q's but i forgot...these are the ones i remember coz i was enjoying it when they were cooking up situations...

P.S : only thing is mostly it will be a stress interview....keep your cool, answer in a chill manner...

ATB TO ALL THE PUYS...

[midnite_blues]

Originally Posted by tvn47

Hi Puys,

Any idea on the dates when the results will be out.I like to hear the one told by the institute as I have already posted my projected dates.

the first guy in my batch who went for interview asked this question and they said within a month it would come out....

[tvn47]

Originally Posted by midnite_blues

the first guy in my batch who went for interview asked this question and they said within a month it would come out....

Well I believe the reply is same for everyone.Lets keep the fingers but too many crosses for all the ins.

ATB to all aspirants to make it to their preferred iNs(Provided they got a call from that Ins and did well In GD?PI)