IIM Lucknow

GD Topic: "Politicians are the same all over the world. They will talk about building bridge even where there is no river."

We had to write an essay about the same topic for about 10 mins. The idea is to evaluate the content of the student even before the GD.

For a moment the topic seemed to be vague. But it had lots of fundamental questions to be asked. Ofcourse we were supposed to talk about POLITICIANS. Is 15 mins ENOUGH???

I and another gentleman were donning the discussion. Hailing from Tamil Nadu I was never short of examples. Kalaingar's "A TV for every household" did the magic.

Interview: It lasted for 13 mins exactly. But was I really unlucky?? I should wait untill the results are out. This was clearly my worst performance. But everyone felt so. It was a cool interview for many people and never lasted more than 15 mins. I personally felt bad because I fear they could have hardly judged me by the answers I gave.

1. What make you feel happy?

me: Pat came a grandiose reply. Following my dreams and feeling a sense of control over life makes me Happy Sir.

2. Why are you so diplomatic? It was meant to ease you up. Are you tensed?

me: No Sir. I said normally I feel happy when I am with my friends. blaw blaw...

3. Why have you got such poor grades in maths? Math II - D, Material Science - D, Electronic Circuits II - D

me: {Jesus. It surely wasn't my day.} I wasn't actually prepared for that. Said the class performed almost in the same way barring few As and Bs. I pointed out how I worked out my weaknesses and performed well in the next two years. I had never got less than C after 4th sem.

4. Your University seems to be too lenient. You know in IIML if you get (2 Fs) you are out. or (4 Ds). or (1 F and 2 Ds)

me: I realised that D was mere pass in IIMs. In our college it is a little better.(60-70%). But he never seemed satisfied.

5. You have said you are the Team Lead. What are your responsibilities?

me: Answered

6. What can we do with a datawarehouse?

me: Thats from my work ex. Defined a datawarehouse.

7. Tell me two applications for it in Sales and two in Finance.

me: Talked about Performance tracking, Marketing strategy evaluation, data mining etc. Couldn't differentiate for Finance. Any Financial data can be analysed across geographies and timelines. I wasn't to specific.

8. Which management subjects you have studied in college?

me: Principles of Management, Engg Economics, TQM.

9. What is Producer's surplus?

me: Talked about demand and supply curves and if one produces quanity greater than what the market demands it will be a surplus. { That was bull shit. The actual answer is way different. Lemme explain now. Any quantity can be sold at a particular price. If the price increased the quantity demanded reduces and vice versa. Similary the supply increases, the price also increases. So the producers usually decide on the equilibrium price which is found at the intersection of demand and supply curve. Now if we look at the graph below equilibrium point the product could have been sold even at a lower price than the equilibrium price. The excess amount made by selling at the equilibrium price is the producer's surplus. }

10. What is TQM?

me: Told about Quality. Deming & Juran. etc { Should have talked abt TCS quality processes too :( }.

11. What is Deming's philosophy.

me:I remembered it had 14 points but I could recollect none. :(

12. What is the turnover for TCS?

me: Answered.

13. Who is heading it?

me: At last I felt insulted since the questions were deliberately easy. I added about the next potential CEOs also.

Two more questions which I am not able to recollect now.

Overall I wasn't too happy in comparison to my previous experience.