[2004] IIFT interview experience

well … started off at 8:50 to reach the place just in nic of time <9:30> there were 2 groups in all …16!! people in each !!! started with an essay “Importance of hyderabad in india” 20 minutes …300 words …

well ........
started off at 8:50 to reach the place just in nic of time

there were 2 groups in all ....16!! people in each !!!


started with an essay
"Importance of hyderabad in india"
20 minutes .....300 words ......cakewalk

next came the gd
gave the topic "will talks between india and pakistan help in improving economic development"
panel made sure that everyone got a chance ...by saying that we go clockwise and everyone speaks for 1-2 minutes ....abt what he/she thinks abt the topic
so 16 ppl took 15 minutes approx to give perspective
then started the real fish market
some one suggested selecting a leader .....few supported .....some nominations ....and finally ur truly was selected as the co-ordinator/leader
tried my best to keep ppl calm .....but they wont listen

tried to rotate chances ...kept few ppl calm...overall .....a pretty bad mess ...and below average GD :(

next came the interview
NOTE :- the panel who takes GD .....does NOT takes interview ...they swap
so ...we got the new panel for interview
this panel was cool ....they took 10 minutes interview .....where as other panel was taking 30 minutes interview
anyway ....my interview was very smoth
few questions that were generally asked were
1) tell us abt BPO ...ur views
2) tell us abt balance of payement .....balance of trade
3) sensex .....how it works ...falls ...rises etc
4) forex
5) what does india exports ...imports

rest all was general

why mba
why iift
why shift
etc etc


Gautam

PS:- keeping the fingers crossed !!

Hi

Had the GD and PI at the same center as Gautam but in the other group. The essay and GD topics were same as Gautam's but the interview in our case lasted for 25-30 mins. The questions mainly came from what I had written in the CV form. Some questions on acads were also asked. Then about the other options I have, extra-curriculars, strengths, weaknesses, why IIFT etc. No general awareness question for me but some others in my group were asked questions on TRIPs, role of RBI etc.

Good Luck to those who have interview in the coming days!

well the interview was one hour which was quite a surprise.. the guy conducting himself said that you guys wouldnt have been trained for 1 hour GD and thatz how it was ........ we were all given 2 minutes to express our views on the pak topic and then puneet was elected chairman. he regulated pretty well and as far as I was concerned the GD was a disaster....
interview luckily was fine...
there were questions as to why i want to join IIFT, what do i like abt foreign trade..... abt how i can use IT to help foreign trade.... and there were many questions abt sports and economy abt how holding events (sports) will help the economy.. did afro asian games give an economic boost to hyd and so on and so forth....

well thatz it..
adios...
psmith

hi guys

had my IIFT interview today at WTC, Mumbai.

16 ppl ... 2 bandian .... 14 bande
started on time at dot 0930 .... this is how it went ....

a female prof came in ... said HI ... congratulated us all for having come this far ... she said they hv 120 seats and have shortlisted 600 ppl out of abt 32000 writing this test. then she said we believe in having a fair selection process so we will hv a gd of abt one hour, followed by 20 min essay writing followed by a personal interview. she also told us that the panel withl also consist of ppl from industry coz at the end of 2 yrs we want to "sell" u, so its better ppl from industry are also present in ur interview.

START
-----

gd : Was US attack on Iraq justified?

panel : 2 .. 1 male prof 1 female prof

the male looked amiable while the female (the same on as above) looked as if she had no interest in this world or us and maintained a stern look all the time.

feedback : was an ok gd with getting really noisy at times. no leader funda. the male mod looked amused while the female looked appalled

after abt 20 mins she intervened and reprimanded the grp for not letting some ppl speak. then she selected only abt 6 persons and asked them to talk. went on for abt 5 mins when others also started coming in and she didnt say anything ... so it continued. then after abt 40 mins again intervened and serially asked everyone to speak for abt 1 minute his/her points (monologue). verall an amicable gd but too long ... ppl rn outta content. but it was a concensus and not even a single dissent ... that war was not justified. (may be that was why it was amicable)... though there were some moments when everyone was speaking and noone was listening ... really clamorous.

...end...

