Everyday we attend PPTs. And this goes on - as I said before. There is not end to it. Previously, people were very scared about the 25 jobs going down one by one for every mandatory PPT not attended, but now they are not bothered. Shorlists rejects are so common for a lot of people that they are happy with even 20. So the next step is to bunk some of the PPTs without a slight consideration of other consequences such as - what if the company doesnt come to campus next year? Why should I be bothered as long as I get a ob and get out from here. Its not my problem.
My aim is to get a job and go Onsite to US or Europe. I just cant believe that some people who belong to the 250 odd IT community on campus are so friggin finicky about going to the US and Europe. The only question they ask to the recruiters is - Are there oppurtunities in the US? How long will you take to send us there? And they come to every IT company's PPT and ask the same question. It was so funny today when one asked - will we be posted directly to the US? I was like - gimme a break. you are not a GC Holder to fly you to Georgia from Gachibowli!! The great american job dream has still not left the indian management grad's mind. And its so happened that news of such a dream has also reached the ears of the exchange students from the US. But for a bunch of people who are so bent upon catching the earliest flight, a good number of us want to stay in india.
and there are people like me. my criteria for a job is like - chennai. if not, then hyderabad. definitely not delhi and bombay. what about bangalore - i'd rather live in hosur. next criteria is IT Services firms, which is a lot in number and then focus on the Banking vertical which is also quite predominant. But, when all these conditions join together, it reduces the job postings on the career website by like 70%, which is very good. I dont need to spend an awful lot of time writing EoIs and resume.
coming back to the ppts - in the one during the weekend, i found someone asking questions and then indirectly trying to sell his business plan. if it was a one-t-one conversation, then i wouldnt have had any problem. but then, this was in front of a 70 strong audience.
then there are doctors and chartered accountants who have applied to jobs in the IT Practice of a company - they say that they have the IT experience of using a laptop and logging service complaints to the helpdesk. in that case, i'd say - I consume Crocin almost every month and I can understand the drug's effects pretty well. Can I apply to GlaxoSmithKline in their Drug Marketing Group. I also interact with Doctors on a regular basis (whenever I fall sick!!!), so I think I qualify for HealthCare Consulting as well. Hmm, all this is just a beginning. I think there is lots more to come by.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Lamp-holders and Bulb-fitters
Quite a lazy weekend this was. I didnt do much. Had a marketing assignment due tomorrow and I finished one part of that. The second part has come for review from my group. I have to do that during whats left of today. We had a few companies visiting us during the last two days and today. Although I dont really plan to apply to some of them as they are nowhere in the are of my interest, it was still good to know their LOB and understand some of their future growth strategies.
The Run for Fun event was organized today. This is a precursor or rather run-up to the military games that will be held in hyderabad during october this year. 10 people from campus had volunteered to do the 6km run today and as we came close to the event, this number reduced to 2. still, we decided to do the run and it was quite refreshing.
After all that nonsene that happened with Shilpa Shetty in the last two weeks, now I hear that she could probably end up winning the Big Brother. I just cant believe this. Can someone in the house please vote and evict her? This is so funny. Wrong fame ends up doing such things to people. The typical indian sympathy factor has jumped in. the last time chantelle houghton won the big brother competition, not only did she manage to contrive to separate Sam Preston from his longtime girlfriend, but this known-to-no-one sussex girl also won some modeling contracts worth a few hundred thousand pounds. no wonder, if shilpa wins, then she might be on her way to hit british tv screens and do something stupid rather. am sure that Davina McCall who presents the show will have enuff questions for her and i already see that shilpa has a weird english accent. god save such people.
coming back to ppt gossip. today i heard at the dinner table that in one of the ppts given by an fmcg giant, the presenter talked about postings anywhere in the country and then one enthusiastic guy wakes up - "will we get posted in south india too?". the recruiter was flabbergasted and he replied - "well, i think we said, we'll post you anywhere in india. so, yes, to answer your question, south india is a good probability." i think the last statement was just made not to sound very cynical.
after a round of discussions, lets call it debate, with a good number of people on campus, i decided to have this particular title for this post as a tribute to some of my dear friends on campus.
Roger Federer wins again. Reminds me of the days when Pete Sampras used to scare the living daylights out of the som many players. Roger us just like that. He is unstoppable. I had the opportunity to watch him practice at Wimbledon. It was awesome.
I dont understand the rationale behind a 100% rise in the minimum fare being charged to passengers using the auto in Tamil Nadu. The school of management at Anna University had done research and a report was produced, but a number of proposals that were part of the report have been ignored. We talk of moving towards better governance and people friendly rules. Even auto fare changes seem to have political motives.
The Run for Fun event was organized today. This is a precursor or rather run-up to the military games that will be held in hyderabad during october this year. 10 people from campus had volunteered to do the 6km run today and as we came close to the event, this number reduced to 2. still, we decided to do the run and it was quite refreshing.
After all that nonsene that happened with Shilpa Shetty in the last two weeks, now I hear that she could probably end up winning the Big Brother. I just cant believe this. Can someone in the house please vote and evict her? This is so funny. Wrong fame ends up doing such things to people. The typical indian sympathy factor has jumped in. the last time chantelle houghton won the big brother competition, not only did she manage to contrive to separate Sam Preston from his longtime girlfriend, but this known-to-no-one sussex girl also won some modeling contracts worth a few hundred thousand pounds. no wonder, if shilpa wins, then she might be on her way to hit british tv screens and do something stupid rather. am sure that Davina McCall who presents the show will have enuff questions for her and i already see that shilpa has a weird english accent. god save such people.
coming back to ppt gossip. today i heard at the dinner table that in one of the ppts given by an fmcg giant, the presenter talked about postings anywhere in the country and then one enthusiastic guy wakes up - "will we get posted in south india too?". the recruiter was flabbergasted and he replied - "well, i think we said, we'll post you anywhere in india. so, yes, to answer your question, south india is a good probability." i think the last statement was just made not to sound very cynical.
after a round of discussions, lets call it debate, with a good number of people on campus, i decided to have this particular title for this post as a tribute to some of my dear friends on campus.
Roger Federer wins again. Reminds me of the days when Pete Sampras used to scare the living daylights out of the som many players. Roger us just like that. He is unstoppable. I had the opportunity to watch him practice at Wimbledon. It was awesome.
