Hi Guys,
Here I will contribute my bit. I have benefitted a lot from last year GD-PI experiwnces, so I will also post my experience.
My Background,
BTech (IT-BHU),2004 Passout
Working in IT as software engineer in an MNC, since last 3.5 years
Good acads throughout.
So mine was 1:30 batch. I was there by 11AM. Then they checked the original and attested copies. I have one doubt, which seniors can clarify. Though they asked for attestes copies in the call letter, they never asked us to submit those attested copies. Or is that the case with me only??
Anyway I talked to may people whose GD-PI was already over. Topics were :
Nuclear deal
GDP hides more than what it reveals
Climate change
Criminals in Politics
Mine was MBA-FT
Our GD started around 2:30. We were 8 people. Two others could not attend, much to our comfort
(less people less fish market).
Then the GD started. I was first in the incomplete circle. Topic was - Has RTI changed the way of life in India?
I knew there going to be a fish market. Everybody has certain points. No body was opposing anyone. But surely lot of cutting across other people. Especaily me, since I was on the edge of the circle, I have to speak in loud voice to make my entry. That is the one thing which may go negative against me. I was also cutting across may others. Kya karta, sab log wehi kar rahe the
.....
Khair panel said only one minute left. But instead of summarizing, I continued giveing some points. Then a samrt girl reminded me that we need to summarize, so then she summarized.
So GD was a fishmarket, but all gave some points. Hope our whole group get good points (in place of negative points).
Ab baari thi Intvw ki. Mai engine tha is gaadi ka, means first in the group. Then I was ushedred in the room. Panel consisted of 4 presons:
P1- The guy in Tie and blazer
P2- The dean, Mitra sir
P3- Never spoke a word
P4-Madam
Extempore topic was- Nipping in the bud. (God know why this topic, was it because of our chaotic GD??)
I was somewhet shocked then recover, points were hard to come. I asked panel for 20 second time before I start. Dean said thats not our tradition and decided to change the topic. I said I will take the bet and started speaking on the same topic.
First I told what does that mean, fixing the problem at its root,origin. Then I gave example of RTI (GD topic), that how we should identify its limitations and constraints. And try to give it more power at the start, strenthen the act with more power,so in future it can be used without any blockage. THen I mentioned the used of nipping in the bud for business world. Gave example of Google. How did it identify its market segement, its competitors at the start itself, which gave google founder clear idea about how they are going to position themselves in the market. So since they did their homework in the begining itself, their businedd model was highly successful.
At this point dean stopped me...
P2- So what all accessories you are wearing right now? (was I looking very smart or fool with accessories
)
Me- Sir, tie,ring, belt
P2- You are not wearing any watch?
Me- No sir
P2- Any other accessories? Are socks accessories?
me- Kept Quite for some minute. Then said in my opinion the socks are not accessories.
P2- What is the brand of your tie?
Me- Van Huesen
P2- Who owns it?
Me- Madura garment
P2- Who pwns madura garment?
me- Don't know sir
P2- Is your ring also branded?
Me- No, But I am wearing branded trouser and shirt. Trouser is of Louis Phillipe, shirt is Arrow.
P2- What is the connection between Louis Phillipe and Van Huesen
Me- Madura garment ownes both.
P2-Who owns Arrow?
Me- Made a mistake. Told Raymonds
. (Correct answer is Arvind Vimal, us samay naam yaad nahi aya)
P2- Who owns Raymonds?
Me- Not sure sir.
P2- (with a long sigh), Singhania.
Me- Sir I know Vijaypat Singhania owns that group, but I did not know tht Singhania owns Raymonds (I was telling whatever I knew, knowledge waste nahi jana chahiye
)
P2- Origin of the word google.
Me- IT came from Gogol. 10 raised top power 100. Google needed lot of data storage, they were looking for some name to represent their storage capacity. So they hit upon this word. But google was easy to pronounce, so thet chose google word for their company.
Then Mitra sir stopped. Now comes the turn of madam.
P4- So what is the latest book you have read (have mentioned book reading as my hobby in the form)
Me- (was really happy, I was prepared for it
). I said "Who says elephants cannot dance?
P4- Author
Me-Lois Jr. Grestner
P2- So have you read that book thoroughly?
Me- (ab iska kya matlab hai) Yes sir.
P2- SO on what date he joined IBM?
Me- Sir I know the year, not the date.
P2- Date is important. Do you know about 1st April.
Me- (batti jal gayi). Yes sir. At that time IBM was drowning, was in very bad sahpe. SO market analyst sadi that whosiever will be the new CEO of IBM, wil be a great fool. And by coincidence he joined on the April fools' day only.
P2- When is Fools day?
Me- 1st April.
P2- So tell us the backgroud of Grestner.
