SCMHRD Interview

Here's my post from PG

Had my interview in 10:45 slot.....started from my place of stay at 10:15(assuming the traffic at Pune would be something like Delhi,but it was far better).Reached the place at 10:25.....roamed around,looked out for some poor souls like me who had come way earlier for the interview,chit chatted with them.Around 10:45 I moved to the auditorium at the ground floor where the members of the admission committee were seated to register and assist us.
As usual,moved to the last row and seated myself next to an elderly gentleman working on a laptop, who gave me a curious look(later came to know that he was a prof at SCMHRD)......The registration started at sharp 10:50,we were segregated into groups of 5 each,and were handed a kit containing a pad,a pen,food coupon,checklist and our CV.My group had 3 girls and 2 boys.Had to be extra cautious that I don't cut the points of those girls during GD,as it was a caveat mentioned in previous year threads.

At 11:15 we were taken to the 5th floor by the student coordinator and had some chit-chat with the people of first year.Within 10 minutes we were called for the Case study.

Case Study
Panel consisted of an elderly prof and a medium aged lady.The prof looked damn serious and strict,but he made us feel comfortable by cracking a joke.A good start I must say.We were handed down the case,and time lines were explained to us.The case goes like this:
There is a person who is a fresher and has just passed out of a B school.Academically he is superb,but he is not into any extra-curr.He gets stressed out very easily,is a poor time manager and has even failed to stick to time limits at various occasions.
He has been recruited by an advertising agency where his primary goal is to communicate the client requirements to the design team.The job is quite strenuous,needs long hours of work n some other constraints.
Now this person has to select 2 courses out of the given 5 .The courses were(summaries of the courses were also given)
a) Time management
b) Innovative thinking
c) Stress Management
d) Interpersonal Skills
e) Organizational skills

We had 20 minutes to speak.To me it was an ideal group discussion,everyone listening and speaking.Arguments and counter arguments flowed.Each choice was taken at the face value and dissected for acceptance or rejection.By the end we all had a consensus to go with Interpersonal skills course.However 4 people opted for Organisational skills while I was the single one campaigning for the Innovative Thinking course.The pros/cons of the same were discussed but then were interrupted by sir and were told that 2 mins are left.with a brief summary of the discussion,one of the group members concluded the case( as expected the group went with the majority). The prof said thank you,collected the paper on which we had scribbled.He asked no questions,no summaries,no conclusions.May be everyone was on air for a reasonable amount of time and everyone pitched in with his ideas and views,that's why.

From there on,we were taken into another room.I had barely seated myself when my name was called for the interview.Had not even looked at the interiors of the room,the setup,the projector screen....not even at the girls sitting there.

Was taken by another student co-ordinator to a room where I was asked to wait outside.Was a bit stressed and nervous.My name was called and alas, came the moment I had been waiting for.
The Inteview

The panel included 3 people
P1: An elderly gentleman.Had serious looks,but was speaking in a very polite manner,never ever gave me an impression that he wanted to grill me.Was very affable and friendly.

P2: A middle aged person,I guess he was having an IT background.Very knowledgeable.For most of the time he was the one asking me questions.But again it was a discussion rather than question/answer session.

P3: Now she was a student co-ordinator at SCMHRD.May be an HR student who wanted to see the poor bakra.However she didnt ask even a single question but kept watching me with curiosity(ok lady I know I am damn handsome,but please stop staring me.I am getting nervous)

Me:yours faithfully BAKRA

Exchange of greetings and it started

P1: Your schooling from XYZ city and further education in ABC city.What's the reason?
Me: Told him how my mom n dad are working in different cities so stayed at one place for a part of my life then moved to the other place for the rest.

P1: So you work at ???
Me: answered

P1: Any difficulties you faced while relocating to Delhi....Rather what differences you saw between the two cities?
Me: TOld him about the traffic situation,the basic amenities like water,electricity,transportation,law and order...wanted to speak about the greenery but was cut short

P1: So how you cope up with that?
Me: It was just a conditioning of mind,I had to adjust myself with the circumstances,since most of them are the one I could not change.

from here on P2 took the charge

p2: So tell me something about your work profile?
me: told

P2: So you work in mainframes?? What operating system you use?
Me: told

P2: Diff between VSAM and DB2?
Me: answered

P2: Public key and private key?
Me .........Don't know (have never studied it,though I knew the difference but kept silent since my knowledge was shallow)
P2 looked at my profile...hmm not a comp engg....ok no prob

P2: the best thing about your company?
Answered

P2:What motivates you to go for an MBA?
Again gave a good answer.He seemed satisfied

P1: asked about the subjects I want to specialize in?Marketing/Finance?
I said IT and Systems.

P1: Will you join your current company after you finish the B school?
I said yes,no doubt about it.