I dont understand the rationale behind a 100% rise in the minimum fare being charged to passengers using the auto in Tamil Nadu. The school of management at Anna University had done research and a report was produced, but a number of proposals that were part of the report have been ignored. We talk of moving towards better governance and people friendly rules. Even auto fare changes seem to have political motives.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Negotiation Impasse
So I guess I have to write something about my Negotiation Analysis course atleast today. We have this course in this term and its mostly the talk of the day when we are done with our role plays.
We did one on one negotiations for a while and we learnt some things. And then we had the group negotiations. I was part of the Union and we had a four member team. We were pretty aggressive and it was quite good. We also had a management team with whom we had to negotiate. I'd rather not comment anything on them. Then I'd be called a chauvinist and what not.
So in our first round, we had to negotiate on production terms, wages and some clauses that had benefited the workers. At the end of the negotiation, we were quite sure that we were going to give away some to the management. That was quite clear and we were going to accept that in some way or the other. But then we pushed hard for pay rises and incentives. It was fun trying to convince them. And you know how management sees all this. They were like - gimme a break. u r not getting a single penny more. So that was what it was a week back.
And the second round came today. Both teams clearly knew that this time the problem was with the wage. We had to make a deal with the wage scene and we knew that the management was going to reduce the wage anyway. Although we werent supposed to give out some of the case facts, we actually told them what we could least agree to. We did tell them that we were no way going to get down to that rate because that was 20% lesser than our current wage. Management quoted 40% less and we just got effin pissed. Then our negotiations started. Initially, we didnt budge from our original 10.69 and management told us that they cannot go more than $8. This carried on for a while and the union came down from 10.69 to 10.00 to 9.69 to 9.5 while the management came up from 8 to 8.67 to 9 to 9.25. We came to a stage where we had like 5 mins remaining. And then one person from the management realises that this activity was being graded and an impasse in the negotiation would affect the grades a bit. We still didnt budge. After some more talks, we came down till 9.4 and still they werent happy. They said 9.33 and kept quiet. These are the people who first said that they cannot offer more than $7.5.
The drama came to an end and we had an impasse. We couldnt agree on a wage. The management finally realised that even in the case of an impasse the wage rate stays at 10.69. And they didnt even read that clause. While we as a union had planned for every move in today's negotiation, the management read the material only today and they took 10 mins out of the 45 mins negotiation time. And then they were like "oh my god, we didnt know that". There was also a mistake on our part though. In our case, the impasse results in a wage reduction to $8.69. But our argument was that we we have already come down more than a dollar per hour per employee and still there was not result.
The Prof listened to us and told the management - Sincere lack of planning. And this goes back to the first class of negotiation. Planning activity in a negotiation occupies 80% of the negotiation and this time the management had done zilch of that. And it was more like brooding over spilt milk.
For a change today's negotiation was highly emotional. In some other groups, it almost led to a serious fight. People were upset and disturbed. It clearly showed to us what situations would one face when working with unions.
We did one on one negotiations for a while and we learnt some things. And then we had the group negotiations. I was part of the Union and we had a four member team. We were pretty aggressive and it was quite good. We also had a management team with whom we had to negotiate. I'd rather not comment anything on them. Then I'd be called a chauvinist and what not.
So in our first round, we had to negotiate on production terms, wages and some clauses that had benefited the workers. At the end of the negotiation, we were quite sure that we were going to give away some to the management. That was quite clear and we were going to accept that in some way or the other. But then we pushed hard for pay rises and incentives. It was fun trying to convince them. And you know how management sees all this. They were like - gimme a break. u r not getting a single penny more. So that was what it was a week back.
And the second round came today. Both teams clearly knew that this time the problem was with the wage. We had to make a deal with the wage scene and we knew that the management was going to reduce the wage anyway. Although we werent supposed to give out some of the case facts, we actually told them what we could least agree to. We did tell them that we were no way going to get down to that rate because that was 20% lesser than our current wage. Management quoted 40% less and we just got effin pissed. Then our negotiations started. Initially, we didnt budge from our original 10.69 and management told us that they cannot go more than $8. This carried on for a while and the union came down from 10.69 to 10.00 to 9.69 to 9.5 while the management came up from 8 to 8.67 to 9 to 9.25. We came to a stage where we had like 5 mins remaining. And then one person from the management realises that this activity was being graded and an impasse in the negotiation would affect the grades a bit. We still didnt budge. After some more talks, we came down till 9.4 and still they werent happy. They said 9.33 and kept quiet. These are the people who first said that they cannot offer more than $7.5.
The drama came to an end and we had an impasse. We couldnt agree on a wage. The management finally realised that even in the case of an impasse the wage rate stays at 10.69. And they didnt even read that clause. While we as a union had planned for every move in today's negotiation, the management read the material only today and they took 10 mins out of the 45 mins negotiation time. And then they were like "oh my god, we didnt know that". There was also a mistake on our part though. In our case, the impasse results in a wage reduction to $8.69. But our argument was that we we have already come down more than a dollar per hour per employee and still there was not result.
The Prof listened to us and told the management - Sincere lack of planning. And this goes back to the first class of negotiation. Planning activity in a negotiation occupies 80% of the negotiation and this time the management had done zilch of that. And it was more like brooding over spilt milk.
For a change today's negotiation was highly emotional. In some other groups, it almost led to a serious fight. People were upset and disturbed. It clearly showed to us what situations would one face when working with unions.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Oil and Gas
As I look back at the last few days, maybe weeks too - its not justice done for people here. the number of companies on campus everyday is crazy. and they come loaded with the facts and figures about the company and jobs. im looking at myself more like a machine that has been wandering around and trying to act human. amidst this, lets not forget those dreadful assignments for which we have never been spared by any professor or teaching assistant.
for atleast this reason, shouldnt we have a rolling placement process. why clutter all the 200 odd companies in between 30 days before placement and then bombard students with emails asking to attend and attend and attend. now, its almost like one ppt everyday for me.
anyway, we had this oil and gas major who had come to campus to visit us. they were here a few months back too. they made a very impressive presentation and it was extremely professional. and they were recruiting for positions for which they usually tripped to harvard and the likes. so you can imagine the quality of the presentation that would have been made. ok, so during the presentation they mentioned that they would want people with international exposure/experience because that would be good for the job profile they are offering.
