Anisha has done MBA in Marketing from NMIMS And Executive Management(PMNO) from Harvard Business School. She has been instrumental in growing CATKing Digital with her experience with Marico and Henkel in the past.
Note: This page will be updated regularly as and when we receive XLRI Personal Interview Experiences directly from students and trusted sources
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XLRI Personal Interview Experience 1:
1. Describe a task/event from your recent past, where you were passionately involved. Mention your three takeaways from that task/event.
2. Recall a situation where you worked in a group. What was salient about this situation? Give a detailed description of your role.
3. Based on your recent experiences, recall a situation when your behavior impacted/affected someone. Describe how it impacted you and the others involved in the situation.
4. Which subject in your graduation (recent education) did you enjoy and learn from, the most? Why?
5. Recall a work or non-work situation where you were required to work with people you disliked. How did you handle the situation?
6. Describe a situation in which you were unexpectedly entrusted with more responsibility. How did you handle it?
7. Recall a situation when you realized a friend of yours in college/work was not performing up to his/her potential. What did you do?
8. What has been the most enjoyable team effort that you were part of? What insights you have gained from participating in that?
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XLRI Personal Interview Experience 2:
BM interview 23 Feb 2021
10:17 AM – 10:33 AM
Me : Good morning sirs, Good morning mam
F1 : Good morning
F1 : So where are you right now?
F1 : So is interview the reason for you coming to another place?
F1 : (Some funny questions and answers)
M1 : Ok..So you mentioned that you are working at xxx company right?
M1 : Tell me about the work done in last 3 months
M1 : Could not get you..Can you please tell me again
M1 : Ok so what software development model do you use
M1 : You have heard of waterfall model right..Tell me 3 differences between waterfall and agile
M1 : Tell us some disadvantages of agile
F1 : Questions regarding SOP
For the first time M2 jumps in
M2 : So how does this suit is capitalism..This isn’t suitable right? (This refers to philanthropy)
M2 : Have you read the book “……”(I forgot the book name)
M2 : Have you at least heard of it?
M2 : There was some problem with health care centres during the COVID situation..Tell us about it
M2 : How can we improve the health care system
M2 doesn’t seem to be satisfied with the answers and didn’t smile.
M1, F1 were smiling.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 3:
10/12/Engg-89/89/7.8
2 years in TCS working for educational client
P1
1. Where are you from? School? College?
2. What domain are you working in TCS?
3. Explain your product?
4. Why is your product special?
5. How is this product sold/marketed?
6. What did you do recently or significantly in the project?
7. Difference between Business Intelligence and Business Analytics?
8. Tools for Business Analytics?
P2
9. Leadership experience in work?
10. Why were you special at work?
11. When was Neural Networks invented?(Fav subject in SOP questions)
12. Do you think Neural Net/ML is cutting edge or old?
13. What do you think about Jalikattu? Speak on it.
P3
14. What do you think about Byjus and WhiteHat?
15. What do you think about technology in Indian education sector?
16. How can the govt better manage Indian education sector?
P2
17. Why are your board marks low?
Overall not stressful calm and conversational
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 4:
BM Interview
P1,P2,P3 all male
P1: Where are you based off?
P1: How is the pollution what step do you take to avoid it
P1: What Client do you work for?
P1: What is its biggest/most sold product?
P1: How data helps you client,explain with an example.
P1: How does your client mitigates risks, explain.
P2: Why do you want to work in teams,individual is much better.one person can take the team down?
P2: Tried 3 4 ways to persuade that working individually is better
P2: Explain Agile ,how is it better that any other method
P2: Explain how you work in Team,How roles are decided and why can’t you work alone
P3: How data can lead a manager to ethical dilemma, (I tried to explain but he told that I was telling the short coming not how they will lead to )
P3: Explain with examples /questions we asked why should we reject you in three point with example from past 20mins.
(Gave 2 Interview over after this) .
Not a stress interview at all.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 5:
BM Interview
B.Tech CSE, 3.5 years of work experience
93.71/92.4/83.2 academics
XAT: 98.66
1. Introduce yourself
2. Why MBA (some cross questioning)
3. Describe your role at your firm
4. What kind of issues have you faced at work (spoke about the behaviour essay)
5. Some cross-questioning about the impact that my actions had
6. Went back to my Why MBA answer – some cross-questioning there. Asked me to properly explain my motivation.
7. Asked about my favourite subject from graduation. Several follow ups.
8. Asked if I had any questions for them (none)
Nice talking to you, please log off.
Total time 20-25mins. No grilling, no current affairs.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 6:
1. What are the challenges to automate any process(since I work in automation).
2. Explain about the projects I have worked on? (In workex)
3. Tell me about your company formation.
4. What is the disadvantages of being a subsidiary of Titan.
5. Advantages of creating a BOM( related to a point mentioned in form)
5. What are your hobbies?
6. Key learnings from sports that can be applied to management.(since I mentioned sports)
7. What are the disadvantages of each of the learnings? (Follow up to above question)
8. I had mentioned regarding volunteering I had done in the form, so asked to explain key challenges faced as a volunteer
9. What was your role as a volunteer?
10. How did you come to know about the initiative( it was a local community based volunteering experience)
11. Any questions for us?
My advise would be to know in depth to each of the answers mentioned in the form filled last week. All questions were based on that for me.
All the best to everyone.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 7:
3 male panelists – Looked very tired and with a poker face.
Profile: 2 years experience as Project Manager in software company
Q. You have worked on a project with Reliance Retail and have mentioned Orginasation and Prioritisation as takeaways. Mention 3 organisation skills that you learned.
Q. In your college team, you worked in getting sponsorship. Tell me one organisation you were successful to board along with the entire steps and amount.
Cross questioning + grilling on deliverables.
Q. You had prepared cost reports. What are the various headers under a cost report. List down 6.
Heavy grilling and cross questioning on same
Q. Run us through your academics. Cross question on why low acads in Grad.
Q. List two mistakes you did in your life other than acads.
(Took a long time to answer. One or two options they termed as not a mistake – cut me off then)
Q. Explain a situation where your actions hurt another person. (Mentioned a professional experience)
Q. So what were the changes you will bring in your project that such a situation does not happen below.
Q. What is Critical Path method.
Cross questioning
Q. Other than Project Management, where can we use Critical path.
Not at all smooth as the other experiences. Lots of grilling and disinterest shown.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 8:
BM interview
Three panelists
(Some background – I have been doing a course from XLRI Jamshedpur for 8 months now and two out of the three panelists recognised me)
P1- had read a study your company did. What was it? And what do you feel about the findings?
P1 – You grew up in Kolkata. Do you know Bengali.
P1 Bengali or Hindi in Delhi
I said Bengali because it’s sweet. Hindi in Delhi is crass.
P1- I’m from Delhi, do you want to change your answer
I said No. I still feel Delhi is rude. Then I had a lot of discussion with him on the study he asked about. How data is used in education (10 minutes)
P2- What did I do at work?
P2- what do I feel about the education sector?
P2- can online learning replace classrooms and teachers
P2- there was a debate in the US about evaluating students using data tests. What do you think is the impact of these on a child’s development and the teachers . Are these tests fair
P3- Asked about the course I was pursuing at XLRI (he is the program Dean)
P3- Asked a few questions on what is regression . How it differs from correlation.
P3- Do you have any questions for us?
Asked
All three answered
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 9:
BM Interview
GEM – 8 months workex
X- 82% XII- 91.2% Grad- 80.56%
23rd feb 2021, Duration: 27 mins.
3 male panelists
Q: Tell me about your family business
A: Manufacturing of Diesel Generator sets
Q: How does a generator work?
A: told
Q: challenges faced in your industry?
A: told
Q: How are generator engines different from automobile engines?
A: told
Q: How do you compete with giants like kirloskar, cummins?
