Kindly share your Group Interview experiences here.This thread caters to the experiences faced by applicants during Group Interviews 1 and 2 of SPJIMR Admissions Process for PGDM 2014-2016.The general process is as follows1) Registration2)…
Kindly share your Group Interview experiences here.
This thread caters to the experiences faced by applicants during Group Interviews 1 and 2 of SPJIMR Admissions Process for PGDM 2014-2016.
The general process is as follows
1) Registration
2) Biometric Test
3) Written Communication Test( Just to test the English proficiency of applicants, we do not expect Shakespearean English, just the basic would be tested)
2) Psychometric tests
3) GI-1
4) GI-2
Applicants may or may not share their profile.
Though guidelines for posting experiences is not recommended but Interview place and time should be mentioned.
2008 Experiences thread http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-an...interview.html (SP Jain GI (Group Interview) Experiences (2008 )
2010 Experiences thread http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-and-related-discussion/cat-an...periences.html ( SPJIMR GI Experiences)
2011 Experiences thread http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/62968-2011-2013-spjimr-gi-experiences.html ( SPJIMR GI Experience)
2012 Experience thread
[OFFICIAL 2013-2015] SPJIMR Group Interview...
( If you closely follow , you will be able to notice @DeeBee1 and my experience as well [of course I had a different user name last year ]
[OFFICIAL 2013-2015] SPJIMR Group Interview...
Thank You ! 
I had a decent group interview in both the rounds. Also converted my call. The key is to be crystal clear in the specialization you are applying to ??? Also know what is happening in that stream at present... Lets say you are applying to IT and you dont know what cloud computing is then you are in a mess..... If you have work ex know your work a lot.... As in where you fit in your job and what vaue you add to the organiation...
When asked about job avoid jargons....
N.B
Calls 2013-15 Spjimr,IIFT,IIM I,K,B,S
Converts 2013-15 Spjimr,IIFT,IIM I,K,S
Please share today's Psychometric test, WCT and GIs experiences fellows :).
Guys please post your experiences of yesterday's GI...😁
Verdict- Rejected after 1st round, i.e., Group Interview 1
SP jain profile call experience 25 JAN 2014 12 PM slot
Specialisation called for - Finance
ME- GEM with good acads.
Reached comfortably early, by 10.30
The fact that OJAS, the annual cult fest was going on was quite visible with its imprint being seen all around the campus
After registering with the Admissions committee(super quick, super smooth), was given two thin brochures and with these in hand, roamed about the campus a bit.
At 12, we were led into a hall and instructions for the psychometric test & Written communication test given
Both combined had a time limit of 30mins.
Sheets for both are given at the start
The psychometric test had various options which you had to rate personally as "Likely", "A Little", " Never", "most Likely" etc.
These options were in turn organised in groups of 3, with about 10 to 11 options per group . Some of them were "Your beliefs & values guide your daily actions", "You worry about your shortcomings" , "Fate plays a major role in your life"etc
After all the ticking, you would have to select 2 options from each of the 3 groups and also write a brief description on why you chose them. So, you have to pick 6 options in total and add in your reasons/justifications.
After this, the written test had a topic similar to this "If you could walk on a tightrope, which landscape would you prefer to walk over " (300 words/ 30lines)
Wrote one of my better essays.
At 12.40, we were done with the above and subsequently divided into groups of 4/5. I was in a group of 4. ( me from Fin, 1 guy marketing , 2 girls from operations). We were led to the doors of another room and asked to wait. What we hadn't foreseen is that this "wait" would turn out to be a 1 hour affair 😃 Anyways, we made most of this and started chatting on anything under the sun; Our names, our instis of choice, our calls, our scores, Ahmedabad, Gujaratis and their spirit, mumbai, CAT,XAT,GMAT et al
An elderly lady came out of the doors for a brief moment to take a call on her cell and went back in after 5minutes. We were nonetheless engrossed in our discussions.
