Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Telangana
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Filter interviews byIndian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad Placement Interview Questions
Updated
22 Sep 2024
228 interviews found
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. A new manufacturing unit is being setup in a rural location in Denmark for which the company wants to increase its workforce based at that location. However, th...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Candidate should start with explaining a basic process of hiring any individual and rope in interviewer to provide the details/guide you. Hiring process detail can be directly asked too; however, first providing a brief process and then asking gives brownie points. Basic hiring process: Advertisement of Job -> Applications received -> First level of review -> Segregating applications according to departments -> Department level review -> Interview -> Offer made -> Offer Accepted Upon asking the details from the interviewer, he provided a sheetwhich had following information that could have been easily interpreted. (This should be given by interviewer when asked by interviewee) 1) The number of application received were very less 2) Time taken for reviewing applications were very high 3) The number of applications dropped drastically at first four steps 4) Last three steps were fine. However conversion ratio was less than 5% Once the above information is provided, interviewer must ask for the possible reasons for each statement from the candidate. Following reasons should be provided by the interviewee: 1) New hires, laterals, internal transfer - Not many people looking for job, employment rate very high, not enough students, lack of skills explain first two. For internal transfer rural location and inconvenience caused is the main concern 2) Number of HR people employed very less or not enough skill, hence time taken very high. Due to less skill full HR more applications are send to wrong departments hence overall process takes time 3) Department could be very stressed with existing work; hence not enough time devoted to hiring leading to loss in applications.
Recommended solution should be provided by candidate. Following are a few: 1) Open the plant close to city not only within Denmark but also other countries where talent pool is high 2) Advertise jobs at right portals. Look for international hires too 3) Separate the functions – sales and engineering can be located at different places than manufacturing setup 4) Increase HR work force, train them to evaluate profiles properly before sending to department review 5) Incentivize department by aligning their job responsibility accordingly Summarize the case. [Not more than 20 seconds!]
PI questions
•Tell me about a situation where you did something inappropriate.
•What do you think your previous company is doing right in terms of motivating Indian employees? (Since my previous company is MNC) This was a stress interview in terms of kind of questions asked. Your ability to handle difficult questions was being tested
Tips: As you can see the case isn’t much hard. The focus is more on structured approach and the way you are involving the interviewer. This was the feedback that I received. 9) Scoping and summary was good 10) Could have involved the interviewer more In general for SMC, prepare for PI. Very important component
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Candidate should start with explaining a basic process of hiring any individual and rope in interviewer to provide the details/guide you. Hiring process detail can be directly asked too; however, first providing a brief process and then asking gives brownie points. Basic hiring process: Advertisement of Job -> Applications received -> First level of review -> Segregating applications according to departments -> Department level review -> Interview -> Offer made -> Offer Accepted Upon asking the details from the interviewer, he provided a sheetwhich had following information that could have been easily interpreted. (This should be given by interviewer when asked by interviewee) 1) The number of application received were very less 2) Time taken for reviewing applications were very high 3) The number of applications dropped drastically at first four steps 4) Last three steps were fine. However conversion ratio was less than 5% Once the above information is provided, interviewer must ask for the possible reasons for each statement from the candidate. Following reasons should be provided by the interviewee: 1) New hires, laterals, internal transfer - Not many people looking for job, employment rate very high, not enough students, lack of skills explain first two. For internal transfer rural location and inconvenience caused is the main concern 2) Number of HR people employed very less or not enough skill, hence time taken very high. Due to less skill full HR more applications are send to wrong departments hence overall process takes time 3) Department could be very stressed with existing work; hence not enough time devoted to hiring leading to loss in applications.
Recommended solution should be provided by candidate. Following are a few: 1) Open the plant close to city not only within Denmark but also other countries where talent pool is high 2) Advertise jobs at right portals. Look for international hires too 3) Separate the functions – sales and engineering can be located at different places than manufacturing setup 4) Increase HR work force, train them to evaluate profiles properly before sending to department review 5) Incentivize department by aligning their job responsibility accordingly Summarize the case. [Not more than 20 seconds!]
PI questions
•Tell me about a situation where you did something inappropriate.
•What do you think your previous company is doing right in terms of motivating Indian employees? (Since my previous company is MNC) This was a stress interview in terms of kind of questions asked. Your ability to handle difficult questions was being tested
Tips: As you can see the case isn’t much hard. The focus is more on structured approach and the way you are involving the interviewer. This was the feedback that I received. 9) Scoping and summary was good 10) Could have involved the interviewer more In general for SMC, prepare for PI. Very important component
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. •How will you manage someone in your team who is very aggressive?