Time = 65 mins of GD !!!

then TEA BREAK ... we were offered tea/coffee/biscuits

then Essay : Is there a real threat to Indian team touring Pakistan (300 words / 20 mins)

Interview : panel = FOUR two guys from industry (they were really knowledgeable) , one male and one female prof ... (same as GD)

i was first to go in for interview ...

b4 i cud completely settled in my seat (after being offered to sit) ... what do you think you are doing here (the way they asked me means ... what the hell hv u come here for ?). i told them i was here to be examined by an expert panel for evaluating my candidature for admission to the MBA program. then little talks abt acads ... then why iift ... somewhere in my answer i mentioned BPO and the was royally grilled on it for abt 5 mins ... i mean it ... royally grilled for 5 mins of which half of the time went into discussing medical transcription which i had no clue abt and told them i dont know but they were enjoying "taking" me

then abt my work ... then inquired me abt what do u feel abt india's future ... how much is india's share in int. trade ... then again grilled me on FDI and FII. the two profs were okay, but the other two were trying to kill me. (i can call it a stress situation ... and they did most of the talking). also asked me abt the books i like and thoroughly asked me abt where do i see urself in 5 yrs.

then an attendent came and served tea to everyone. i didnt touch mine.

also asked me what makes u think u r a good team player (one of my strengths). then came the great question ... what other calls do u have. i said fms and jmet. the ind. guy asked me what was my cat score. i said around 70. he looked impressed and then the lady asked if i had an option between iim and iift, what wud i choose. god knows why i floundered here and tried to equivocate only to be told by the ind. guy do u think we will believe what u are saying. i guess i shud hv been honest and straighforward that sir if i hv admission in iim ... i aint gonna take another look at ur

insti. then came the question "lets be pessimistic, if u dont get admission anywhere, then what wud u do." ... answered that ... then asked is this ur first attempt at iift ... if not selected anywhere do u plan to write mba tests next year again ...

again some animated discussion on china ... globalization .... chinese currency ... language ... i promptly said that amongst other things ... we hv the gift on english language only to be interrupted rudely by an ind. guy and he told me that in last 8 years he has been to china at least 50 times and doing business is not a problem there ... u get interpreters there. then he asked me what skills do u think a company needs to succeed in global market. i said abt quality ... cost ... he said no tell me abt softer skills .... i dont think i answered that well, cuz the guy looked pretty upset then aksed ... how will ur background (IT) help in doing this ... i had said my interest was in international finance ... grilled me on that.

some other questions which i dont rem ... then was abruptly asked o leave ... abt 35 mins overall.

overall, ....
" dunno how it went feeling ... screwed up gd, interview was okay "....
the profs were cool and tried to put me to ease while the ind. guys were acting like sharks
..."

talked to other ppl who went after me ... everyone has it very cool. i dont know why they grilled

me.

lets see ... aint too hopeful ... but miracles do happen !!!

all da best to other guys ...

my next is on 3rd march IITD.

--Gaurav

Here is my IIFT GD/PI Experience.

I am in the panel in which psmith and some other IIITians are there.

First we were asked to write an essay on 'Importance of Hyd in India' for abt 20 mins in 300 words. It was a good topic on which you can write on any day. so no probs there.

Then the GD process started. IIFT GD process is peculiar but revealing. They want to hear from each and every candidate and they want a healthy discussion. That clearly showed that, they are willing to go for 1hr GD and are all ears to hear from their prospective candidates. Shud appreciate them for that.
my GD topic was, 'The current talks between India and pakistan will not improve the economic relations between them' I talked against the topic and told 8-9 points in first round. and in the second round participated 2-3 times. Overall nice GD with satisfactory performance.

Then they offered us tea and biscuits.
I am the second one to be interviewd in my panel. my interview panel has 4 member ( one young lady, one lady, 2 men ) the young lady didnt ask anything, just watched me. Overall, the panel is really interested in me and i found it a good sign. My interview lasted for about 25 mins. first the lady asked me several qns and then one of the gentlemen asked qns and then the last one asked some qns. Atlast, all three played a football game... The questions asked were,

