MBA PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

2022-02-03 15:33:40 IIM K, interview Panel 4..lasted around 30 mins
Workex 3.5 years
Panelist-1, M, 35-50 years (Grilled a lot )

1. Tell me about yourself(interrupted halfway and was like which classes you went to?.)

2.Told about what I do in the company

3. Why is difference between service and a product (grilled alot on it)

4. What is product management lifecycle?
Didn't seem convinced with any of the answers

Panelist-2, F, 35-40 years (atleast listens to us with a poker face)

1. What does your company do?
2. Vision statement of the company(didn't know it)

3. Profit of the company(knew it somehow).How many employees?

4. Does company diversification help?

5. Do you know Indian politics?How many rajya sabha seats?How many lok sabha seats?
Why are there two members less than the usual currently?(didn't know this)

6.RBI governors current and previous
Answered

5.What is language of computers?
Told them about binary language and how interaction takes place

6.What is quantum computing and is it similar?
Didn't know much about it so refrained from answering

7.Any business news..(was related to startups)

8.What are unicorns?

9.What is NFT?

10.What is blockchain in layman's terms?
Answered them(7-10)

In the end P1 panelist cheekily asked whether it was a fun interaction and laughed.Didn't know how I did..but I assume it should be an average interview

#IIMK @CATGDPI Open / Comment

2022-02-03 14:32:04 IIM K Interview Experience

Fresher, Aerospace engineer graduated in 2021

Two Male Panelists P1 and P2...

1) Why there is a huge difference between your 12th score and 1st-year B.Tech Score ( 40 percent drop )

2) Tell me about yourself that is not there in the application...like family background and career plans

3) Why do you want to shift from aerospace to management background

4) How did Space X attain the technology which is still a dream for many countries like India ( Unable to answer properly )

5) Pick your favorite subject from your undergrad

6) Differences between solid and liquid engines and cross-questioning on that(why solid boosters are used instead of liquid in missiles)

7) How do reusable rockets function (Unable to answer)

P2

1) What did you do in college apart from academics

2) What are you doing after graduation

3) Which places you have visited in Kerala

4) Differentiate between the culture of Kerala and Andhra People

5) Do having 3 capitals in your state is necessary

6) Hypothetical question on what will you do if you are not able to join the MBA program this year

P1

1) What are your hobbies apart from teaching

2) Who presents the budget and where it is held?

3) Do Lok sabha and Rajya sabha members attended the budget session

4) Do you know about the project that involves building parliament

The interview lasted for 20 min...Most of the time they cut me short and didn't let me complete the answer

#IIMK @CATGDPI Open / Comment

2022-02-03 11:59:21 IIM K, interview lasted around 17-18 Minutes
Non-Engineer, Fresher

Panelist-1, M, 35-50 years (Grilled a little)

1. What type of mathematics have you studied? What are your favourite subjects?

2. Why is integration used? (Some follow up questions)

3. Why don't you work in Data Analytics instead of management?

4. What do you want to do after your MBA?

5. What kind of mathematics is used in marketing?

6. What is the Growth rate and its formula?

7. How would you apply trigonometry while playing basketball?

Panelist-2, F, 30-35 years (poker face but didn't grill)

1. What are real-life applications of Integration and differentiation?

2. Where do you come from?

3. Which historical places would you suggest me to visit in Odisha?

4. Which places if I want to see the landscapes?

5. How is Odisha different from Gujarat? (Some follow up questions)

6. Why Gujarat is more economically well off as compared to Odisha?

7. You know where are we located?

8. Do you know about the economic conditions or anything about Kerala?

I wasn’t able to answer some basic mathematics questions which made me feel embarrassed in front of the panelists. The second half of the interview went pretty well. So overall, an average interview I would say.

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2022-02-03 09:52:17 Panel 4
IIMK interview experience
92%ile Female-Engineering fresher
Acads- 93/93/70
Industrial Engineering background
P1- Male(50 to 60)
P2: Female (30 to 40)

P1: What is so special about you that we select you? (answered)

P1: Follow up of the first question, why are your grads poor in ug ? (answered honestly, but he kept mocking )

P1: Acad questions ( What is industrial engineering?? Difference between operations management, production management and Industrial engineering) he kept grilling on every word I said.
More and more follow up questions based on my answers.

