Day Zee

So, after all the endless preparation and PPTs right till the end (with a certain 'big' i-bank guy paining the hell out of junta and 'interacting' with them till 1 am the previous night), it was day zero. Two more PPTs scheduled in the morning and then it was on to MDC lawns.

The sight was unbelievable. When they say that IIMs are professional, I had always treated that with 'healthy' contempt. But believe me, the whole atmosphere was psyching to say the least. There was a 'Control Room' and around 10 'trackers' with walkie-talkies (all 2nd years), looking all important and smug. (I was soon to realize how important a role these guys play).....As for the PRs (Placement Represetatives), they were trying to juggle 2 coomunication frequencies at once......in fact, a company guy even called them 'Agent Smiths'......Plus, a whole lot of people calling themselves the 'Hospi' were around with food, fruits, water, drinks and even medicines [i myself had to use a couple of aspirins later in the day...:-)]. And all these volunteers were drawn from the 2nd year. (frankly, i never expected them to put so much fight in something that gives them no 'tangible' returns, at least not in the short-term)

Anyway,there we were, around 140 of us (yep, so many of us did have interviews on the day), people ranging from 12 shortlists to guys with a single one, all dressed in smart business suits. All of us were gathered in the hospi area, trying to look cheerful and confident but apprehensive all the same. The 'time of reckoning' had arrived. One by one, guys started getting called for their rendeavouz with the companies. The placement wheel slowly but surely started turning and the process started.

[Well, skipping the operational details now, I will try and describe the events/activities going on.]

Gradually, the shocking (at least for me) events of the day started unfolding. Probably, for the first time ever on the campus, there was a demand-supply mis-match, i.e., more demand for 'star performers' than supply. It was amusing to see some of the biggest names in industry pitching desperately to 'prospective' employees, trying to convince them why their company is much better than the other company also in line. And the earlier you reach the interview room, the better are your chances of getting brain-washed.

So, we had the BCG guys literally fighting with the tracker over a certain girl they wanted for their interviews. They actually had 2-3 of their (junior) guys scouting for the candidates themselves (effectvely acting as trackers) and snatching them away before the trackers could reach them. Finally, the situation got deteriorated to such an extent that they started to almost assault the BCG tracker and he was given an 'order' to hide (by the control room). Finally, a PR had to placate them by getting a lot of girls to interview with them. By the way, this was heard on the trackers' walkies as 'Tell the BCG people to hold on. Mayur (the PR) is coming with the gals.'

And this was not the only incident. From GS to Lehman to DB (these guys had the audacity to keep one guy enclosed in their room for close to 5 hours at a strech, supposedly, they were trying to convince him. The poor guy had to be rescued later after he sent a SMS to one of the PRs), the story repeated itself. In fact, the companies were so desperate that they started paining the trackers and so things like 'ladki do ya bhawal do' were often heard on the walkies. (Bhawal is a guy who was supposedly 'hot' as all companies wanted him).

Other gems included....(A conversation between two company trackers):
Tracker 1 (GS): 'GS is hot on Indu. They want her now.'

Tracker 2 (some other i-bank): The equally (unintentional, in all probability) funny reply......'I know she's hot. And so, am not sending her. I want her too.'

[Continued....]

Summers.....

Standard Disclaimer/Excuse:

It's been a long long time since I last wrote a blog....not because I did not want to write it or didn't have ebough 'material' to write one, but purely because of the reason that for the last 3-4 months, I have been so busy that I simply didn't have the enough enthu to write one.Ok, enough of excuses, let's get along with the job at hand.

Summers at IIMB - an insider's perspective:

This is a series of write-ups about the most 'important' event in a B-school calendar, the placements season. I will try and provide a first-hand account of what the glorified and over-hyped process is all about. Being a part of the place (Placement Committee in local lingo), I guess I am justified in calling myself an 'insider' in more ways than one.

Anyway, right from the time we landed on the campus (even before that, if I take into account the e-mail mentors stuff), the preparationn for summers had started. I do not know of any other campus that takes its placements so seriously and puts in so much fight for it. And I am not saying it beacuse I am a placu (read Placement Committee guy). The fact is that right from our first week, the place has set deadlines for something or the other almost every alternate day.....deadlines for making up your resume, deadlines for filling up mock forms, deadliines for submitting answers to mock questions asked in interviews, deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.....with the result that by the time our resumes were finally taken up for applications to the company, for an average guy (who had put in an average amount of fight on his resume), his resume had undergone at least 10 iterations. (My resume had undergone 18, by the way, and it's the 18th version that I used to apply to all companies). So, inspite of the place being, in general, hated on the campus for its 'unnecessary' imposition of work-load, our resume quality was, in general, much better than our 'sister' institutes. Even most of the big recruiters admit that much and junta realize that too....so, all said and done, come the placement season and suddenly, the place, reviled by most, in mormal circumstances is 'not so bad' after all....(Anyway, more of it later, I am digressing from the issue).


The Week Before:

So, let us start. After more than a month of almost final daily form submissions (with really vague and arbit questions the comapnies pride themselves in asking) and 3-4 presentations by companies everyday (attendance was compulsory, by the way, with heavy fine impositions on absentees), the shortlists had started trickling in for the big 'Day Zee' (as Day zero firms are called) i-banks. With every short-list, what we had heard from our seniors from the very start seemed to be coming true. All that the banks looked for was an IIT background, a girl (yes, I am not being a sexist here, it's the truth) - for an IITian girl (a rare species), you might not as well sit for the interviews, you are in; a SRCC or a St. Stephen's in your resume was bound to get you a shot at interview too. If you had a 'exotic' background, that is, a history or a languages major, nothing like it. Basically, everything but merit counted as the criterion....

Anyway, with every shorl-list, cribs about 'arbit' short-lists grew louder. Reputations were being built and destroyed, lists being dissected to see how many 'arbit' guys are there and so, what are my chances of getting through...In any case, except for a couple of exceptions, the expected 'Day Zee' guys (yep, some of us were already branded as these) got multiple short-lists, with the highest number for one of my friends (he got 15 shortlists....).

The stage was now set for the 'Battle Royale' with guys with 1-2 shortlists determined to crack them while guys with multiple ones determined to crack at least one (we have had cases in the past with guys being interviewed by all firms on Day zero and ending up getting placed only on Day 2). There was a palpable tension in air with everyone (even guys with no interviews scheduled on Day 0) being close to snapping anytime.

On to Day Zero now....