- Q2. •How will you set up a new department?
- Q3. •Tell me about your work experience abroad? Did you experience any cultural shock?
- Q4. •How would you manage a project? If suddenly some uncertain situation arises, how would you deal with it?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: This interview was completely a behavioral plus a situation based interview. Interviewer asked about various situations and asked me what and how I would react to or manage those situations.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This round was a mix of PI questions (mostly resume based) and small cases. Some case questions asked were
•How would you decide what transportation mode to choose for movement of materials?
•What is the market size of golf equipment in South Africa?
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This round was again a mix of PI questions and cases. Some case questions asked were
•What is the market size of lighting fixtures in Middle-East?
•How would you devise a market entry strategy in Middle-East for a US based lighting equipment manufacturer?
•How would you reduce the cost of inbound logistics at an automotive facility?
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This round was mostly to check fitment. A lot of personal questions were asked. Additionally some cases were asked too
•How will you improve the efficiency of Kendriya Vidyalayas (I was a student here, so this question). Develop a linear program to achieve this. (Again due to my background)
•List 10 different uses of a refrigerator for an Eskimo?
Tips: Be very clear about the question “Why PRTM”? This will come in all the rounds.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: This interview was completely a behavioral plus a situation based interview. Interviewer asked about various situations and asked me what and how I would react to or manage those situations.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This round was a mix of PI questions (mostly resume based) and small cases. Some case questions asked were
•How would you decide what transportation mode to choose for movement of materials?
•What is the market size of golf equipment in South Africa?
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This round was again a mix of PI questions and cases. Some case questions asked were
•What is the market size of lighting fixtures in Middle-East?
•How would you devise a market entry strategy in Middle-East for a US based lighting equipment manufacturer?
•How would you reduce the cost of inbound logistics at an automotive facility?
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This round was mostly to check fitment. A lot of personal questions were asked. Additionally some cases were asked too
•How will you improve the efficiency of Kendriya Vidyalayas (I was a student here, so this question). Develop a linear program to achieve this. (Again due to my background)
•List 10 different uses of a refrigerator for an Eskimo?
Tips: Be very clear about the question “Why PRTM”? This will come in all the rounds.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Number of roller coaster rides in the US in a year.(Case Type- Guesstimate)
- Q2. Determine if a PE firm should invest in a timeshare based travel company- they've been making some profits but have now stagnated
- Q3. Was given a slide deck and asked to identify the problem and present the case
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case solving as well as PI, 4 rounds of interviews.
Since I had work-ex as a journalist- will you be able to work as a consultant- do you have the requisite skill set- I spoke about my strengths which were unique- was asked to give concrete examples.
Tips: Practice, Practice, Practice and do as many different types of cases as possible. I didn't have a very quantitative background, so did my math with all the steps but ensured it was correct- make sure you don't make calculation errors
Round: Case Study Interview
Tips: The case went pretty well. Takeaways- Structure is very important. By the end of case prep you should be drawing up your own frameworks. Victor Cheng's videos are a good place to start. Along with group case prep, doing cases individually is a good way to internalize the concepts. Core term concepts have to be very clear. Consult and get feedback from the interviewer at every stage while solving the case
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The company was a scientific instruments company- sales data and market share data had to be analyzed- the company was present in too many categories and hence wasn't being able to specialize. However they rated extremely high on service- this mean the sales force was very skilled but was spread thin due to the number of categories they were present in. For this round my key reccos: 1. Go through all the slides- each slide will have a key take away 2. A story will start forming in your head- this is where listening carefully in class and practicing cases kicks in. 3. Write the points on the board simultaneously- doing them on paper first and then writing on the white board wastes time. 4. Reference page numbers on the white board so when you're making the presentation you aren't fumbling through the pages to find the relevant numbers. 5. Practice presentation skills.