After about 1 hour 10mins, an Adcom guy came and said, "Guys, you can go in now, there are 4 members on the panel, 2 are chief HR's (alumni) in their respective industries, they went through your profiles sheets and test sheets for at least an hour 😲, which is quite unusual, dunno how it's gonna be. God help you, all the best " 😃 (maybe the essay? 😉
With a sense of foreboding, we entered to see 3 male and 1 lady comprising the panel of 4 seated across the rather wide conference desk. Seeing no chance of a handshake even if I extended my whole body, I sat down after their assent.
We were to be seated next to each other, facing the panel, but according to order being called. So, ops girl first, 2nd ops girl next to her, marketing guy next and me last. 4 facing 4.
From the lady, Welcome , so what's all the buzz about ? (looking at 1st girl)
The 1st Op girl started off with Ojas, the fest this that and went on for 3 minutes.
The panel next looked at 2nd girl, but didn't repeat the question.
Well, *blah blah*
Next to the guy next to me,
Launched into mumbai city and its life , spjain
Me,
I had a nice time coming here, lively converstion with autorick guy who dropped me here and extremely happy to be wished well for my interview from his side etc etc.👍
None of us had a hint at that time that the lady had asked about what the "buzz" was in our non-stop chatting outside and instead we had rather associated it with various other non-related stuff.
By now, it was apparent that this Group interview would happen in this order itself. A question will be asked and that usually holds from right to left
Some Main Q's were , in broad chronological order. After main q's, lots of counter Q's were indeed asked, based on replies given
Tell us about your background , work and what you do differently at work , how you are as a person etc etc (long question , asked once , never repeated)
Why your specialisation
Why MBA
1st girl spoke at length, then 2nd girl, then marketing guy and only then came my turn
started out with answering my being born and brought up in blore, my school and college and was just about to launch on my 1st big bait of my final year project , which is in my opinion, my single biggest achievement in my life.. And there was an interruption. "Oh , so you and marketing guy are from same college, so you know him ? etc etc".
I agreed and said yes, same college, but we got to know that a few mins back outside and was about to continue, but the moment had passed and a new Q was asked on why I did my engineering in "Medical Electronics" (Yes, it's a stream 😛 )
I said, I had a mentor in form of my sister(cousin) who guided me into taking up this stream. Was then asked why I didn't take up a job in that domain then.
Answered on how jobs in that stream post BE were mostly marketing/sales or maintenance on software modules already developed by european offices of GE/Philips. Said I had tried and failed to get into them, since their expectation was from above job profile anyway.
Was asked where are you working currently
Continued with saying that I'm in currently in an IT company ,in a PRODUCT division, which is NOT programming /IT services work etc etc. But contrary to my expectations, they were convinced that I'm part of services industry either way.
They said that I could anyway have done this software work in a medical electronics company instead of in (IT company) . I tried to justify that even though in (It company), I'm not in coding but in installation/product delivery side, but I'm not sure how much I was able to bring them to my side.
Was then asked the biggie " Why MBA". Answered as best as I could.
They counter questioned by asking , "Wait, What degree does your manager have or his manager". Replied mostly BE and they said that vindicates our stand that you don't need MBA etc for what ever you just said. I gave a pretty good justification at this point on how mba will equip me not only in IT industry, but in general. How it would differentiate me etc.
Was asked, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years". Answered with my dreams to be in the general consulting space, but then they were not convinced much.
Then was asked another biggie " Why finance". I had thought this through and answered .
But then, they asked but then this might only be in your company ., have you any knowledge if this holds true in other companies?.
I justified again that though my observations were indeed localised to my compnay due to my role, I could find it true in most other cases, right from an individual, any organisation to a country even.
Interrupted and a counter Q from the lady on how I can say that finance is only thing that plays a role and I clarify that I never stated it that way and I only meant that it's not the only role, but a vital aspect nonetheless. Before I could elaborate with specifics, was asked next question.
Till this point, I believe it was an average show.