Me- Sir he did his MBA from Harvard. Then he worked in mckensy for 8-9 years a consultant. Then he joined American express.Worked there for 7 years. Then he joined RJR-Nabisco. Then he joined IBM as CEO.
By this time I was very comfortable with the panel. I was addressing all the panel member. Controled body language and good eye contact.
P2- So what is RJR- Nabisco?
Me- Sir it was formed by mereger of RJR and Nabisco. RJR was mainly cigarrete producer, Nabisco a food manufacturing company (in the past I have read some book about leveraged buyout of RJR-Nabisco, so I was ready for this question)
P2- On this table, what are RJR-Nabisco products?
Me- (Was confused, googly aa gayi
). Could see only biscuits and Bislery botels. I started smiling.
P2- Biscuits. Brittania is owned by Nabisco (I cursed myself, NABISCo stands for National Biscuit company).
But I said Brittania is owned by Nusli wadiya. Then how coem Nabisco owned it.
P2 took a pause, then told me that he is the staeholder in the business, not the owner. Ek aur bouncer
.
P2- So how did Grestner turn around IBM?
Me- Discussed about problem with mainframe, futile competition with microsoft intel. Grestner changed the market strategy, foucssed on IT-Consulting, changed the IBM's culture, brought them out from their self secured world....
P2- So which sector you would like to join after MBA?
Me- Sir I have worked as a software engineer for 3.5 year.. I would like to go to IT filed after my MBA also, but in a changed role.
P1- So what is the ISO 27000?
Me- Don't know sir. I know about ISO 6000..
P1- ISO 27000 is related to IT filed. You don't have any idea???
Me- No sir.
P2-So what is ISO 14000?
Me- related to environment related rules
P1- So what is CMM?
Me- It was developed by Carnegie Mellon university for maintaining quality of Defense Contracts. It proved so successful that Software industry used it effectively for quality control
P1- So how many modules of CMM?
Me-5
P1- Name them
Me- Sir I am not very sure. Then I sadi initial phase, Basic Operation phase. (Then I stopped speaking , i said I am not sure abt others). Then I said optimization, and then learning from the past experience and using it in future projects. (plz don't laugh you know th correct answers. I could not reacll them properly at that moment)
P2- Expand CMM
Me- Capability maturity modules/models
P4- So what do you do in you free time.
Me- I enjoy reading books. I have also joined an NGO Called Janaagraha (For more information visit
Janaagraha | Be The Change You Want To See n participation in urban governance. I have been going there since last one year for evry weekend. And that is one thing which I cannot stop doing in my my life. I wil continue working for that NGO
P4- Biggest learning from NGO experience
Me- Importance of patience. If you are dealing with government and community members, don't expect swift results. It takes time to convince people about need to talk tih government and also to explain to the government that citizens are also stakeholders in the Urban governance. Then I discueesd some of the projects I did in NGO.
P4- Which business newspaper do you read?
Me- mam earlier I used to read economic times, but nopw because of less times, I just read Times OF India.
P1- Who owns TOI
Me- Benett coleman and Co Ltd
P4 - is it public ltd or privt ltd?
Me- i am not sure. But I feel its Privately owned
P4- What is the diff between Public Ltd and Prvt ltd.
Me- For Public, shares trade on stock markets, for private shares are owned by a group of private individuals
P2- outside this room, there is a board which contains the name of Shanta Prasad Jain centre of Advanced management. How is Shanta Prasad Jain related to Benett Coleman
Me- Sir Vineet Jain is owner of TOI. So may be SP Jain is related to him in some way (I started smiling, presence of mind or sheer folly
)
P2- One last question. What is your single biggest failure
Me- Mentioned one failure at work place and the learning from it, spoke for 1.5 minutes
P2- What other calls you have?
Me- Sir I have only FMS call. In CAT I could just manage 98%. I got no call from IIMs.
P2- You are from BHU. Why don't you join FMS-BHU (there is one FMS in BHU also)
Me- Sir IIMs and FMS are calss apart from other institues in India in all respects. So I would like to got for FMS at this stage.
P2- You can leave now.
Me- Thank you sir, thank you madam.
So that was it. My ratings for myself
GD- 4/10
Extempore- 7/10
Intvw- 8/10 (I was able to answer most of the questions).
The post might have got quite long. But I could not tp myself. After such an interesting GD-PI, the post had to be longer. And others wil also get benefit after reading this.
If anyone else has any other queries or questions, then shoot here. Gabbar singh jawaab dene ke liye taiyaar hai
.
P.S- Don't fool faculty. They are rally knowledgeable. I was mainly questioned by dean Mitra, and he knew lot of data (he knew the date when Grestner joined IBM
). So don't fool them. be honest. IF you don't know the answer, then tell them. They will definitely move to the next question without taking any offence.)
All the best to other interviewees!!
[AH]
Linear Mode