Round 4 Partner round:
This round was with a partner where they asked me why a journalist wanted to become a consultant and if I'd be able to cope with the long hours. I gave an honest answer for both- this is better than having standard interview answers. I had bullet points for 50 or so PI questions. Other takeaways from the year: 1. Identify what you want to achieve in this year- and make a plan to achieve it before you get here- because during the year there isn't much time. 2. I did not have conventional corporate work ex- and for someone with a similar profile- you will have to work extra hard at mastering the concepts. 3. There's nothing that can replace practice for the case prep- so do as many cases as possible. 4. Speaking to alums about their experiences is very helpful- seek all the help you can get. 5. Begin CV review by August.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Case solving as well as PI, 4 rounds of interviews.
Since I had work-ex as a journalist- will you be able to work as a consultant- do you have the requisite skill set- I spoke about my strengths which were unique- was asked to give concrete examples.
Tips: Practice, Practice, Practice and do as many different types of cases as possible. I didn't have a very quantitative background, so did my math with all the steps but ensured it was correct- make sure you don't make calculation errors
Round: Case Study Interview
Tips: The case went pretty well. Takeaways- Structure is very important. By the end of case prep you should be drawing up your own frameworks. Victor Cheng's videos are a good place to start. Along with group case prep, doing cases individually is a good way to internalize the concepts. Core term concepts have to be very clear. Consult and get feedback from the interviewer at every stage while solving the case
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The company was a scientific instruments company- sales data and market share data had to be analyzed- the company was present in too many categories and hence wasn't being able to specialize. However they rated extremely high on service- this mean the sales force was very skilled but was spread thin due to the number of categories they were present in. For this round my key reccos: 1. Go through all the slides- each slide will have a key take away 2. A story will start forming in your head- this is where listening carefully in class and practicing cases kicks in. 3. Write the points on the board simultaneously- doing them on paper first and then writing on the white board wastes time. 4. Reference page numbers on the white board so when you're making the presentation you aren't fumbling through the pages to find the relevant numbers. 5. Practice presentation skills.
Round 4 Partner round:
This round was with a partner where they asked me why a journalist wanted to become a consultant and if I'd be able to cope with the long hours. I gave an honest answer for both- this is better than having standard interview answers. I had bullet points for 50 or so PI questions. Other takeaways from the year: 1. Identify what you want to achieve in this year- and make a plan to achieve it before you get here- because during the year there isn't much time. 2. I did not have conventional corporate work ex- and for someone with a similar profile- you will have to work extra hard at mastering the concepts. 3. There's nothing that can replace practice for the case prep- so do as many cases as possible. 4. Speaking to alums about their experiences is very helpful- seek all the help you can get. 5. Begin CV review by August.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Case Type- An exhaustive written case
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case Narration
I had no break between any of the three interviews. After back to back 2 rounds, I was handed a 25 slides deck with loads of numbers, charts and graphs and interviews of key management personnel of the company. The interviewer gave me exactly 30 minutes to:
- Read the case and make sense of the bigger picture
- Analyze the numbers, charts and graphs and identify the trends
- Identify the potential problems (what the company is doing wrong)
- Try and figure out possible reasons for each of these problems
- Lay out an approach if I were to do this assignment in real life
- Use the white board in order to make a presentation to him (he was acting as the CEO of the Client company)
While it is extremely difficult to reproduce the case facts and approach here, I will cover some Dos and Don’ts below
Tips: Some Do’s:
1. Skim the case in the first 2-3 minutes identifying the flow of the case and how data heavy it is.
2. Spend the next 10-12 minutes quickly going through the slides and jotting down takeaways from each slide. Typically, each slide won’t have more than 1 -2 key takeaways.
3. Spend the next 5 minutes linking everything together and putting a story together and identifying 3-4 top issues.
4. Strictly reserve the last 10 minutes to use the white board and jot down the key issues, supporting numbers and your approach if you were to solve this case in real life. Do not over-write, just keep it as a reference for the Partner.
5. There might be client management interviews in the slide deck – they serve as important guides in order to identify the issues.
Some Don’ts:
1. Do not miss (at least) glancing through any slide. Make sure you cover all slides. It’s embarrassing to not know what’s on a particular slide at all in case the partner refers to it during the discussion.
