ISB Interview Experiences 2005 R2

Interview Experience 1

kiran1979 on PG
Hi Everybody,

My interview got over yesterday... the call with sujayath helped me...but cud not complete all my questions to him before which the call got cut (courtesy roaming charges)

Mine was in board room three went there in formal dressings..
Outside i saw many guys from infy , wipro ..seniors..married people...all...most of them were in a confused state of mind after the interview..no body had too much to say soon after the grilling ..

An alumini from 2004 batch introduced me to Mr XX. They started reading my resume and recommendations for a while...then came up with this...Mr XXX you have put in strong communication skills..but there is a mistake in one of your esays...now please add some flesh to what you have written and prove the same during the interview.

1) What specifically do you want to do after ur MBA in ISB?
2) What does the word values mean for you?
3) How will you add values to your company after your MBA? How will you inspire people?
4) Was late MR XX chairman of your comp an MBA?
5) Who is running your company now?
6) How do you plan to do your studies..sabbatical? Ho will u join back after you resign?
I said no becos no long leaves or such policies in our company. I will have to resign and i can then join back.
7) will you participate in campus placements? why will you do so?
8) Are you married?
9) Do you have kids? Why?
10) will you accept a job if they are asking for a big amount of money?
11) Tell me abt what you have done in credit card authorization in one of your projects?

I ans almost all the above ques to my satisfaction and there was no much grilling..i dont know why....they interrupted me while i was answering what i did in my project related to the credit card ques..i was gaining in conf while ans when the alumini said ..okai u know what u did in ur proj lets leave that ..say something abt the credit card industry in general..how they make money, profit , run company so on...to this question i answered saying i dont know much abt the industry as such since i was not working in that ..went on to say that from my limited knowledge which i have gathered working in IT doing projects related to C redit C ards they make money...blah blah and then said i need to get more knowledge reg this.

After this blah blah to the last ques they did not ask any further ques...
I asked them three ques...the guys did not look unhappy or too happy...I was confused..

i thought i was confident and had a natural smiling face thru out the interview..

The whole thing lasted only 25 minutes...was too fast and no much grilling..

Iam confused... I had good reccom from COO and Head of BD india...dont know why it was a 25 minute..stuff

Interview Experience 2

Hi All,

I have taken so much from this forum. Now it's time to give back something.

I had my telephonic interview 15 min back. Mr. Menon and Rahul were on the interview panel.

They completely surprised me by asking me to take the control of the interview. I started with my family background and then educational qualification.

As expected Mr. Menon asked me about low grades in 12th exam. Then I was given a topic and asked to speak for 1 min on that.Next,Rahul asked me about my professional achievements.

Since, I am from insurance background , I was asked "What did insurance companies learnt after 9/11" ?

Then there were some questions regarding my hobbies.

Finally , I was asked if I had any queries. I am a little surprised since I was not asked any case study or why MBA qs.

Anyways , the wait starts now for me......

I am thankful to everyone in the forum , who have given so much to ISB aspirants like me.

Special thanks to Made_for_ISB guy. Your insights were very helpful.

All the best to R2 applicants !


Oh yes , before I sign-off , these are my statistics

Exp - around 6 years in IT
Overseas exp - 4 years
Clients worked for - GE & AIG
GMAT - a little less than ISB average :-)

Thanks,
Dips

Interview Experience 3

i had my tele interview an hour back. Went okay. Was for about 20 minutes. Mr Menon and Rahul were the one taking the interview.They threw the ball totally my court to begin with by asking me to
answer two question

-put your point across to us
-tell us about urself

i took full 10 minutes to answer these two question.Spoke about all i had to say about myself and my reason for going for MBA and all that. Next three questions were like this
-what is 3 to the power 6
-what causes global warming
-why is rainbow formed

i got them all right though.

next question
-why so low gmat score
i told them i had just 10 days for prep.

