placements!
So what is the thing that fuells a youngster to get in to IIT ...prepare for JEE...burning the midnight oil and making a lot of sacrifices in due course...The answer is the quest for a secure and bright future.......
I will suggest all the ppl who really care about their first placements....Don't come IIT Kharagpur as it follows a philosophy of not allowing companies with non-India operations to recruit(the rule is better phrased as -'Dedicated to service of nation and damning students to worse!').....
Two rub salt on the wounds ....placements at IITKGP started on 5th december as compared to 1st dec at IITM ,3rd dec at IITB,IITG and 4th dec at IITR.I haven't seen a more student unfriendly approach anywhere.
Anyways this debate can go and on ...but the soul purpose of this post is my experiences of the placement process and some of my first interviews in my life !
First of all i would like to suggest that there is no better show than "The Apprentice" ,if u want to learn the art of selling urself along with all real life education ofcourse!
At IIT kharagpur,we generally send our CVs prior to company visit by mail (about 10-15 days in advance).Then a shortlist is sent by company based on CVs and then in-campus selection process of shortlisted candidates begins on D-date.
Fortunately,During the horrendus 9th semester i poured whole 2 days to get my CV up-to-date and appealing......... i tried to compress info as much as i can in 2 pages . I even prepared a 1-page version of my CV.I must say that i have done a lot of work in last 4 years and that is clearly evident from my CV (i didn't realise this before and was even wondering ..what to write in my CV?Will I be able to even fill 1-page?)....though fortunatley,i have kept myself away from all posts and politics but i have managed to participate and win a lot of events in my life.
The result was that,i was shortlisted for almost every comapany,i applied for ....(barring Fair Issac) for on-campus selection process.
Generally at IIT it is the norm that good companies try to come as early as possible ...so by the 5th day if u aren't lucky to end up with a job ...then in high probability u have mised ur dream job(though i agree some exceptions are there!)
So on 0th day(5th dec) i was shortlisted for two firms-HLL(FMCG firm) and a leadingInvestment bank.....now i knew beforehand that i have very slim chance of making it to HLL but a fair chance at other.Here are the descriptions of the selection process with both the firms:
HLL : At 8:30 pm sharp they wanted to have a GD at VGSOM.I didn't sleep properly the night before with anxiety and anticipation.
Also i was preparing for ibank till 3 am...but as soon as i wore my formals for the first time in morning ...i felt confident and energitic.I had zero expectations from HLL(as i am computer science graduate)...so i decided to follow a zero pressure approach....Pleasently,i found MSR Swati is also there for interview(i wouldn't say that i have crush on this girl...but she is considered among the best beauties on-campus :) )....So i asked HLL rep to put me in the same panel as her ...we were given a topic for GD 'Organic vs Inorganic'.....It was hilarious ......i was applauding each and every point made by miss swati and HLL guy was looking at me unbelievingly that this guy is flirting with a gal in the first GD of his life !!
Anyways ....HLL only took 2 ppl finally (as is their history!)....and i was kinda happy that i have removed the first obstacle between me and ibank.......
Ibank:There were three profiles for which that ibank came to our campus.
Fixed income analytics--involves soft skills
Exotic derivatives--didn't have an iota of idea..what's this all about!!
Real estate--(they didn't even tell in their notice that this kinda profile exists!So the lucky ppl who forgot to fill the profile ...got this !!)
Anyways given my track record,i decided to go with FIA...which was my best bet (as of lot of other computer science students)!!The competition was fierce in this profile as compared other profiles..due to two simple reasons....First,this was a well defined profile with its head of operations also coming in for interviews...Secondly,Lot of talented,high cg ppl from comp sc,mathematics and exceptional soft skills were shortlisted here !The ratio of the number of ppl appearing to finally selected was lowest in this profile eventually .....and I think this was the profile where really the cream ppl were shortlisted as compared to other profiles where recruitment process was not very convincing ....i thnk i had the lowest cgpa among the all candidates shortlisted....but i knew it doesn't matter anymore ...it all boils down to who performs best during the interviews.I was confident that i will fare well during interviews ....as i like to think that i have good knowledge of OOP and prog lang like C++ and Java and more importantly, i was prepared.
I sailed through first interview with the head and controlled the interview for most part!The interview lasted mere 8 minutes to be precise !We were told this is going to be the last inetrview ....so i was kinda relaxed thinking that i got thru but life always spring surprises and that's where its charm lies......after half an hr ....phone rang ...we(me and dhali) were at cheddis eating maggi confident that we got thru....they called us for another round of interview called HR interview !
So finally 8 ppl were shortlisted among arnd 30 ppl for second round of interviews with 5 cs ppl,3 maths and one aerospace.....ibank has a philosophy of diversity ...
So my probability was 1/5 of getting selected finally
The 2nd interview was kinda unexpected and Dhali went first inside unexpectedly ...he came out of the interview room ...visually ruffled and hassled ....he told me---'I don't know an iota about finance and neither do u......i think this is a wasted opprtunity!'....My heart sank ..but my best friend helped me yet again ....he told me the uncomfortable questions he was asked and suggested me to atleast get those answers before embarking on HR interview process.........
Fortunately ,i had phone number of Ashish Gupta who is working at ibank and was my btech batchmate(I am a dual that means i will get a btech and mtech both at the end of 5 years !)....I rang him at 1 am....got him out of bed and asked all about his job......put all the data in the ram of my brain and went in ........................
I did OK during the interview(I will post interview details some day later)....and by the time i came out i was about 90% sure that i have made it !
My batteries by the end of day were all worn put and at 3 am i was feeling like a zombie in formals ! I came back to my room and slept anxiosuly.....At 6 am my phone rings....i picked up phone after only one ring despite in deep sleep(i was anticipating that ibank might give a call to me!!),but it was Mithun.....he asked me whether i would like to go to see the final results ..I was too tired to get up...as there were two other firms on 6th december .....so following my philosphy of zero expectations,maximum happiness....i told him-"umm......i am feeling sleepy...i have another company at 8:30 am ...for god's sake lemme sleep else i am gonna die today".....
At 6:30 am my phone rang again and i heard angelic voice of my best friend-"i am in front of notice board .....U have been SELECTED!!!!"
My joy knew no bounds ....i asked him-"what about u ?".....his reply came a terse negative ...so i felt a bout of disappointment ....we have been together for 5 years now ....and now we will have to get seperated....anyways He got placed in MIcrosoft a day later ......and i wish him very best knowing very well that he deserves absolutely best in this world !!He is someone i really admire (and i admit myself ....i think i admire perhaps noone else in this world !)......
So I landed a job of my dream...investment banking ...finance...software.....bombay(my fav city)....in front of IITB(the greatest hub of pirated entertainement in the world :D )......and absoultely minimum stress during placements ofcourse (I was lucky enough to get placed on 1st day afterall ! )
I take this opportunity to thank the almighty who couldn't have written the script of my life any better ....my family for their unflagging support and faith during tough times,when i was doubting my own abilities...and finally to my best friend Mithun for these wonderful 5 years and his inputs and teachings(which he has unknowingly imparted to me :D )......
posted by maxi @ 10:49 PM
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