2. Do not treat it as a normal case interview conversation. This is a business presentation, and hence the softer aspects of presentation get noticed all the more
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Case Narration
I had no break between any of the three interviews. After back to back 2 rounds, I was handed a 25 slides deck with loads of numbers, charts and graphs and interviews of key management personnel of the company. The interviewer gave me exactly 30 minutes to:
- Read the case and make sense of the bigger picture
- Analyze the numbers, charts and graphs and identify the trends
- Identify the potential problems (what the company is doing wrong)
- Try and figure out possible reasons for each of these problems
- Lay out an approach if I were to do this assignment in real life
- Use the white board in order to make a presentation to him (he was acting as the CEO of the Client company)
While it is extremely difficult to reproduce the case facts and approach here, I will cover some Dos and Don’ts below
Tips: Some Do’s:
1. Skim the case in the first 2-3 minutes identifying the flow of the case and how data heavy it is.
2. Spend the next 10-12 minutes quickly going through the slides and jotting down takeaways from each slide. Typically, each slide won’t have more than 1 -2 key takeaways.
3. Spend the next 5 minutes linking everything together and putting a story together and identifying 3-4 top issues.
4. Strictly reserve the last 10 minutes to use the white board and jot down the key issues, supporting numbers and your approach if you were to solve this case in real life. Do not over-write, just keep it as a reference for the Partner.
5. There might be client management interviews in the slide deck – they serve as important guides in order to identify the issues.
Some Don’ts:
1. Do not miss (at least) glancing through any slide. Make sure you cover all slides. It’s embarrassing to not know what’s on a particular slide at all in case the partner refers to it during the discussion.
2. Do not treat it as a normal case interview conversation. This is a business presentation, and hence the softer aspects of presentation get noticed all the more
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. There is a college in Malaysia and it has been witnessing a fall in the number of students enrolled every year.(Case Type-Profitability)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There were no PI questions. I was only told one thing before he laid out the case facts – ‘Vikas, let me warn you upfront, this is going to be a very complex case and nobody today in the interviews has been able to crack it.” I do not know whether that was indeed the case or it was just a psychological ploy to make the circumstances more challenging.
One important skill that is helpful in such cases is the ability to ‘Zoom in’ and ‘Zoom Out’ frequently. Such cases would require you to keep the bigger picture in mind and not get too bogged down at any time of the case. Remember the interviewer is looking for your skills and ability and not for the solution of the case
Tips: It was extremely important to be calm in this interview as I kept meeting dead ends. I think one of the qualities being tested here was how the candidate reacts in adverse circumstances. These are the cases where being structured helps immensely as there is a high possibility that you might not get to the right answer. My advice would be to keep practicing this skill as much as possible, until it becomes a habit and comes out naturally
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: There were no PI questions. I was only told one thing before he laid out the case facts – ‘Vikas, let me warn you upfront, this is going to be a very complex case and nobody today in the interviews has been able to crack it.” I do not know whether that was indeed the case or it was just a psychological ploy to make the circumstances more challenging.
One important skill that is helpful in such cases is the ability to ‘Zoom in’ and ‘Zoom Out’ frequently. Such cases would require you to keep the bigger picture in mind and not get too bogged down at any time of the case. Remember the interviewer is looking for your skills and ability and not for the solution of the case
Tips: It was extremely important to be calm in this interview as I kept meeting dead ends. I think one of the qualities being tested here was how the candidate reacts in adverse circumstances. These are the cases where being structured helps immensely as there is a high possibility that you might not get to the right answer. My advice would be to keep practicing this skill as much as possible, until it becomes a habit and comes out naturally
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Why do you want to switch from a finance role to consulting role.
- Q2. Don’t you think you are moving away from your core strengths (finance) and becoming a generalist?
- Q3. Why don’t you want to go back to KPMG at a senior position?
- Q4. What do we do at Parthenon?
- Q5. Estimate the number of printers in India (Case Type-Guesstimate)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: HR Interview
Experience: this round was a mix of PI questions as well as one Guesstimate. The interviewer was trying to gauge my motivation of applying to Parthenon and the reason of switching from a core finance profile to consulting role. There were a few counter questions to whatever I had to say about my motivation, essentially to determine whether or not they should be spending their time interviewing me.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: As we know, there is no right or wrong approach or answer such questions. I started by breaking down the problem on the basis of use of the product. I divided the printers into corporate uses, residential uses and other uses.
As for corporate uses, I further divided it into Tier I, Tier II and Tier III cities. For each of the cities, I used the following approach:
India’s total population >> Population in Tier I / II / III cities / >> Division of population into age brackets >> Estimation of working population basis the age classification >> Estimate number of working people per printer Summing up the 3 city types, this would give total printers for corporate use.