The few questions on my job
- why did u stick to one company for so long( 6 years!)
- what is ur current role

I had told them about my dream of doing big in Biotech industry. So
one of the question was that
-how is IT backgroud help u in biotech

Finaly they asked if i had any questions
-i asked what do they look for in a candidate
they told almost the same things which are there on the ISB
site..analytical skills,acads,recos,leadership skills..

the end..

wait continues...

Interview Experience 4

People,
Stage 2 launched.

Here we go:
-> Family backgroud
-> What do we talk about for next 20 mins
-> What is the difference between the top 2 IT
companies
-> Market size of size 10 Bata shoes
-> What is happening in Indian Politics
-> 2 suggestions to Chief Election Commissioner as a
consultant
-> Speak on a topic for one minute
-> Walk us through your work day
-> Any questions for us

Mission accomplished.

Cheers,
BG

Interview Experience 5

Hello All,
I had my Int in Hyde at ISB.
The panel had Nithyanand and Rahul.
It lasted 25 mins and had following quests.
1) Why MBA
2) Tell abt ur family background, ur acads, professional exp adn extra
curricular activities.
3) Why Oracle overtook people soft ?
4) Why the takeover was delayed ?
5) Where I would be post ISB ?
6) What's my life's greatest achievement ?
etc.

Overall it was a cool one.
But the agonising wait begins now.
But am skeptical as in R1 the ones who were grilled were finally
admitted !!!!

Wish everyone all the best.
Cheers
Punit

Interview Experience 6

Hi folks,
sorry for the late posting.

Date :- 15th feb,05
Time :- 5.30 - 6.00 pm ( i was summoned in bfore half
an hour at 5 itself, a rarity i think)
Venue:- ISB, hyderabad.

Panel :- Rahul and Nithyanand.

So here was the deal
*) tell us about urself,academics, family background
and career.
- As i was mentioning the various companies i worked
at i was also asked to explain my swithces.
- Was grilled a bit on the 2 job switches that i made
in a span of 2.5 years. tried convinving them that the
first one happnd. after a very brief stay of 2 months,
so its just 1 switch essentially,but they didnt seem
convinced.

*) Why mba
- told them about my long term plans, which in my
case, was ERP consultant. this led to

*) why isb, how isb is going to help you with ur long
term goal?
- gave them typical answers like good
faculty,curriculum etc. was told that even a 10th guy
can tell all this after reading the brochure. what
additional reasons to consider ISB? (Prepare well for
this one folks, i suggest, drill a bit deeper into the
courses offered, the specific programmes that suit
your req. essentially convince them that u know what u
will do once at ISB.)

*) don;t u think u shud spend one more year at
workplace and then consider ISB?
- This ques. bcoz i hv only arnd 15 months of
xperince in ERP. my prior work was in a diff. domain.

*) How will you contribute to ISB?
- i think i was able to convince that i will bring
diversity to the class, but they wanted to know how my
workex. will help my classmates.

*) Comparisions between Reliance & Oracle (my ex. and
current employer)

*) Three things that i admire/dislike about Reliance

*) Nithya - what do u think is the weakness in the
Oracle - peoplesoft takeover?

*) Rahul - Ok Rishi, what do u think would be a tough
question for you to answer?

*) any questions for us?

In my opinion, people with a cross domain switch
should prepare their reasons thouroghly.
i think,mine was a 50-50 case. With the no. of R2
applicants far outnumbering R1 ones,all the more
reason for a phase of heightened anxiety.

Hope this helps other folks,
Thanks,
Rishi.

Interview Experience 7

Profile:
---------
Years of Experience: 7.5
GMAT: 710
Industry: IT, Process Consulting

Date and Time of Interview: 16th Feb, 10:30 AM
Location: Telephonic

Panel: Hima and Abhishek

Questions:

•Tell us about yourself.
•Tell us about the company you work for?
•What are you doing in the US?
•Why MBA?
•Do you plan to join here on Sabbatical?
•What kind of a job do you expect after ISB?
•You get "X" in USD currently, after ISB it will be half of that as
you are looking for a job in India? Will you still join ISB?
•What do you do outside of work?
•Typically in IT people change companies in 2 years, but you have
not changed jobs for nearly 8 years, what are the reasons?
•Any Questions for us?

