Day ‘1’

Today was Day ‘1’. I could not sleep last night because my mind was preoccupied with placement tensions.

I reached ATK interview venue at about 0800 hrs. I saw some guys congratulating each other in the atrium and wondered when I would get the same opportunity. As soon as I saw Pranshul, I asked him about my pending ATK interview. “I will arrange it, do not worry,” he replied. I saw other candidates being called for the interview while I was totally ignored. That companies like ATK could be so unprofessional, was beyond my imagination. I was kept waiting until 0900 hrs after which Pranshul came and said, “Abhishek, you can go ahead and finish off your other interviews, if you have any, and come back within an hour.” I had my Aditya Birla Group (ABG) interview which is why I excused myself only to wreck my ABG interview so that I could be back in time for my ATK interview.

I reached the ATK interview venue back at 0930 hrs. I was again kept waiting until 1100 hrs with no updates. In the mean time, I talked to people who had appeared for the final round of OW interviews. They said they had received final offer from OW through the Placement Portal and had also got a call from the Placement Executive of ISB to sign the offer. I had not received any call from anyone until then. “F*** you! OW is out too.” Right then, Pranshul came to me and told me that it would not be possible for ATK to interview me because the final list was almost out. I was like, “I have been waiting so long for my interview. How can you reject me without even interviewing me? You had said everyone will be interviewed. What about your commitment?” All Pranshul said was, “I am sorry but it is too late now. Let me know if I can be of any help to you in future.” I was damn irritated. “You do not need to be sorry. You have helped me enough. Thanks!” I responded.

I then headed straight to my interviews with another Consulting major. During my first interview itself, I knew I was in. But you know, you do not want to believe until the expected good things actually happen to you. They kept telling me in different ways that they wanted me. I sailed through their 3 rounds of interviews. Before my final round of interview for this firm, one of the alums in that consulting firm took me aside and said, “Dude, they like you. You are almost in but see that you don’t ruin it in the final round. All the best.” Still having 20 minutes to kill before my final round, I thought of checking my emails and orkut in the library. I took out my laptop and opened my inbox only to be stunned. “Oh my God! Should I believe what I am seeing?” I felt my lips moving but my vocal chords were too shocked to output the sentence I wanted to speak. I was ecstatic. I saw there was an offer from OW. I just could not believe it. I read that same email umpteen times to make sure the offer was not a result of any human error. I rushed to the Placement Office to sign OW’s offer letter. I saw the salary figures and was bubbling with joy. I got one of the highest packages with a placement abroad. My happiness doubled because this was the company almost everyone had applied and wanted to get into (probably because of the package).

Quite a few people at ISB were surprised at my selection because they thought I was a kid and could not compete with others at ISB. Well, kiddo or no kiddo, I was selected. It’s the intelligence/smartness that matters, not the age.

If I have to give credit to anyone, it will be to my closest friend. Though ambitious, she did not think twice before she left her job and came to Hyderabad only to look after me when I was terribly ill. She was the one who made me dream what I achieved. I am glad I have her by my side even now. She definitely deserves a blog post. Let me work on that while you take a short break and come back for more blogs…only on abhishekchandra.blogspot.com

DAY '0'

When I heard the alarm of my cell phone, I had two simultaneous realizations – one, it was morning and two, I had my eyes open even before the alarm rang. I am not sure whether I slept that night or not but yes, I was having a severe headache which normally happens when I do not sleep and am tensed. Day ‘0’ had begun and I was nervous :(

At this point of time, let me tell you what Day ‘0’ means. In ISB and IIMs, we have a placement week during which almost 95% of the junta gets placed. Companies mostly come for their placement process during this week. The placement week lasts from Day 1 to Day 7. Each company is assigned a Day of the week depending on the preferences of the junta. Day 1 companies are the ones that are the most sought after. At ISB, Day 1 companies are the consulting biggies like Mckinsey, BCG, Oliver Wyman, Booz Allen Hamilton etc and IBs like Deutsche Bank etc. Since their selection procedures are lengthy and last more than a day (these companies have multiple rounds of interviews), they come a day before the Day 1 so as to wind up their selection processes by the end of Day 1. This day just before Day 1 is called the Day ‘0’ of placements.