For residential uses, I used the income approach for households and used the number of households in India as the starting point. Number of households >> Classification on the basis of Rural and Urban households >> Classification on the basis of income of each household >> Assumed a hit % for households only above a certain income level in Urban cities
For other uses, I primarily had Schools and Colleges in mind and went about estimating this using the population as the starting point.
India’s total population >> Population in Rural and urban >> Division of population into age brackets >> Estimate school and college going population >> Estimate average number of students per School / College >> Estimate number of printers per School / College Add everything up. Ask yourself whether the number looks realistic – Give your opinion whether it’s a conservative estimate or an optimistic estimate. Summarize the case.
Tips: Be very confident during PI. That is one thing which is completely in your control. The more you think about it and practice, the better you will get at it. PI is the only way for the recruiter to know you as a person, the rationale about your choices in life and whether you can stand your ground when pushed a bit. A good PI is more than half the job done (for that round).
The case was not a very tough one and since we had already spent considerable time on PI, the interviewer told me to go real quick about the case. There is no right or wrong answer to guesstimates, but there are certain things that you must follow in order to seem structured. A few do’s for guesstimates:
1. Narrow down meaning of the “product” ask clarifying questions
2. Think of various uses of the product and break the problem down.
3. Walk the interviewer through at each step – He wants to know how you are approaching the problem!
4. Give your prima facie opinion whether the answer looks reasonable – it is absolutely ok to arrive at an answer which is way off its mark
5. If possible, tell the interviewer the single most assumption you made in your approach To sum up it, guesstimates are not as arbitrary as they might look. There is a method to the madness
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: this round was a mix of PI questions as well as one Guesstimate. The interviewer was trying to gauge my motivation of applying to Parthenon and the reason of switching from a core finance profile to consulting role. There were a few counter questions to whatever I had to say about my motivation, essentially to determine whether or not they should be spending their time interviewing me.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: As we know, there is no right or wrong approach or answer such questions. I started by breaking down the problem on the basis of use of the product. I divided the printers into corporate uses, residential uses and other uses.
As for corporate uses, I further divided it into Tier I, Tier II and Tier III cities. For each of the cities, I used the following approach:
India’s total population >> Population in Tier I / II / III cities / >> Division of population into age brackets >> Estimation of working population basis the age classification >> Estimate number of working people per printer Summing up the 3 city types, this would give total printers for corporate use.
For residential uses, I used the income approach for households and used the number of households in India as the starting point. Number of households >> Classification on the basis of Rural and Urban households >> Classification on the basis of income of each household >> Assumed a hit % for households only above a certain income level in Urban cities
For other uses, I primarily had Schools and Colleges in mind and went about estimating this using the population as the starting point.
India’s total population >> Population in Rural and urban >> Division of population into age brackets >> Estimate school and college going population >> Estimate average number of students per School / College >> Estimate number of printers per School / College Add everything up. Ask yourself whether the number looks realistic – Give your opinion whether it’s a conservative estimate or an optimistic estimate. Summarize the case.
Tips: Be very confident during PI. That is one thing which is completely in your control. The more you think about it and practice, the better you will get at it. PI is the only way for the recruiter to know you as a person, the rationale about your choices in life and whether you can stand your ground when pushed a bit. A good PI is more than half the job done (for that round).
The case was not a very tough one and since we had already spent considerable time on PI, the interviewer told me to go real quick about the case. There is no right or wrong answer to guesstimates, but there are certain things that you must follow in order to seem structured. A few do’s for guesstimates:
1. Narrow down meaning of the “product” ask clarifying questions
2. Think of various uses of the product and break the problem down.
3. Walk the interviewer through at each step – He wants to know how you are approaching the problem!
4. Give your prima facie opinion whether the answer looks reasonable – it is absolutely ok to arrive at an answer which is way off its mark
5. If possible, tell the interviewer the single most assumption you made in your approach To sum up it, guesstimates are not as arbitrary as they might look. There is a method to the madness
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Guesstimate the number of taxis in Mumbai
- Q2. Banks these days are having an asset and liability mismatch. Also, they are sitting on toxic assets. Given this, it is becoming difficult to lend to infrastruct...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 1. Guesstimate approach was standard (demand side and supply side, estimate number of residents, travel frequency, distance, customer pooling etc to come up with a reasonable number)
2. On the bank question, suggested some points like:
•Infrastructure bonds – which will make only willing customers take up the risk of infrastructure projects instead of banks
which are lending out the general public’s money
•Private equity investment – infra projects have a toll collection revenue model that returns investments adequately. Private
participation should be encouraged in this matter. Was told to focus on the mismatch in maturity of assets and liabilities, which
led me on the right track and helped me hit the nail on the head.
