I reached at the venue 1 hr in advance and waited there while talking to two more aspirants.
15 minutes prior to scheduled time, i was given a piece of paper with the instructions to write 100 words on "FAITH".
I started with "faith is one of the very very important intangible characteristic of any relationship"... and tried linking that with the growing need of rules and lawyers in the business world which shows the lack of faith in the environment. However, not just due to faith factor, but since organisations are making deals with the new places, rules are necessary. Because faith takes some time to develope.
I ended as "faith is very delicate, it might take years to develope but can be shattered in a much lesser time."
Then i was called in my Mr Madhav, a younger chap and i followed him to the interview room, where one senior person was seated. Both of them made a warm welcome and we started with their first question (the senior asked most of the questions during the interview)......... what Lanxess exactly do....
I answered calmly and completely. Since this was the first question and i was not yet comfortable, i took this easy question as an opportunity to make mysef comfortable with the environment and to build my confidence. Then they asked about one of the project mentioned- which too went well.
Mr Raghav asked me about the growth rates which i have achieved and how did i achieve it. Thats went okie.
The next question was about my toughest project and how did i handle it ??
This somehow din't go okie..in hindsight, i think i must have answered in a different way...
They questioned me about my choice of consultancy and then aske me a problem "How much is the market for neck Ties in India ?" They asked me to take time and think. I answered "People wear ties when they are in the business centers like this. I assume, there are 100 more business centers like this with 200 people in each of them, further i assume that everyne has 10 ties. thus figure of Tie usage in Mumbai comes out to be 2,00,000"
The interviewers gave no impressions and moved to the next question....
"As you have mentioned in your essay, that you are the 'best bad news' carrier. So how do you do that ?"... Now here, my answers were basically, half complete and i must have thought about it in more details because they demanded it and i could not convince them..
With this it comes to an end and they offered me an answer. I asked about the exchange program. The gentleman has ansered my question earnestly.
They almost said "okie thanks" ... then the elder interviewer caught my attention and explained me the catches in my choice of consultancy. I can say his careful selection of words was that of school representative but at the same time was of a mentor also. This gentleman told me that they will send the assessment to the adcom and the final decision will come from there. But he explained to me that the better field for me is to target sales and marketing because if i spend my year with a target to join consultancy, but probably looking at my schooling (non IIT) , GMAT score , consultancy firm might not even short list me. It doesnt necessary follows but there should be a backup plan. He explained that to me in details and as i heard that.. all that made sense to me... I listened to him assertively.
With this we concluded and i come out with a better feeling than that i had in my previous interviews.....
I am certainly hopeful about ISB now.....