The interview lasted about 20 mins. There was no grilling, no probing
questions. Left me wondering what was hapenning.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Interview Experience 8

Just had my phone interview with Mr. Menon and Rahul at 8:15 am IST.
They were very nice to talk to, and answered all my questions. I
wish all schools had such Adcom's. Interview was for 30 minutes.
Questions:
1. Tell me about your family background
2. Tell me about the past 4 years of your life
3. Interpret the statement: "If you don't win silver, you lose gold"
4. I want to return back to the US after the PGP degree for a few
years. They wanted to know how I would manage to do that
5. What is Human-Computer Interaction and why did you do your
Master's in it?
6. I am currently earning in dollars-would I be able to manage a
rupee salary?
7. Any questions for us?

All in all, pretty straightforward. I think good communication
skills and a clear plan of action go a long way. Also, the ability
to pause while speaking because of the phone line-which I found
really difficult to do. I got disconnected once and they were very
understanding. It seemed like they had already read my
essays/resume. Good luck everyone!

Interview Experience 9

All,

I had my interview today at Oberai, Bangalore. I reached the venue 30
mins early. I was called in 15 mins late. I was interview by
Joe,Nithya and an another person.

Here are the questions:

1. What you would like us to discuss? Work, personal...
2. Elaborate on work experience
3. Narrate some imcidents in your work experience
4. Why MBA?
5. Say 5 unconnected sentences that are not in your essay
6. What is your plan B incase you donot get through?
7. Why MBA again...
8. How would you get your ROI?
9. Any questions for us?

I did feel OK after the interview, but I now feel that I could have
done better.

cheers,
Andy.

Interview Experience 10

Hello ISB aspirants,
I had my interview this morning @ 10 AM (Friday, the 18th). I
Would like to share a few interactions i had with the two ladies who
interviewed me (1 - Hema of Adcom and another lady -- Both looked
pretty serious till the end. I could manage a smile on their faces
when i told how i would like to fund my MBA).
It started off straight from recommendations. The questions asked
are as follows:
1) "one of your recommendations say that i get my hands wet in one to
many a pie. What are the kind of activities you do?"
2) "Post ISB?"
3) "Why consulting?" "Why am i a perfect fit for consulting?"
4) "For a 640 GMAT score, Mckinsey consulting will not recruit you,
what will you do?" ( I said i would convince Mckinsey to recruit me.
They made me convince the second lady explaining how unique i am. See
Q7)
5) "Speak about the extra curriculars you are involved in"
6) "Comment on infy experience and accenture experience."
7) While positioning myself as a unique and different from the rest
of the ISB applicants i told them that i have experiences in Crackers
sales. They asked me to arrive at a figure for the total crackers
production per year. This was like a bouncer, but i knew the in and
out of crackers sales. So, i could tell them some figures and how i
arrived at it.
8) Why ISB?
9) How would you like to fund your MBA @ ISB? (That did bring smile
on my face)
10) If i had to mention 3 weaknesses what are they? I knew only two.
So, i mentioned about them with what actions i have started taking to
overcome them.
11) Any questions for the Adcom?

Overall i felt i was at my best and answered with high confidence.
My profile:
Bachelor of Engg in Comp sci from SJCE, Mysore.
4.5 yrs IT experience
3.5 - Infosys (1 Yr International) and 1 yr - Accenture.
GMAT - 640. AWA - (I Still dont know :-) )
Essays - I feel they were too good.
Recommendations -- Both were from individuals who knew what to write
and how best to articulate.
I feel i stand a good chance.
But nothing can be said until the D-Day and that to with a score of
640.

