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Freaking busy.As I type this, I'm on my break from my volunteering job at a National trust siteI've got to leave here early at 3PM to get to the racetrack and watch the horses with my parents. After that we’re going to a fireworks display, and tomorrow I have five hours of archery. Then I'm back in class for Monday, where I also have to get started on an application form for a job that pays me.Its work work work, but I love it.

Background: I had only one call. It was from IIM Shillong. I honestly did not know whether I should be happy or depressed. I had around 3 months to prepare for the interview but I had decided to start my preparation only in March. So here is my experience in exact words:CAT Percentile: 97.84Profile: General Category, Engineer, Male with no work experience.Academics: Class X —-> 9.6/10 (approximately 91%), Class XII → 93.7% (Intermediate), B.Tech in Electronics and Computer Engineering (ECM) → 86%Extracurricular Activities: Marketing Head and Board Member of a student run NGO, NSS Team Lead, Marketing Deputy of The Robotics Club, Mentor in The Robotics Club and passive participant in a few other clubs.Group Discussion and Interview:The interview was at Hotel Fortune Park JP Celestial. I had been allotted the morning slot and I was asked to report at 8:30AM. IIM Shillong is the only IIM which has a case based GD. I had my GD along with 6 other candidates.The case was a really simple case. It was a about a cake manufacturing company which was facing losses for the past few months and had a personal brand of cakes. It was given an opportunity to become a subcontractor for another company. So, we were asked to suggest the right course of action. I felt that my personal performance was decent in terms of my ability to come up with new points and also be clear in my communication. I would rate my performance in the GD as 4/5. However, I felt that the performance of the group was below average. The group members were not willing to discuss new concepts or ideas but were coming with a fixed mindset in terms of the conclusion. The entire GD had reached its conclusion in the start itself. My attempts to bring in new points or ideas were greeted coldly or were directly shot down by some of the group members. So, I would rate the group performance as 3/5.I was the third candidate from my group to be interviewed. The panel consisted of two members. The first member was an old (in my view at least 60), highly experienced male professor and the second was a middle aged professor. Let’s call the old professor P1 and the middle aged professor P2. P1 and P2 had also been the moderators in the GD. I already had a differentiating point even before being interviewed. I was the person with the A3 sized application form. My application form made me the famous, different guy in the eyes of the professors and also the staff assisting them. I was repeatedly asked about the size of my application form. Now I will cut to the chase and start with the interview experience.P1 came to the waiting hall and called me inside. I went inside and I was waiting for P1 to enter so I could close the door. Meanwhile, P2 asked me to sit twice. I took my seat and then P1 entered so I got up to close the door. P2 was surprised by my actions. I was also surprised by my actions. I don’t know why I was fixated on the door. I guess it was because I was really excited.Me (Smiling): Good morning sir (looking towards P1) and Good morning sir (looking towards P2)P1 and P2: Good morning!P2: Please give me your folder and also give your application form to P1.I quickly remove the folded A3 sized paper and give my folder to P2. I unfold my application form and immediately the size of the paper is pointed to me again. I smiled and told them the problem with the photo while printing the form on an A4 sized paper. P1 was looking at my application form while P2 was randomly opening my folder.P2: Oh so you are from Hyderabad? Where do you stay in Hyderabad?Me: Yes sir, I am from Hyderabad. I am currently staying in Secunderabad.P2: How did you come here?Me (Sensing danger because I did not prepare anything related to the train): Sir I traveled by train.P2: Did you come here today or yesterday? Which train did you board, the overnight one or the morning one?Me: I came here yesterday. I took the overnight train.P2: Are you going back today? (He asked me this because I had taken my huge travel bag to the GD room because of instructions from the Admissions Team about personal property. This was also because I had accidentally knocked over a fellow candidate while taking the lift and P2 was in the lift while this happened)Me: No, Sir I am leaving tomorrow.P2 (grinning): Oh that’s nice! Have fun in the afternoon and tomorrowMe (Thinking is he being sarcastic or making fun of me?): I calmly smiled and thanked him.P2: So, tell me the difference between Hyderabad and Secunderabad?Me (I had seen a park or some garden before entering the hotel): Sir, Hyderabad and Secunderabad are twin cities. The only major difference is that Hyderabad has more parks than Secunderabad. Hyderabad also has more places of amusement.P2 (Smiling): I wanted the answer in terms of the difference in culture.Me: Sir, there is no difference in terms of the culture. Both cities have people with heart of gold.P2: That I will agree with.P1 (Jumps in suddenly): You are a Gujrati.Me: Yes sir!P1: What are you doing in Hyderabad? When did you shift there?Me: Sir, I am born and bought up in Hyderabad. My grandparents shifted to Hyderabad.P1: You must be having a business? I mean your grandfather must have started a business?Me: No sir. My grandfather was a farmer. He had expertise in producing special variety of high quality grapes.P1: Is your father a farmer too?Me: No sir.P2: What does your father do?Me: I told them what my father does.P2: Why didn’t your father continue to be a farmer like your grandfather?Me: Sir, the land on which my grandfather grew grapes was owned by some other person. By the time my father grew up, the zamindar had decided to sell the land. So, my father couldn’t become a farmer. My father also did not have the expertise that my grandfather had.P1 (Excitedly): But you are a Shah? Everything right from the application form to the profession of your family is weird!Me: You could say that sir!P1: Shahs are generally traders or businessmen, right?Me (Seizing the moment): Yes sir. I hope to run a business in the future as a leader so I will change that about my family hopefully!P2 and P1 both smile and they continue to the next round of questioning.P1: You mentioned that you love participating in debates? Where do you participate and how often do you participate in them?Me: I am a member of a club in my college. I participate in most of the debates conducted by them. I have also won a few debates. (I spoke about the wins)P1: When was your last debate?Me: Sir, my last debate was very recent. I was selected to represent my college at a debate conducted by the Britain Embassy. They conduct debates once a year across the country.P1: What was the topic given?Me (thinking): I did not speak for some time and then I apologized saying that I can’t remember.P1: That’s all right if you can’t remember. Did you win the debate?Me: No sir! Unfortunately I couldn’t win the debate.P1: Why so?Me: Sir, they had called up many teams but they selected only few teams.P1: How many teams were called? How many were selected?Me: They called 80 teams for the first round but selected only 4 teams for the semi-final round. They divided the 80 teams into 4 pools and selected 2 teams from each pool. They did not declare winners for each debate but they selected 2 teams even when they debated with each other.P1: So, you didn’t win? (Looks towards P2)Me: Yes, sir!P1: You mentioned that you worked as a Marketing Head of an NGO. What was your role and what did you do there?Me (Explained what I did): Explained how I rose through the ranks as a volunteer and became the Marketing Head after a really good performance. Explained how I was responsible for engaging with companies and fund raising.P1: Oh! How much money did you raise?Me: I along with my team raised Rs 2 Lakh.P1: So, how do you utilize this money?Me: Every year, the team decides to take up a cause and we implement it for all the government schools around our college. I told them about the past projects that we had undertaken and then I spoke about the projects undertaken using the money that my team raised. I also told them about other activities being undertaken by the team like Science Fair for the students.P1: When did the NGO start? Who started it? Why did you specifically become the Marketing Head?Me: I told them the date when it started and the seniors who started it. I told them that those seniors handpicked me for the role as the Marketing Head after observing my performance.P1: Who keeps track of money?Me: The volunteers who are students. This is voluntary work so interested students take part.P1: What are the other activities that you do?Me: I am the NSS team Lead in my college. I lead a team there and we do a a lot of activities. My team has done the highest number of activities. Some of the best voluntary work in my college was undertaken by my team.P1 (Smiles): says something inaudibleMe (Assuming it was a question about NSS): I start speaking about the activities that my team completed but I am interrupted before I can say something more.P1 (A little Sternly): I asked if you read books?Me: Yes, Sir!P1: How often do you read them?Me: Not as often as I would like to read them sir.P1 (Smiles): When do you read them? Not as often meaning?Me: I read them when I am travelling in the bus to college or before sleeping (I wanted to say even in my useless classes but somehow I maintained my composure). I meant that I am an enthusiastic reader but I don’t get enough time to read.P1 (With raised eyebrows): What are you reading currently?Me: I started reading And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini recently. I told him the essence of what I had read until then.P1: Have you read other books written by him? How many books has he written till now?Me: I have read some of the other books written by him. I am aware of three books written by him.P1: Tell me the names of the other books he has written?Me: I told him about The Kite Runner. I couldn’t remember the other book that I read, which was written by him. So, I told him the summary of The Kite