P2: What is NATO?? Is there history between Ukraine and Russia? (answered)
Semiconductor shortage issue (answered but wasn't very sure)
Who is the prime minister of Tamilnadu? ( I said that Tamilnadu has a CM not a PM... He mocked regarding that PM is the PM for every state)
Who is the chairman of rajya sabha?? Who is the chairman of vidhan parishad? Who is the chairman of vidhan sabha? Does Tamilnadu have a vidhan parishad? (Answered none of these questions)

Kept saying sorry throughout the interview...( He said that his job is to confuse me and he laughed)
Feels like didn't answer any of the question properly... A proper stress interview. He didn't allow me to answer any of the question peacefully.

Duration: 30 mins

#IIMK @CATGDPI Open / Comment

2022-02-02 15:02:52 Interview date: 02.02.2022
Duration: 15 mins
UG: Computer science engg
Workex: IT, Renewable energy sector

P1:
1. Introduce yourself

2. What is so special about your UG college?

3. Why did you leave corporate world to get into renewable?

4. I hear more about Renewable and sustainability in recent days. What is so spcl about it?

5. About Paris agreement?

6. What do you know about electric vehicles?

7. What is the future scope of renewables(based on cost)?

8. Do you know to read and write in Tamil?(I'm from Tamil Nadu)

9. Any one tamil literature that dates back to 1000 years

10. Have you read the novel? Which is your favourite character? Then asked to defend my choice

11. Diff between PDF and CDF(probability)

12. What is kernel?

P2:
1. Leadership types

2. Is management an Art or Science?

3.Diff between the leadership styles of
Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa

#IIMK @CATGDPI Open / Comment

2022-02-02 15:02:36 IIM Kozhikode.

Interview date: 02-02-2022
Time: 4:10 pm
Duration: 15-20 mins
Work ex: consulting firms (data engineering) 2.5 years
Undergrad: ECE

Panel 2

P1: Male
P2: Female

P1:

1. Where are you located right now?

2. What is your job profile in the firm?

3. Why did you go to Bangalore for Engineering?

4. When is engineers day celebrated and why? (Sir M Visveswaraya birth anniversary etc)

5. Name famous works by him?

6. Do you remember about electronics? Name basic components of it?

7. Which century and who invented transistors?

8. When was your firm established and by who? Who is the current chairman?

P2:

1. Describe your current project in the firm in layman terms

2. What’s regression (since I mentioned something about it in my answer)

3. You must have studied about budget. Name two points that you found would be helpful for your firm.

4. Who are your competitors (consulting) and what is their market share? (Could not answer the market share but told the revenues)

Professors were sweet.

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2022-02-02 12:59:05 IIM Kozhikode.

Panel 4

M1: So you are from finance background

Difference between risk and uncertainity
(Told but they weren't really convinced, they gave an example and said now explain through this example)

Example of risk free security
(Told them Govt bonds)

What is the current int rate on bonds
(Told them)

So if rate of bond is 8%, what is the avg rate after 4 years
(Told them 1.08^4. Ans se 1 minus and then multiply by 100 divided by 4)

2 cross questions on it. (Don't remember exactly)

Asked 2 terms related to finance. (I don't remember)
(We did not study this in undrergrad)

What is repo rate?
(Told them)
What is reverse repo rate?

Why is there a difference of 65 basis points when normally it is 25 basis points
(Told them but the panelist said to stop in between saying that I know you know this, let's move on)

What is Operation Blue Star
(Said I don't know)
Gave me a hint- Indra Gandhi
Told them it was about her assasination and elaborated but they said that this operation led to her assasination. So what did she do?
(I remembered and I told them, fumbled in between because I said something wrong)

So what are your hobbies:

I said I was infact reading a book rn before this interview started.
So they asked which book.
Where is this author from?
Do you know an author from afganistan won a nobel prize. Are you aware about it? (Did not know this)

Can a book win a nobel prize?
(Said something)
So will the book win or author?