My piece of advice for the rest of bangalore crew:
Be confident,
Dont cook on the spot,
Make sure you are 100% comfortable with the essays that you
have keyed in.

Best of luck for the rest of the aspirants.

If you do need more details about how i answered do write to my email
id. I shall be on my toes to Share my exp with ya all.

SMilo,
Santhosh

Interview Experience 11

Hi all,
I had my telephone interview on 2/17/04. Panel consisted of Mr
Menon and Mr Nityanand. Call lasted for around 20mts. Here are the
questions:

1. Walk us through your resume
2. Which of the wireless technologies will be more successfull in
India - GSM or CDMA?
3. How do you design a WAN for xxx company with 30 locations in
India?
4. What is RFI?
5. POST IBS plans?
6. POST ISB salary expectations?
7. Can you come to India in the short notice?
8. Any questions?

All the best.

-- Shyam

Interview Experience 12

Hi,
Had my interview yesterday.
Venue : ISB Hyderabad
Duration : 4:30 - 5:05
Panel: Mr Menon and Manu

To tell you the truth, I don't know what to expect.
The interview started with Mr. Menon and Mr. Manu greeting me and asking
me to get seated. The questions were -
1)Tell us something about yourself, your family and what you would like
us to know about yourself. (Was interrupted time and again during this)
2)O.k. , what exactly is Bioinformatics?
3)Some question on clinical trials and FDA approvals.
4)What is a placebo and when is it used?(Didnt look quite convinced with
my answer. I am into bioinformatics and not clinical trials. I could
answer that because I had done some reading.)
5)Why do you think you were made a team lead in six months(Cross
questioning on that one)

All this while Manu was doing the talking while Mr. Menon was staring
intently and scribbling things on a sheet of paper. Finally he spoke.

6)There are 3 stations A, B and C. Trains leave from A to C and from C
to A at regular intervals. A guy at B boards any train that comes to B
at any time of the day and heads to either A or C. But on analysis it
was found out that 75% of the time he lands at A and only 25% of the
time he lands at C. What could have been the reason.(I thought about it
and couldnt find any reason as to why that should happen. Because his
taking a train was a random event and in no way what happened could be
explained. I said I dont know the answer. Mr Menon smiled and told me
that he didnt know either. He told me to send him an e-mail if I ever
found out what the answer was.)
7)Any questions about ISB.(I asked one and Mr. Menon gave me a
convincing reply.)

At this point Manu intervened, just when I thought it was over.

8)Why do you want to do an MBA?(I gave him my reasons. Some cross
questioning on that. I told him that technology was my hobby and I
wanted to keep it separate from my profession, because I wanted to enjoy
my hobby and not do what other people told me to do about my hobby.)
9)But, don't you think if you are doing what your hobby is, you are the
happiest person?(Cross questioning on that. Didn't look convinced.)
10)Any more questions on ISB?(I declined saying that I had already asked
my only relevant question. On second thoughts, that didn't sound polite
on my part.)
11)Goodbyes and Sionaras.

Say what folks? I think I screwed it. I felt that there was too much of
cross questioning.

Another thing that I felt was that, the people who were interviewing me
hadn't gone through my essays. If they had, they didn't show it. Is
there a trick here? The result of this was that I had to build all those
points and hence couldnt present to them more interesting parts of my
life. Guess, no use crying over split milk. I would suggest all
interviewees be prepared for this.
On top of it I was offered an on-site for one year at Stockholm today. I
had to tell them that I have to wait till the 28th. I guess that didnt
go well with them either. I am so stuck up!. I wish ISB gives me a
decision today.
Cheers!
Sankha

Interview Experience 13

Hi,

So far I was an occasional contributor to the group.
Here is my int. exp.
I had my interview yesterday.

Venue: ISB Hyderabad
Duration: 5:10 - 5:30
Panel: Mr. Menon and Manu (I think) a guy with a fair
complexion)

Mr. Menon explained the format. They put me at ease
stating that my profile is interesting. Mr. Menon told
asked to explain about my family.