I was asked the question of what I would like to do with my finance degree, what I would like to become again. I answered "sir, I would like to be a strategy consultant/management consultant " and was about to elaborate further.
...And you think an mba in finance helps you or aids you in that ?
Yes sir, absolutely, it would help because €Ś (again interrupted)
Then came this , "so would you happen to know anything about finance? , tell us something about finance, anything".
I feigned surprise asked, "Sir, may I know in which area , especially since finance as such is an extremely broad term and covers many areas?".
They said, anything, your choice.
I asked on permission to speak on quantitative easing and spoke at length combining and drawing on my reading of Editorials in newspapers. Spoke uninterrupted for 2 minutes covering start of QE, its prospective end being talked about recently etc etc .
Then he said, "ok, so do you think it has worked? Do you think its effective?, answer Yes/No , give justifications and your opinions".
I slipped up at this point, though I knew what Mr.Raghuram rajan's views on it were, what many others had said, I was not prepared to risk saying anything decisive and getting caught in further questions since I was at my limits of flaky prowess in this sub-topic already . I offered a diplomatic opinion that even though lowering unemployment rate was being correlated as a direct outcome of this scheme and was being quoted as basis for start of tapering, outcomes of such schemes cannot be judged at the moment and can only be known well after some time.
They asked again, "But still , give us your opinion, not just whether it has worked , any opinion you may have on this whole thing which you've stated". I again re-affirmed my diplomatic stance ( like a fool, I must add).
They looked at each other, at least 2 secs of silence and then 1 statement came out of the blue from panel guy who had asked least till now, "well, so you did BE in medical electronics, You got into (IT company) , now u want to do MBA, that too in finance?, what exactly do we make of all this?"
I could have offered a justification, but I had already lost the battle in my mind that I could convert this, and thus, gave a half-convincing answer.
Midway, was interrupted by another guy who had asked Q on anything in finance , "Ok ok fine, that is all fine, tell me something, do you know of what all is taught in a finance class in mba?, any subjects? Any topics? , anything? "
A chance to kick up my chance to convert territory .
But I was extremely underprepared. Said I could answer and could only say " Risk estimation, Cost evaluation €Ś.and then trailed off into silence. (More on how this was an idiotic, utterly stupid self-goal at the end)
Same guy asks,
What are your interests? "
I answered on how I'm learning to play the flute, how I'm learning to cook and have become an amateur at it since past 1 year, how I enjoy or enjoyed planning & volunteering activities for cult fests at my college, IT Company, but none of these elicit any reaction from their side, The same guy further asked, " ok, fine, but then tell us something, any recent movies you've watched ? "
Bam!
I understood then and there that he is giving me a chance to salvage my sinking chances, that he is alluding to "Wolf of wall street", that he would further probe me for my opinions based on the movie etc. But then, as my rotten luck would have it, I had booked the tickets for a show and could never attend it due to the "sudden" work pressure mounted by the sorry excuse for a project that I'm allocated to at my IT company. I had not made further attempts to watch it even though I heard rave reviews on it from all and sundry !
Begrudgingly, I replied "Sir, I haven't had a chance to see any recent movie, I've only re-watched my old favourite movies recently".😠
He looked disappointed, I could tell 😛
Then he said, "Ok, so no recent movies at all," and I finally said that my favourite past time would be in reading books, and not in movies.
Instantly he asks "Oh, so what books do you read"
I slip up again and instead of highlighting something that might catch their attention, I list names of Fiction books and authors(sidneySheldon,JeffreyArcher,Rowling,Tolkien), and then when I finally intended to come to the admittedly limited range of non -fiction books like those from Gurcharan Das,Arthur herman's Gandhi & churchill book, Ramchanra guha etc., I was questioned again,
(The impression I had made was that I'm a fiction junkie), " ok, so you' read chetan bhagat, what do you think of his books?"
I say they are simplistic, a bit too much so for my tastes, and that only the 1st book was memorable, unlike the forgettable subsequent books from him.