A: told and there was a lot of cross questioning
Q: How can a Generator seller take advantage of me if I dont know much about it?
A: tricky question but tried my best to answer it and he seemed satisfied
Q: Tell me 3 main parameters I should consider before buying a DG set.
A: told
Q: How do I break even the cost of a generator? And how can I charge people for using it?
A: I told you cannot charge as you cannot sell power its illegal.
Had a discussion about why its illegal for 3-4 min. but he seemed to disagree
Q: How do you segment the market in your family business?
A: told
Q: Where do you see your family business in 10 years?
A: told
Overall it was a pretty smooth interview surprisingly they didn’t asked anything from the SOP questions or current affairs or the general questions like Why mba, Introduce yourself. It was purely driven around my family business.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 10:
BM interview
3M panelists – Pokerfaces.
P1 Hard Pokerfaces after questions
P2 turned off camera after asking questions
P3 (this happened!) Smiled after my last answer
P1:
1. TMSAY
2. Joined family buisness, why and what is the model?(we are internet and tv connection suppliers)
3. Any shrinkage because of tech gaints?
4. Technology reforms you brought?
5. Tangible ROI, explain how you will justify it?
6. Money spent?
7. Big change because of it?
P2
8. How do you get your supplies for the business?
9. Name them.
10. How do you charge the customers?
11. How does the supplier charge you?
12. Can you not scam them showing fewer customers and supplying to more?
13. How do you manage operations?
14. Who provides the servers?
15. What is the server device called?
16. Can you cut an optical fibre?
17. Can you repair it?
18. How easy it is to cut the fiber?
19. What is the cost and time for repair?
P3
20. Mentioned digital image processing in sop, who are the big DIP players in the world?
21. What cameras one should use?
22. Is apple not a competitor, they spend billions on cameras?
23. What reforms does apple bring? Why is it inferior?
24. Are you not afraid of players like Jio and Tata expanding into internet domain?
25. On what basis do you say if your company survives next 4 years, it will make it through the turmoil?
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 11:
BM Interview
10/12/Grad – 86.5/86/9.06,
XAT – 98.45, GEM
Work Ex – 30 months in service sector (Medical Device Domain)
3 Panel Members (All Male)
M1 – Started with question about where I was born, schooling and Undergrad
M1 – Till when do you think the WFH culture is going to stay. When will your office call you back to work?
M1 – Questions about my work exp. Detailed discussions.
M1 – What medical device were you privy to in your formative years. (I was asked this as my parents are doctors and I am work with medical devices).
M2 – Behavioral Question, like what did you learn from working in teams. How did you manage conflicts between team members and some follow through questions based on answers.
M3 – Why HRM over BM (I mentioned in the form)
All panel members had poker face at the beginning, But they started smiling towards the end.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 12:
BM Interview Experience
Last slot of the day
Waiting Time: 35 Minutes
Three Panelists, All Male
P1 – It was a long wait time for you. What did you do during this time?
Answered
P1 – Tell Me Something about Yourself
Answered
P1 – Why do you have such a low score in graduation. Have you lost interest in studying?
Answered, and led the interview towards interest in Marketing.
P1 – What if you change your mind later?
Answered
P2 – XLRI doesn’t market itself. How, as a marketer, would you promote XLRI?
Answered, saying conducting knowledge sessions in top grad schools, and competitions during college fests.
P3 – You mentioned your interest in undergrad course New Venture Creation. How would you value a startup?
Answered
P3 – Your father works in a bank. What’s the banking industry like?
Answered about current banking scenario, bad loans etc.
P3 – Why do we need banks?
Answered
P3 – If I give you two banks, how would you decide which one is better?
I had no idea, talked about looking at their balance sheet.
P3 – Do banks improve our standard of living?
Answered, saying that they facilitate businesses, so by extension, they improve our standard of living.
P2 – You said you worked in a Meme Marketing Agency. How do you design a campaign?
Answered
P2 – What are the various types of influencers on social media?
Answered
P2 – You said you worked with Bumble. Which campaign was it? What’s the difference between Bumble and other dating apps?
What is Bumble worth right now?
Answered, didn’t know about Bumble’s valuation, told them about the blockbuster IPO etc.
P2 – Which campaign is close to your heart?
Answered.
P2 – What was the target group? How do you target them via Memes?
Answered
P2 – Thank you, you may log off.
Didn’t invite me to ask any question
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 13:
BM Interview
3 male interviewers
Background- Metallurgy, NIT Trichy, 2 months work exp in Tata Steel
P1-
1. So, you seem very consistent in your academics, even in college, what else do you do?
2. What did you do after graduation? Work?
3. What have you been working on in TSL for the last two months?
4. Tell me what you learnt about Finance? Profit loss statement?
5. Tell me about the insurance industry.
6. What is settlement ratio?
7. Why is the labour participation rate low for women?
8. What can be done to overcome this?
P2-
1. How is the steel industry faring today?
2. How does work from home work for the industrial sector?
P3-
_I’d mentioned that I own a blog_
1. What is the process involved in writing a blog?
2. How do you structure your blog?
3. What are your sources?
4. Who are the stakeholders when you publish a blog?
They ended it abruptly since it was already late in the night.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 14:
XLRI – HRM
Background: CA with 2 years of experience as an EA to the CEO of a start-up. Cross-functional role, including streamlining of org processes, and overseeing key projects, including the HR function.
Panel: 3 males
(A very chilled panel. No grilling, no tough questions, very supportive. Each one of them took their time asking questions in sequence.)
(Greetings and salutations around.)
M1: Aakruti, tell us something about your profile as it is not very apparent from your answers in the form.
A: (explained my profile, a bit about the company and its people, and my work with the HR function.)
M1: Okay so you are EA to the CEO as of now. What is a recent challenge you have faced in this role, and how did you overcome it?
A: (explained about challenges with WFH during the lockdown and enabling our workforce with trainings, etc.)
M1: I don’t see this as a challenge for the management but for the workers themselves, the fact that they were not technologically geared for WFH.
A: True, but it was a challenge for the business where about 50% of its employees were deployed onsite at various sites across India, with little means to work during the lockdown.
M2: Can you tell us more of this in context of the specific work you undertook during the COVID-19 lockdown?
A: (explained about the employee engagement and connect initiatives during the lockdown. This was one of my answers in the form, already a lot of it mentioned here. I did some detailing, took about 90 seconds to narrate all the initiatives. STAR+L helped here.)
(Silence for about 10 odd seconds after I finished my explanation.)
M2: You have also mentioned here the organizing of a family event during 2020 (again, direct recall to one of my answers, the one about working with people who one is uncomfortable with) – can you elaborate more on the nature of the family dispute? What were the thoughts going through your mind? What was the way out you thought and how was the outcome?
A: Explained this in detail. Talked a bit about emotional connections and how youngsters in a family can sometimes bridge gaps between the elders.
M2: (Wanted to ask something, but M3 jumped in.)
M3: I am going to say two statements and I want you to agree with one of them. Then, give me three reasons why you agreed with this statement.
1. Money is nominal.
2. Money is real.
A: (took a slight pause, fixed my hair) I would have to agree with the first one.
M3: Why?
A: (went on to explain in a narrative fashion why I chose statement 1, but M3 stopped me)
M3: I think I want to hear more about the reasons behind your choice, never mind why you chose them. For example, do you have siblings? (I answered no) If for example, your father favours some cousin over you, you are nominal to him. (light mood)
A: So to speak, my father does seem to like my closest friends more than he likes me.
(Two of the panellists smiling / laughing here. M2 is definitely the observer.)
A: Here are my 3 reasons:
1. Money cannot be the only measure of success
2. Money is a manmade creation
3. The value of money is fluctuating in nature
M3: Very well. (He started smiling widely here. I could sense a twist coming.) Let’s say I am a Mathematics professor with a smile. What is subjective and what is objective here?