1. How do you describe yourself?
2. You said you are optimistic, can you prove it?
3. What is your vision today?
4. Dont you think 20 years is a long time? your enthusiasm may die down by that time.
5. What are things that can go against you in realising your dreams?
6. Who is your role model?
7. Who is that, can you be a bit louder?
8. Oh, Narayana murthy? why him?
9. Is it just beacause, he established a company ?
10. What is the differance between c and c++?
11. Is there anything related to data in those differances?
12. What is RDBMS?
13. Wot are various models in RDBMS?
14. and then asked me 'Can a son have more than one father'
15. you said, you have good leadership qualities, what are they?
16. can you give some examples?
17. Is it the only one?
18. Have you read todays news paper?
19. Ok, anything related to economics in that?
20. Oh, sensex, what is it?
21. What impact does it have on a nations economy?
22. What is a stock exchange?
23. What does it mean when you say, sensex is going up/down?
24. Ne other economic implications the sensex has ?
25. Can we predict the course of sensex, can i make it go up or down artificially? what happens if i buy 100s of 100s of shares of a particular company?
26. What is an IPO?
27. Why is it called Initial Public Offer?
28. What is BPO?
29. Oh, so it is done only when you dont have the required expertise?
30. ok, do you feel that, an organisation needs a management and managers?
31. oh, why so?
32. So, tell us, Why IIFT? Is it just for money and job?
33. Mr. Purna, you have used the word 'globalisation' several times in your interview, What does it mean?
34. Wot are the +ve aspects of it?
35. Does it have any negetive aspects too?
36. But as a consumer, I will always try to buy a walkman for 50, why would i care abt the companies which produce it for 300/400.
37. So, tell me, is it, IT fecilitated Globalisation or Globalisation made IT popular?
38. What is your idea of National Income?

pretty long interview i guess. but the panel seemed to be happy with my interview.

overall rating

GD: 5 on 10
Interview 8 on 10

now time for FMS..
Delhi here i come...

goodday ,
Chandoo

chandoo bhai .. u r in ... take it from me.

Finished my IIFT GDPI today in Chennai.BJ was the other PGite with me.The stages were:

ESSAY:
We were given twenty minutes to write an essay on "Privatisation in India".A single sheet was provided.Expected number of words:300.It was an easy topic with lots of scope for farting about divestment,FDI,globalisation etc

GROUP DISCUSSION:
The topic given was "CAS should be introduced in India".
Time given:60 minutes
Group size:JUST TWENTY THREE junta sitting around a huge conference table.Initially everyone was given 1-2 minutes to present his perspective.After that the floor was open to discussion.It was pandemonium.Performed miserably.Hardly made a contribution

INTERVIEW:
On an average each interview took about 15 mins.Mine was one of the longest (>30 mins) as the interviewers seemed to find me very interesting .My background:ECE Fresher.This is how it went:
-Tell us something about yourself?
-Give instances in your life in which you made some good decisions
-You claim that you are a 'rational' person.What do you mean by that?
-Should a manager be rational or emotional?
-Does these two ever clash?Give instances?
-Do you mean to say that you will never fall in love since it's an emotional experience An emphatic NO on my part >
-When should a manager be rational and when should he be emotional?
-Aren't you confusing rationalism with objectivity?
-Won't your teamwork skills suffer when you are too rational?
-Do you believe in God?
-Why not?
-Prove that God does not exist
-You claim that you are a person of vision.What is your vision?
-Give us more specifics
-What are your career goals?
-Your answer is too vague.Give it step by step?
-What do you mean by a 'good' business school?
-What do you mean by a 'prestigious' business school?
-What makes a Business school prestigious?
-Why IIFT?
-How is IIFT better than IIMs,XLRI,FMS,SPJIMR?
-What kind of company would like to work for after your MBA
-Why haven't you decided your stream of specialisation even now?
-Why don't you like Electronics and Communication Engineering?
-What is abstract in that?
-What engineering stream you think you could have taken?Why?
-You said you were a movie buff.What language movies do you watch?
-Can you give me the name of the actor who played God in the movie "Oh! God"
-What was the sequel to "The Godfather"

-I'm sorry.I mean what is the sequel to the novel "The Godfather"?
-Who is the CEO of MICROSOFT?
-What is the difference between MS-DOS and Windows 3.11?
-What is the biggest difference?
-What is SAARC?
-What are it's member countries?
-What is unique about the member countries of SAARC?
-Give a one minute extempore on "SAARC"
-What are the benefits of SAARC/SAFTA?
-How can you say that SAARC countries are primarily agriculture based.Bhutan,Maldives,Nepal do not have much agriculture going on
-What are Tamil Nadu's major agricultural exports?
-How does the WTO affect Tamil Nadu's agriculture?
-What do you know about agriculture subsidies?
-What agricultural goods are imported by India?
-Why are such expensive fruits/vegetables imported in the Indian market?
-Has the import of such commodities increased in recent years?
-What do you know about India's Agricultural tariffs?
-How can you say that India is primarily an Agricultural country?Manufacturing and Services occupy a greater share of India's GDP
-Is India going to be an agricultural country in the future too?
-Thank You!You may leave

Overall interview went off well.Had a nice chat about Aheism/Atheism/Agnosticism/Rationalism.Ppl having interviews in the future brush up your Foreign Trade fundas.Questions in the interview will be based mainly on your IIFT CV.So do your HW on that.ALL THE BEST!