question time - one guy asks "do we need international experience?". the presenter was stunned. he said - well, yes preferably (he was thinking whether anyone heard his presentation). and then anoher student goes - "i have lived all my life in north india and have worked for a few years in the southern region. for me that is international experience. does that count towards your requirement?" you can possibly guess who can ask such kind of questions. well we have some representatives who we call the LIONS OF ******. second attack on the presenter. he was absolutely grounded. he had no answer whatsoever. and third question - "what is the compensation?". by now, i would have lost my temper, but the guy on the other side was calm and composed, that he handled it pretty well. my view is - if a company is recruiting someone for a post that was usually filled by people from harvard, do you think that they are recruiting in india to create that cost arbitrage? i mean, why would a company ever want to do that. shouldnt we understand that they are here because they are happy with the talent we showcase?
whatever, this post is part of my regular ppt happenings update. i am quite sure that things like this will keep happening more this week and in the weeks to come. keep reading and have fun.
for atleast this reason, shouldnt we have a rolling placement process. why clutter all the 200 odd companies in between 30 days before placement and then bombard students with emails asking to attend and attend and attend. now, its almost like one ppt everyday for me.
anyway, we had this oil and gas major who had come to campus to visit us. they were here a few months back too. they made a very impressive presentation and it was extremely professional. and they were recruiting for positions for which they usually tripped to harvard and the likes. so you can imagine the quality of the presentation that would have been made. ok, so during the presentation they mentioned that they would want people with international exposure/experience because that would be good for the job profile they are offering.
question time - one guy asks "do we need international experience?". the presenter was stunned. he said - well, yes preferably (he was thinking whether anyone heard his presentation). and then anoher student goes - "i have lived all my life in north india and have worked for a few years in the southern region. for me that is international experience. does that count towards your requirement?" you can possibly guess who can ask such kind of questions. well we have some representatives who we call the LIONS OF ******. second attack on the presenter. he was absolutely grounded. he had no answer whatsoever. and third question - "what is the compensation?". by now, i would have lost my temper, but the guy on the other side was calm and composed, that he handled it pretty well. my view is - if a company is recruiting someone for a post that was usually filled by people from harvard, do you think that they are recruiting in india to create that cost arbitrage? i mean, why would a company ever want to do that. shouldnt we understand that they are here because they are happy with the talent we showcase?
whatever, this post is part of my regular ppt happenings update. i am quite sure that things like this will keep happening more this week and in the weeks to come. keep reading and have fun.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Celebrity Big Brother
I was wondering when would such things like the Celebrity Big Brother come to India. Well, this was when I was in the UK and I had no knowledge of what was happening in Indian television. And then one day when I was sitting on the couch in my Quad and browsing channels, I saw SET MAX showing an Indian version of the same. Even then, I am quite sure that not too many people knew about Big Brother.
Well, for me, Big Brother is one of the craziest shows in the UK. I have seen like three different series of the show over the two years I was there, with different kinds of people in it - right from the freaks, one time fame entities to people like George Galloway - the MP from Bethnal Green, Faria Alam - who was involved in Sven Goran Eriksson, that cross dresser basketball player from the US whoz name I forget, oh yes, his name is Dennis Rodman, then a couple of other losers who dont care about the world whatsoever.
I mean some of these people are a serious waste for the world. Faria Alam accepted on live TV that she peed on her boyfriends tea becos she thought he cheated her. Thats the level of people you find on that programme. And then we suddenly see that Shilpa Shetty is on the front page of every news paper and the breaking news of every channel. For what I wondered - then I saw BIG BROTHER. I was shocked !!!!
A Indian Actor for such a show. It was perhaps the worst decision she ever made in her life. And all she iz getting paid is somewhere around 300000 Pounds and shez gone through what has been told as racial discrimination in the papers in the last few days. For god's sake why???
I saw some videos of her and the housemates in youtube. I must say I definitely miss the narrator's voice. Its so unique. I'd recognize that anytime in my life. There was one in which she behaves like a typical curious Indian trying to help others by talking to them. I have seen the kind of people who come to participate in Big Brother and they feel so bothered about such kind of people that they get irritated and start reacting back in a bad way. They like it if they are left alone and not cared for so much. Shilpa Shetty for god's sake displays her indian over-caring attitude and then commands respect from them. She tries to make her presence felt, justifies herself - I mean, shez just making a fool of herself.
And then this nonsense about racism and what not. People just needed that speck of dust to make a mountain of it. Then there are some people who are absolutely JOBLESS, let me seriously put it that way, because they went there and protested, also got signatures from people. Then Kiran Desai comes on TV and gives some shit.
Atleast Indian celebrities should understand one thing - its a totally opposite and different world out there. The people in the West do not care a damn about their filmstars. For them, they are just normal people. Only Indian celebrities are considered as demi-gods and role models by the Indians. The sooner they come out of this cloud of attention, the better.
Well, for me, Big Brother is one of the craziest shows in the UK. I have seen like three different series of the show over the two years I was there, with different kinds of people in it - right from the freaks, one time fame entities to people like George Galloway - the MP from Bethnal Green, Faria Alam - who was involved in Sven Goran Eriksson, that cross dresser basketball player from the US whoz name I forget, oh yes, his name is Dennis Rodman, then a couple of other losers who dont care about the world whatsoever.
I mean some of these people are a serious waste for the world. Faria Alam accepted on live TV that she peed on her boyfriends tea becos she thought he cheated her. Thats the level of people you find on that programme. And then we suddenly see that Shilpa Shetty is on the front page of every news paper and the breaking news of every channel. For what I wondered - then I saw BIG BROTHER. I was shocked !!!!
A Indian Actor for such a show. It was perhaps the worst decision she ever made in her life. And all she iz getting paid is somewhere around 300000 Pounds and shez gone through what has been told as racial discrimination in the papers in the last few days. For god's sake why???
I saw some videos of her and the housemates in youtube. I must say I definitely miss the narrator's voice. Its so unique. I'd recognize that anytime in my life. There was one in which she behaves like a typical curious Indian trying to help others by talking to them. I have seen the kind of people who come to participate in Big Brother and they feel so bothered about such kind of people that they get irritated and start reacting back in a bad way. They like it if they are left alone and not cared for so much. Shilpa Shetty for god's sake displays her indian over-caring attitude and then commands respect from them. She tries to make her presence felt, justifies herself - I mean, shez just making a fool of herself.
