My SP JAIN INTERVIEW....

Interviewer: So tell me what are derivatives?
Me:Sir i have no idea...
Interviewer Ok tell me what are futures?
Me: sir i have applied for marketing not finance....
Interviewer so you think you know about marketing
Me: Yes sir
Interviewer:Which FMCG manufactures Axe deo?
Me:i think its HUL.
Interviewer:u think?
Me:im not so sure
Interviewer: ok what are the 4Ps?
Me: they are price position promotion and...and... i cant remember what is the 4th.
Interviewer: ok thank you. nice meeting you.

Luckily this was just a dream. A dream which thankfully never came true. After what i heard from my friends and senoirs i was sure im in for a stress interview. but things turned out to be quite different.

I coulnt sleep properly that day. Questions kept popping inside my head even while dreaming. But that morning i wasnt a bit tensed. Maybe it had to do with the cold weather. Or maybe it had to do with my new Lee cooper shoes.maybe....

I was dressd, what should i say, a bit unconventionally. Half sleeve white shirt,quadras and no tie(yes no tie!). one thing i learnt at college interviews that one's formal attire doesnt make any difference(you may disagree). My friend Ketan's innocuous query "tu udhar ja ke change karega?" made me realise that i may have dressed a bit too casually. hell with it.i dont give a tiny rat's ass.

After reaching SP Jain we had to verify our documents and soon the batch for the 1st interview was announced. Ketan and i were in the same group along with 4 other candidates. The 1st interview had 2 panelists-Renuka kamath(marketing) and one more lady prof(i guess from systems). They were quite friendly,always smiling but always evaluating. We were asked to introduce ourselves. i gave 3 liner intro short and simple. others narrated their whole life story.

Coincidently the other prof turned out to be from vjti and she quickly turned her attention towards us. for the next 5 mins the conversation revolved around vjti. finally renuka kamath boke our conversation and went to the 1st guy.the questions were mostly factual. He made only one blunder. when asked which company he loved to work with , he said ITC(big mistake..poor guy he paid for it , he was the only who didnt get selected). and with the ever smiling face the panelist (here comes the knocker) asked him "if itc doesnt come to sp jain then what will you do?" . His answer was rather unconvincing.

15 mins into the interview everyone was asked something or the other one candidate was also asked to play the the tabla. but not a single question was directed towards me. finally the panelist asked "Has anyone read 'the world is flat'? can anyone tell me who is the author" i was the only one who knew the answer. Finally all that reading came to my rescue. Mr thomas friedman thank you very much. and i spoke abt the book for the next 2 mins unaware that i was swinging side to side in the revolving chair. she looked impressed. and i was content.

After the 1st interview we took a behaviour test and within an hour we had our 2nd interview. This too turned out to be an easy going one. tell told said us to introduce ourselves tell us something which is not given in your CV and the guys did the exact opposite. During the intos another candiddate and i mentione the word "creative" (hot topic for interviews), so he asked each one what do they think "creativity" is and can it be learnt. After that they asked to give a creative solution for reducing India's poverty. while the 1st candidate was having a go at it the panelist said"mankar tejas ..tejas that's your first name? yes sir ...so tejas do you agree with what he said?" A nice way to check whether i was listening luckily i had kept a track of what he was trying to say. i was able to successfully refute what he was trying to propose. he was basically saying the government should distribute money to the poor. creative but infeasible. To be fair a creative answer is not always a feasible answer just like lateral thinking you have to combine lateral and vertical thinking to come out with a feasible answer. And you cant control creativity how can one come up with a creative answer [and feasible] within 30 seconds and in such a tensed environment.
Then the panelist trained their guns on me. so tejas recently the union health minister urged SRK and AB not to smoke was it rit to do so? i went on creative liberty...right to express..blah blah.. ok so if you were given 10 lakhs to model a cigarette would you do it? If im an upcoming model not so popular as SRK well then yeah i will do it. No apprehensions.No moral dilemma.
They asked the next guy "what about you?". He says no sir i wont do it(yeah right!!) the panelist says"but you are not SRK".Still i wont do it,he said. The panelist then asked another candidate "Tejas just mentioned the word 'integral'. You think actors can avoid smoking on screen.You think in GODFATHER he could have used a chewing gum instead of a cigar." The candidate its possible that they can avoid smoking on screen but since she had not seen GODFATHER she cant comment on it.He then moved to the third guy. he too hadnt seen GODFATHER. I was getting desperate. Come on ask me ask me!!. Someone up there must really like me. So tejas what you have to say. "Sir...Don Corleone ....the Italian Gangster...if you look back at that movie every part was played to perfection.People remember the way he spoke,the italian accent(maunday,tuesday..),the dialogues(i will make you an offer you cant refuse),the way he scratched his chin ....everything was perfect,bang on. So if actors smoke on screen its because they need to develop a character... ".First thomas friedman and now Godfather. im starting to get goosebumps.BTW the room was damned cold.
The guys having work experience were grilled on their company's operations.who are their clients and so on. One piece of advice BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WITH WORDS. Never use strong words like "passionate". Use the correct words(wazz the difference between sentimental and emotional??). Know the difference between values and strengths. Yeah by the way they asked us whether value systems are relative.
To answer such questions you need to be well read and this is exactly what they are trying to gauge. how in depth can you think can you provide an insight with whatever knowledge you possess right now.
So preparing for interviews is a constant process.

Thats about it. no question on marketing no question on profile sheet All in all i was satisfied with the way i conducted myself.