Runner.P1: Who is your favorite author?Me: My favorite authors are Dan Brown and Jeffery Archer.P1: Tell me the names of the books written by Dan Brown in the order in which you read them?Me (Thinking that he is an avid reader): I took the names of The Digital Fortress, Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code. (My mind was recollecting the kiss in the movie Angels and Demons. I kind of had a crush on the actress so I was smiling while answering this)P1: Tell me the summary of The Da Vinci Code?Me (Looking at him with wide eyes because for some reason I had forgotten the story that too just now and also because I was snapped back to reality from my day dream): I told him a vague answer about saving the lives of people by breaking the Da Vinci code.P1 sensed my discomfort I think and decided to spare my life. He did not press me on this answer.P1: Did you develop this habit of reading just a few months ago or have been reading from before? Who helped you develop this habit?Me (Thinking whether I should tell them about the person who helped me develop this wonderful habit of reading. But in the end my mind won the battle against the heart and I decided not to tell them about the person): No sir! I have this habit of reading from earlier. (Both P1 and P2 were expecting a detailed answer I think)P1: What newspaper do you read?Me: I read The Hindu.P1: Do you read the online version or the hard copy?Me: The hard copy.P1: How often do you read it?Me: Sir, I read it every day.P1: Do you read the editorial page?Me: Yes sir.P1: Did you read yesterday’s editorial?Me: No sir! I did not have access to yesterday’s newspaper.P1: Tell me about day before yesterday’s editorial?Me (Did not remember things perfectly): I started speaking about an article I read about the upcoming presidential elections in Iran. I got interrupted here by P1.P1: You know what the editorial means right? It’s not an article. It’s the opinion of the editor.Me: yes sir! The article had the opinion about the election in Iran and how many candidates have registered for that. The previous presidents have also registered again for the elections.P1: Ok! Do you read the business news?Me: Yes sir!P1: Tell me something about recent business articles?Me: I spoke about the Flipkart investment round and the impending merger of Snapdeal with Flipkart.P1 (Not looking satisfied): Tell me something about government policy which might affect the business world?Me (Couldn’t recollect any particular policy): I told them that the most recent policy change that’s going to change the way business is done is GST.P1: What is GST?Me: Told them about GST. I ended by telling that it will create a single market across India.P1: What do you mean by that single market? India is one only right?Me: Sir by single market, I mean it will create a uniform tax structure across India. The taxes currently vary from state to state. GST will simplify this by ensuring uniform tax regime across India.P1: How will it be administered?Me: GST council has been appointed to look after the functioning. The GST council consists of members from the Central Finance Minister and ministers of finance from each state.P1 looks satisfied and turns towards P2 who has been the silent knight all along. P1 asks P2 to continue.P2: All my life I have met people from Electronics or Instrumentation but never from Electronics and Computer Engineering!Me (Elated that I the first at something at least): I politely smile and tell him how this branch is present in only few colleges in India. It’s a really good branch having the best of faculties from both electronics and Computers (My brain is ironically laughing at my statement.). I also tell them how this branch gives an opportunity for confused students to get the experience of the best of both world of electronics and computers (My mind is seriously laughing again).P2: So even you were confused when you took this course?Me (Thinking of how he can manipulate my answer if I say yes): No sir! I wanted to experience the world of hardware as well as software so I took up this branch.P2 looks satisfied and opens my folder again to look at my engineering score cards. I am praying to god and chanting “Please no electronics. Please no transistors or circuits”. God listens to me and luckily P2 asked me questions only from CS.P2: Since you studied DWDM recently, tell me the three schemas from Data Warehousing and Data Mining?Me: I told the names of the schemas named Star and Snowflakes. Couldn’t remember the third ones name and was also confused about the technical concepts related to the schemas so I took a minute and told him that I was unable to recollect it at the moment despite studying it recently.P2: Tell me the object oriented programming concepts?Me: Told about Encapsulation, Abstraction, Polymorphism, Inheritance.P2 interrupts me and asks me to explain Polymorphism in detail. I explain about the basic definition of polymorphism. Then I speak about runtime polymorphism and compile time. I speak about each case and explain the concepts of Overloading and Overriding.P2: Asks me the use of Kernel? (After looking into my marks sheet and finding that I scored less in SPSL aka shell programming and scripting languages)Me: I explain about