P2: Let's move to your college years.Which was the most stress full year?
Me: Final year

P2: Why?
Me: Told him how I had to abort a final year project midway since we were technically not sound enough to carry it.

P1: When had you decided to leave that project?Why you think you were not competent enough? You discussed it with any mentor etc?
Answered satisfactorily

P2:Questions poured about the suspended project and the project we finally did.....IR rays,frequency,Comm systems,range of the receiver in my project,antenna
Me: answered most of the questions since I had actually worked on them.There was no bluffing,However when asked about the antenna we used,i said spherical( I wanted to say spiral...don't know how I forgot what we call this shape,....was literally showing him the spiral shape in air with my hand,but saying spherical......bloody fool I am:confused...grilled me on antennas,yagi uda antenna,.....I admitted that I had a poor knowledge on antennas........I was told that I am a Comm engineer and I should know......Made a blunder at this stage:death:...I pointed out that I am an Eletronics Engineer at the same time and more well versed with digital electronics and devices than antennas.....(S**T what the hell I am speaking)
Thakfully the discussion on antennas and tech stuff stopped there.

P1: So your father is a lawyer.Tell me a law whose brunt you have faced and want to change it.
Me: Told him how I had to waste my time commuting on buses,when I knew how to drive but couldn't since I was under aged.Answered that the age should be reduce to 16,since it's not about the time wastage but also the economic burden on parents who had to buy me a gear less vehicle compatible with the learners' license I was carrying at that time.

P2:Is this the most important law which you think we should change?Is this your highest priority?
Me: I reasoned that I have been asked about a law which directly affected me,and this was the one which hindered my productivity to a large extent.So in a way both P1 and P2 seemed satisfied with my answer.

P1: So what is the single most thing you love to do
ME: Kite Flying

There was a glow on there face...may be they too had been into the activity when they were young

P2: So tell me something about kites
Me: told him about the fighter kites in india.P2 drew 2 figures of kite on a paper and asked me which one is a fighter kite.Actually both were fighter kites,one a had wide degree of maneuverability...the other had less.Answered.

P2: so have you ever made your own line to fly a kite
Yes

P2: Ingredients
Answered...told him about various stuff they put while making line

P2: So which line you use
Readymade

P2: But you said you made your own line
Me: Sir it was just an expeiment..

p2: Ok ok

Finally i was told that they are done with the interview.I carried the notepad with me on which the diagrams of kite were made.I was pointed out that it belonged to them....I said it belonged to me.......When I cross checked my stuff,mine was lazing around in my folder.......everyone gave a hearty laugh.....Made a fool of myself.:unhappy:
Said "thank you" and left the room.....God it went for around 20 minutes....but seemed like eternity.......some more points/caveats...

I was stammering/blabbering and what not during the entire PI.It seems my nervousness was quite visible on my face and in my speech.....Negative for me.
However I was true to myself.Never cooked up anything,admitted my mistakes and lack of knowledge...they are smart enough,will catch you in a nick of time.
The interview had nothing which you can call general questions.It was purely based on my profile.So make sure you know precisely waht you have done/doing.Moreover I was expecting something on my extra-curr...I had loads of extra-curr.But again no questions.
I had the ideas but most of the time wasn't able to put them in words...But they were quite friendly and helping.....They readily understood me and re phrased it for me to know if i wanted to say this...It happened 2-3 times.....Again a negative for me I guess.

From there on I was taken to a document verification area where students from admission committee verified my work-ex details and my academic certis....and by 12:45 I was a free man....rushed to the cafeteria on the 9th floor,had a parantha and juice and by1:30 i was back to my place.So the entire process took roughly 2 hours for me....
By 5 Pm I was at the airport...chit chatted with few foreigners,learnt about their views on India,played with the touch screen information browser,irritated the cafeteria person with my queries on his revenues/sales/contract fee etc.
Boarded the 7Pm flight to delhi and was at home by 11.
So an end to the sojourn.

In all, a wonderful effort by SCMHRD students...superbly planned and well executed.The co-ordinators were always around to help us in any way possible.

Trivias
Those who are keen to visit some place in pune,you can definitely head to "Shanivaar Wada"...It was a fort built by BajiRao....Well the fort is no more,but they had converted it to a garden....not that marvelous a place.....but still some photographs can be clicked for sure.Wont take more than 2 hours(including travel time)

Do try the allu-bonda at the pune airport.It was good.

And for all my delhi friends,dont listen up to the localites that traffic is hell in Pune..It's no where near the delhi traffic,so you can definitely head out without much worry for the traffic.We will find even that "mismanaged" traffic highly managed.


Suggestions/questions/concerns are whole heartedly welcomed
Good Luck


Result: Rejected