It's raining offers for the experienced students at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The first two weeks into lateral placements at the IIMs have seen more than 170 offers being made at the campuses.
Most of the IIMs have received offers ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 60 lakh, with many more companies slotted to visit the campuses by the second week of February.
Over 50 offers have already been made at IIM-Calcutta, which had kicked off its lateral placements last week. Close to 100 students would be eligible for lateral placements from the institute.
ArcelorMittal, Wipro [Get Quote], Microsoft and Verizon have been the early visitors, some of whom have visited other IIMs as well.
The first week has seen students bagging foreign offers in the Middle East, Europe and the US. Companies have offered middle-management roles as well as top management roles. Senior management roles have also been offered in the corporate finance and capital markets divisions.
At IIM-Indore, around 20 companies have come to the campus so far and close to 48 offers have been made. The higher offers have crossed the Rs 40 lakh-mark.
Placement officials say infrastructure companies are expected to come in droves this year. IIM-Lucknow has had 15 companies so far who have made 30 offers.
Ten companies have come to IIM-Bangalore which include Wipro, IBM, Verizon and other IT companies. Five to seven companies have come to IIM-Ahmedabad.
Lateral placements are open to students with a minimum of 10 to 20 months work experience and this year could see the number of lateral offers take a steep rise considering most of the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) batches across all IIMs have a work experience of over 45 months.
At IIM-Bangalore, over 100 students will be eligible for lateral placements out of the total batch of 260, whereas 120 students from the PGP batch at IIM-Lucknow have the required work experience.
Also, while most of the IIM officials are confident of the sub-prime crisis not being an issue during placements this year, a student from one of the IIMs confirmed that there was some degree of concern as to whether the number of students hired by investment banks could see some decline this year, although that would only be known by March, since investment banks prefer to hire from the final placement week.
At IIM-Ahmedabad, the final placement week is to be held from March 6 to March 11, from March 7 to 11 at IIM-Bangalore, from February 27 to March 2 at IIM-Indore, and during the first week of March at IIM-Lucknow.
This year, recruiters at various IIMs include ArcelorMittal, Trident, Pepsi, ICICI Bank [Get Quote], Tesco, Feedback Ventures, Tata Group companies, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Dr Reddy's, Pfizer [Get Quote], Ranbaxy [Get Quote] among others.
Railways, municipal corporations may come to IIM-A
For the first time, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is seeing recruiters from diverse entities such as the Indian Railways, municipal corporations and other public sector companies for lateral placements that are on in all the IIMs.
Sources at IIM-A have confirmed that close to 100 public and private sector units have been in touch with the institute, which include PSUs like Gujarat State Fertiliser Corporation (GSFC), Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd (GPCL), Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL), municipal corporations and other government departments.
Twenty-two students would be available for placements from the batch of PGP-PMP which caters to civil servants, managers of government, NGOs and executives of private sector firms engaged in public management
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Post-CAT GD and interviews: The last hurdle
It's that time of the year again. CAT results are out and IIMs will soon send out their call letters.
Students who have slogged their brains out for the last year or so can stop biting their nails and maybe get a manicure. Soon, many other B-schools will announce their results. While some celebration is certainly called for, it is not yet the time to pop the champagne corks. There are still battles to be fought, victories to be won.
Of course, when the final admission offer is made from IIM-A and you regretfully inform other IIMs and sundry B-schools that you will not be joining them, you can tell the fat lady to sing her guts out.
First let me tell you the odds are much better at the GD and Interview stage than they were at the CAT stage. IIM-A is giving out roughly 3x calls for every x. And if you have more calls the chances are even better. However, GD and Interview is not a walk in the park, however confident you may be of your gift of the gab. There is more to it than just English speaking.
By now the B-schools have tested you on your aptitude skills (sic) and have selected you for further consideration. Let's look at what their interest would be in selecting you.
~ Ability to do justice to the course (read 'will s/he pass the course?').
~ Employability after the MBA program.
~ Career prospects (will s/he rise to her/his level of incompetence and become the second assistant vice president at Novella Nail Varnishes Amalgamated?).
Group Discussions
Group Discussions involve putting 8-12 students together in a group and giving them a topic and getting them to yell at each other for about 10-15 minutes. Alternately, these students may be given a situation, a one-page story (called a case study) and asked to discuss the same. But let's look at what the B schools expect to test in such a scenario. The following are the parameters of selection:
Content: General awareness, the ability to convert knowledge into logical arguments. It is relatively easy to memorise facts; students have been doing it over years of schooling and college. Memory is compulsory, comprehension is optional. But, to participate meaningfully in a Group Discussion you need to have a clear understanding of what the facts mean.