Then Why MBA now as I am bit old compared to ISB
standards.

They asked me about our firm, the cost structure,
typical contract value. I am a Biomedical engineer and
an MBA from SJ SOM IITB. and our present firm is into
electrical maintenance. I had 13 years of work ex in
customer service before joining my father in his
business last year. Manu, told me that he sees a
mismatch, I tried to convince him ( could have done
better).

Menon asked me about my post ISB plans. After
explaning this Mr. Menon told me that ISB profile is 5
years and 27 years of age. How I would fit into this
frame. I tried to justify what I look for and what I
can bring to ISB. How ISB best fits into my frame of
work.

Mr. Menon then further probed, why I would not like to
go back to father's business immediately post ISB. I
told them earlier that Post ISB i would like to work
for a consuting firm and then go back to my father's
business and what is my long term plan.

Mr. Menon then posed the difficult question on why low
acades. I have explained to him about my extra
curricular activitiies and contributions to the
organizations. Mr. Menon further asked me how I would
cope with the rigorous course like ISB. I told him
about my time management. ( I should have done better
here). I should have told them about one consulting
assignment I have done during my MBA and published a
paper too. It did not strike me.

Manu then asked me why I would like to do a full time
MBA now being already an MBA. I had explained him my
thougths on this. There was one question on my career
transitions. ( I could have done better here)

Then they asked me If I have any questions: I asked
them three questions - faculty, Wadhwani centre, and
GCP.

Overall, I dont know. I could not read any thing on
their faces. They looked jaded. In the hind sight I
could have done better on the difficult questions. Now
presently sitting tight with fingers crossed. Waiting
for 28th with mind blowing tension and anticipation.
need lot of good wishes.


With best wishes

Ravi. K

Interview Experience 14


Reached the Oberoi at 12 25 .. interview was at 12 30. got a little
nicotine flowing. Entered the waiting room to find Chetan and Sasikala
waiting for their call. Chatted up for sometime till I got called in.

The panel : Ajit Rangnekar (Deputy Dean), Nityanand and an alum
interviewer. Interestingly, I thought I had seen both Nityanand and
the alum interviewer somewhere before ( not at an ISB info session ),
but could not recall where. I remembered later that I had met Mr.
Nityanand earlier when I was doing some PR for Mensa in hyderabad. And
the alum .. well .. read on !

As I was sitting down, the salvo started.


Ajit : Shameek , what on earth were you thinking ? ! ( with my resume
and essays in front of him ) ?

Me : Uh huh ..

Ajit: You have worked at X( a blue chip ), then went to Y ( a startup
which didnt hit it big ), then went to Z ( a startup success story )
.. whats this ?? all in 3.5 years ? i think we cant count this work ex
as more than a year or year and a half

Me : (explained the motivating factor between each switch, since i
knew this was one question they were goin to ask. )

Ajith : OK . the other concern we have is that you are from BITS.
People who cant get into IITs, get into BITS. This guy here (*pointing
to alum*), is an iitian, and he doesnt think too highly of bitsians.
What do you have to say to him ?

Me: Broke out into a tirade .. arguing vehemently for BITS vis-a-vis
IITs, and mentioned that I chucked a good JEE rank cuz i wanted to go
to BITS.

Ajith : ( after it was over ) .. err. ( pointing to alum ) . he is
actually your senior from BITS

So, with that googly, the interview started gathering momentum.

there were no specific questions as such .. most questions were
following logically from what I was saying. there were discussions on
my work at Y, my leadership style, why entrepreneurship excites me,
the child labour regulation laws in India, quality of teaching in
government schools, whether I would want to get into non-profit ( to
which I said no ), does intrapreneurship also excite me, ISB and the
rankings game, ISB's alumni relationships, discussions about my
volunteering activities, the EVC club and K Hub @ ISB. And yeah, "tell
us in 30 seconds why ISB should take you".

also, what do u do in ur spare time ? umm ... i said ... pubbing ..
trekking .. was stopped midway. Which is the last trek you went to ?
Whern was this ? How long did it take ? Which was the most difficult one ?