What is the highest indian award for an author? (Siad sahitya academy awards)
What are the other awards for Indian authors?

Arjuna award is given to sports persons. Who was the father of Arjun?
(Told them my indian mythology is weak)

Khel ratna award is renamed. What is it now?
(Told them the previous name, did not know the present)

So you are from Bihar:
Can you tell me about the Bhagalpur incident?
(Told them there were incidents on a daily basis, can you please specify which one *they started laughing*)
Asked about an incident (did not know about that)

F1:
What Indian author do you enjoy reading?
(Said chetan bhagat because you said enjoy or else I have also tried reading Chitra Banerjee, Amitav Ghosh)
Have you read any Amitav Ghosh Book?
(I started reading Gun Island but did not enjoy and left it unread)

English authors from Bihar?

(Told them 4, cheekily added George Orwell because he was born in Bihar)
Have you read any George Orwell book?
(Told them I read Animal Farm and 1984 is shamelessly lying on my shelf, but will get back to that book too)

Which constituency are you from?
Who is the representative there? (I did not know that)
Some cross questions on what I said

How many legislative assembly seats in Bihar?

What is the difference between MP and MLA?
(Said only 1 point)
She told me more and asked me to read about it.

M1: Is this your first interview?
(Said yes)
Okay, best of luck.

Me: Thank you. Have a nice day!!

Ended
(25 mimutes)

#IIMK @CATGDPI Open / Comment

2022-02-02 11:32:49 IIM Kozhikode.

Date - 2nd February, 2022, 12:10 pm

Profile: B.Tech Mining Engineering, Work ex. 16 months in GlobalData as Analyst.

2 Panelist, One female (age: 50+) P1; One male (age: 35–40) P2

P1: Tell us about yourself.
Me: Gave the well prepared interview.

P2 suddenly took charge and asked, which coaching have you joined, is it IMS, CL, or TIME ?. tum coaching vale hum logo ko bewkoof samajhte ho, 2 din hue hai interview lete hue aur hum baat k tareeke se bta skte h ki coaching krte ho tum, parrot ki tarah ek hi format m sblog intro de rhe ho.

I denied taking any coaching and told him that I prepared it in chronological order myself. I don’t know about the coachings but I gave this intro many times in the same format. (In reality, I took coaching. And I think I should have admitted taking coaching and related it with the commitment I have towards doing MBA and how important this interview is.)

P1: You are from mining. Teach me any one interesting concept in mining.
Me: (I explained her about the Blasting in an ore bench)

P1: According to you, what improvements do mining industry need?
Me: Explained about technological advancements in which india is lagging.

P1: You said, you have worked in several global commodity reports. Tell me how much coal does India export every year?
Me: India is not the exporter of coal. It imports almost 200 MT coal every year because of the requirement of high grade metallurgical coal in steel industry as well as in power sector.

Handed over to P2,

P2: Certainly, you are very good in mining. Why did you change your domain and Why do you want to get into B-school. Now don’t give me those cliché answers.
Me: (Gave answer about my personal reason. I have some medical condition which doesn’t fit into the criteria of mining jobs. Also, tagged the prepared answer after that)

P2: What are the management level problems mining companies face? After MBA, what will you do to improve it?
Me: I told about the ground reality and issues which workers face in terms of health hazards due to lack of management at ground level. Difference between situations on paper and in reality. Also I talked about the low efficiency and utilization of machines.

P2: how will you change it then? There are many managers out there. Even they can’t change the situation.
Me: With all the knowledge and understanding I will get about businesses in MBA. I will try to find the solution to improve it at ground level and make its implementation efficient. I can’t say without relevant knowledge as of now that I will bring the reform and change it completely. But surely, I want to try.

#IIMK @CATGDPI Open / Comment

2022-02-02 10:01:10 IIM Kozhikode

At first a female staff member asked me to show my ID proof. After verification interview started.