And then this nonsense about racism and what not. People just needed that speck of dust to make a mountain of it. Then there are some people who are absolutely JOBLESS, let me seriously put it that way, because they went there and protested, also got signatures from people. Then Kiran Desai comes on TV and gives some shit.
Atleast Indian celebrities should understand one thing - its a totally opposite and different world out there. The people in the West do not care a damn about their filmstars. For them, they are just normal people. Only Indian celebrities are considered as demi-gods and role models by the Indians. The sooner they come out of this cloud of attention, the better.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
ISBPPTSWAP
Do you know what's the lates buzzword on campus. Its not Consulting or I-Banking or Business Development or Leadership. Its ISBPPTSWAP.
Its the in-thing these days. Perhaps the only word that every ISB Student would hate to talk about this month. Well, why hate - because of the 50+ emails that he/she would get with that word on the subject line. The rest would love to talk about this new word or rather concept because of the privilege it has given them to rightfully SPAM the whole student community.
So, whats this all about. I am sure you would have guessed this.
Its nothing great. I did tell you in my last post that the PPTs have started. Companies have started parading campus. Everyday we have almost 4 PPTs. People get allocated to attend PPTs. Your study group is supposed to attend 25 PPTs until the placement season. Why this exercise? Well, you know this batch from my last posts. Twenty of them turned up when the CEO of Godrej was here to talk to them, and then they crib that FMCG companies dont come to campus. The father of Pentium - Vinod Dham was here today and there were again 20-25 students. Rest were staff and the exchange students. Well, I do want to write about Vinod Dham's talk later, but thats the situation of the people here. They think they are god's gift to the industry and hence keep themsleves away from the so called lesser mortals also known as CEOs. Well, they'll come and attend if that helps them add a bullet point on their resume. Anyway, every community has to have some strange examples like this.
So, coming back to our agenda. People generally dont want to attend the PPTs they are assigned to. They want to listen to only those companies that promise big and are in the top 10 in their industry. Hence, the other companies who also do extremely well will have to struggle to get noticed. Thats the reason why they have a mandatory attendance policy for all the PPTs. The people who created a rule also created a policy to have a workaround. A person who does not want to attend a PPT can ask someone else to proxy for him. The guy who does a proxy does not benefit much because his count doesnt go down by 25. The only way out for him is tit for tat. Taking undue benefit of this rule, people send emails to the whole batch asking for people to swap. In fact, I have noticed that there are some people who havent attended a single PPT that has been assigned to them. Every other day, they send an email asking to swap.
It was thought of as a big menace in the beginning. Like the technology adoption cycle, it took a lot of people a lot of time to get to use this new method. Some people were really conscious of writing a SPAM email to the entire community. It just took few people to adopt and cross the chasm. From then on, its been a mass adoption. The rate has been increasing exponentially. Repercussions - Email Server got clogged with all these unwanted messages, imagine 40 people writing to 418 students and then thanking them back for replying to swap. It just went berserk.
ok, thats about it from me now. I am off to hot Madras for the next three days. I have an interesting post due - about the PPT from an oil major who came to campus today. Keep watching.
Its the in-thing these days. Perhaps the only word that every ISB Student would hate to talk about this month. Well, why hate - because of the 50+ emails that he/she would get with that word on the subject line. The rest would love to talk about this new word or rather concept because of the privilege it has given them to rightfully SPAM the whole student community.
So, whats this all about. I am sure you would have guessed this.
Its nothing great. I did tell you in my last post that the PPTs have started. Companies have started parading campus. Everyday we have almost 4 PPTs. People get allocated to attend PPTs. Your study group is supposed to attend 25 PPTs until the placement season. Why this exercise? Well, you know this batch from my last posts. Twenty of them turned up when the CEO of Godrej was here to talk to them, and then they crib that FMCG companies dont come to campus. The father of Pentium - Vinod Dham was here today and there were again 20-25 students. Rest were staff and the exchange students. Well, I do want to write about Vinod Dham's talk later, but thats the situation of the people here. They think they are god's gift to the industry and hence keep themsleves away from the so called lesser mortals also known as CEOs. Well, they'll come and attend if that helps them add a bullet point on their resume. Anyway, every community has to have some strange examples like this.
So, coming back to our agenda. People generally dont want to attend the PPTs they are assigned to. They want to listen to only those companies that promise big and are in the top 10 in their industry. Hence, the other companies who also do extremely well will have to struggle to get noticed. Thats the reason why they have a mandatory attendance policy for all the PPTs. The people who created a rule also created a policy to have a workaround. A person who does not want to attend a PPT can ask someone else to proxy for him. The guy who does a proxy does not benefit much because his count doesnt go down by 25. The only way out for him is tit for tat. Taking undue benefit of this rule, people send emails to the whole batch asking for people to swap. In fact, I have noticed that there are some people who havent attended a single PPT that has been assigned to them. Every other day, they send an email asking to swap.
It was thought of as a big menace in the beginning. Like the technology adoption cycle, it took a lot of people a lot of time to get to use this new method. Some people were really conscious of writing a SPAM email to the entire community. It just took few people to adopt and cross the chasm. From then on, its been a mass adoption. The rate has been increasing exponentially. Repercussions - Email Server got clogged with all these unwanted messages, imagine 40 people writing to 418 students and then thanking them back for replying to swap. It just went berserk.
ok, thats about it from me now. I am off to hot Madras for the next three days. I have an interesting post due - about the PPT from an oil major who came to campus today. Keep watching.
Friday, January 12, 2007
The PPTs have begun
Everyday there are atleast two firms talking to students. Right from retail giants, telecom service providers, and IT services firms - you name them and they are here. as they rightly put it in management terms, the size of the pie is getting biggger and better. and for obvious reasons the firms want the best share of the pie. so they are here with the best offers. with some level of confidence, i can say that with whats going right now, the average salary will increase from what was quoted in the press last year. the companies are excited about being here. they have chosen to be on campus to talk to us rather than visit a few IIMs. that sounded like a lot of motivation for most of us.
but still the funny characters never shy away from making their presence felt and yes, i can never stop writing about them. the only reason i go to the PPTs is to get these juicy yet stupid words from them onto this medium.
so, during the PPT from a retail company, one student asks - could you tell us what your roadmap for this country is? the guy who was answering questions was a director and he was absolutely stunned. here he was in front of 70 odd students answering questions about hiring and roles, and then one guys suddenly shoots this CEO level question out of the blue. he was smart. so he gave the best possible MBA reply to that. by the way, the recruiter had clearly mentioned that he was only looking for people with experience and then someone goes - do you have any roles for freshers, can freshers apply? blah blah blah.