A moment of silence. Glances exchanged between the panel.
So, anything you would want to ask us before we wrap up.
We all murmur nothing as such and say our thanks (me with a forced smile), and turn to leave.
In my growing frustration, I realize as I walked out that I had not put back my chair in place and had just quickened my pace towards the exit without even so much as a backward glance. Final death knell confirmed at that point.
Verdict was announced after 10mins.
1 of the ops girl IN, rest all OUT
I come out and open the brochure at last, Irony of ironies! , I see the whole freaking syllabus for all streams incl. finance, and topic wise list per semester printed in the inside fold and some of them are a bit familiar 😃👼
If only I had read it, I could have at least had a chance to blabber some subjects in finance and get probed further , but alas.😠
It was just a totally underwhelming day, but not too surprising considering my non-prepared state. I had the materials ( whole list of videos, articles, books ready and waiting) , but never stuck to a time to prepare them, especially with the limited time I had off my soul crushing excuse of a day job 😐😠
But nevertheless, excuses apart, if you're an aspirant with a call and if you've read this far, I can dare to offer only one piece of advise to you,
"There are some things in life that are beyond your control(like the magical CAT results , I kid ) , but being prepared and ready will help you cross over barriers of situations that we do have a control over( like GDPI) "
So, Prepare and Rehearse.👍
Stated another way, " Please don't waste your call".
Thank you
Puys, here goes my experience, hope it helps.
Date 24 Jan, 11 am, Specialization finance, Female General catagory.
I reached at around 9:15 and waited till they called us for registration. The registration was nothing but verification of certificates and biometric. We have to submit a photocopy of the certificates arranged in the given order.
Note: we need a photocopy of the ID PROOF and 2 PASSPORT PHOTOS, which many of us didn't know and they had to rush at the 11th hour to get those.
Then was the psychometric test, which was pretty cool. My advice is that do not think too much while answering. The purpose of the test is to gauge you as a person, so answers should be intuition based. Also, it will consume your time and you will get less time for WCT. WCT was very easy, we had to write about the latest movie we saw/ book we read and why we liked it.
GI round 1: The panel contained two professors, names I do not remember. We were divided into a group of 4, 1 finance (me), two marketing, one Info Mgmt. The questions were pretty chilled.. like introduce yourself, why do you choose this field of specialization, what is your job profile, what do you exactly do, what are your hobbies etc etc. One guy among us was from Bihar, he was asked what his opinion was about Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife. Another guy from Marketing was asked what was wrong with Nano's marketing that Nano failed to capture the market.
GI Round 1 result: All the four of us were selected for round 2.
GI Round 2: One of the panelists was the dean himself, I do not remember the other one's name. We were again a group of 4, one finance (me) and ohter three marketing. One of us was a fresher and rest of us had some work experience. We were asked to introduce ourselves. Then the dean asked us to argue and convince the fresher girl why she should join our company. Each one of us spoke about our respective company and told all good things about our company. I think they were trying to see if we knew our work place well. Later they asked the fresher which company she would like to join out of those.
The marketing people were asked, marketing is making the consumer buy what he doesn't want to buy. 
They answered well which seemed to be convincing. Then they asked us, what were our views about "Money makes man greedy". They asked us what salary we expected after our MBA. Then they tried to relate our salary expectation with "Money makes man greedy". I found that a little tricky because they were obviously trying to trick us and make us admit that we were greedy. 
Then they asked us if we believed in fate, and if we do not get selected today, will we blame fate. We all said we do not believe in fate. Then they asked us who all had prayed before coming to the interview. Two of us admitted that they had prayed. Then they asked, why they prayed if they did not believe in fate? The guys tried to anwer but could not answer well, because their answers were contradicting their earlier statement. After that we were all abruptly told that the interview was over!!!
Now fingers crossed 
@The.Red.Devil When can we expect the results for final selection, and how will we intimated if we are selected or not? Please reply.. Thanks!!
Hi,
Sorry for the late post!