I had as many as 13 back to back interviews scheduled on Day ‘0’. I had my first interview with HUL (formerly HLL) scheduled at 0830 hrs. HUL people missed their flight from Mumbai due to which their GD/interviews started late. Therefore, I could not participate in their GD because their new GD/interview timings clashed with my other interview timings. I did not even have time to make a request to them. So, HUL was out :(

I then rushed for my A T Kearney (ATK) interview. Just then I got a call from Oliver Wyman (OW) guys saying that my interview that was scheduled at 1500 hrs had been preponed. Since OW was my dream firm, I did not want to turn down OW’s request. I talked to ATK guys about my problem (without taking OW’s name) and they agreed. One of the ATK guys, Pranshul (name changed) said to me, "Do not worry Abhishek. Each and everyone shortlisted will be interviewed, be it even at 0200 hrs tonight. ATK understands the problem of students having multiple shortlists." I breathed a sigh of relief and moved on :)

I was damn serious for OW. May be, that was the reason why all of my OW interviews were pretty good. In the afternoon, I did find time for my ATK interview and I thought it went pretty well. I got some 15 minutes off in the afternoon. I headed straight towards the Canteen on the ground floor to fill myself in but as soon as I got down to the ground floor, my cell phone rang and a female voice asked me to appear urgently for my next round of OW interview. I had no option. OW was above anything else. The fact that OW’s request was coupled with a female voice, made my choice easier ;). I said to myself, "Never mind pal. No breakfast, no lunch…hope it pays off and I have a grand dinner tonight." The interview was good.

By the time I wrapped up initial rounds of interviews of other companies like Accenture, it was around 2000 hrs. OW people said there was just one final round remaining and they wanted to interview me right after the candidate who was then getting interviewed. Pranshul of ATK wanted my next ATK interview right then. The student volunteers who were managing OW interviews made a request on my behalf to ATK guys to let me off for another 30 minutes so that I could finish my last OW interview. Just then Accenture people started searching for me for my second round. I requested them to give me 15 minutes so that I could get done with OW, and they obliged. Accenture and OW interviews were happening in adjacent set of rooms. Accenture guys saw me waiting for my OW interview in the adjacent seating area for the next one hour (and I had asked them for just 15 minutes). OW people literally locked me up (with my consent) in one of the rooms so that Accenture and ATK guys could not pressurize me to interview with them.

My final OW interview was my 11th of the day. I was very, very tired and so was the interviewer. I was asked to solve two cases and was told it was ‘make or break’ for me. I somehow managed to solve them. I knew I was through as the interviewer dropped enough hints to cement my inference :))

According to the ISB Placement Policy, the results are actually released at 1800 hrs on Day 1. Since it was Day ‘0’, the companies were not supposed to release their results. But it is not that you will have no inkling of your selection. You will.

I then went for my Accenture interview. After going through 11 interviews, I was enervated. Though I needed a job on Day ‘0’, I was sure I did not want to join Accenture. Everything became clear in my mind as to which company I wanted to join. The interviewer was literally holding my hand and making me solve the case. I finally gave in and gave it to him straight, "Amit (name changed), I am sorry but I am not interested in Accenture." The interviewer was kind enough to leave me. I then headed straight to Pranshul for my ATK interview. It was 2300 hrs. "Hi Pranshul. Can we have my interview now?" I said. Pranshul replied, "Abhishek, we are done for the day. Rest of the interviews will be conducted tomorrow. Why don’t you come at 0900 hrs tomorrow? Do not worry. We will definitely interview you. Go to your room and relax."

I was tensed though I knew OW was in my kitty. Unless I got the OW offer in written, I could not have assumed that I got the job. I did not feel like having my dinner. Sleep dumped me as if it were my girlfriend who had caught me two-timing her. Tring, tring…my cell phone rang at 2345 hrs. "Am I talking to Abhishek?" a male voice croaked from my phone. "Yupp, you are listening to Abhishek. May I know who is calling?" I replied. The guy responded, "Hi Abhishek. This is Pranshul from ATK. I just called up to assure you that your interview will be taken and that you should not worry about it. Have a nice sleep and come to us tomorrow at 0900 hrs." I had my Aditya Birla Group (ABG) interview scheduled at 0930 hrs the next day. I wondered how I would make it to the ATK interview on time. The next thought that crossed my mind was to ruin my ABG interview and rush for the ATK one.