So spend your time reading up newspapers, magazines and browsing the net catching up on important topics. You could try to acquire a list of past topics from any of the CAT training centres.
Communication: The next step is to communicate the arguments built with clarity. It is the ability to make yourself understood. Students worried about fluency in English and/or accents need not worry. You are aiming at a 'She makes sense' kinda response, not a 'He speaks so well, but what exactly does he mean.' Use simple language and short sweet sentences. Do understand that GDs tend to be extremely chaotic with 6 word average sentences. So come to the point directly before you get interrupted.
However, certain tactics are important. For one, getting a chance to speak is critical. Don't wait for complete silence for you to start speaking. You have to interrupt somebody and grab your chances, but how and when you do it is very important
Time your interruption towards the end of someone's point.
Speak loud and clear (but don't speak fast). Make sure you start with some power behind your voice.
Make eye contact with different students; don't speak only to one person.
Group Dynamics: Remember that a GD is a formal occasion and make sure your behaviour is appropriate. The B-schools are testing your attitude, maturity etc. The way you handle pressure in a chaotic situations, handling disagreements, listening skills are all tested. Take a balanced view of the topic and be willing to look at different points of view.
Wild allegations (all politicians are corrupt), impractical suggestions (a war on Pakistan will settle all issues), personal attacks (if your brother was killed by terrorists you would know) etc clearly highlight your lack of maturity.
Leadership: Leadership in GDs is about intellectual leadership. Can you guide the GD towards a meaningful discussion of the topic? It's about introducing new ways of looking at the topic, and leading a group towards a consensus. Remember, GDs, rarely, if ever, reach a consensus. However, the process of going towards a consensus is all important. Remember Leadership is a not a choice that you make. You become a leader, if the group voluntarily chooses to follow you.
Interviews
Interviews bring about a fear of being brutalised by an essentially hostile panel looking to rip you apart, proverbial lambs to slaughter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Except for a relatively rare case of 'stress interview' where the student is deliberately put under stress, most interviews are friendly affairs where the panel seeks to put the student at ease. This is done to ensure that they are able to elicit natural responses and best evaluate the student. The questioning and evaluation is done on these parameters:
Work Exp/Subject Knowledge -- The focus is on the whether you have a holistic view of the organisation that you worked for or of the field of study that you have chosen (do you see the BIG Picture?). Also, whether you have attention to detail and can understand and explain the various issues related to your area of specialisation.
Career Planning -- Despite enormous evidence to the contrary, the B-schools still believe that students plan their careers. So they are looking at things like short term and long term career goals. A simple question like "Why management?" can cause a lot of headaches if pursued over a few minutes.
General Awareness -- The focus is on concept level understanding whether the question is on Pakistan or NALCO privatisation. It is how you use information to create credible arguments.
Personality and Self awareness -- How well do you know yourself? Awareness of your personality traits, strengths weaknesses can help you use them to best advantage in your career.
Extra Curricular activities and hobbies -- B schools like to believe that they select candidates with all round ability rather than plain 'muggu's'. Little do they know that 'muggu's' are very resourceful and a muggu with a net connection can create hobbies out of thin air. Seriously though, you might need to identify your areas of special interest, review your knowledge of these areas.
Let me end this article with a few tips on how to prepare:
~ An Interview is about 'YOU'. So don't look at ready made answers to questions. Please remember that the panel wishes to know you better, so start with knowing yourself better.
~ Understand the fact that preparation is required and that it will take time. So don't leave it for the last minute. Most importantly question yourself. Understand that any answer looks good unless it is tested. Most trouble is caused by supplementary questions. For example let's look at a possible scenario.
Q. Mr. Rohit, as a software engineer with some experience, why would you like to study management?
A. Sir, while I have a strong background as a technical person, I feel that my career prospects would be better if can add management skills and be a techno MBA. (applause; good answer).
Students who have slogged their brains out for the last year or so can stop biting their nails and maybe get a manicure. Soon, many other B-schools will announce their results. While some celebration is certainly called for, it is not yet the time to pop the champagne corks. There are still battles to be fought, victories to be won.
Of course, when the final admission offer is made from IIM-A and you regretfully inform other IIMs and sundry B-schools that you will not be joining them, you can tell the fat lady to sing her guts out.
First let me tell you the odds are much better at the GD and Interview stage than they were at the CAT stage. IIM-A is giving out roughly 3x calls for every x. And if you have more calls the chances are even better. However, GD and Interview is not a walk in the park, however confident you may be of your gift of the gab. There is more to it than just English speaking.
By now the B-schools have tested you on your aptitude skills (sic) and have selected you for further consideration. Let's look at what their interest would be in selecting you.