A: (smiled back) Mathematics is a field of knowledge, so in that sense it is largely objective. The smile, I think, is subjective.
M3: But this goes against what you said about money. Money is nominal to you, but maths is objective…. Is it really? Why is 1+1=2? Why is it not a bigger 1?
A: (smiled here, I wanted to end the topic here because seemed like he’d talk about it more and more if I answered more) But sir, mathematics as a field has a wide range of applications, which we see around us in daily life, granted there are few assumptions and subjective parts like calculus, derivation, etc. So I feel it is objective.
M3: Okay. Who is one person in your life who is most influential in your life?
A: Sir, I would have to say my nani (grandmother). She was the one who raised me as my parents worked hard in their business.
M3: So I understand she has done a lot for you. What are four things you have done for her?
A: (by now, knew he’d want bullet points only lol)
1. Took over her care in the recovery period after a major accident
2. Comply with her requests, big and small (“Context?” “She wanted to donate money to an organization, so I did it in her name.”)
3. Attend religious events because it is important to her
(Before I could say #4, he interrupted me.)
M3: But there must be some things about her that… irritate you as well. What is one such thing?
A: She is a stickler for punctuality. Not that I am not punctual, but her plans are detailed down to the minute. Wake up at 6:55 AM, go for a bath at 7:00 AM… she goes on and on like a military commander.
M3: Since you’re mentioning it here, I’m assuming it irritates you a bit. How much?
A: I would have to say 60-40. It is a bit too much sometimes.
M3: So do you do it anyway?
AF: Yes sir, I do. Only because she is the one telling me to. Else I would probably not. (We all smiled / laughed here.)
M2: Okay Aakruti, you can log out now.
(Thanked them for the opportunity and exited.)
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 15:
HRM Interview – Morning slot (3 Male professors)
Acads – 9.8/88/74.42
Background – BSc in Hotel Management, 3+ years of work ex as a management trainee and an Assistant Manager
M1 – You have been a good student from a science background then why hotel management? Was your family okay with it and you not pursuing engineering?
M1 – So you did your homework for this delegation (from SOP) what was the basis of your calculation of manpower requirement for this event?
M1 – How would someone like you cope up with mathematics in the curriculum? Were you using quants at work?
M1 – If you give special attention to this delegation and not me I would feel bad. How would you handle that?
M1- 2 basic questions on probability.
M1 – Inventory management and how much soap do you think is consumed in your hotel in a month? How do you do indenting?
M1- People from your background have a good understanding of hands-on management but lack in acads, how will you cope up?
M2- Why are ladies and gentlemen called ladies and gentlemen(from my company’s motto)?
M2- Gave a situation of a wedding in which the host decided to have no food and give away coupons instead. Why is it good or bad, give 3 reasons?
M2 – Why is food a part of every celebration? 3 reasons.
M2 – Do you treat your employees with the same gentleman-like behavior that you show your guests? Why and Why not?
M3 – Why were you biased with these 2 girls at work? Do you have a bias towards women?
M3 – Tell me a situation where you handled a tough guest. (I gave a situation he discredited it so I gave another.)
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 16:
HRM Interview
Mine was 15 min and they ended very abruptly by saying if their is anything, the admissions team will get in touch.
1. Asked about my acads
2. Why mba after biotech
3. Told them about my business so they asked about it a little bit.
4. Chandigarh is a city for retired people so my views on that
5. What are the roles and responsibilities of HR
6. AI powered tools in HR
7. Zoonotic diseases
8. Farm laws and my views
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 17:
BM Afternoon slot; 3 male interviewers
Acads 9.2/95.6/79
Doctor of pharmacy
Q: tell me about yourself
Q: tell me something regarding the vaccines being developed and their efficacy testing
Q: what are the studies done before releasing a drug into the Market
Q: why MBA
Told that I like entrepreneurship and that’s my long term goal
Q: started grilling regarding my idea, in depth about what is the market like, how can I place myself, what will be the threats etc.. can’t really say how this part of the interview went. I did answer to the best of my knowledge.
Q: how good are you at math
Pretty good at arithmetic sir but not so much with algebra.
Q: do you have any questions for us?
What is the role of gk in xat for admission purpose
Q: the admission committee will take care of that. Get in touch with them. They might help u.
Okay sir.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 18:
HRM interview 26th Feb 2021
11.35 AM – 12pm
Fresher: Commerce:Xat 97
(Greetings)
M1: Which city are you in and how’s Covid situation?
M1: Favourite Subjects?
M1: Current vs Quick Ratio and few examples and cross questioning
M2: Why don’t you like HR
M2: Justify that you like HR ( lot of cross questioning)
M2: Why is middle finger the longest? justify with 2 reasons
M2: a case of bribery and what would i do?
M3: Which all calls do you have?
M3: learnings from past experience
M1: anything that you would like to test us from those learnings?
M3: A few questions from the SOP regarding the club I was in
M1: How would you measure success in the club ( lot of grilling here and also asked about Unilever)
M1 doesn’t seem to be satisfied with the answers
Quite friendly people though
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 19:
HRM – 20 mins interview
Pleasantries Exchanged
P3
P: So how was covid for you.
M: Sir for me it was a blessing in disguise.
P: Don’t say that. But why is that, because you get to stay with your family.
M: No sir, I am not saying that it was a good thing but it opened up an opportunity for me to pursue MBA now instead of later.
P1
P: So you are not working right now?
M: Sir actually I have been doing freelancing as an artist.
P: Yes so you are into this from 2018.
M: Yes sir, actually I went to Italy for advance course in 2018 and came back in 2019 June and since then I have been doing that.
P: So why this shift?
M: Sir in future I want to open my own organization in the field of fine art and MBA will help me achieve that.
P: so what kind of business, do you have a plan.
M: Told.
P: But you can do that from online platforms and through pop up advertisements now also.
M: Sir right now the kind of orders I get is through my Instagram page and facebook page. I want to have something in which I serve Upper class, Hotels and airports.
P: Right now people purchase paintings for home decoration and hanging on their walls, they do not care about what it represent.
M: Yes sir, right now they just want paintings for decoration purpose but we need to make people aware that they can buy paintings as an investment like people do in foreign countries as usually the value of a painting increases.
P: But It only happens if the artist is famous like M F Husain, and that anyways happen when the artist is dead. Also how do you judge a painting. How do you give an artist’s painting its value for price.
M: Sir I usually put price on a painting keeping in mind which medium and base is used, what theme is shown and whether the artist is able to convey the message or not.
P: But it is not necessary that an artist is able to communicate the same feeling, and in paintings like modern art, or famous novel, and paintings it is not clear what the artist is trying to communicate.
M: Sir but these things trigger an emotion and if a painting has that effect on someone its value increases.
P: So how in MBA is going to help you in this.
M: Linked the Talent Management role of an HR to my venture who will be dealing with talented artist.
P2
P: So I can see that you have mentioned that HR person works in talent management. Can you explain the role of an HR manager.
M: Sir an HR person is the one who hires talented people for the organization and is also responsible for the training(Cut in between)
P: But HR manager actually does not help in Hiring. The final decision is of the technical person and not the HR. So basically his work is clerical.
M: Told that even though he does not take the final decision in hiring process, but he is the one who has shortlisted the candidate for further process.
P: Where does your father work, has he ever told you about the role of an HR.
M: Sir my father is an engineer and is working with BHEL.
P: Yes so does he tell you about the role of an HR or who takes the interview of the candidate.
M: Sir the senior official of the field takes the interview.
P: so what is the role of HR. Have you ever read anywhere in the newspaper about HR and BHEL together. Or has your father told you anything about this, did you discuss about this. So what role is of the HR in BHEL.