Edited post to add a few more questions!

did u say TWENTY THREE !!
phew ....

did u say TWENTY THREE !!
phew ....


Originally it was supposed to be twenty four but two were absconding and there was an extra person from Hyderabad.Hence the magic figure
BTW has IIFT set any record for the most no of ppl in a GD???

hey ppl,

i guess tg has already enlightened u folks on the record we set today.man,i jus didn't feel like it was a gd at all.and to top it,i jus screwed up my interview.

for those intersted(esp the minority commerce guys,i was the only one today),here's a transcript of the fiasco i had today.

edu:final year b.com.
panel(4):old lady(1),big guy(2),french beard(3),nice guy(4)

2.doan u feel u r too young to enter the portals of iift?

1.u r a comm guy.y didn't u explore other options like ca,cs etc.

1.but we have almost 90% of our comm students who have done these courses.

2.wat do u mean by market analysis?(mentioned as career objectives)

2.so,u only want to perform a staff function.u doan want to take responsiblity?

2.suppose,hutch comes out with an offer for missed calls when cell is off to be displayed thru sms after switching on the machine again.who do u think will be the target market?

1.wat are the market analysis tools that u have studied in ur coll?

1.wat is gnp?is foreign trade a part of it?

1.wat is gdp?how do u calc that?

1.tell us abt india's foreign trade.

2.i.t's % share.

3.wat are t.n's main exports.

1.wat is multiplier?

1.diff bet multiplier and accelerator.


overall as i said,bad gd and even worse pi.comm guys,brush up on ur eco basics.i doan think it wil matter if u doan know the foreign trade fundas.but,academic basics and cv brush up,a must.

gud luck.and tg,i thought there were 24 ppl in the grp.

balaji

IIFT interview Chennai, 01/03

Since previous posts have detailed the essay / GD process, I shall give only my quick comments and go to the questions...

Essay: The path to privatisation in India (couldn't get easier)

GD: Introducing CAS in India (23 people)

5 minutes to prepare. Then person #1 was asked to state his views (no examples), and whether he was for/against it. This went round, till the last guy spoke out (already 30 mins gone)

Then the topic was thrown open. Boy, if ever there was pandemonium, it must have been this. Then we had this super-intelligent chap saying "I think we need a chairperson here, and I will be the one." Let's excuse him for that, but then all hell broke loose. No control, no one even bothered about the poor fella. Then someone said, ok let's have one chairperson for that side, and one for this. Then the moderator broke in and said, if you are gonna be like this, everyone is gonna face problems.

Then we started all over again. Our CHAIR tried mending his ways, but then he started retorting to every point, as in trying to force his views. I guess he failed miserably as CHAIR. Otherwise, GD was good for the last 20 mins.

ADVICE: CHAIR is hi-risk hi-gain stuff. Never volunteer unless you are sure about yourself, and please don't give any opinions.

INTERVIEW:

1. If I were to say Anna University College of Engineering (my place) was bad, how would you react? (Half a mind to say, "Yeah, perfectly right", but then said something about cream of TN wanting to be there, branding etc)
2. If you were asked for a few bad points about the place, what would they be?
3. You say you have presented technical papers, why haven't you mentioned them here?
4. What is the significance of THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER?
5. If asked about the Indian context, what is the significance?
6. What courses does IIFT offer which have makes up the IB programme?
7. Is that all?
8. Why International Finance? Are you gonna become a banker or what?
9. What about Intenational Banking that you wanna learn?
10. Only Letters of Credit, nothing else?
11. Is there any country that has a law against banks issuing Letters of Credit?
12. Which Central & State Govt organizations facilitate exim?
13. Specifically in TN?
14. Which Central & State Govt organizations would you approach if you were to become an entrepreneur? (I never said I wanted to become one!!!)
15. Are there no TN organizations?
Thank you.

