Yeah thats true.The summer placements for me ended on friday when I got placed with Dabur India Ltd for a domestic role.The title will be Area Sales Manager and the location could be one of Delhi,Mumbai or Calcutta.The summers process is really very very draining.You reach the auditorium at 7 in the morning and depending on when you get placed could come out anytime around 8.30 AM to 3 in the night.
For people who dont know, the process for IIMs C,A and B starts during the same week.And works in cycles.This time IIMA got to go first on the 2nd of Nov.We went 2nd starting the 4th of Nov and B went last starting the 6th.
1st day of the process involves all the big shot consults like Mckinsey,BCG and Bain which are really sought after.The shortlists for these companies comes out around 10-15 days in advance and is usually pretty small.The other major draw on day-0 as we call it are investment banks like Morgan Stanley,Goldman Sachs,UBS,RBS and the likes.As I said before I had no shortlists on day-0.Everyone in the batch was asked to be there the first day.These companies have this habit of coming out with extended shortlists when they dont meet the kind of people they would like to in the interviews.So anyone could get a shortlist that day if the Gods conspire.
The day started on time with the first interview at 8 in the morning.The news from IIMA was really good and it was known that companies were looking to hire in hoards this year.Immediately converts started coming in and by the end of the day we had around 87 people who had converted their interviews.I am not allowed to divulge which companies hired how many so I wont.I would just say that we beat IIMA by 2 more converts.
The 2nd day has legendary marketing firms along with other finance firms and some who offer a general management profile coming to campus.A few examples are HUL,Procter and Gamble,Diageo,Cadbury,Coca Cola and the likes.The sought after among the general management firms are Tata Administrative Services and the Aditya Birla Group.I had 2 shortlists on day 1 in Cadbury and the biggest indian I-bank in Anand Rathi.Now most of these marketing firms who come have GDs to prune their interview shortlists.I gave the GD for cadbury and could not make it through.My other interview for Anand Rathi looked like formality as it was 5-6 hours after the company had started taking interviews.It lasted 10 minutes and was over.As a campus we did amazingly that day as we had 71 people converting beating IIMAs 50 odd.
The 3rd day started on a bad note.I did not get a shortlist from Microsoft where I had real hopes.The day became better when I got shortlists from firms like Dabur,Johnson and Johnson,Reebok and BRICS securities.I gave the Reebok GD first and messed it up big time.Then came the BRICS GD.When I was waiting I came to know that I had a shortlist for Dabur and as I was more interested in Marketing as compared to Finance,I took its GD over BRICS.This was the first GD that I felt happy coming out from and I knew that I would convert it.I also converted Johnson and Johnson's GD.I gave my Dabur Interview and was told that I had been offered a domestic placement.It was great taking the tie off after 3 very tough days.Through this process I would like to point out some of the things that I have learnt-
1)I always heard that being a girl in a summers process is an advantage and found it to be completely true.
2)I realized that the easiest thing is getting some shortlists on Day-0 and converting them because after that it becomes a random shortlists game.
3)Being an IITian is an advantage only when you convert your day-0 shortlist.
4)Being an overseas candidate is a big advantage.
5)Not everyone in the shortlists is wanted as first choice by the company if you know what I mean.
Anyway as I end this post I have promised myself that I will no scope for day0 firms not to offer me calls during my final placements.For that I need to maintain my CGPA and do well during my internship.I also made a decision that I do want to take up consulting as a career and that is what I would be focussing on.
At the end of a draining week,I get to go home on the 12th.That is what I look forward to as I sign off from this post.