I had my interview on 23rd Jan @ 09:00 am. Many of us reported before 8 and the registration was started immediately. Please carry ID proof and 2 photographs for the interview.
Psychometric and WAT: 30 mins
Psychometric: 30 Questions. Exp for 3 answers. (They were discussed in my GI 2)
WAT Topic: If you could make a world record, what will it be in?
Do not panic.. I thought the time was too less and started writing without thinking much. Be calm and think for a minute before writing.
GI 1: 5 people. Team of 4 interviewers.
1st Ques: Introduce yourself
When 1 of us started introducing, he asked us to follow an order.. as in to start from family, then education, then first job, then second and so on.
Lot of cross questioning during the introduction
Around 3 to 4 minutes min for each individual
2nd Ques was about AAP, since 1 of the person worked in Power sector and in his introduction he mentioned about his goal to work in Power Sector after MBA. Talks about power rate cut as assured by AAP. And are you for or against Arvind Kejrival.
Last question: Name one quality because of which you think we should take you!
All of us were selected for the GI2 👏
GI2: 2 panelist, 4 people
Q1: Say sth about yourself that is not already mentioned in your profile etc
(Basically had to speak about hobby)
I was the first one to answer and was stopped a lot of times. When I started, maam said, tell sth dat defines you. I spoke about leadership. She stopped me and asked Is taht what defines you?
I said yes and continued.. but i guess she wasnt really convinced.
Every1 told
Then weakness and strength..
I told 1 and they said and??
I could not think of ath else 😛
similarly for others
GD about ethics and then ethics in business (2 GD)
Last: Anything else that you would like to tell us?
Every1 told majorly about extracurrics.
All in all a good experience.. Will be better if I get selected 😃 😃 😃
All the best to every1 else!! 👍
is sp jain providing any accomodation? i had read about it in the previous years threads.
@The.Red.Devil Does marks in class 10 play any role in converting the call?? i have included my additional subject marks in class 10 while filling up the form and it pulls down my overall percentage by 6%. i know a few people who didnt include additional sub and didnt face any problem during the interviews. so is there any way i change it now as the difference is huge.
Hello,
posting this for all those who are going to appear for interviews in feb..
Few pointers for your convenience & hassle free interview process 😃 :
1. Please maintain all your documents in two different files First one containing original documents & other containing corresponding self attested photocopies.
2. Maintain the documents in the sequence given in interview call letter. (Mark sheets from 10th to your last degree, work ex certificate, extra curricular )
3. Photocopies of 5 top extra curricular certificates are taken, so keep them sorted. I would suggest, still carry all of those with photocopies of all.
4. Carry 2 passport size photographs & photocopy of photo ID. (Many had failed to bring & had to rush at 11th hour)
Most importantly, just be yourself and you will be fine. The adcom team at SPJain is very friendly and helpful. All the very best to all! 😃
guys I am not able to go other tabs in profile filling form? Help me
@The.Red.Devil @DeeBee1 I am appearing for the interview on 5th feb. I have 8 months work ex. and currently not working. Have done B.Tech in EEE. Most interview experiences that i have read are written by ppl who have considerable work ex. wht questions can i be asked? do they ask questions from engg. subjects? Thanks in advance
have all interviews call been sent out for this year's session?
@The.Red.Devil Hello! I have the score based call interview..can I show the letter of recommendation from my manager as proof of my achievements at work?? we don't get any written proof as such from client for the good work!..plz lemme know if the recommendation from the manager/head of department will do??
@DeeBee1 @The.Red.Devil Can you please tell me the name of the prof who gave webinar regarding IM spec 😃 It was held sometime in october. thanks
Are we supposed to bring a hard copy of the profile sheet or the call-letter on the interview day? I had submitted the form in time but I could not take a print out.Please help.
Are we supposed to reach the venue 1 hr or 2 hr prior to the interview slot? In slot booking mail, it says 1 hr whereas in shortlisting one it says 2 hr.. 😲