Electrical Engineering from IITK and then work ex in Data Science and Analytics domain

Then Panel of two Male Professors

Professor(P1) asked some questions:-

1. At the starting they asked me to introduce myself

2. Tell me how was your transition journey from Hindi Medium school to all English medium school.

2. Asked me about my primary role and project details

3. Asked me abt Regression in detail like Adjusted-R^2, Assumptions Of Regression Model

4. Is Adjusted-R^2 of 95% good?

Then 2nd Professor started asking questions:-

4. Do you know abt BERT

5. What is Employee Turn-Over?

6. Do you know about Internet Policy in IIT Kanpur

7. What is Onion Network?

8. Tell me some highlights about Budget-2022

After I finished answering the interview ended.

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2022-02-01 16:12:06 IIM Kozhikode Interview

Profile : BTech Metallurgy
Work ex: 48 months
12 months - into production, shop floor
36-Months -ZS Associates, Business Operations Associate

No of Panelist: 2 (Alumnus(P1) and Professor (P2))

P1: Hello Satish. Interesting to see a metallurgical engineer going in the business operations. Id this related to some manufacturing sector?

Ans: Good afternoon sir. I role is not related to manufacturing. I assist US based pharmaceutical firm with business insights about revenue and patient evolution.

P1: Can you elaborate?

Ans: I currently work with 3 European markets of the firm and provide them quarterly revenue estimates and patient evolution on a portfolio of oncology drugs. By patient evolution, I mean the number of patients who are going to stay on therapy and how they will increase or decrease over the period of time.

P1: Such exercise must need lot data, and generally its confidential. How do you do it then?

Ans: ZS enters Third Party Access agreement with client where Physicians are first party and company itself is second. Under this agreement we assure the use of data only for analysis purposes and with utmost confidentiality.

P1: What else this data can be used for apart from revenue estimate?

Ans: It also gives the market team an idea about how long patients stay on the treatment. Cancer is an invasive disease and survival period is generally very small. Hence this duration is very good indicator of efficacy of the treatment.

P1: So basically, you can get attrition rate?
And: Yes sir.

P1: Are you aware about ‘Out of pocket” expenditure?

Ans: Yes sir. In case of prolonged treatments, a certain portion of treatment expenditure is born by government and remaining has to be paid from pocket by the patient.

P1: Are you aware of a financial instrument used to mitigate such tail end risk?

Ans: No sir, I don’t recall the one now (Health Insurance had to be the answer, but it didn’t click me then)

P1: Ok, no problem. Lets talk about Metallurgy. What is pig iron?

Ans: Pig Iron is the very basic form of iron just extracted from the ore and has large carbon content.

P1: Why do they add carbon to it then to convert it in steel?

Ans: Steel making is dictated by different amount of carbon content. Pig Iron has 1% carbon, which is very high and not suitable for steel making. Hence the carbon content has to be reduced to 0.1% and then further increased depending on toughness and malleability requirement. More carbon, higher hardness but lower flexibility.

P1: Why do we need Metallurgical Engineering as a course in IIT when most of them are learning in the industry and rest are doing business operations like you?

Ans: For the development of industry, we cannot solely rely on that sector’s R&D unit. They also need expertise from academicians. We should not look at Metallurgical Engineering from job creation perspective only. The research done their will be next step of innovation for the industry.

P1: Thank you Satish. Now professor will take over!!

P2: Hello Satish, good to see you. Have you been to steel making plant?

Ans: No sir. But I have visited steel processing plants.

P2: Lets not digress and focus on steel making. Do you know prominent steel plants?

Ans: (I made a mistake here. I said Tata Steel plant at Bokaro is the biggest plant in India)

P2: Are you sure? Because you are certainly wrong.

Ans: Sorry sir. Tata steel plant at Jamshedpur. I am unaware about the ownership of Bokaro Plant.

P2: Which are the prominent market players in steel making in India?

Ans: Tata group is the biggest player followed by Jindal group and Vedanta group (I missed on Mittal Arcelor)

P2: That’s it?

Ans: These are the top competitors that are coming to the top of my mind.

P2: Its been only 4 years since you left the college. Should you not know more if steel making is the majority of your curriculum?

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