Amidst all what I went through on Day ‘0’, I could not talk to my inspiration – my ‘best friend’ for the second consecutive day. She did not know my placement week had already begun. When I called her up, she was upset and I did not have the energy to explain things to her. I had no good reasons. I told her that I was having mock interviews for the placements but she was clever enough not to buy that reason. Had she known about Day ‘0’, she would have tried her best to help me out and relieve me off my tensions but... :((

Just when I heard her disconnect the phone, I also heard the silence of my room mock at my helplessness. Lying in my bed helpless as if in coma, I waited for another inevitable stressful and grueling day just like an old man awaiting his death which he can't evade...

Reliving the Placement Experience…

My sincere apologies to those who wanted me to come back with my new posts much before than I actually have. I was a little busy with my family business. I now have quite a few experiences to write about, the first two of which would be my state just before the placements and my state during the placements.

As I told you in my last blog, I did not form a group for my interview preparations. What happens in an interview prep session is that one guy in the group interviews the other. The rest of the group members observe and later give feedback. Group members take turns and interview.

Almost everyone had a group by December ’07 end. On the other hand, I kept on procrastinating joining a group. In January ‘08, when I returned from Patna, I started to feel the heat. I asked a few groups to let me in but they were already overflowing with additional members. An offer from a group of IITians finally came and I joined them. I attended their prep sessions for a week. After a week, I left their group because their objectives were not in line with mine or rather we had different ways of working. They were a sincere bunch of guys but they were reviewing different courses before they would get into case-study interview sessions. I knew Management Consulting was my priority and case-study interviews formed a major portion of these interviews. I do not work more than what is required. I, therefore wanted only case-study interview sessions. I then joined hands with a girl named Neha Iyengar that did help a lot. Though I had only 2 sessions with her, I learnt a lot. I think I will seriously remain indebted to her because she cleared all my doubts and also filled me with confidence. Other offers to join any group were turned down by me because those groups might not have been of much use to me.

I started prepping (preparing) on my own. I used to interview myself. [Wait a minute. Do I hear guffaws???] I know it sounds weird but this is what had happened. My quadies (‘quadies’ comes from quad-mates which means the students I used to share our quad with) had laughed at hearing this. Anyone would. But they used to say I would get the best job. I guess they knew my capabilities or may be, they were just being sarcastic.

One week before the interviews, I was totally lost. Jaundice made my life tougher. Check out my pics on my orkut profile at

http://www.orkut.co.in/Profile.aspx?uid=12944013261399948546&pcy=3&t=0

in the albums to see my condition just before placements. I had shortlists from all (except one) Consulting companies. The issue that worried me was whether I would be able to convert at least one of them. I always knew I would get the shortlists because I had a powerful resume. Few alums (alumni) who reviewed my resume told me that their companies would think that I had a fantastic resume and that I had done in 1.5 yrs what others do in 4 yrs. They thought I was pretty sharp but then the next thing that came to their mind was, “This guy is just 23. He is still a kid.” The alums scared the shit out of me when they said I had done a big mistake by not forming an interview prep group. My friends used to look at me with pity. My confidence plummeted leaving me worried.

Pressure never eludes me. My uncle (my mother’s cousin), a graduate from IIT KGP and IIMB had already bagged an offer from Barclays, London. Let me tell you, Barclays offers a hefty package. Comparisons between him and me were inevitable among our relatives. That my friends from other IITs always kept saying I would get a 1 cr package obviously did not ease the pressure off me. People do not understand that it is only 1 or 2 guys who get the 1 cr offer and not everyone. Even those who get it have considerable experience under their belt whereas I had just a year and a half. Every relative and most of my friends I talked to were like, “You will get lacs of rupees. Tumhari to life ban gai hai. You are so lucky.” Yes, this is what happens. You slog your guts out to get into IIT, to get into ISB, to get into companies like L&T and Oliver Wyman, etc and people will call you ‘lucky’. They will not appreciate your hard work (may be because then they will have an excuse for not being in the same situation as me). Do not get me wrong. Do not think I am contradicting myself when I say I am just average. But yes, I wouldn’t refute having worked hard and having been focused on my aims. I cannot comment on whether their wish of me getting one of the highest package was genuine or not but I certainly knew, it was not doing any good to me. I did not tell my parents and other relatives/acquaintances that the ISB Placement Week was just a week away. I did not even tell my closest friend about the placements. However, she always told me I would get the best. It seemed the objective of every expectation in this world was to intensify the pressure on me. And the problem was that I could not share it with anyone. Had my head been made of some highly elastic material, I would probably resemble an alien with a 5 feet diameter head. I still wonder whether everyone was conspiring to convert me into an alien.