M: Sir I am not much aware as we never had any discussion related to that but some of my friends from my college joined BHEL and the HR team was looking after the training of the junior engineers.
P: So don’t you think instead of HR you can do a course in your technical field. I mean you would need a person who has the understanding of Art and painting.
M: Sir I already have done advance course in fine arts and now I need the skills of HR manager. And also I agree that the final decision is taken by the technical person but it is HR manager’s work to check whether the person they are hiring will be able to adjust to the organization and whether he is suitable for the organization or not.
P: Yes so HRM is just a side course. Ok let’s leave it. So you marks in graduation is quite low. What subject did you opt for.
M: Sir Electrical and electronics.
P: yes and from the engineering standards its low, I mean how can we be sure that your marks wont get effected in the MBA program.
M: Sir I agree but it is due to in my 1st and 2nd year I scored less but in my 3rd and final year my score improved and I got 73% in my final.
P: But here it is mentioned 69.16%.
M: that was the aggregate of all the years together. Sir my scores are in a V graph where they reduced in 1st and 2nd year and improved.
P: (Smiling) But we don’t want a V graph, what if it went down again, I mean how can we be sure.
M: sir right now I can only give you assurance through my XAT score. I really worked hard for it because I wanted to achieve it. And for me it is the best performance in my academic graph. And I will continue to work like this.
P: Okay. Handed over to the 3rd professor.
P3
P: so from your cv(form) I see that you have filled BM as your first preference, and here you are giving interview for HR. Why so.
M: Sir at that time I thought that BM would be a better choice for me as I want to start my own organization but after exams I started looking into both and realized that HRM is basically about talent management and my organization will be about managing talented artist hence HRM will be the best choice for me.
P: So do you put your hand on your heart and say that you actually want to do HRM.
M: (smiling) definitely sir.
P: Asked about something but was not clear. Took a particular name but since I was unable to hear it and whatever I could make out of it I said I am not aware of it. He changed the question.
P: So are you aware of Salvator Mundi. How does it associate with a manager?
M: Yes sir, It is one of the most famous painting by Leonardo the Vinci and is a painting of Jesus. Even though I haven’t seen the real one I have seen pictures and it has also given a calm feeling.
P: yes so how does it associate with the manager?
M: sir it shows a very calm and compose feeling and shows that no matter what the situation or problem is one should always remain calm. Sir this is my thinking, other artists or people looking into this painting might have a different approach.
P: Okay Apoorva I think I get what you are trying to say. It was nice meeting you, you can leave the meeting now.
A little bit of grilling on why HRM and role of an HR manager.
There voice were getting cut in the middle of conversation hence sometimes making it difficult to understand the question.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 20:
XLRI-BM
Date: 27-02-21
Slot: 12.25 to 12.50 pm
Started at 12.48. Lasted for 20 mins (3 profs)
Educational background: CA, FRM
Work experience: 46 months
P1: Your father works in PNB, which is infamous for a fraud. What is your take on it.
Ans: Estimate of 11K cr. – spoke about UK approving Nirav Modi’s extradition
P1: Public sector banks are not as profitable as private sector banks. Reasons?
Ans: Stats from Eco Survey 2020
P1: Don’t give me the symptoms, what is the reason?
Ans: Misalignment of incentives, fear of regulators
P2: You mean to say that public sector bank employees are lazy and inefficient.
Ans: That would be incorrect. But their incentives need to be aligned better.
P1: If I look at an income figure, should I take it on face value?
Ans: No – break it down to individual components
P1: (Interrupting) Give me an example where profit is inflated.
Ans: Example of sale of asset valued at historical cost
P1: If I want to invest in real estate, what would be your advice? (I have worked for an NBFC lending to real estate developers)
Ans: Avoid commercial real estate – prefer large listed players for apartments – quoted stats from an ICRA report – very good time to invest considering stamp duty and fungible premium reduction
P2: Why MBA and not further specialisation?
Ans: Prepared answer
P2: If someone with 1 Cr has to buy a home, should he take a loan?
Ans: Depends on overall finances, but highly advisable to take a loan since interest rates are at record lows
P2: What should be done with 1 Cr?
Ans: Depends on the risk profile. If I was in that situation, I would invest in a low-cost index fund coupled with a small portion for opportunistic IPO investing for listing gains
P3: You have mentioned in your SOP that for losing 1 kg, you have to burn 3500 calories. That’s wrong (it was actually wrong, I googled later).
Ans: Sir, those estimates have worked for me.
P3: But you don’t verify before giving out estimates?
Ans: Sir, reality is the best counter to all conjectures. And this is my reality (P1 & P2 start laughing)
P3: Now you are behaving like Trump.
Ans: Sir, but I am open to a counter-opinion. Also, if I’m wrong, I’ll be the first to admit it.
P1: Prof, you could be mistaking pounds for kgs.
P3 agrees.
P2: You may leave the meeting.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 21:
HRM
99.3 %ile. I’m from Aurangabad, pursuing Chemical Engineering from NIT Surat.
3 panelist. All Male (1 in 30s, other around 50s, were very chill, smiling and were impressed at instances)
P1 starts
1)Where are you giving the interview from?
-Aurangabad
2)I’ve been fascinated by Aurangabad due to many reasons, tell me what’s famous about it?
-Told in detail
3) How far is Aurangabad from Surat?
-Told
4) Are you currently in your final year? Which field? Why Chemical Engineering?
-Talked about love for maths and science during JEE and chemistry being favorite subject but later realized how it’s different from Chemical Engineering
(laughs)
5) Which is your favorite subject? Why?
Told thermodynamics and how it’s real life applications can be found in daily life and underpins a major part of how the universe works.
6) I find the 3rd law pretty philosophical, make me understand in layman terms
-Told
7) What is wet bulb temperature?
-Explained
8) So tell me Amit, what do you do other than academics, as you seem pretty great with your acads (smiles)
-Told about helping people lose weight
9) Tell us how much did you lose
-Told
10) Looking at me what do you feel my weight is?
-Asked for his height. He told he’s 6’3, guessed it might be around 80-85.
11) I wish it was. I’m 95 (laughs)
12) How do you help people in this process
-Told
Asks P2 to take over
13)So you’ve lived in Surat for almost 3 years, what difference you found
-Told about the culture and how the people enjoy little things and give more importance to the family etc
14) Cross questions as is eating out with family an indicator of spending time with them (I mentioned it in my answer)
-Justified as the frequency of doing it is high and it forms a part of the indicator
15) Tell me what does cricket mean to you
-Told
16) What do you do?
-Told
17) Why are there more left arm players coming up now than before
-Told the special benefit we get of the angle to the batsman etc, therefore more opportunities.
18) The current issues regarding the pitch, what are you views?
Told, included Rohit’s press conference statement and backed my answers and justification.
19) There’s been said that a player like Joe root took wickets, so there must be a problem with the pitch
-Told that’s its a statement of former England cricketer and that Joe root bowled line to line than jack leach who at first struggled getting the right line, and also how akshar bowled in right areas and it lead to better results.
20) Has it been unfair to anyone
I said it isn’t.
He then mentioned about people buying tickets of the last 3 days of the match. I said yes.
P3 takes over
21) I’ve been tracking my calories through the wrist watches, but facing issues regarding the food tracking, suggest me how to do that much effectively as they are pretty approximate.
-Told
22) Which app would you recommend
-Told
23) What is the most difficult situation you faced in terms of decision making
-Told
24) What calls do you have.
-Told
Any questions for us?
Asked what differentiates XLRI being a private institution with such phenomenal ranking and the IIMs
They all laugh and say that you have to find out from our website.
It’s been great talking to you. Have a great day Amit.