if you ask me whats happening on the academic front - well no one is bothered about the courses. people hardly attend classes. most people are using their right to bunk two classes per course. now that the attendance policy has been relaxed - there will not be people with cameras filming our presence inside the classroom. the profs will decide how to go about with the attendance policy. i think thats a very good step that has been taken by the administration. i'd be more than happy if the next batch shows some more enthusiasm and removes the attendance policy completely.
but still the funny characters never shy away from making their presence felt and yes, i can never stop writing about them. the only reason i go to the PPTs is to get these juicy yet stupid words from them onto this medium.
so, during the PPT from a retail company, one student asks - could you tell us what your roadmap for this country is? the guy who was answering questions was a director and he was absolutely stunned. here he was in front of 70 odd students answering questions about hiring and roles, and then one guys suddenly shoots this CEO level question out of the blue. he was smart. so he gave the best possible MBA reply to that. by the way, the recruiter had clearly mentioned that he was only looking for people with experience and then someone goes - do you have any roles for freshers, can freshers apply? blah blah blah.
if you ask me whats happening on the academic front - well no one is bothered about the courses. people hardly attend classes. most people are using their right to bunk two classes per course. now that the attendance policy has been relaxed - there will not be people with cameras filming our presence inside the classroom. the profs will decide how to go about with the attendance policy. i think thats a very good step that has been taken by the administration. i'd be more than happy if the next batch shows some more enthusiasm and removes the attendance policy completely.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Another Term
Had just one class today. MArketing Strategy and Economic Analysis. Sounds like a very interesting course. I hope it is. We just had the introduction today with some basic concept touching from previous courses. This course has no exams, but assignments due every week. Thats a big killer.
Anyway, I happened to youtube and video google a lot today and I found one of my favorite telugu songs. I dont usually listen to telugu songs. I strictly restrict myself to tamil, but this one is one helluva melody.
This month is also the PPT Month. Right from tomorrow, we start the PPTs. COmpanies have registered. On most days, we have two companies speaking to students during the evening. This doesnt get better. During the weekends, PPTs happen all day. Job postings come on the site quite regularly. There have been times when people have lost track of the jobs. This gets worse when we get closer to the placement week in mid-February. Its all in the game.
Anyway, I happened to youtube and video google a lot today and I found one of my favorite telugu songs. I dont usually listen to telugu songs. I strictly restrict myself to tamil, but this one is one helluva melody.
This month is also the PPT Month. Right from tomorrow, we start the PPTs. COmpanies have registered. On most days, we have two companies speaking to students during the evening. This doesnt get better. During the weekends, PPTs happen all day. Job postings come on the site quite regularly. There have been times when people have lost track of the jobs. This gets worse when we get closer to the placement week in mid-February. Its all in the game.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Tea or Coffee?
My term 6 exams were done today. After a gap of one week, we played a refreshing frisbee game today and I am not at all tired. Term 7 starts on Monday. One member from our friends circle has already left to Kenan Flagler on exchange. A number of other people have also left to other schools in US and Europe. And then we have about 15 students who have come on exchange. They'll be spending the coming term or two with us.
Anyway, when all this was happening, I was also looking at the isb-pgp yahoogroups. One message caught my attention where the guy had asked whether he could accept tea or coffee during the interview. This is perhaps the height of preparation for an interview. Not even one person who I have given tips to regarding interviews has asked me this question. Although I appreciate the creativity of this poor soul in asking such a question, at the same time I feel so miserable thinking to what extent would people go to prepare for an interview.
Now this is like building an algorithm and then adding all such possible conditions and keeping ready answers to just spit them out at the panel. I mean, for once, cant people be a bit spontaneous and simple? Do people think that by getting answers for all such questions, they are going to be the perfect candidate. What if you made a mistake? Is the whole world going to crumple down?
And then there are guys who want to prepare in the next three months. they want to know what books to read, like accounting, basic management and stuff like that. im like - come on guys!! take a break, meet your friends, family and spend some time travelling. and they are - can i read the 10 day MBA book? I was like what the hell is that?
one thing i can definitely tell all you book reading enthusiasts. after you come here, you'd probably regret that you spent all your time reading some goddamm accounting manual. becos you'll just be doing that and a lot more in all those 49 weeks. again this is the effect of trying to overprepare.
anyway, certain things will not change. although i dont know, but i am sure there were enuff people in my batch as well who would have asked the same questions when they got their admits last year. history repeats.
Anyway, when all this was happening, I was also looking at the isb-pgp yahoogroups. One message caught my attention where the guy had asked whether he could accept tea or coffee during the interview. This is perhaps the height of preparation for an interview. Not even one person who I have given tips to regarding interviews has asked me this question. Although I appreciate the creativity of this poor soul in asking such a question, at the same time I feel so miserable thinking to what extent would people go to prepare for an interview.
Now this is like building an algorithm and then adding all such possible conditions and keeping ready answers to just spit them out at the panel. I mean, for once, cant people be a bit spontaneous and simple? Do people think that by getting answers for all such questions, they are going to be the perfect candidate. What if you made a mistake? Is the whole world going to crumple down?
And then there are guys who want to prepare in the next three months. they want to know what books to read, like accounting, basic management and stuff like that. im like - come on guys!! take a break, meet your friends, family and spend some time travelling. and they are - can i read the 10 day MBA book? I was like what the hell is that?
one thing i can definitely tell all you book reading enthusiasts. after you come here, you'd probably regret that you spent all your time reading some goddamm accounting manual. becos you'll just be doing that and a lot more in all those 49 weeks. again this is the effect of trying to overprepare.
anyway, certain things will not change. although i dont know, but i am sure there were enuff people in my batch as well who would have asked the same questions when they got their admits last year. history repeats.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Sneak Peak into Consulting Jobs
And finally the day has come. Its this weekend and the mba students at the ISB would start off interviews for the most coveted consulting jobs. this weekend would help students gauge their preparation. the top companies arent here yet. they'll take a few more weeks to come. this weekend, we have certain niche consulting firms. i am beating around the bush becos i am not sure whether i am allowed to let the name out.
anyway, what you can see below is a typical build up for consulting jobs. this one is resume review, scrutiny whatever.
typically resumes for consulting jobs would go for an overhaul/makeover atleast 3 or 4 times before it reaches the interviewer. each time being viewed by a different consultant working for a different firm, newer perspectives from every person would help you sculpt your resume, chisel off the unwanted bits and give it that strategic flavor!!!!
anyway, what you can see below is a typical build up for consulting jobs. this one is resume review, scrutiny whatever.
typically resumes for consulting jobs would go for an overhaul/makeover atleast 3 or 4 times before it reaches the interviewer. each time being viewed by a different consultant working for a different firm, newer perspectives from every person would help you sculpt your resume, chisel off the unwanted bits and give it that strategic flavor!!!!