•Pension funds – because these are investments are long term in nature as are infrastructure projects. Spoke about the new
National Pension System for government employees which is a defined contribution scheme as opposed to the erstwhile defined
benefit scheme. The fact that this has been opened up to the private sector also provides opportunities for more sources of
funds. Gave some figures on the existing corpus size (I had worked on a project on the National Pension Scheme)
Was made an offer :)
Tips: As I realized this last interview would be make or break, I literally took my own sweet time before answering. Remove the pressure on yourself to enable you to think rationally! Every round is a new round and gives you the opportunity to secure the job. Treat it like a conversation at the end of the day. Do remind yourself that it is not the end of the line – this thought, more than making you quit the venture actually gives you the ability to approach a situation objectively. Also realize that no firm is doing you a favour – if you’ve come this far – you’ve clearly earned it and all you have to do is think about what you want to say and how you intend to seal the deal :)
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: 1. Guesstimate approach was standard (demand side and supply side, estimate number of residents, travel frequency, distance, customer pooling etc to come up with a reasonable number)
2. On the bank question, suggested some points like:
•Infrastructure bonds – which will make only willing customers take up the risk of infrastructure projects instead of banks
which are lending out the general public’s money
•Private equity investment – infra projects have a toll collection revenue model that returns investments adequately. Private
participation should be encouraged in this matter. Was told to focus on the mismatch in maturity of assets and liabilities, which
led me on the right track and helped me hit the nail on the head.
•Pension funds – because these are investments are long term in nature as are infrastructure projects. Spoke about the new
National Pension System for government employees which is a defined contribution scheme as opposed to the erstwhile defined
benefit scheme. The fact that this has been opened up to the private sector also provides opportunities for more sources of
funds. Gave some figures on the existing corpus size (I had worked on a project on the National Pension Scheme)
Was made an offer :)
Tips: As I realized this last interview would be make or break, I literally took my own sweet time before answering. Remove the pressure on yourself to enable you to think rationally! Every round is a new round and gives you the opportunity to secure the job. Treat it like a conversation at the end of the day. Do remind yourself that it is not the end of the line – this thought, more than making you quit the venture actually gives you the ability to approach a situation objectively. Also realize that no firm is doing you a favour – if you’ve come this far – you’ve clearly earned it and all you have to do is think about what you want to say and how you intend to seal the deal :)
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. How should banks view the proliferation of online banking and how should they strategise the branch banking/online banking split ?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: •We discussed about the advantages of online banking from a customer’s perspective – saving time (queues, transaction time), getting value added services (online shopping) and established that there would be high demand side pressure for online services
•Segmented population and found mid-high income groups being the target audience (with internet access, requisite income and proximity and service time at bank branch being influencing factors). Renny pointed out that the unorganized sector would prefer branch banking if cash transactions are common
•We then talked about the advantages from a bank’s perspective (saving on manpower costs, real estate etc)
•In terms of strategy we talked about identifying geographies, promoting online services, offering competitive products etc
Tips: •In such a situation, you might find that scoping a question is becoming tough if you aren’t receiving active participation from the interviewer
•Proceed to explain your own understanding of the problem and try make a structure if you see one.
•If you stop seeing a structure – don’t hesitate to put your pen down and start making conversation about what you feel are the major issues. List down 4 or 5 such issues. The need to create and conform to a structure can become a liability at times like these, but trust me, your ability to merely survive a round like this may result in your being given an offer.
•
Can’t undermine the importance of dynamically adjusting yourself to an interview. In this case, it’s better to think freely and give a few good points than to draw a blank at the second branch of the case
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: •We discussed about the advantages of online banking from a customer’s perspective – saving time (queues, transaction time), getting value added services (online shopping) and established that there would be high demand side pressure for online services
•Segmented population and found mid-high income groups being the target audience (with internet access, requisite income and proximity and service time at bank branch being influencing factors). Renny pointed out that the unorganized sector would prefer branch banking if cash transactions are common
•We then talked about the advantages from a bank’s perspective (saving on manpower costs, real estate etc)
•In terms of strategy we talked about identifying geographies, promoting online services, offering competitive products etc
Tips: •In such a situation, you might find that scoping a question is becoming tough if you aren’t receiving active participation from the interviewer
•Proceed to explain your own understanding of the problem and try make a structure if you see one.