-Likewise.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 22:
BM Interview
XAT Percentile : 99.56 GEM 39 months work ex
The panel joined at 12:15 so atleast join the zoom meeting 20 minutes prior to your scheduled time
1. Explain the political scenario of West Bengal?
2. Cultural differences between Kolkata(work location) and Jamshedpur(hometown)
3.Cultural differences between Jamshedpur and Patna
4. Estimate the total number of primary schools in India
5. How can we bridge the gap between rural education and urban education ( A lot of cross questioning)
6. Three important points for Algorithm
7. What is time complexity?
8. Devise an algorithm and explain it’s time complexity for the entire XLRI process starting from the XAT application
9. What is digital divide?
During the interview they all had their poker face on. In the end they asked if I expected some questions which weren’t asked. I told them none of the questions asked by them were expected by me. They all laughed and that was the end of the interview.
No current affairs and general questions
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 23:
HRM
3 panelists – 3 male and the and one of them switched off his video
P : How was your day?
Replied and told that I was reading xxx book
P : What are you trying to tell us by mentioning that book?
Told that I assumed you were asking me how was my day and what have I been doing all this time. So mentioned it
( P1 chuckles, P2 cunning smile)
P : I was about to ask that question. Anyway you answered it
A bit of laughter
P : why do you think you are a fit for our institute. Don’t tell me that xlri is best for HR. We have been hearing it a lot and we know it
( Everyone smiles)
Told the prepared answer
P : speak about your values and morals
Answered and a couple of cross questioning on that
P : What is your Engineering branch?
Answered
P : Difference between PNP and NPN
Answered but cutoff in middle
P : Why are you mentioning it as semi conductor? Why not conductor?
Answered
P: Tell us the working of them( PNP and NPN)
Answered
( P2 again with a poker face and wierd smile)
P : What will you do other than studies and extra curriculars.. (asking hobbies)
Mentioned them
P : What values can you learn from those hobbies and how they will help you?
Answered
P: Do you know any magicians?
Told a couple of names
P: Any magician from India?
Answered
P: Extempore
topic – Consider a person who does not remember his values from past and deviated in his path. Think for 30 seconds and speak
Spoke about Adolf Hitler
P1 and P2 : so that’s it from our side. You can log out
Thanked them and left
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 24:
BM
B.tech CS Fresher
1. What’s the meaning of your name and how do you pronounce it?
2. What do you think is better, offline or online interview?
3. Can you give some ways to conduct GDs online?
4. Which country handled covid very effectively?
5. Does it make sense to impose covid lockdown for 2 more weeks?
6. What do you think is a way out if a company XYZ makes it compulsory it’s employees to take up vaccines?
7. Where should I invest my money is the current stock market scenario?
8. What’s up with India’s digital currency?
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 25:
XLRI – BM
BMS, DU fresher
10/12/Grad/XAT - 9.4/88.6/71.55/ 98.3
1. Where are you joining us from today?
2. What is the difference between BMS and B.Com as a course?
3. Why are the number of FIRs low in India as compared to Europe or western countries give three reasons and a concrete solution.
4. What is something that excites you?
5. Can you give me an impromptu 1 min speech on football (since I said football in what excites me)
6. Do you think covid affected football? How? What can be done?
7. Since you are from Uttarakhand, there was a recent flood there. Why it happened?
8. What could’ve been done about it?
9. India is shifting towards hydro electricity to cut down their carbon footprint, but this is damaging the himalayas, how would you propose to deal with it?
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 26:
XLRI BM interview 12-12.25. 28th Feb
Profile – BTech (2020 grad) 7 months working in PwC as a data analyst.
XAT- 99.239%
P1.
Q. Tell me about your job?
Q. You have done mechanical engineering but your are not using that now? How do you find it is justifying your degree?(small grill..could defend well)
Q. What are your challenges as a cricket captain that you faced?( Tried to grill on empathy vs decision making) (defended well)
P2.most grilling
Q. Law of conservation of energy?
Q. Einstein’s law E= mc^2 ..does it violate the law of conservation of energy? Moved to atomic bombs and how does that produce energy..? (Grilled..tried to defend but he was moderately convinced)
P3. I am not working in core field ? Am I doing justice to government?( Kept on crossing me in my ans midway. Did not allow me to speak much.)
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 27:
XLRI BM
97.2/93.4/85.1. Xat percentile: 99.24
3 panelists. 1 in mid 30s others in mid 40s-50s
P1: Introduce Yourself
A: Spoke a bit on previous acads. Scholarships. Debate. Guitar. Poetry and love for non fiction.
P2: how do you form your ideas on the subject of poetry. Explain the process
A: Done
P2: Read us a poem you recently wrote.
A: Read a poem written on Kolkata and how I see the city.
P1: Since you talked of national championship on debate, what was the topic
A: Teachers capability should be judged based on students’ evaluation of the teacher.
P1, P2,P3: Laughs out. Do you support the topic?
A: No sir I dont.
P3:Suggest an alternate way to judge a teacher.
A: Spoke about giving relative weightages to several parameters. For example how the student thinks when assigned with a real life problem. How he later performs in the industry. The application skills imbibed and also some weightage to students’ evaluation.
P1: So your father is a doctor. Other than covid what is the primary problem the health industry is facing.
A: Talked abour Infrastructure and why i feel so.
P2: We also have a critical shortage of doctors in the country. To meet the demand govt is rapidly increasing medical colleges in the country. Your take on this.
A: Talked about the need for quality of quantity. Growth is essential but only when we can assure strict quality control measures. Sufficient faculty equipments patient and training.
P3: But patients is not a problem. They will go wherever they find a place. But yes quality is a factor.
A: Agreed and elaborated a bit more.
P1:Number of doctors produced annually has increased now but condition dont seem to improve. Why is this happening?
A: Tried to give a few points. They seemed moderately convinced and had counter points. Asked them for 30 seconds to think on it.
Spoke about how many doctors (including my batchmates) shift to the private sector which offers better facilities to work with and higher standards of living. But cost of treatment is high so not.many can afford. They resort to govt hospitals but doctors and facilities there is less. Sufficient treatment is often not available.
P2 and P3 looked convinced.
P2: Why mba
A:Explained.
P2:So you are following the herd mentality. Mba after engg
A: explained and elaborated how my line of thinking is.
P1: Favourite subject in engg
A: Process optimisation.
P1: What do you do in it. What mathematical tools do you use.
A: Talked about derivative calculus and what the subject is in general.
P3: Without using any technical terms, explain me derivate calculus.
A: Took 10seconds to think and gave them an example on walking where speed increases gradually. Tried to explain rate via that example.
P2: Okay, I have another example. I am at the bottom of a mountain. I need to get to the top..many paths are available. Explain derivative calculus with this.
A: Brought in the idea of slope. How elevation varies as i cover same distance along several paths.
This was followed by a bried discussion on the books i read etc.
P2: In the previous example of walking you gave, can you tell me the assumption you made?
A: Sir i assumed your velocity did not abruptly change at any point of time. If it did, the function would be discountinous, or the slope would abruptly change making the function non differentiable at that point.
P2 Nods at P1. Okay A, Thank you. Have a great day.
A: wished them back.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 28:
XLRI BM interview experience lasted approx 25 mins
10/12/UG/XAT/workex- 89.67/84.77/87.4(BITS Pilani)/99.43/0
3 Panelists P1,P2,P3
Pleasantries exchanged(asked me about my DP and why I looked tired I said I was hiking before lol )
P1: Have you gone through our website? Which subject did you find interesting?
Me: Sustainable Development.
P1: Hold on a minute, we had a guy come in yesterday who said he hated EVS and here you are saying that is your favourite subject. So I will give you a task where you have to convince me to study that subject in our curriculum.
Me: Talked about how the global temperatures have increased by 1 degree post industrial area and the need to curb emissions is something all we should know especially prospective managers as the global trend moves towards sustainability. ( P1 interrupted)
P1: But why should I care? What if I don’t have to move towards greener solutions?
