Well interestingly just as the MI series (the Tom Cruise one)had three parts I also had three MIs(Mock interviews in my case). (PJ!!!)
Most of the people interviewing us in TIME were IIM alumnus and really really brainy people. Probably some of the smartest people I have met in my entire life and that includes that person in the mirror who I see daily. I had a total of three Personal Interview Sessions and I will recount one of them so as to give you an idea about the Mis.
My first interview was taken by two guys probably in their early to mid thirties. While one of them did most of the talking, nevertheless whenever the other guy asked questions they were equally incisive.
I will give you a conversation type account of this interview.
They already had a copy of my resume and also details regarding the calls that I had from various B-Schools.
I went in and wished them good morning. They responded warmly and asked me take a seat.
I will refer to the interviewers as M1 and M2.
3rd Degree
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M2 (with a smile)- Before we start asking any questions tell us something about yourself
I:- Gave them brief info about my family, talked about my school life, and then college life, talked about the various activities I was involved in college.
M1:- Oh so you are interested in Hindi Literature (I had told them that I was involved with the Hindi Literary Association in college), tell me something about the writing style of Premchand.
I:- (I was lucky that I had read one of Premchand's novel-Godaan) Told them how Premchand's characters are very close to real life, how they are not defined in black and white and all have shades of gray and stuff like that.
M1 looked impressed.
And now M2 took complete control of the interrogation.
M2: So you have done your B.Tech from VIT in Electronics & Communication. Tell me why did you take up Electronics.
I: Told him how much interested I was in Defence Aviation and since there were not many options available to do Aeronautical Engineering this was the closest I could get to my field of interest.
M2:- Oh so you are interested in Defence Aviation
M2:- Ok, Amit tell us how does an airplane flies and please keep it simple because we don’t have much knowledge in this field (with a smile on his face).
As I found out later besides being an IIM alumnus he was also an aeronautical engineer from IIT.
I:- Told them about the forces acting on an airplane; Lift, Drag, Gravity etc. wind flowing under the wings and above the wings, low pressure and high pressure zones and other things.
He said, " have you read the Bernoulli's theorem". I replied in affirmative. "Can you tell us using the Bernoulli's equation how does a plane work". Wrote down the Bernoulli's equation for them and then explained the working of airplane through it.
At this point he said can you draw a diagram. I drew an aerofoil for them and explained everything using the diagram.
I thought this should be enough to convince him.
M2:- Oh this is getting too technical for us people (looked at the other guy and smiled). I want you to explain as you will to a layman about the working of an airplane. Lets just say you have to explain it to my 5 year old child who doesn’t know what is lift, drag and other things.
I tried to explain again without using as many technical terms as I did the first time. He didn’t look completely convinced but didn’t pursue it any more.
M2: Ok, Amit you are studying to become an engineer and you are interested in Defence Aviation. Don’t you think that by selecting you we would be taking away a bright young engineer (you must be kidding me!!!) from this country.
I: Absolutely not, Sir. As you can everywhere in the industry and especially in the DRDO there is a lack of managers with technical knowledge and that is why we have so many projects running behind schedule and stuff. Therefore there is a need for managers who have technical knowledge……. And went on and on with more gyaan.
M2: Oh so you mean to say that in DRDO we have projects running behind schedule. Do you think those people really do any original work. I mean don’t they just copy Russian designs.
I: Told them this was not exactly the case. DRDO had worked on some projects with high percentage of indigenous technology. Said that there was a steep learning curve with these kind of things and sometimes you have to borrow technology from other countries so as not to let the armed forces down.
M2: Next he wanted to know about Main Battle Tank of India, the Russian technology behind, the shortcomings of the design and in what respects the M1A Abrahams of USA were better.
I: Told them whatever I knew about tanks which wasn’t much. But he looked pretty happy with the answer.
M2: Next he wanted to know about some business terms like the difference between Pvt. Ltd., Pte. Ltd. And stuff like that
I: Answered what I could about they being conventions used in different countries.
M2: Next he wanted to talk about the automobile industry, what place was the hub of automobile industry in USA, the Big Three, the top automobile company in the world, how long has it been at the top and what was their philosophy.
I could not give very accurate answers to the automobile industry part, but managed to save some face.
Next he was all inquisitive about the recent (this happened in Feb) IPO of Reliance. He wanted facts and figures.
While I could tell him the facts, I didn’t have much clue about the figures.
Next he came to the work culture in various countries. Why were the Germans considered so industrious and the Japanese too. And why the current perception of the Indians.
The end part of the interview was even more exciting. He started talking about Reservation and my views on it. I tried to be very diplomatic about it. But he took the offensive and started talking very passionately against reservation. He said probably some people don’t deserve to reach the very top. He mentioned genetic studies and stuff, but I stuck to my point that it is the responsibility of the society to help in the upliftment of its downtrodden and neglected.
At this point he seemed willing to end the ordeal for me. Turned to the other guy and asked him if he had anymore questions.
M1 asked me some questions related to electronics, which luckily I could answer.
M1:- Amit, with all these allegations against missionaries regarding conversions and we (XLRI) being a missionary run institution, how do you feel about that?
I: Told them that I had studied in missionary run institutions before and I knew the reality behind these allegations and therefore had no such problems.
And that was it, the interview was over. It lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes (against an allotted time of 30-45 minutes). Yes that long!! At that end I was just waiting to run out of that room.
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Now it was time for their feedback.
They thought that I had done decently well, handled incisive questioning on my hobby pretty well.
They felt that my technical knowledge seemed sound (you must be kidding me!!!) but I needed to work on business related news.
Moreover they observed that I had a tendency to jump at questions. Told me to take it easy and wait for a second before answering the questions.
Well that was the first MI for you. Now you must have realised that I was right when I said that in an interview you can be asked about anything under the sun.
Mock was fine, but to find out how the actual ones went, stay tuned!!
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