There it goes...

hey ppl whove had the iift iviews.
ive got my iift iview at delhi tomm morn.just sum doubts :

what all documents do i need to carry.i know the question looks silly but i just wanna know if they want any doc besides the usual ones.n apert frm the cv-form copy,do i need to carry a resume?n do they ask fr the certis of my extra-curr activites?
please help out.thanx.

hey ppl whove had the iift iviews.
ive got my iift iview at delhi tomm morn.just sum doubts :

what all documents do i need to carry.i know the question looks silly but i just wanna know if they want any doc besides the usual ones.n apert frm the cv-form copy,do i need to carry a resume?n do they ask fr the certis of my extra-curr activites?
please help out.thanx.


Its always good to carry certificates as it will act like a distracting element in case they start looking into your documents and you will get a chance to speak about your strenghts

hi all

I am just out of IIFT after giving my interview today

Reached at 0900hrs dot........

4 batches of 15 each
given brief intro by mr. L D Mago
at 0935hrs essay started topic
enhancing security for senior citizens in india
20 min ended at 0955 hrs quite satisfied with it looking at my previous exp of writing essays

gd satrted with only one fem panelist topic india: a land of rules not implementation
got stuck with some eg so even i was cut down by panel in b/.w like most of other ppl
quite inexpd ppl in gd all kind of personal; comments: shouting etc but managed well coz of EXTRA duration of time
at 11 tea break then interviews started

mine was in b/w no 8 out of 15

five members n seemed as if 2 were from industry

no intro nothing else just started off abt my industry

low acads 75, 65 ,55 is it gonna be 40 now? laugher at back ground

NOW WORK EX
where u work at?
what does it do?
where is it located (mine is a small firm of auto compo sector)
export figure of industry
major players
differ b/w sales and marketing
so low salary is the reason u want to do mba for?

getting into current affairs ( so let me have some fun too)
trade blocks?
wat sachin did last day for batting practice?
why didnt you read the paper today?
ok jk new law?

ACADS again
another panelist came back from outside n she started again acads?
u have done engg in ? I told i have done bsc
why poor acads?
why didnt applied for engg? backdrop ur marks were so low u couldnbt get thru hahaha

BOOKS HOBBIES strengths wkness

ok msg u got from mein kampf? abt ldrship

u said u have haphazard working so how u can b a good manager?
the fem panelist started again u have written abtmarket research as ur aim but its not usp of iift.............
tell us abt tht?
u wanna go abroad?
how it will help in long term?
girl frnd of hitler?

laugh after i answered

ok u have more int in girlfriends?

thx u can go


on personal scale i feel my score of 10 was
6.5 essay
6 gd
6 interview

slightly hopeful might get into waitlist


now xl n bttm four iims left

junta help me out


LATEST INFO SITTING IN IIFT DATED 14FEB 2005

hi all...
sumit24 seems to be the person i was chatting to right outside the institute...best of luck to u!

the procedure was more or less as detailed above...
imho, the essay topic about security for senior citizens was pure inanity...wrote in some utter nonsense n dun even wanna talk abt it....wanna see the guy who's gonna buy all the bull we've collectively dished out... :)

gd was a fishmarket....ppl pulling the gd in all directions...we had a lady at the helm of things..n considering the fact that she was the only one, i guess top marks to her for outscreaming all the guys in the room....i for one kept silent cuz i thot i'd made a pretty good intro and i guess the fact that the mod asked me n two others to close up shows that things went well..

interview was fun...was asked all sortsa things..
hll vs p&g;
keki dadiseth vs msbanga
some stuff in the Bible
workings of a telephone network (??!!!)
journalism and how IT can help to reduce time lags..
pagesetting software (grrr)
and others

it was pretty good practice for the biggies to come...i wuda been happier if they'd asked a few more questions pertaining to my acads...

have fun n cheerios
John

hey fellas,

only these many experiences so faron PG??
plz help if any more IIFT gdpi threads are available...
parag

hey fellas,

only these many experiences so faron PG??
plz help if any more IIFT gdpi threads are available...
parag



d00d..relax..these r last years threads...new year threads should come up soon..

I have my GD/PI on 2nd at Coffee Board, bangalore 0930 AM.
Those of u having on 31st/1st Pls post ur experiences to give some idea...

mate start a new thread for this years experiences...once interviews start...i almost read half the thread before reading the date...
ciao