Me: Sir, I believe it’s not a question of choice as industrial era shifted the focus from manual labour to machines this change is similar and will force (P1 interrupted again)
P1: But say if I’m a marketing guy why would I care about greener solutions isn’t that the part of production guys
Me: Sir there is a concept called green marketing( P1 interrupts again)
P1: What is green marketing?
Me: Marketing of green products. (lol )
P1: Why would I care about the marketing of greener solutions I just want to pitch my product to our customers.
Me: Sir as a part of shifting trend it is the responsibility of marketing guys to clearly demarcate the advantage of greener solutions over conventional solutions.
P1: Ok, can you tell me how does it affect me personally, why should I care about it?
Me: Sir, the onus is on us to safeguard the resources and provide the life that we lived to our younger generations. Suppose if you are 60(blunder) then sure you can live a life the way you are but it’s the younger generations who will suffer.
P1: (laughs) Chinmay -2 points for calling me 60 (F) over to you P2
P2: Chinmay, can you explain E=mc2 doesn’t it violate the law of conservation of energy?
Me: ( had lengthy conversation on this probably around 10 mins) Was able to convice him by stating that how before einsteins theory everyone thought energy and mass were separate things but the idea proved revolutionary because energy and mass could be interchanged according to him. Told about how Big bang, nuclear bombs and hawking principle( related to black holes) are related to einsteins law. ( He tried to dissuade me but I kept my stance by explaining hm with varied examples as stated above)
P2: Ok so what’s so novel about law of conservation of energy, I don’t need to be a scientist to know this. Why should I know the conservation law then? I will directly study Einstein’s principle.
Me: Told how before studying Einstein’s law you need to know basics of thermodynamics and electromagnetics and that its imperative to know the conservation principle and how it relates with these subjects.
P1: So why should I study newtons principle?
Me: Talked how electromagnetics is based on newtons 3rd law.
P1: So, should I skip the first two?
Me: No sir they are the most fundamental the 1st law states that without any external force there is no movement and how that is mathematically represented in second law and then the second law is extrapolated to 3rd law. Told about the fact that we are sitting on earth is an example of 3rd law. Further elucidated that how newtons laws are base of a pyramid and how Einstein’s theory lies on top of it so we shouldn’t skip any of these laws.
P3: Tell me chinmay what do you do in your free time.
Me: Told about how I like JRR Tolkien’s books (P1 interrupts )
P1: So, can you tell me the difference between JK Rowling and Tolkien?
Me: Sir, there is a lot of difference , Tolkien delved so deep that even after his death his son had to collate all his note and release them into different books. He was also a philologist and he developed these stories for his language (elvish ) and not the other way around that Rowling did.
P1: ( laughs)
So if Rowling had developed parseltongue it would’ve been great as well?
Me: (laughed) Probably sir.
P1: So there is a debate that I always have with my daughter. You know right how Rowling had passed comments on transgender people and Tolkien was not a nice person either so do you think this affects the readership?
Me: Sir, there was a Greek experiment where they stored books without their names and then stored book with their names. They found that people cared more when the authors name was printed on the book. Lets say If there is another Tolkien book I’ll probably buy it without thinking much I guess that’s because of the first book I read. So I believe this is sort of a catch-22 situation.
P1: all right over to you P3
P3: So since your favourite subject is fluid mechanics and the interview started with hiking can you tell me how you will use fluid mechanics for hiking?
Me: Sir I will dip a cloth completely in water and tie it above my head my temperature will be much cooler because of evaporative cooling.
P1,P2,P3 looked satisfied
P1: You may log off now chinmay
Pleasantries exchanged
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 29:
BM Interview
GEM ECE Fresher
95/95/77.6
XAT 99.3
1. Started with intro
2. Then some questions about economics as I mentioned it in my intro
3.Then interview took a strange turn. One panelist recognised me from hrm interview.
4. Then started asking me about family business (not mentioned anywhere in the form, so he remembered it from hrm interview)
5. Finally asked HRM or bm
Finished
Lasted approximately 12 minutes
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 30:
BM Interview
BA.LLB Graduate(fresher)
3 male panelist
P1: what are you doing after college
P1 : where have you done internships
P1: differentiate b/w internship under judge and advocate general(mentioned in where) then all open ended qestions and some discussion regarding
– Sociology
– Laws related to culture and history
– Laws intertwined
– Nation
– Society
– Bad cultural practices and law, Etc.
(This went on for more than 15 min and P1 was interrupted by P2 twice but P1 just raised his finger signaling one more qestion both the time)
P2: Most people move to kota after 10th why did you move away from it
(Must have gathered from my profile)
P2: why less marks in 12th
P2: Tell me a concrete solution or idea by which all problems prevailing in judiciary can be solved
P2: (not satisfied) ye sb to generic and h proper bata kuch
P2: (again looking a bit disappointed with ans)
Concrete soln nai h
P3: tell me 3 good and bad things about xlri
P3: Which companies would you choose for placement
You can leave now, Nice having you
Thankyou and Best of luck…
End
Friendly panel
P1 started to have his lunch in btw so that was cool
No grilling as such but show of visible disappointed or disagreement in some ans by p2
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 31:
BM Interview
88/78.2/6.5 (IIIT Jabalpur), Mechanical Engineering
XAT 96.2
48 months workex (36 months at Deloitte USI)
Three male profs (One in 50s, two in their early 40s)
P1: Adjusting camera and angle
Me: Hello Sir, am I audible?
P1: Hello yes but I can’t see you
Me: Sorry Sir my bad (Switched on camera).
Awkward start.
P1: So Saptarshi, what are you doing now?
Me: Sir I’m currently working at Deloitte USI.
P1: Ok can you explain your role?
Me: Answered but did not convey with clarity (as per his reaction)
P1: Okay I did not quite understand.
Me: Told that it was a client relationship management profile in an internal non-client facing team working with a global bank account
P1: So how do you generate revenue?
Me: Explained that I do not have the quantitative assessment of that but it indirectly leads to revenue generation (Gave an example)
P1: Okay so is it a profit center or…..
Me: It is a cost center Sir.
P1: Okay got it. I still couldn’t understand how relationship management is related to client getting into business with you. What is your day-to-day job like?
Me: Explained.
Now he seems somewhat convinced but not completely.
P1: So if they were to remove this cost center, would you be fired first?
Me: Explained (I could see that he was smiling at the end which seemed like a smile of sympathy. LOL)
P1: Ok I’m done you can ask sir (Referring to P2).
P2: So Saptarshi you have mentioned about cars that you are passionate about them. Have you heard of Tata Nexon?
Me: Yes sir
P2: What is the difference between their EV models and the normal one
Me: Explained. P2 convinced.
P2: What are the challenges? Why are people not so keen to buy it yet?
Me: Explained and used the word “Trend” for electric cars.
P2: So why electric cars are the future and how is it the trend? Why not hydrogen cars?
Me: Tried to explain but couldn’t address his hydrogen car question. Focussed on my stance on electric cars only
P2: No but you used the word trend, I want you to justify why electric cars only and why not Hydrogen? Hyundai and Toyota are making Hydrogen cars.
Me: Couldn’t explain on that.
P2: Okay fine. Let me test your managerial skills. So you have been put as a Manager at Honda responsible for capturing market share. What all steps would you take?
Me: Explained about bridging gap between customer’s understanding of Honda’s brand value via aggressive advertisement like Maruti and Hyundai do.
P2: So that is communication. Okay next?
Me: Explained about improving after sales and giving individual attention to customers unlike the competitors whose customer service aren’t upto the mark.
P2: But they already give 5 years warranty so that is good after sales right?
Tried to explain but couldn’t give a proper answer in the heat of moment.
Me: Ok that’s all I’m able to think of at the moment
P2: Okay how about rolling out various models like in the SUV segment?