My “orkutting”, talking for hrs on my cell phone, chatting on gtalk, going back to Delhi, Mumbai or Patna in each of the 7 term breaks and also thrice during the terms seemed determined to let me down. It was then that I decided to talk to myself. I told myself I could do it in a week’s time too because “Impossible” says “I M POSSIBLE”. I then prepared all alone 18 hours a day for 4 continuous days. I interviewed myself about 50 times in these 4 days and after each interview analyzed my performance.

February 14, 2008 - Valentine's Day was the day before Day ‘0’ of placements. I was nervous. To make matters worse, I had arguments with my closest friend too. I couldn’t tell her that I had my interviews the next morning because that might have pressurized me even more. I had thought talking to her about other things in the world without telling her about the Placement Week, would calm me down a bit. I know had she known about my situation, she would have supported me a lot and would have talked to me until I felt better. So finally I was left all alone…no close friends, no relatives with whom I could share my fear, my nervousness, my anxiety…My condition was so pitiable that even my sleep betrayed me that night :(

Each time I talked to myself, my brain and my heart said in chorus - "Jaane hoga kya."

My Mind’s Extramarital Affair…

“Hi dude! Kahan ja raha hai? Any assignment due tomorrow?” I asked one of my batchmates at 2000 hrs last night. He replied, “Nahi yaar, going for case-prep.” The placement week is not too far and everyone at ISB is busy preparing for interviews.

Almost all the students here formed their groups for interview preparation in November itself and since then, have been preparing for case-based interviews (in which you are given a business problem and you are required to solve it), personal interviews (in which you are asked behavioral questions) and technical interviews (mainly for areas like finance). The fact that these guys here are so sincere and hardworking makes me wonder whether ISB did the right thing by letting me in.

If you are an ISB aspirant or an ISB new admit and reading the above paragraphs made water vapor condense on your forehead, just relax…ISB is not full of these guys who slog it out day and night just to crack an interview in which you are asked a simple case. There are also a FEW studs ;) who never formed a group and are pretty cool at a time when more than 95% of the junta here is slogging.

I am one of those “groupless” people at the moment (though I am not a stud). I did a few cases in different groups but dropped out very soon, after I realized that cases are not that difficult to crack; you just have to be logical and need to have good reasons for your assumptions and recommendations. Moreover, I am bored of the set procedures that we are supposed to follow in the case-interview (and I do not think this boredom is because of jaundice that I am suffering from). If I prepare more, by the time my actual interview day arrives, I will be bored of solving cases which would undoubtedly show on my face during the interview. I do not think cases require the kind of preparation these guys are putting in. I will not call there preparation an ideal preparation. They are working like school kids and are probably memorizing the cases by heart.

I normally remain cool but when I see these people preparing so hard, I cannot resist asking myself, “Should I become like them and start slogging like they are, or should I believe in my capabilities and be what I have always been – abhishek ‘cool’ chandra???”

May be they are not wrong and do not deserve the criticisms I am bestowing upon them. May be I have a different way of working that suits only me. I know it won’t be long before I have these hypotheses verified. But until then, my mind that is married to “my aims” will have a tough time sleeping with “the above questions”…And I can’t help but be a mute spectator to my mind’s extramarital affair…


Note: Guys, I promise to increase my frequency of writing blogs but it will be after the placement week. Though I am not working too hard and stressing myself, I think I should at least pretend to ;) !!!]