Monday, January 01, 2007
Goodbye 2006
Yet another year has gotten over. Well, whats different about this year is that nowadays everything comes with a management perspective. So, as of today I can just think of takeways from the previous year. That's life being an MBA Student. Frankly I dont know whether I can list down specific takeways, but then I can always list down some of the important things that happened and maybe reflect on that to see if there are any lessons learned.
The beginning of 2006 was a time for enjoyment. I was in London and I was having a great time. Citigroup was a wonderful place to work with. I had good mentors and life was peaceful. B-School interviews started suddenly and then things started to change. I did my Oxford interview and the moment I finished I knew I had screwed up. Then came the telephonic interview for the ISB. Soon after that was my interview for LBS. So, the first quarter of 2006 was pretty much about interviews and my plans for an mba.
My company wanted me to go to Zurich and join another project. I was half minded. Well, when I look back now, I think I should have taken that project.
Then it was time to quit and party in London. By March I was back in sultry Chennai. By then my admission to the ISB had come through and I was all set to get to Gachibowli. I quit i-flex and came here.
First week into the academic grind and I knew that this was not the place for me. I had met a lot of new people and made good friends - we had a gang too. Being with a gang of great friends was the only thing that told me to keep going and somehow get out in 49 weeks. So my objective then changed to just make sure that I graduated.
Okay, thats pretty much what happened in my life last year. Forget the family and friends weddings - that happens every year. New additions to that list would be my friends becoming parents.
I neednt write about my life at the campus here. That gets reflected on the blog almost every other day.
Takeways: As I do always, take life as it is. I did once seriously think that I should get out of this place. But then, later I told myself that since I have come here, might as well get the damn thing finished and walk out. So a little bit of confidence crept in and helped me.
God is there - there have been depressing situations. I have questioned the purpose of doing an mba and my existence in general. My faith has kicked in (set aside the boring facts to the back of my mind) and has kept me cheerful.
The beginning of 2006 was a time for enjoyment. I was in London and I was having a great time. Citigroup was a wonderful place to work with. I had good mentors and life was peaceful. B-School interviews started suddenly and then things started to change. I did my Oxford interview and the moment I finished I knew I had screwed up. Then came the telephonic interview for the ISB. Soon after that was my interview for LBS. So, the first quarter of 2006 was pretty much about interviews and my plans for an mba.
My company wanted me to go to Zurich and join another project. I was half minded. Well, when I look back now, I think I should have taken that project.
Then it was time to quit and party in London. By March I was back in sultry Chennai. By then my admission to the ISB had come through and I was all set to get to Gachibowli. I quit i-flex and came here.
First week into the academic grind and I knew that this was not the place for me. I had met a lot of new people and made good friends - we had a gang too. Being with a gang of great friends was the only thing that told me to keep going and somehow get out in 49 weeks. So my objective then changed to just make sure that I graduated.
Okay, thats pretty much what happened in my life last year. Forget the family and friends weddings - that happens every year. New additions to that list would be my friends becoming parents.
I neednt write about my life at the campus here. That gets reflected on the blog almost every other day.
Takeways: As I do always, take life as it is. I did once seriously think that I should get out of this place. But then, later I told myself that since I have come here, might as well get the damn thing finished and walk out. So a little bit of confidence crept in and helped me.
God is there - there have been depressing situations. I have questioned the purpose of doing an mba and my existence in general. My faith has kicked in (set aside the boring facts to the back of my mind) and has kept me cheerful.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Resume Forgery
Well, I didnt want to write this, but then I couldnt stop myself. More than a week back, I made a visit to the printer room in the Student Village to pick up my assignment and then I found a resume lying there. Our of curiosity, I picked it up and started reading it. To my surprise, there were some unwarranted claims.
These claims were part of this person's achievements during his time at the ISB. It was just shocking to me. I never expected this.
It was during Solstice that one of the Alumni gave a presentation on what all people would do and he also touched upon the resume aspect. He told that people would claim insane stuff and nobody can do anything about it. Its all dependant on personal integrity and honesty. he also gave an example where one person had worked with a finance firm on some Private Equit related excel sheets and then he wrote on his resume that he had started a Private Equity Centre of Excellence for the firm. Thats the extent to which people go. He ended that topic with a note - If you take your resume to your previous manager and show it, he should not have any problem. And he was sure that more than 90% of the batch cannot do it because they tend to make such claims.
Fine, sometimes resumes have to be written like that to impress recruiters. I am not worried about what you did in your previous job. I dont think I can validate whatever you claimed you did in your job. Its impossible. In fact, to be frank, I myself have used high frequency words to make my achievements sound great. So, in all probability I would fail that test too. But, then what about your claims while at ISB. Thats effin nonsense on so many resumes I have seen till now.
Lets take the Innovation Challenge that happened sometime back. I can take this example becos ISB had 42 teams participating and thats more than half the batch. Some people have quoted stuff like - winner among 440 schools worldwide, and then some more gas, while they had just qualified to being in the top 50 under a single category. Mind you, there were 5 categories and each category had 88 teams. only the top two teams from each category made it to the final. and in that 10, there were two ISB teams. So, ideally, only those people can claim to be finalists. Rest were all just people who qualified from the first round. And these are some things that happen right in front of you and stuff you can actually authenticate without asking anyone else.
Next is the Experiential Learning Programme which is like the summer project. a good number of people just applied to the project and got it without any interview. and then there were some who got their own projects. And these people claim stuff like - i got selected among 420 people for this project. thats totally ridiculous. nobody competed for your project. it was just your group that applied for the project and how can you say that you had a competition and you got selected through an elimination?
its so frustrating. i never knew that people would go to such an extent to get a fat paying job. they say that the recruiter can see through your resume and separate the truth and fart. i really dont think so.
but yes, you cannot blame the system or the recruiter for this one. what can they do. they are here for people and they believe that the resumes are genuine. its just us - the student community who is to be blamed. and i am writing all this after looking at less than 5 resumes. if i see another 50 then i'd probably pack my bags and get out of this place.
