My Second GD/PI

scmhrd .. 16:30 batch ... Pune .. 4/2/2007

Reached at 4:10, went to the atrium (ground floor area where all the noobs are standing in line, reminded me of PT exercises at school honestly). Was there are 4:10 but the guys had been asked to move up, in a line, with cell phones switched off (etc etc), joined the group and reached the 4th floor waiting room.

2 student reps there, checked the SNAP admit card v/s your photo id. small prob here, the photos in my snap form, my office ID and my tobda don't really match all that much, coz the office photo was taken when I had about a foot of hair, and the SNAP form was the exact opp, whereas I am somewhere in the middle in hair length now. The lady responsible for this scanned the three things twice before accepting it. Good start to the day. Personal note, make sure that you don't try to save up some cash and paste photographs a year old.

Looked arond, 8 groups (A,B,C,D,E,X,Y) of 8-9 ppl each. My group had a couple missing, so were 7 guys. Surprisingly no ladies in the 16:30 batch.

signed the attendance sheet and were made to watch 2 slide shows about SCMHRD.

Group Discussion.

A retd col from the indian army and a retd. wing comm (?) from the air force. real cool ppl, had a personal notion that these guys would be like the dads of the hindhi movies, big mustaches and gruff voices and all ... but they put us at ease...

Video 1:

Part 1: Penguin surrounded by others hopping around, moves in circles before diving into a puddle.
Part 2: Polar Bear dragging himself along the ground.
Requirement : Caption after discussion.

Decent discussion. not a fish market, all got some pts in, spoke well. I got in a few points which were accepted, and my 2 captions were discussed and consensus was reached.

Part 2:

There is this company, PL which is in the R&D business, well estab, 2700 employees. Planning a new product, make or break. Lots of investment in to the new product. budget of 50 Crores.to avoid espionage, there are no documents kept of the design.

Main competitior is LL, and has started doing its research on the same product.

Manager decides that the pro should be out in 3 months.

after 1 month and spending half the budget, the entire team resigns en mass on a single day citing the reason that they have done nothing.. you think that they are all planning to join the other company.

you call a meeting and try to get them to understand.

Simulate the conversation, and get to a consensus on best outcome.

had a decent enough discussion, but lacked content honestly. expected more from the group and myself. I made about 5-6 points that were well accepted.

50 minutes totally, asked to leave.

Sat around for an hour, coz they wait for all teams to complete group tasks before results announced.

Me through from the group. All others had to leave.

was then handed a folder with a pen, a booklet and a cd. moved to the essay writing room. were given a journal paper sheet. asked to write a <500>"Why MBA, What are future plans?". wrote some things there.

there were approx 20-25 guys in the room writing the essays, so i would say 1 in 3 were selected in the GD.

Asked to come the next day to get testimonials checked, and PI.

pi done. think it went fine. left to the two eminent panelists. P1 was the old gentleman who (i think) was in charge of my Group Task at SIBM (not sure coz i was blindfolded i guess), and P2 was this smart dude ... no idea from where he was, but I am pretty sure he is from one of the top insti in India...

P1 - Panelist 1
P2 - Panelist 2
Me -

Me - Good Afternoon Sir x 2.
P1 - GA
P2 - GA, sit down....

P1 - had my form with him, asked me to tell him about myself other than what was in it.
Me - Spoke about my passion for computers, music, reading. told them i had a library of 400-500 books, assembled comps, listened to all music from western classical to heavy metal.

P1 and P2 asked me to speak louder coz i was not very audible, large room, loud AC situation. Told them that i would try, but am soft spoken. Made an honest effort to speak louder.

P2 - When did you develop habit of reading? and 400-500 books, do you buy them all.
Me - Early, 3rd std approx, in school. Yes. buy a book a week.

P1 - What sort of books
Me - Explained.

P2 - What did you do in Company 1 for 6 months?
Me - Explained

P1 - What have you done in Company 2 for 3 years ?
Me - Explained.

P1 - So what all were you resp for in comp2, how many reported to you ?? position in comapny etc ...
Me - Answered all.

P2 - So you said that in company 1 u were awarded for being exceptional .. explain.
Me - Did.

P1 - 2 strengths please... exactly 2.
Me - Hardworking.

P2 - Interupts, says that the marks in engg dont show that. only 68%.
Me - Showed him that I was at most 60 marks less than the univ topper, and explained that it was coz of hard work, and that the univ of pune does not give out marks like some other places.

P1 - Looks at salary col in comp2 and says that it is less for some one with 3 years exp. wants to know why ?
Me - Explained that govt pays that much only.
P2 - So if you get to a pvt comp how much will you get?
Me - three times my present.
P2 - so why not leave?
Me - explained many will claim higher salaries than mine, but none can claim to have designed a satellite.
P1&P2 - true. )

P1 - You did not tell us your second strength.
Me - Determination to complete all tasks before taking something new.
P2 - explain.
Me - Did.

P1 - desc your normal day.
me - did that.

p2 - you said you listen to west classical. fav musician ?
me - beethoven.
p2 - fav tune ?
me - 5th.
p2 - Hum it.
me - ahem ... not musically inclined. but here goes - did it.
p2 - which hindi song is based on it ?
me - no idea at all ....
p2 - what other sorts of music, 2 hours a day you said.
me - country
p2 - country - fav artists ?
me - told.
p2 - fav song
me - told
p2 - fav heavy metal
me - told

p1 - anything to ask of us ?
me - asked about electives etc.
p1 and p2 - explained.

p2 - anything else?
me - no. thanks.
p1 - you can leave, thanks.
me - thanks a lot.

me - exit stage left, p2 - close the door behind you.

[personal notes]
-> formals are not that bad. though leather shoes should not be mandatory. ;)
-> Speak louder.