Profile: Software Analyst at an Investment Bank
X: 90.6 XII: 82.8 UG: 74.93
Work ex: 18 months XAT Score: 99.51 Course: HRM
GD Topic:
Globalization is good for workers and their rights
Time: 30 mins
No. of participants = 9 (1 was absent)
We were given 2 mins to jot some points and then the
moderator asked us to begin.
The group had some discussion about various aspects but almost always diverged to some or the
other globalization aspect and totally forget about the topic. 😛
Though all in all it was a good discussion with many people
having good points and stats to support their points. We could not summarize in
the end because of our time mismanagement.
PI (approx 15 mins) I was the 2nd last to be
called for PI
3 Panelists (All male): I will name them as P1, P2 and P3. P1 (old) was sitting in the left. P2 and P3
were middle aged and sat in the center and right respectively. P2 came to call
me in.
P2: Please come in and close the door.
I greet them good afternoon and sit down. Begin to open my
file when P1 says to hand it over to him and he will open it himself.
P1: You give up easily. Defend yourself on this.
I (initially a bit taken aback :o): Tell
them that this is my second attempt at XAT. How I was in the waitlist last year
and persevered to get a better percentile this year. Also give them some other
examples from my life, from my engineering days etc to prove my point.
P1: Ok ok (looks satisfied)
P1: What is your long term goal?
I: Talk something related to HR.
P1: How will you go about Talent Attraction? What are
various things you will have to look for?
I: Blah Blah
P1: Is Retention good? (or perhaps sth like when is it good
or bad)
I: Sir it depends. Retention is good till the point it is contributing
to the company and the employee's growth. Blah Blah..
P2: Okay, tell me what were you guys discussing
downstairs(we were made to wait on the 1st floor). I saw there was a
very animated discussion going on. 😛 All the panelists laugh 😛
I: 😲 😲 Tell them that we were discussing the questions being
asked by the panelists. All the panelists laugh again. 😛
P2: Okay so tell me any 5 questions we asked the previous
guys, which you would want us to ask you.
I: Tell them 3 of them. The pressure is such that I actually
forget the rest of the ones they asked. After some more thinking tell them I
cannot recall any other than these and the discussion was mostly around them.
(All the while for every question I tell, P2 tells me the number of the
interviewee who was asked this question :neutral: )
P2: Okay, so which
one would you want us to ask?
I: :neutral: :neutral: (with a smile) Sir you can ask me any
question you want to.
P2: Okay then, on similar lines as previously asked, tell me
the similarity between a homemaker and a manager.
I: Give some funda on how homemaker has to manage the daily
chores similar to what manager does. Talk about being proactive about household
requirements. Talk about the deadlines
of serving the meals at the right time. 😛 P2 laughs 😂
P1: How would you say that a manager is ethical?
I: Talk about that manager is ethical if he does not take
away the credit of his subordinates. Does not purposely give honest feedback
throughout the year to the employee so that he can easily give any rating to
the employee in the end. Blah blah
P2: What if I say a manager takes bribes. Is he ethical
then?
I: No sir, that is also unethical and all the things I
talked before are some of the instances that show unethical behavior.
P2: Right so you get it. You are talking about the leaves of
the tree. Tell us about the roots.
I: Ask them to give me a minute to think. Begin to say
something after that but P2 cut me in with a different question. 😕
P2: You have worked with NTPC right?
I: Yes sir, I was a summer trainee in NTPC for 2 months
after my 2nd year of engineering.
P2: So can you tell me why is NTPC making losses and why
Reliance India is in profit?
I: Now I was quite sure that NTPC was always in profit till
the time I heard last about it but I was not really sure if things had changed
in the very recent quarters or something so remained silent.
P2: (Seeing me silent) Repeats me the question, says even an
autowallah will know that NTPC is in losses and Reliance is making huge
profits. Can you tell me why?
I: Sir I am not aware about the current situation in NTPC
but I think there are a lot of projects which it being a PSU undertakes which
may not be very profit making and which many private companies may not be
willing to undertake. So perhaps that may be the reason.
P2: Nods and looks satisfied.
(It is only after my interview that I check that NTPC has
always been in profit and that basically the prof had laid a bait and I bit the
bait L L)
P2: What is your job in the bank?
I: Begin to tell him that I am currently working in the
middle office application and have to work Business analysts and third party
brokers.. (P2 cuts me again)
P2: Somewhat irritated. 😞 No tell me what you handle as a part of it.
I: Sir I basically work with financial instruments of the
Derivative markets.
P2: What are the various derivative instruments?
I: Tell him about swaps and options, other instruments etc.
P2: Okay draw a graph of the swap for me.
I: (hainn??) What to draw in a swap?? I try to ask him what
exactly he wants me to draw in for a swap?
P2: No draw whatever you can think of. Tells me that I have
work ex in it and also a coursera course in Finance, so I should be knowing it.
I: Again make a futile attempt to ask him what correlation
he wants me to draw. Nothing comes out of it. P2 hands me a paper to draw the
graph.
Cannot think of any graph that can be drawn for a swap. 😞 Draw
a graph for the Call option with strike price and when the buyer will exercise
his option etc and explains it properly.
P2: (Satisfied) Tells me this is right. And not to tell
anyone downstairs of this question as they will not probably not know it. I
sheepishly say ok.
P2: You are so good in finance, why do you want to go for
HR? :neutral: The other two professors all this time in the interview have been smiling
and looking at me.
I: Sir I am equally good in HR. (Mentally kick myself for such a lame reply)
All the profs smile.
P3 now jumps in with his questions from the assessment form
that I filled.
P3: There are some short term campaigns and some long term
campaigns. Do you think campaigns like Earth Hour which are so short make any
impact. (This question was asked because I had mentioned my work done for an
Earth hour event in the assessment sheet)
I: Explain well that the run down weeks till the Earth Hour
do create an impact and how they generate interest in people to find more about
them and their purpose etc. More stuff on it.
All the profs look satisfied.
P1: Okay, do you have any questions for us.
I: I actually wanted to run away by this time. However I
asked them about the various extra curricular clubs in XL and how the students
despite their high academic rigour manage it.
P1: (with a smile) Points out to me that I too have been
involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities and then talks about how they
give a lot of work to the students but they still somehow manage time for it.
All the profs are over with their set of questions.
All the profs say thank you with a smile. I reply thank you with
a smile and leave.
And all this was finished in 15 mins when it looked like
ages to me.
It was one helluva experience and I am sure I pretty much
messed up the interview in the middle 😞 😞
Verdict: Awaited