These claims were part of this person's achievements during his time at the ISB. It was just shocking to me. I never expected this.
It was during Solstice that one of the Alumni gave a presentation on what all people would do and he also touched upon the resume aspect. He told that people would claim insane stuff and nobody can do anything about it. Its all dependant on personal integrity and honesty. he also gave an example where one person had worked with a finance firm on some Private Equit related excel sheets and then he wrote on his resume that he had started a Private Equity Centre of Excellence for the firm. Thats the extent to which people go. He ended that topic with a note - If you take your resume to your previous manager and show it, he should not have any problem. And he was sure that more than 90% of the batch cannot do it because they tend to make such claims.
Fine, sometimes resumes have to be written like that to impress recruiters. I am not worried about what you did in your previous job. I dont think I can validate whatever you claimed you did in your job. Its impossible. In fact, to be frank, I myself have used high frequency words to make my achievements sound great. So, in all probability I would fail that test too. But, then what about your claims while at ISB. Thats effin nonsense on so many resumes I have seen till now.
Lets take the Innovation Challenge that happened sometime back. I can take this example becos ISB had 42 teams participating and thats more than half the batch. Some people have quoted stuff like - winner among 440 schools worldwide, and then some more gas, while they had just qualified to being in the top 50 under a single category. Mind you, there were 5 categories and each category had 88 teams. only the top two teams from each category made it to the final. and in that 10, there were two ISB teams. So, ideally, only those people can claim to be finalists. Rest were all just people who qualified from the first round. And these are some things that happen right in front of you and stuff you can actually authenticate without asking anyone else.
Next is the Experiential Learning Programme which is like the summer project. a good number of people just applied to the project and got it without any interview. and then there were some who got their own projects. And these people claim stuff like - i got selected among 420 people for this project. thats totally ridiculous. nobody competed for your project. it was just your group that applied for the project and how can you say that you had a competition and you got selected through an elimination?
its so frustrating. i never knew that people would go to such an extent to get a fat paying job. they say that the recruiter can see through your resume and separate the truth and fart. i really dont think so.
but yes, you cannot blame the system or the recruiter for this one. what can they do. they are here for people and they believe that the resumes are genuine. its just us - the student community who is to be blamed. and i am writing all this after looking at less than 5 resumes. if i see another 50 then i'd probably pack my bags and get out of this place.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Solstice 2006
Last weekend was Solstice 2006 - reunion for our alumni. It was the long weekend and a good number of alums were here. Almost 200 I guess. The mood of Solstice was set in right from the beginning of the week with some of us preparing for informalz events. Then I did some shopping for the Christmas tree - I guess I have talked about it one of my previous posts. Students Life Council had already put up Christmas trees in all the student villages. We still had our tree to put up. Finally, we put up our tree in the dining hall, safe from the troublesome evening winds.
As people started trickling in, the students got busy catching every other alum who was free on campus to give resume tips. So, at any point of time, you always found a current student with an A4 sheet printed on one side - thats the resume guys, showing it to the alum, whoever it may be and asking for his opinion. That went on for the next two days I would say. It never stopped.
Friday evening and post dinner time - there was a small presentation by one of the alums on preparing for placements with the do's and dont's. although i dont remember a lot about the presentation, i am quite sure that it was an eye opener for a lot of people here. well, if you are a pragmatist, then it doesnt really bother you too much. but for a lot of wannabe consultants and i-bankers, the presentation really showed that they need to take everything ahead with a pinch of salt.
come saturday morning, we had the inaug. it went off quite well with senior members of the management addressing the founding batch. towards the end, i delivered the vote of thanks. as usual, my vote of thanks was as fast as i played the frisbee game. afternoon, we had the tug of war and the boat race. then we left everyone on their own to catch up with their friends and batchmates. this was a lot better than what had happened during the last time when they had melas and activities throughout the day. the alums liked the loosening up bit when they just had the time to laze around and get to talking with each other.
the evening party was perhaps the highlight. like it happens in every solstice. although we tried our hard to change the mindset of all the people who attend solstice - typically solstice is considered as an all booze party and people just get drunk and do nothing else. this time, we tried to change this attitude. but we werent a bit successful. during the evening party, it was free booze and alcohol was flowing all through. this party was perhaps the longest - it went on till 6.30AM.
nothing much happened on sunday. people were just bidding adieu and finding their ways back to the workplace grind.
so that was solstice for all the readers. there's still ISB Radio to talk about and perhaps many other things that just dont strike my mind right now.
PS: I got totally drunk during Solstice Party - free booze, so why not. They had this SHOTS Counter. It was something new. The Students had put a lot of work and prepared a variety of drinks. So I decided, why not try them and then i kept on trying!! That was awesome....
As people started trickling in, the students got busy catching every other alum who was free on campus to give resume tips. So, at any point of time, you always found a current student with an A4 sheet printed on one side - thats the resume guys, showing it to the alum, whoever it may be and asking for his opinion. That went on for the next two days I would say. It never stopped.
Friday evening and post dinner time - there was a small presentation by one of the alums on preparing for placements with the do's and dont's. although i dont remember a lot about the presentation, i am quite sure that it was an eye opener for a lot of people here. well, if you are a pragmatist, then it doesnt really bother you too much. but for a lot of wannabe consultants and i-bankers, the presentation really showed that they need to take everything ahead with a pinch of salt.
come saturday morning, we had the inaug. it went off quite well with senior members of the management addressing the founding batch. towards the end, i delivered the vote of thanks. as usual, my vote of thanks was as fast as i played the frisbee game. afternoon, we had the tug of war and the boat race. then we left everyone on their own to catch up with their friends and batchmates. this was a lot better than what had happened during the last time when they had melas and activities throughout the day. the alums liked the loosening up bit when they just had the time to laze around and get to talking with each other.
the evening party was perhaps the highlight. like it happens in every solstice. although we tried our hard to change the mindset of all the people who attend solstice - typically solstice is considered as an all booze party and people just get drunk and do nothing else. this time, we tried to change this attitude. but we werent a bit successful. during the evening party, it was free booze and alcohol was flowing all through. this party was perhaps the longest - it went on till 6.30AM.
nothing much happened on sunday. people were just bidding adieu and finding their ways back to the workplace grind.
so that was solstice for all the readers. there's still ISB Radio to talk about and perhaps many other things that just dont strike my mind right now.