~ Ability to do justice to the course (read 'will s/he pass the course?').
~ Employability after the MBA program.
~ Career prospects (will s/he rise to her/his level of incompetence and become the second assistant vice president at Novella Nail Varnishes Amalgamated?).
Group Discussions
Group Discussions involve putting 8-12 students together in a group and giving them a topic and getting them to yell at each other for about 10-15 minutes. Alternately, these students may be given a situation, a one-page story (called a case study) and asked to discuss the same. But let's look at what the B schools expect to test in such a scenario. The following are the parameters of selection:
Content: General awareness, the ability to convert knowledge into logical arguments. It is relatively easy to memorise facts; students have been doing it over years of schooling and college. Memory is compulsory, comprehension is optional. But, to participate meaningfully in a Group Discussion you need to have a clear understanding of what the facts mean.
So spend your time reading up newspapers, magazines and browsing the net catching up on important topics. You could try to acquire a list of past topics from any of the CAT training centres.
Communication: The next step is to communicate the arguments built with clarity. It is the ability to make yourself understood. Students worried about fluency in English and/or accents need not worry. You are aiming at a 'She makes sense' kinda response, not a 'He speaks so well, but what exactly does he mean.' Use simple language and short sweet sentences. Do understand that GDs tend to be extremely chaotic with 6 word average sentences. So come to the point directly before you get interrupted.
However, certain tactics are important. For one, getting a chance to speak is critical. Don't wait for complete silence for you to start speaking. You have to interrupt somebody and grab your chances, but how and when you do it is very important
Time your interruption towards the end of someone's point.
Speak loud and clear (but don't speak fast). Make sure you start with some power behind your voice.
Make eye contact with different students; don't speak only to one person.
Group Dynamics: Remember that a GD is a formal occasion and make sure your behaviour is appropriate. The B-schools are testing your attitude, maturity etc. The way you handle pressure in a chaotic situations, handling disagreements, listening skills are all tested. Take a balanced view of the topic and be willing to look at different points of view.
Wild allegations (all politicians are corrupt), impractical suggestions (a war on Pakistan will settle all issues), personal attacks (if your brother was killed by terrorists you would know) etc clearly highlight your lack of maturity.
Leadership: Leadership in GDs is about intellectual leadership. Can you guide the GD towards a meaningful discussion of the topic? It's about introducing new ways of looking at the topic, and leading a group towards a consensus. Remember, GDs, rarely, if ever, reach a consensus. However, the process of going towards a consensus is all important. Remember Leadership is a not a choice that you make. You become a leader, if the group voluntarily chooses to follow you.
Interviews
Interviews bring about a fear of being brutalised by an essentially hostile panel looking to rip you apart, proverbial lambs to slaughter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Except for a relatively rare case of 'stress interview' where the student is deliberately put under stress, most interviews are friendly affairs where the panel seeks to put the student at ease. This is done to ensure that they are able to elicit natural responses and best evaluate the student. The questioning and evaluation is done on these parameters:
Work Exp/Subject Knowledge -- The focus is on the whether you have a holistic view of the organisation that you worked for or of the field of study that you have chosen (do you see the BIG Picture?). Also, whether you have attention to detail and can understand and explain the various issues related to your area of specialisation.
Career Planning -- Despite enormous evidence to the contrary, the B-schools still believe that students plan their careers. So they are looking at things like short term and long term career goals. A simple question like "Why management?" can cause a lot of headaches if pursued over a few minutes.
General Awareness -- The focus is on concept level understanding whether the question is on Pakistan or NALCO privatisation. It is how you use information to create credible arguments.
Personality and Self awareness -- How well do you know yourself? Awareness of your personality traits, strengths weaknesses can help you use them to best advantage in your career.
Extra Curricular activities and hobbies -- B schools like to believe that they select candidates with all round ability rather than plain 'muggu's'. Little do they know that 'muggu's' are very resourceful and a muggu with a net connection can create hobbies out of thin air. Seriously though, you might need to identify your areas of special interest, review your knowledge of these areas.
Let me end this article with a few tips on how to prepare:
~ An Interview is about 'YOU'. So don't look at ready made answers to questions. Please remember that the panel wishes to know you better, so start with knowing yourself better.
~ Understand the fact that preparation is required and that it will take time. So don't leave it for the last minute. Most importantly question yourself. Understand that any answer looks good unless it is tested. Most trouble is caused by supplementary questions. For example let's look at a possible scenario.
Q. Mr. Rohit, as a software engineer with some experience, why would you like to study management?
A. Sir, while I have a strong background as a technical person, I feel that my career prospects would be better if can add management skills and be a techno MBA. (applause; good answer).
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