•If you stop seeing a structure – don’t hesitate to put your pen down and start making conversation about what you feel are the major issues. List down 4 or 5 such issues. The need to create and conform to a structure can become a liability at times like these, but trust me, your ability to merely survive a round like this may result in your being given an offer.
•
Can’t undermine the importance of dynamically adjusting yourself to an interview. In this case, it’s better to think freely and give a few good points than to draw a blank at the second branch of the case
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. The firm is an EPC firm dealing with a client in power sector. How should it reduce costs?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Recommended Approach
- Broke down the value chain of the business – basically everything from design to delivery
- Asked about the business model. Was told to explain what I already know / make assumptions about the same. Gave my understanding about the business – that there would be a set of requirements given by the client possibly through a standardized procurement process involving floating of an RFP. This would be followed by design of structures, procurement of materials, construction and hand-over
- Understood the various elements of costs and dwelt on each
- Notable points/suggestions included i) making provisions on cost escalations during framing of the contract, ii) protecting against obsolescence of material in case of delay initiated by the client, iii) supplier rationalization for securing raw material, iv) some suggestions on achieving scale in transportation either by sub-contracting or some other means.
Suggestions weren’t fabulous so the case only went moderately well
Tips: •Don’t expect every interview to go in the same way. Snap out of your previous one and expect something new in the next one. This interview was open ended and required a lot of driving by the interviewee.
•Don’t get stuck in points where you aren’t able to ideate. Think of the interviewer’s time as limited. If you are in a spot – offer to give some ideas in an area where you think you might be comfortable. No one will ever refuse. He would love to have you bore him a little less !
•There are some cases which are just not up your alley. Again, don’t flog yourself for not aceing it.
•For a bunch of reasons your performance might not be consistent in a set of interviews. All your psychological phenomena come into the picture – overconfidence (the last one went so well, this is a piece of cake !),
denial (I can’t be screwing up this case – there must be something wrong with either the question or the interviewer
), nervousness(Oh my god ! This guy is a partner with McKinsey !)
or just white-noise (revenue minus cost…..bzzzzzz…bzzzzzz….where was I?
• If you rock one interview and pass another, you will typically get a third interview so don’t worry if you don’t own the case
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Recommended Approach
- Broke down the value chain of the business – basically everything from design to delivery
- Asked about the business model. Was told to explain what I already know / make assumptions about the same. Gave my understanding about the business – that there would be a set of requirements given by the client possibly through a standardized procurement process involving floating of an RFP. This would be followed by design of structures, procurement of materials, construction and hand-over
- Understood the various elements of costs and dwelt on each
- Notable points/suggestions included i) making provisions on cost escalations during framing of the contract, ii) protecting against obsolescence of material in case of delay initiated by the client, iii) supplier rationalization for securing raw material, iv) some suggestions on achieving scale in transportation either by sub-contracting or some other means.
Suggestions weren’t fabulous so the case only went moderately well
Tips: •Don’t expect every interview to go in the same way. Snap out of your previous one and expect something new in the next one. This interview was open ended and required a lot of driving by the interviewee.
•Don’t get stuck in points where you aren’t able to ideate. Think of the interviewer’s time as limited. If you are in a spot – offer to give some ideas in an area where you think you might be comfortable. No one will ever refuse. He would love to have you bore him a little less !
•There are some cases which are just not up your alley. Again, don’t flog yourself for not aceing it.
•For a bunch of reasons your performance might not be consistent in a set of interviews. All your psychological phenomena come into the picture – overconfidence (the last one went so well, this is a piece of cake !),
denial (I can’t be screwing up this case – there must be something wrong with either the question or the interviewer
), nervousness(Oh my god ! This guy is a partner with McKinsey !)
or just white-noise (revenue minus cost…..bzzzzzz…bzzzzzz….where was I?
• If you rock one interview and pass another, you will typically get a third interview so don’t worry if you don’t own the case
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. How much land would would you allocate to the new capital of Andra pradesh ?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Never underestimate the importance of PI. I wish to lay emphasis on PI questions as it can be used as a metric to judge the ‘drive’ of a candidate and Sasi made it explicit that he wanted to test my ‘drive’ by understanding how I went about developing my musical skills – which happened to be a stand-out section in my extra acads. Also, the more structured you are in your answers the more impressive it would come across. To give you an exerpt:
Sasi: “So you chose to study economics at IIT (interesting choice) then you picked up music at IIT, then I suppose you would have had to balance your academic goals with your music right?”