I asked them why there isnt a loan forgiveness program for folks
getting into non profit or development sector post MBA, and I was told
thats a very valid point which would be looked into.

What I felt is, Ajit Rangnekar, being an industry veteran, is an
excellent interviewer - he knows how to shake you up, and how to
probe. If you relax, you are going to have a wonderful interview.


Interview Experience 15

probably.. a first time mailer to the grp..

here is my int.. in ISB - hyderabad..
Date: 18 feb 05
time: 5:50 - 6:45 PM (almost an hr) scheduled was at
5:30 - 6:00 PM

Panel: I suppose .. Hari and Manu..

Here are the Qs..

1. tell us abt urself and family background and things
u want to highlight to the panel..

2. whats institute blues and why you were awarded the
same (I got institute blues award - IITM)

3. gave a puzzle.. of weights.. given all weights of 1
to 40.. how many minimum weights are required to
measure every weight from 1- 40.. (ans: 1,2,3,4, 10
and 20)

4. Whats six sigma and how i implemented 17 projects
in that ( i was a six sigma leader for saint Gobain
Vetrotex India)

5. how much time each proj takes and explain each
phase of six sigma (again workex related)

6. explain one or two projects you have done in six
sigma

7. current profile and how I was selected for that
resp (I am the product in charge in our company)

8. Whats your competitors and strengths and weaknesses
of your company visavis competition

9. whats marketing and how is your market/sales
network

10. you are pretty young with only 2.6 yrs of ex and
given ur back ground how do u manage funds.. in
otherwords.. you dont u work for one more yr and then
join ISB

11. given mfg pays low sal. how do u manage the loan..
otherwords.. whats ur post ISB plans do you wish to
change the domain. (I wrote about biotech proj.. in my
essay)..

12. whats ISO 9001:2000 and explain in detail ( it was
there in my resume..)

13. you do u have a low score and how can u convince
us abt it (my GMAT was 640)

14. Any Qs for us..( i asked a couple on student
exchange prg and entrepreneur club)

They were pretty good and spent lot of time in
udnerstanding and discussing things.. no grilling..
pretty friendly discussions and no cross
questioning...

I cud not convince them for the GMAT score..

Hope this is useful for someone..

all the best..

ravi srinivas M

Interview Experience 16

Hi,
I had my interview today. Ajit Rangekar, Nithyanand
and an alum were part of the panel
Tell me aboutr yourself was the first question and
after that alot of questions on my work. I work for
fidelity investments (Stuff on mutual funds etc)This
went on for 10 to 15 mins. I also teach at Ims,so
questions on that.
Not a single question as to why isb, why MBA,
extracurriculars,I have very strong extracurriculars,
no question on essays, nothing. I asked them about
wheel chair access since i am challenged, gave me
pretty convincing anwers, not very convincing ones.
Then they expresses concern about my less than average
gmat score and I knew it was gone.
Just wondering if at the end of the day GMAT is the
only criteria at ISB like CAT is at IIMs, could
convince them about the other strong bits in my apps
because it looked GMAT was clincher for them and also
an IT background is very importnat for ISB thats the
feeling I get.
Does diversity mean different IT companies?
Cheers
Jay

Interview Experience 17

Hi All,

I had my interview today morning. The panel had Mr. Ajit & a lady
(Adcom) along with Anmol (Alum).

The questions were mostly on my entrepreneurial experience and co-
curriculars.

1) What is FoC (I worked with 'Friends of CRY').

2) How did you convince the investors to bet on you. And why did you
take the risk leaving a well paying job to start a venture when you
just had 1.5 years of experience. Do you think, you jumped the guns
too early ? Why a web call center ? USP.

3)Why did it fail. Differences in the style of work at Accenture (My
current firm) and the startup.

