IIFT experience

Well just to build the back ground, i got a call from IIFT which means they considered me worthy to attend their GD/PI which is the last step before getting admission to the institute.

the normal procedure includes

1) Essay Writing (not sure what they wanna check. probably hand writing ;))

2) Group Discussion

3) Personal Interview.

Well so we reach Coffee Board in Bangalore near Vidhan Soudha expecting the above process.

But to our relief we didnt have to strain our hands to write the essay in that cold january morning. They have done away with that process .

So we start with the Group discussion.

Normal GDs start with each person asked to speak (of course on the topic) for 90 secs and then the actual discussion starts. this first part of the GD where you get to speak gives a advantage to the intial speakers because there points have not been covered by then. But i was the poor soul to speak 9th among the 12 candidates.

Anyways i managed to speak out a couple of points which were not covered hitherto on our topic which was "Rupee appreciation against the dollar, impact on Indian economy"

Then we started with the discussion where there was a randomly selected moderator of the group for 3-4 minutes.

Discussion was normal with a couple of guys trying to monitor the groups and others trying to religiously pitch in with their original or inspired (please no mention about Anu Mallik )ideas ..

So 20 minutes down the discussion one of the Faculty members rose and asked us to stop (may be he had enough of our discussion and needed a coffeee desperately).

After that there was a short break where we were served hot Coffee (you might have expected that .. the venue being Coffee board)..

Then the Interview process started:
I was 9th to be interview in my group and the three groups were being interviewed simultaneously.. we started getting reviews that the interview are cool, no stress no pressure.. no nothing -- atleast we hoped there were marks offered..
And the news that IIFT director is going around in the different rooms and observing people.

Well then came my turn ...
I was confident and i approached the interview room.
Knocked the door and asked for permission to get in.. I was allowed in .. and one member of the panel just left as i entered.
Inside the room there we 3 gentlemen sitting.
Mr A) he welcomed me in .. and was turning pages of my profile ..
Mr B) Was sitting back and religiously reading my profile
Mr C) -- IIFT Director was almost relaxing dozing .. in the corner.

I was asked to take the seat by Mr A.
He started turning the pages again and asked me
Mr A) So u r an Engineer
Me) Yes
Mr A) so u work for Satyam..
Me) Yes
Mr A) how long u have been there -- 2 years ?
Me) 2.5 years
Mr A) still wanna study?
Me) yes Sir
Mr A) ok u have read Business Maharajas, who is the author
Me) yes ... blah
Mr A) which all personalities it is about
Me) Blah
MrA) Ok so tell me about biggest problem that Mr Khaitan faced..
(I dont know how these people come to know that i had left half of this chapter :()
Me) said the prob -- but added i am not sure
Mr A) y u havent read the book -- or jsut glanced through it
Me) No sir -- only this chapter i wasnt able to complete (i knew this was a bad start , made me consious)
Mr B) starts with my work
Me) answer him ..
MrA 2 MrC) please sir -- u also ask
(Now Mr C from his relaxed pose gets into a firing position )
Mr C) So do u know about Imports and Exports
Me) yes sir
MrC) % of SMes in our exports
Me) dont know sir
Mr C) ok which are the highest exported goods
Me) I said gems and jwellery --
MrC) have u heard abt Textile goods
(i remember suddenly -- oh yeah i read that somewhere)
Me) Oh yes Sir it is one of the biggest
Mr C) Engg Goods
( i remember - Oh yeah have heard this also -- but didnt wanna encourage him to remind me everything, kind of risky proposition)
Me) No Sir.
Mr C) do u know wht is an RTA..
Me) Yes sir Regional Trade agreements -- and explained that
Mr C) example
Me) NAFTA etc
Mr C) one where India is there
Me) Safta
Mr C) it was a non starter tell me sth else (Didnt like the fact that i was able to ans :( )
Me) Cant recall Sir
Mr C) Oh.. have heard of Indo -Srilanka
Me) No
Mr C) Indo thailand
Me) No
Mr C) Indo -***** (some country)
Me) I smile (enough sir)-- and say no
Mr C) Ok Ok

Then the panel looks at each other ... and they decide that they have had enough Fun .. and would like to torture the next candidate ...
I rose and thanked them and wished them a good day...

this was my story -- now cant really say it was good -- but just hoping other did even worse ;-)
ha ha