Networking…Getting to know you

April 14, 2007: I entered ISB for the first time to pursue my MBA. I reached the main hall where registration was taking place. As soon as I entered the hall and looked around, I was shocked. I got nervous and whispered to myself, “My God, so many girls.” My pulse rate increased and so did the movement of my eyes from left to right to left. I noticed many of the guys were talking to each other as if they had known each other for years. I preferred staying quiet, and listening to other people’s conversations. Though all the guys seemed Asian, they spoke with a strong American accent. I felt like a “Gaanv ka chhoraa” who had come from Bihar to a place like US. “Gosh, these guys have all come from abroad it seems. How will I talk to them in an American accent? If I talk to them in my normal Bihari accent, they won’t even talk to me. It is better I keep quiet or ISB will disown me acknowledging its mistake in letting a Non-American in.”

When I was at one of the counters for my registration, a hot and a very cute girl standing behind me asked, “Which year did you pass out in?” My heart told my mind, “Sahi hai bete, line de rahi hai. Attitude dikha.” So, without even looking at her, I replied, “2005,” and moved on.

When I tried to match her picture to the girls in the profile book (this book has the picture and profile of each admitted student), I realized she was an HR consultant. Thinking I had a chance to know another hot girl, I waited for her to catch up with me which she finally did before we got into the next line. While we introduced ourselves, I realized she was no different from the others. “Another American at ISB,” I said to myself. Just to build some conversation, I asked her in my Bihari style, “Kya kar raha hai ye log? Aisa lagta hai bahut saal se jaanta hai ek dusre ko. Humse bhi bina matlab ke aakar ‘hi’ bol raha hai koi bhi jisko jaante tak nahi hain.” She replied, “They are NETWORKING…Getting to know you.”

It could be because of my average intelligence or because of my low work experience that I never realized why I needed to network. Four months down the road, I have realized how important networking is (I am being sarcastic ;) ).

I had my reasons for not networking during the first few weeks. I did try to network the first few days at ISB but met all the wrong people who screwed up my time and grades. At the first batch party, I was drinking and listening to other people talking. “Hey dude, I am Mr. X. We haven’t met yet,” one of the guys said to the other. The other guy replied, “What are you saying? We met at the dinner table yesterday.” This is exactly my point. For the first two weeks, everyone used to introduce himself/herself to scores of others in the name of Networking and the very next day used to forget everything. What is the point in wasting time knowing people who will not remember you or who you would not remember the next day, leave aside after ISB. I said to myself, “Let them network now. Networking karne se job thode he lag jaegi meri? I will network in the ‘second week’, once things settle down and we are divided into separate sections.” Call it my reluctance to talk to people or laziness or my bad experiences with some people who I tried to network with during the first few weeks at ISB, that ‘second week’ never came. Believe it or not, one of the guys (who had been attending classes in the same section as I was, for more than a month) was talking to me once. He asked me, “Which section are you in?” “Damn it…am I so unpopular?” I questioned myself and my popularity. “Cool it dude. I must be popular amongst the girls here,” I consoled myself.

Networking did try to screw me up when I had to apply for an ELP (projects that we do for companies). I did not have a team until the night before the deadlines for ELP applications. I could not apply to the first ELP offered on campus from a reputed firm because I did not know how good that firm was and I had missed the deadline for application too. Had I networked, I would have got to know it from my networks. Even for the team formation for ELP, I have been shooting emails to the entire student community to get in touch with other guys like me. I have been lucky enough to get offers from other teams; no, not because people know me but because people know my alma mater, IIT Roorkee. I have said it so many times to myself, “2001 mein jo accident (I got through IIT) hua tha, uski kamai abhi tak kha rahe hain. IIT brand name na hota to kya hota?”

Still wondering whether networking is important or not? The answer is, “It depends.” In your personal life, you never know who you might need and at what point of time. If you are good at developing and maintaining personal relationships, you should network. Do not waste your time if you cannot maintain relationships. In your professional lives, you can network with people who are in the same line that you want to get into. You need not network if you have faith in your capabilities and do not need favors to get to the top. In some cases, networking is a MUST, like, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you better start ‘NETworking’ or your business will be “NOTworking”.

To me, (if you look at the reasons people give for Networking), Networking is all for selfish reasons. You never network because you want to help people but because you want other people to help you when you are in deep shit.