4) How much funding you received and how you utilised it ? ROI ? etc.

5) Your Recos are very strong. Many questions on what my Sr. Manager
has written.

6) Both your reco mentions you as an aggressive individual. Has it
gone negative for you at times ?

6) Your dream company and role. Was grilled on my capabilities to
take on the role of IT sales and further on my long term goal of a
startup in wireless domain.

7) How do you plan to Fund your education?

8) I am handling the people initiatives and corporate social
responsibility initiatives which Accenture undertakes. Some questions
on that.

9) Any questions for us. (I asked a question on their portfolio
faculty model & why ISB does not have a very high number of
international placements inspite of its strong global network?)

Overall, I felt the panel is trying to ascertain genuinity of facts I
represented in essays and my fit for the kind of role I am looking
for post ISB.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with the group and all the
best to candidates scheduled for 20th and later next week.

Prerit

Interview Experience 18

Hi I had my interview on 18th 10:00 hrs at Oberoi, Bangalore.

My background: I am an Architect by qualification. Started my own
small firm and then joined software industry. Over all I have 4 years
of experience (an year in Architecture + 3 years in s/w).

The panel (2 alumni and a staff…..sorry I am unable to recollect their
names!) was very polite and the interview was conducted very
professionally.

The key focus area was my too diverse background! The panel was not
clear as to what am I up to in my career. I am very clear of what I
want to achieve in the long run (want to start off on my own post ISB)
but for some reason the panel was not convinced!

On the whole, when I walked out, I was left with a lingering feeling
that the committee was not convinced that I was clear of my goal, but
the I was happy for doing my best in trying to convince them!

So this was the over all picture…for others benefit (if at all) I will
list the question….

1. Calculate the market cap for selling bungalows worth 10 crores in
India?
2. Lot of drilling on post ISB â€" what do u mean by market dynamics,
what kind of marketing job are u looking for……and so on and so forth!
3. Will u be interested in taking part in the placement program?
4. Will u consider a conditional admission that is to re-take the GMAT
before joining ISB? (my score is less �)
5. what kind of business partners are you looking for?

So that was the crux of the show! It lasted for 30-35 mts.
I am not very optimistic …..but I guess I did my best and I am happy
about it!
Hope this will be of some use to others….
All the very best!

Regs
chandan

Interview Experience 19

Folks,

In the tradition of writing interview experiences(interviewers: Joe and
Deepak, an alumni):

The overall tone was pretty tense and combative. I guess you could
categorise this one as a stress interview. But it was fun overall- I
enjoyed the 30 minutes in the room!

- A "Sharma" just went by, and now you are in. Why should we take you
and not that "Sharma"?

- You have mentioned a lot about innovation. How should ISB innovate as
a global B-school?
I took them through a common sense innovation cycle- talk to the
customers, find their needs- stated and latent. Then Joe asked for a
net innovation suggestion. I said you should open a world class part
time MBA program. Deepak said they won't be able to get students from
anywhere except Hydrabad, Bangalore and chennai. I said that should be
fine. Joe asked how should be the fee structure. I said 10 lacs, for
lack of a better thought! Apologies to all future part-timers if they
end up doing that.

Deepak also claimed that there was nothing special or innovative in
this; its all common sense. I said innovation *is* common sense in
action.

- Explain the concept behind your research paper which you published at
age 19.
Joe seemed willing to go into the depths of it. He said this seems more
of an innovative concept than the part time MBA thing. I told him that
is okay with me, with a smile.

- What would you like to talk about?
I said a few things, and they kept asking for "something apart from
this". We settled on talking about Philosophy. I explained Hindu
spiritual notions of Maya and how everything is one- no difference
between I, Joe and the table. Joe threw a paper clip at me to make his
point, and I had to smile at that, while politely explaining the
nuance.

- You said you are not good at consummating initiatives. Doesn't that
contradict your assertion that you are clear about your goals.
I took the "let me qualify what you read from that statement" route.

cheers,
Amit