Me: Told about how their models are outdated and they need to redesign. (Wasn’t so convincing though.
P2: Ok fine. What does Saptarshi mean?
Me: Explained
P2: Do you remember the names of the Rishis?
Me: Yes sir. Gave 6 names and forgot 1 name.
P2: Ok. Sir you can ask now (Referring to P3)
P3: I just have one question for you. Why are your marks low after 10th?
Me: Explained and gave a big speech on how I lost direction and after 2nd year I topped 2 semesters and ended up publishing a research paper in a leading global journal and maintained an upward trajectory until now and also told them that XLRi has been the best call till now of life and even being in this interview was a testament of my upward trajectory.
P3: (very convinced). So your turning point was the research paper?
Me: The paper happened after my turning point and it gave me enough confidence to excel at whatever I undertook after that.
P3: Okay fine.
P2 jumped in. What other calls do you have?
Me: CAP
P2: So you have 4 years of experience and suppose you don’t get XLRI this time, what will you do?
Me: Sir I will try again.
P2: Why will you not join new IIMs? Why only XLRI? (p2 smilingly asks)
Me: Gave a very naïve and not so impactful answer according to me: My roommate from undergrad is currently in 2nd year at XLRI and I spoke to him to understand more about the college. I understood that XLRI differs from the rest which is standing for the greater good that strikes a balance between qualitative and quantitative values.
P1 gives a LOL type of smile and the rest join him.
P2: Okay fine that would be it.
P1: Any questions for us?
Me (Poker face and embarrassed): Sir if I got in, what would be your first advise to me before the curriculum starts
Everybody starts laughing. (My embarrassment took to new heights)
P1: First you get in. There will be plenty of advice here.
Me: Thank you sir. Thank you all for your time.
Some satisfaction that I cracked them up at the end. :p
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 32:
HRM Interview
B.E Aerospace Engineering
XAT – 96.95
19 months work experience – KPMG management consulting
P1 : Where are you taking the interview from?
P1 : Were you in a different city before the pandemic?
P1 : How did the pandemic affect you?
* Mentioned hobbies and reading here*
P1 : Which book are you reading now?
* Permanent Record by Edward Snowden*
P1 : What did you learn from that book?
P1 : What is KPMG’s whistleblower policy?
P1 : Should companies disclose how many times the whistleblower hotline has been used and why?
P1 : * mentions the person you worked with that you disliked SOP answer and asked to elaborate*
P1 : If employees are hesitant to speak clearly in meetings, is it their fault or the lack of a good work culture?
P2 : * mentions a certification I had done and asked questions on why I did it*
P2 : Was your company justified on making you take it even though it was an extra burden?
P2 : If you represented the certification company, how would you get companies like KPMG to make employees take the certification?
P3 : Why do you have less scores in 10+2 ?
P3 : What branch of engineering did you graduate in?
P3 : Aerospace??? Why did you join KPMG after studying Aerospace?
P3: Tell me what d/dx ( tan5x) is
* Gave a wrong answer *
P3: What other topic shall I ask? Is calculus okay??
* I mentioned that I would try to answer*
P3: Nevermind. I’ll give you a statement tell me what you feel about it and if you agree.
” Nowadays we are in the midst of many large policy changes such as farm bills, privatisation, etc. I feel that hasty policies will lead to us repeating or mistakes with more hasty policies”
*Answered*
P3 : Give an example of a policy in the past which was unsuccessful and hence there is a new hasty policy now.
* Answered*
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 33:
10th/12th/xat/worktext: 95/93/98.45/18 months
Btech, Mechanical
3 interviewers
All Male
One was not on seat initially
P1: Hi. How are you
Me: I’m Good Sir
P1: I’m very intrigued why you work for Startup India
Me: Sir since early childhood I had an urge to help the community….
P1 started laughing (last time he smiled in the entire interview)
Me: continued my answer and completed it
P1: so you mean you can’t help by working in business
Answered
P1: tell me one instance where you helped some entity
Answered
P1: no that’s fine but that’s not like your job description. Tell me about regular work
Answered
P1: I’m unable to see the impact. Tell me about another project
Answered
P1: if you wanted to make an impact why didn’t you just open a new startup
Answered
P2: so what’s the organizational structure of Startup India
Answered
P2: What do you infer by “0 defect and 0 effect” as mentioned by PM for Make in India policy
Answered
P2: how is quality checked
Answered
P2: Do you know about the exact framework used
Answered what I knew
P3: ok do you know GoI is infusing pvt talent at ministerial positions.
Me: Yes sir
P3: do you support it?
Me: yes sir
P3: ok tell me it’s disadvantages
Answered
P3: no no. Not asking what can be made better I’m asking the disadvantages
Answered
P3: Why would these people need administrative experiences?
Answered
P2: Are you appearing for upsc
Me: No sir
P1, P2, P3 in unison: Why?
Answered
Okay you can log off
P1 apart from start, always had a straight face
P2 had a straight face too but seemed okay
P3 had a bit of smile throughout
Started 20 mins late.
16 mins interview in total
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 34:
HRM
Acads 8/8/6
XAT: 95.9
3 pannelist M1, M2, M3
M1: What Engineering have you done?
Answered
M1: So do you like Electronics more or communication?
Answered
M1: How would you convert Electronics to Electrical?
Some how answered
M1 not satisfied
M1: How would you give functionality to a metal box?
Vague answer
M1: How would you make a metal box say that im on for a long time please shut it ?
Answered sufficiently
M1: Difference between electronic components and electrical components?
Answered
8 mins passed
M3: How do you feel now?
Said im nervous
M3:Why?
Answered
M3: What is the simillarity between us an Differences?
Answered
M3: Why do you think I asked this question?
Answered (First impressiins matter)
M3: Wrong we are a group and you need to be able to control groups.
M3: Okay so lets say I give you 2lac and you have to invest How would you do it?
Answered
M3: But you have to return us 4lac? Why are you taking the money then?
Answered that I have a chance to make some money for myself
M3: You are a good leader.
Thank you sir
M3: Where are you from?
Answered (Pune)
M3: Okay who was Savatribai?
Almost all interviews Ive given asked this question so was thoroughly prepered which M3 caught on
M3: Seems like you knew this so lets ask you something out of the box.
M3: What do you understand by Labour laws.
Answered (Changing working days)
M3: Give me another example
Answered (Hourly wage cap)
M3: What do you understand by International Labour Organisation.
Answered
M3: Does it consist of only 1 country
Answered
M3 is satisfied and Asks M2 to ask some questions
M2: (Asks only 1 question) Why MBA
Answered
M2: Why not Phd?
Answered
Okay you can leave now
Other than the first interviewer All were chill
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 35:
9/9/7
XAT : 99.94
Electrical engineering
2 years gap for upsc
(Meanwhile pursuing law)
3 panelists
P1 : Tell me about yourself.
Some Qs on career gap and upsc.
P1: BM vs HRM. What is your preference and why?
Did u read HRM curriculum on our website.
Me : I didn’t
P1 : why. You dont care ?
Couldn’t cover it so accepted it saying I was focusing more on BM.
P2 : You watch sitcoms. Why and what are they? Told TBBT. He asked about stereotyping of Indians in them.
I accepted it.
P2 : what did u come to know about American culture and lifestyle from it. I told about marriage system as an example. Arranged in India. I told about particular scene where it is pointed out.
Why MBA after upsc.
Grilling in MBA vs upsc.
End.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 36:
⁃ Is kickboxing a sport in the olympics? (is it a national level sport?) : answered
⁃ Is ethics and business an oxymoron? Speak on this for a few minutes : asked them that I did not know what the word means
⁃ Simplified and said : Ethics and business do not go together.