kernel and how it is program that runs always. Then I speak about the resource management and hardware management by the OS and how OS passes instructions to Kernel which is responsible for final usage by the hardware.P2: Tell me something about TCP/IP ?Me: Told the full forms and how they form the basis for safe communication using the Internet.P2: Tell me about the layers in TCP and how many are there?Me: I could remember that there were 4 layers and the names of only two initially.P2 (Sternly): Tell me the names in the correct order?Me: I told him that I will first tell the order using the OSI model. Then, I go on to TCP/IP model and I explained the difference between the OSI and TCP/IP model. I finally told him the order of the layers and their functionality. (In my mind I was thanking my friend Siddharth who had told all boys a really nice way to remember all the protocol layers. I was laughing at that joke)P2 (Looks deeply into my mark sheets): What subject is Product Service and Design and why did you study that?Me: Sir, it’s an elective that I took up because I feel that as an Engineer I have the ability to have incremental innovation. But I can’t personally design or even think of making a new product. I wanted to get some perspective on that so I took up that subject.P2: Do you know what disruptive innovation is?Me: Yes sir! I gave the example of how startups come up with new ideas or differentiate themselves in terms of the business process and that is considered disruptive by the market generally.P2: How was your academic performance in college?Me: I told him how I performed to the best of my ability despite juggling so many things. I also told him that I have always been in the top 5-10% of my batch of 130 students. I ended by telling him that I had also topped the first year of my college.P2 (Looks into my marks sheet again): What did you study in Project Management and Structured Finance?Me: I start off by telling him that it was an elective that I chose. Before I could respond he interrupts me and asks me to tell the difference between PERT and CPM.Me: I explain the concept of PERT and CPM and tell him how CPM helps determine the worst case scenario in terms of the path or the worst possible time frame in which the project will be completed.P2: Which one among PERT and CPM is probabilistic?Me: I answer PERT with a confused facial expression.P2 (coyly): Are you sure? You seem to be confused! It’s Ok, I am done!P2 looks to P1 and they decide that they are done with my interview and they ask me to leave.Me: Thank you so much for your time and the opportunity!They look at me like an alien with a puzzled expression. I felt that they wanted to tell me something but they didn’t. I gave them a no holds barred 20000 watt smile and left the room. I was smiling when I came out of the room. I had honestly expected a situation similar to ragging but I had a really pleasant interview. I will never forget the priceless expressions on the faces of some of the girls waiting in the lobby for their interviews. It was as if they were being sent to the gallows and before going they were watching a mad man laugh.Like most other candidates even I was facing the toffee conundrum. They did not offer me a toffee so I was wondering about the implication. I decided that I needed that toffee so I went to the waiting area and pocketed a a few toffees and a water bottle to preserve the memory. I thanked my stars for an AMAZING opportunity and decided to talk to a few other candidates waiting there.

When you’re representing previous work, there’s a big difference between not volunteering information and lying. Lying crosses the line.Saying you’re not a good fit for a job you were fired from is a reasonable statement. Volunteering that you were fired when they’re asking why you left is usually inadvisable. It opens up a line of questioning which will paint you in an unflattering light, and raises the risk of hiring you from the perspective of the employer.For example, suppose a candidate was fired because they didn’t get along with their boss, and describes their boss as incompetent. As a hiring manager, I have heard this both from people who are genuinely victims, and from those who appear to be instigators rather than victims. It’s very hard to tell the difference in an interview - and even in a court of law - and so the lowest risk option to me as an employer is to not hire the candidate.However you talk about your former work, I would recommend the following:Be truthful on your paperwork. Some application forms ask if you were ever fired from a previous job. Make sure you tell the truth on these parts. Even employers who won’t do more than verify your employment dates can say whether you were fired for cause (a technical term), as it is a factual statement rather than an opinion.Be truthful when directly asked if you were fired.Do not badmouth your previous employers and co-workers. There is absolutely no up-side to saying they were incompetent, unfair, unreasonable, or anything else. Bear in mind that just as they can be sued for saying bad things about you, you can be sued for saying bad things about them. And, negative and condemning speech only hurts your chances of being hired someplace new.Good luck!