If you thought networking could get you a job, think again. Will you offer any of your acquaintances a job just because you know him/her? Probably not. Imagine a second situation that happens in future: You and I were batchmates at ISB. You had heard I was a stud (just assume) in the field of manufacturing but we had never met or talked to each other. There was one other batchmate of ours at ISB who you still know very well but he is just average in the field of manufacturing. If you needed a stud, who would you go for, your acquaintance or me? If you would go for your acquaintance, you should network but if you would go for me, you should not worry too much if you are not networking. Having a decent number of acquaintances who slog out networking would suffice. That is the strategy I follow ;).

Despite the above stated negatives about networking, I love networking. Just read on and you will know why…

I have not yet mentioned, the most important point regarding how important networking is. For bachelors, networking can help you diversify the risk of suffering if you break-up with your girlfriend. It gives you a chance to own a diversified portfolio of female friends that will enable you to live happily ever after…

Oops!!! Happily only until marriage... :)

Ye hai meri kahani…khamosh zindagani... :(

[Part 1]

“How is life buddy? You must be chilling out with the hot babes there at ISB. Kitni patai? I wish I were at your place. You are so lucky, itni jaldi MBA bhi ho jaegi teri. Give me some tips about the application,” scribbled one of my friends in my orkut scrapbook. I was wondering how beautiful ISB appears to the outside world. I was one amongst these friends of mine 8 months ago jealous of people who were already at ISB. My pre-ISB life flashed in front of my eyes for the next 5 minutes making me nostalgic. There were several ‘Unanswered’ questions knocking at the door of my mind for at least an hour now. Was I better without an MBA? I started comparing the value of happiness in my life before landing up at ISB to the expected value of happiness in my life post ISB. Am I really gaining anything here or am I here just to add another brand name to my resume? It was 0300 hours and I was sitting in my room staring blankly at the case (case-study) I was to prepare for class the next day. The case was 40 pages long and I was through with just 3 pages. I had a class next day at 0800 hours. “I am sick of it yaar. Ever since I have joined ISB, I have not had a good night sleep. People think I am having a blast with the babes here but little do they realize, meri he blast ho rahi hai. I had thought I would make girlfriendS here and enjoy the last few years ‘of my life’ (read as ‘of my life before marriage’). I had dreamt of reading out my girlfriendS’ future from their palms. Saare sapne toot gaye :( . Instead of making girlfriends, I am making reports and instead of reading their future out of their palms, I am reading endless number of cases.”

Totally frustrated, I looked into the sky out of the window and asked God, “Despite being in a ‘Swarg’ full of fairies, why can’t I enjoy life here with them? What wrong did I do in life?” I got no answer. Perhaps, God has better questions to answer or he too has got into a B-School like ISB and has the same ‘Unanswered’ questions…

[Make sure you read Part 2 of this blog later this week :)]

The Grinding Begins...

I wish I had the time to narrate my first-day experience at ISB. I am time-starved at the moment but promise to come back with an interesting account of my experience on April 14, 2007, the day I began my one-year “Vanvaas” at ISB.

For the time-being, you readers [ if at all ;) ] will have to be content with this blog of mine.

We are into the 3rd week at ISB and it seems as if we have already spent 3 months here. At the end of the 1st week of term-1, I am still trying to figure out what all hit me this week. I have started realizing the value of each minute and the way things are moving, I do not think it will be long before I start realizing the value of each second. I had never thought life would be so interestingly miserable. Gosh! You have to read 3-4 30-40-page chapters and come prepared for each class and then you have assignments.

There are so many things here that can actually drain everything out of you (your mental balance too). For our stay at ISB until now, my life has been tougher than that of most of the people here mainly because the average age here is 27 and the average work experience 5 years and I am 23 with a work experience of 1.5 yrs, one of the youngest guys here. But then, life has never been easy for me, may be because I always choose the toughest path.

For all those non-studious guys like me out there, I told you all the bad things that are happening here. Let us talk about the good ones now. Every weekend we have parties in which we have booze flowing everywhere and then there’s the dance floor which is set ablaze by the stunning ladies who can drink more vodkas, whiskies and beer than you can. If you really want a partner for life, I bet you will get one here ;). We already have a few budding love stories here.

Two sides of the same coin, right? Despite this coin having so many negatives, I still wish to keep it in my pocket because I know this coin (ISB) is very precious.