⁃ Asked my XAT percentile and what other calls do I have : 97.6508 and MDI, CAP and FMS expected
⁃ What has been your view of us as panelists (since I wrote in my SOP that I learnt about non verbal communication) : got a bit flustered
⁃ Can you see all three of us? (Was not sure of how to turn it to gallery view) : said no and they asked me to turn on the gallery view and 1 ma’am gave me instructions on how to do that.
⁃ Why only combat sports and no other sports? : They did not look satisfied with the answer.
⁃ Ma’am said: See Rudra you have nothing in your profile that helps us judge if you’re a decent candidate or not, so give us something academic related. : told them about the case studies I did and my NGO experience.
⁃ Mistakingly called them professors : they corrected me
⁃ Asked if that is a guitar in my background and how long have I been playing it? : told yes and I have been playing for past 7 years
⁃ Asked me how does XLRI gives students the understanding of general management? (I had mentioned that in my SOP) : told them about how an alumni of the college told me about how XL does that.
⁃ Asked me what specializations do I know of : told them Marketing, HR, Strategy, Finance, Operations.
⁃ Which one are you most interested in? : told I am open to learning about the specialization once I enter the campus but as of now I haven’t made my mind about it.
⁃ Still you must incline towards one or two : Told them Marketing and Strategy
⁃ What courses do we offer in marketing and strategy here? : Ma’am sorry I don’t know about that.
⁃ Okay Rudra, we are done here. You can log off.
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 37:
HRM Interview experience
Profile – 80/81/64
XAT 94
4 months work ex in Tech Mahindra (Client- Vodafone)
P1-
1. Who are the competitors of Tech M and Vodafone?
2. Vodafone and Idea merged some time ago how are they doing?
3. If you were employed by Vodafone how would you increase your market share?
4. What if they do not have any money for expenditure?
5. Should they hand over the company to the government?
P2- (focused on commerce background)
1. Why just 64 percent in UG?
2. I believe you need to improve at multitasking. Do you agree?
3. What is ACCA?
4. What is IFRS?
5. What is GAAP?
6. Do you agree with the statement Dr. what comes in Cr. what goes out
7. Do you know about the Companies Act? What are the recent amendments?
P3-
1. What was your role at your job?
2. How many people did you approach on daily basis and what have you learned from them?
3. Have you read the HR curriculum?
4. What are some HR policies at your Workplace?
5. Is there any committee for the prevention of sexual harassment?
6. is it mandatory for companies to make such committees?
P1-
1. Higher you go the lonelier you become. Do you agree with the statement and the reason?
XLRI Personal Interview Experience 38:
Acads-9/6/8
XAT – 98.11 , Fresher Engineer , MALE
3 panelist M1,M2,M3
All above 50(was really intimidating)
M1 – you are in your final year?
Me- yes sir I am in my final year . Currently doing an internship.
M1 – In which organisation . What it does ?
Me – told.
M1 – placements must be over right?
Me – yes sir.
M1 – where are you placed?
Me – In the same company sir
M1- do you know what digital divide is?
Me – answered
M1- what are the various factors for digital divide?
Me – urban-rural ‘ economical
M1- do you think apart from this age is also a factor?
M1 – Can you tell me the difference in both the approaches?
Me – Gave a moderate answer.
M1 – Suppose my mother wants to use a banking app. Suggest some measures to improve the situation?
Me – Sir, I assume your mother understands Hindi (he said yes). Does she understand English? (He nodded).
Me – Sir, then we should give her training modules, app improvement ……
M1 – But which will be a better approach: written documentation or improving the app interface?
Me – Sir, what I have observed is aged people have difficulty in starting the app itself. They find it difficult to search for the required app in the 50-60 apps we have in our phone, so a hybrid approach would be the best way to go.
M1 – But we can also use voice commands?
Me – Yes sir, but aged people can forget how to initiate the basic commands, for example, "Hello Siri, Hello Alexa."
M1 – Have you ever been with someone aged 75?
Me – Not directly, sir.
M1 – Don’t you have grandparents?
Me – Sir, they were too old, so I never actively had a conversation about such topics with them.
M1 – So whose responsibility is it to make the training modules?
Me – Sir, I think all stakeholders will have to give a collaborative effort.
M1 – Are you sure?
Me – Yes, sir.
M1 – So who will be responsible for making training modules and app improvement?
Me – Banks and IT departments.
M1 – Are you sure? Would banks take this responsibility?
Me – Yes sir, because it will improve the user experience and will increase the business of the bank.
M1 – (Smiled and said okay, I am done.)
M2 – What are the challenges to the Indian economy?
Me – Sir, we have two enemies on the western and northern fronts, so lots of resources are used in the military which could have been used in infrastructure and all.
M2 – (Not satisfied, interrupted) But that’s with every country? Anything else?
Me – Sir, we lack in the manufacturing sector.
M2 – (Nodded) Tell me reasons and what are we doing about it?
Me – Infrastructure development, better connectivity, etc.
M2 – Give me social reasons why manufacturing is lacking behind.
Me – Told about the economic, educational divide, etc. We have to import power.
M2 – (Interrupted when I said power) Asked power?
Me – Petroleum imported from the Middle East.
M1 – He is talking about petroleum products.
M2 – Okay, but that’s not a social reason. Tell me a social reason.
Me – I said extreme temperatures (social reasons weren’t coming to mind).
M2 – (Interrupted and said it’s not a social reason but then said why temperature?)
Me – Sir, we have extreme temperatures.
M2 – The Middle East also has extreme temperatures.
Me – Sir, I am comparing it with China.
M2 – (Again said something about the Middle East and then said why temperature?)
Me – Sir, extreme temperatures reduce the efficiency of the workforce.
M2 – Okay, any social reasons?
Me – Sir, caste system in India.
M2 – Explain.
Me – Sir, lower caste people don’t get enough opportunities, etc.
M2 – (Not satisfied, said something.)
Me – Sir, may I elaborate?
M2 – No, no, it’s okay.
M2 – Tell me some recent social issue you have heard.
Me – Joshimath crisis.
M2 – Reasons?
Me – Sir, there are two reasons – explained.
M2 – (Satisfied) So what can we do?
Me – Sir, reallocating them to a stable region would be the best option as that region comes under Schedule 5 of earthquake zones.
M2 – Okay, that’s all from my side.
M3 – Asked me about the caste issue I mentioned to M2.
Me – Tried to give an explanation.
M3 – (Not satisfied) Gave the example of different engineering branches, etc., and said caste is also the same. Needed further explanation of why I said caste.
Me – Again tried to explain.
M3 – (Again tried to explain to me about engineering branches and said there are various branches in engineering, but still any branch can do an IT job. So what’s the matter with caste? He said caste was decided on the basis of what we do.)
Me – I said yes sir, earlier caste was decided on the basis of what work we do, but later the upper castes kept the right to education with themselves……
M3 – (Not satisfied)
Me – Sir, may I elaborate further?
M3 – No, no, it’s okay.
M3 – You have ML, deep neural networks as subjects. Tell me the difference between ML, deep neural networks, and how humans learn.
Me – Was completely blank. Said AI is an umbrella term, ML is a subset… Was going to say deep neural network is a subset of ML but M3 interrupted and said what I was going to say. He said give me the difference.
Me – I was not very sure about the exact difference, so I said sorry sir, I can’t recall.
M3 – (Was looking at a paper, maybe my marksheet) and said but you have it in your syllabus.
Me – Yes sir, but at this moment I can’t recall.
M3 – What’s a deep neural network?
Me – Sorry sir, can’t recall the exact definition.
M3 – What did you learn in deep neural networks?
Me – Basic things like how to make artificial neural networks, etc.
M3 – (Said yes.)
M3 – Okay, that’s it from my side.
M1 – Okay Ashwin, thank you. We are done. You can log off.
Me – Thank you, sir. (Logged off.)
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