Me: “Sir, there are three parts to your question as I understand it: 1) Why did I choose economics at IIT, 2) How did I work upon my music ? 3) How did I trade one off against the other?”
Sasi: “Let’s stick with the question on the music” Me: “ Sir, I look at this as a 5 step process:
1- Listen to more music [ For this I contacted seniors and got myself hundreds of GB of music on my harddisk]
2- Sing and listen to myself sing [ Used a software called Audacity where I would record and replay to myself and
understood inconsistency in tone, pitch, volume and beat]
3- Learn singing techniques like pitch control, vibrato, falsetto, runs and riffs [ looked at videos of vocal coaches on
youtube like Eric Arceneaux
Round: Case Study Interview
Tips: •So this being my first interview, there were jitters – but Sasi made me feel very comfortable
• PI set a good tone to get cracking
•Honestly, when I heard the question I didn’t feel like I’ve got this under the belt. It takes time for a case to build up along the way
•I made it a point to keep voicing out my thoughts, interjecting with “one moment please!”, “I need a little bit of time with this” to which the response invariably was “take your time”
•At times, thoughts don’t necessarily flow in the form of a tree – but jag around. Don’t flog yourself in order to come back on track. It is perfectly okay to talk about issues, considerations and concepts in order to engage your interviewer unless he forces you on track.
•You are actually being tested for your ability to come up with a bunch of relevant points on the topic, your ability to make smooth conversation in a professional context, and your ability to keep your cool. Don’t make an imaginary score chart in your head corresponding to the tree diagram that you’ve been used to practicing. To reiterate, McKinsey cases can be unstructured.
•I struggled a bit with math but I was able to laugh it off. I really doubt people judge you really harshly if you are making mistakes within the realm of human nature. Keep it together, offer a laugh if you can and move on.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Never underestimate the importance of PI. I wish to lay emphasis on PI questions as it can be used as a metric to judge the ‘drive’ of a candidate and Sasi made it explicit that he wanted to test my ‘drive’ by understanding how I went about developing my musical skills – which happened to be a stand-out section in my extra acads. Also, the more structured you are in your answers the more impressive it would come across. To give you an exerpt:
Sasi: “So you chose to study economics at IIT (interesting choice) then you picked up music at IIT, then I suppose you would have had to balance your academic goals with your music right?”
Me: “Sir, there are three parts to your question as I understand it: 1) Why did I choose economics at IIT, 2) How did I work upon my music ? 3) How did I trade one off against the other?”
Sasi: “Let’s stick with the question on the music” Me: “ Sir, I look at this as a 5 step process:
1- Listen to more music [ For this I contacted seniors and got myself hundreds of GB of music on my harddisk]
2- Sing and listen to myself sing [ Used a software called Audacity where I would record and replay to myself and
understood inconsistency in tone, pitch, volume and beat]
3- Learn singing techniques like pitch control, vibrato, falsetto, runs and riffs [ looked at videos of vocal coaches on
youtube like Eric Arceneaux
Round: Case Study Interview
Tips: •So this being my first interview, there were jitters – but Sasi made me feel very comfortable
• PI set a good tone to get cracking
•Honestly, when I heard the question I didn’t feel like I’ve got this under the belt. It takes time for a case to build up along the way
•I made it a point to keep voicing out my thoughts, interjecting with “one moment please!”, “I need a little bit of time with this” to which the response invariably was “take your time”
•At times, thoughts don’t necessarily flow in the form of a tree – but jag around. Don’t flog yourself in order to come back on track. It is perfectly okay to talk about issues, considerations and concepts in order to engage your interviewer unless he forces you on track.
•You are actually being tested for your ability to come up with a bunch of relevant points on the topic, your ability to make smooth conversation in a professional context, and your ability to keep your cool. Don’t make an imaginary score chart in your head corresponding to the tree diagram that you’ve been used to practicing. To reiterate, McKinsey cases can be unstructured.
•I struggled a bit with math but I was able to laugh it off. I really doubt people judge you really harshly if you are making mistakes within the realm of human nature. Keep it together, offer a laugh if you can and move on.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
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