PS: I got totally drunk during Solstice Party - free booze, so why not. They had this SHOTS Counter. It was something new. The Students had put a lot of work and prepared a variety of drinks. So I decided, why not try them and then i kept on trying!! That was awesome....
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Strange New Year Wish
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great and necessarily greater than any other country and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wished.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/him or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great and necessarily greater than any other country and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wished.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/him or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Now you know
You saw that song on MTV, Channel V and every indian music channel almost everyday and you definitely liked the way it resonated in your mind. Listen to this one...
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Bells, Ornaments and Tinsel Gardens
It's Christmas time. Another two days to go and we are celebrating Christmas on campus. Oh yes, we are a bit early this time. Of course, the students of ISB celebrate festivals according to their schedule. Well, we had to time a gala event along with the Alumni reunion that is happening over the weekend and then we decided - why not keep the reunion with the christmas theme.
so today was christmas shopping day. i have always like shopping. oh, i am a bit different. i like to shop, not unlike others who complain about going to shop. i have spent most weekends in london shopping for stuff that i want. and i have spent hours shopping for clothes. even though today's shopping experience was very christmassy, i still enjoyed it, but for the heavy traffic and the noise pollution caused by the horns.
christmas at london used to be fun. atleast 15 days before christmas day, canary wharf used to be full of decorations and the whole place used to glitter with the mood of christmas. there used to be groups of very pretty women playing western classical music. i used to spend about 30 mins listening to them on my way back to the train station. everything used to be red and green - right from the Coca Cola bottle in the Tesco's to the decorations at the citibank cafe. the best part was the christmas lunch that citi served at the cafe - turkey and venison. it dinn matter much to be coz i was a vegetarian. but it was fun - bursting small crackers, reading out jokes and having hot christmas pudding!!!
so we decided that we needed to buy bells, streamers, and other hangings for the tree. all of this took about 4 hours and during this time, i was introduced to the real hyderabad. we began from general bazaar in secunderabad and went on till all the bazaars in the muslim areas in old hyderabad. i came back tired. the taxi ride all the way back to campus was the most dangerous and bone-cracking experience i have had in the last few months.
its 3am now, and in between this, i had my dinner, joined my friends at the nearest pizza hut for a quick bite and masala lemon juice. then drove till the airport. on the way stopped at a barista thinking that it was open and then stood outside the parking lot to spend a few minutes talking about totally unproductive stuff like girlfriends.
the next day is a very long day. three continuous classes and perhaps other things to do as well - esp. for the alumni reunion thats coming up over the weekend.
so today was christmas shopping day. i have always like shopping. oh, i am a bit different. i like to shop, not unlike others who complain about going to shop. i have spent most weekends in london shopping for stuff that i want. and i have spent hours shopping for clothes. even though today's shopping experience was very christmassy, i still enjoyed it, but for the heavy traffic and the noise pollution caused by the horns.
christmas at london used to be fun. atleast 15 days before christmas day, canary wharf used to be full of decorations and the whole place used to glitter with the mood of christmas. there used to be groups of very pretty women playing western classical music. i used to spend about 30 mins listening to them on my way back to the train station. everything used to be red and green - right from the Coca Cola bottle in the Tesco's to the decorations at the citibank cafe. the best part was the christmas lunch that citi served at the cafe - turkey and venison. it dinn matter much to be coz i was a vegetarian. but it was fun - bursting small crackers, reading out jokes and having hot christmas pudding!!!
so we decided that we needed to buy bells, streamers, and other hangings for the tree. all of this took about 4 hours and during this time, i was introduced to the real hyderabad. we began from general bazaar in secunderabad and went on till all the bazaars in the muslim areas in old hyderabad. i came back tired. the taxi ride all the way back to campus was the most dangerous and bone-cracking experience i have had in the last few months.
its 3am now, and in between this, i had my dinner, joined my friends at the nearest pizza hut for a quick bite and masala lemon juice. then drove till the airport. on the way stopped at a barista thinking that it was open and then stood outside the parking lot to spend a few minutes talking about totally unproductive stuff like girlfriends.
the next day is a very long day. three continuous classes and perhaps other things to do as well - esp. for the alumni reunion thats coming up over the weekend.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
A pick on the US of A
While critics decry the United States' current brand of military and economic imperialism as dangerously unprecedented, great powers have been throwing their weight around like schoolyard bullies since St. Augustine's time. This playful but pointed cartoon shows that while Uncle Sam has been an especially bad apple of late, he's following a pattern of bad behavior which goes back decades.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Why Finance jobs?
Goldman Sachs last week reported the most profitable year ever for a Wall Street investment banking institution, with total revenues of $33bn, around half that amount set aside for pay and benefits to staff. It emerged this week that the bank, which has enjoyed a record year, would be paying bonuses of unprecedented magnitude to its 4,500 employees in the capital. With £9bn to share around the world - an increase of 40 per cent from 2005, itself an exceptional year - the average employee here will receive £319,000. And that average includes everyone. High-fliers will receive between £3m and £10m; one or two are rumoured to be in line for £50m.
Market sources say Morgan's chief executive, John Mack, could collect as much as £20m in stock options for 2006. Goldman Sachs's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, could be in line for compensation exceeding £25m, and analysts say other chief executives, such as James Cayne of Bear Stearns and E Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, could get £20-£25m or higher.
Market sources say Morgan's chief executive, John Mack, could collect as much as £20m in stock options for 2006. Goldman Sachs's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, could be in line for compensation exceeding £25m, and analysts say other chief executives, such as James Cayne of Bear Stearns and E Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, could get £20-£25m or higher.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Creativity and business
the creative director of Leo Burnett, KV Sridhar, was here to talk to us about his views on advertising. it was a two hour talk, very poorly attended. during the talk mr.sridhar himself mentioned to us that during his last visit, the lecture theatre was full.
well, blame it on placements - will you? but even before the placement buzz knocked on the students, most lectures were poorly attended. so you cant blame today's poor attendance on this single aspect. maybe there's some other reason or just that most people are just too lazy to move those cheeks.
the whole thing is so skewed and mysterious. we've had great people who have contributed to changing the face of the indian economy and then just 20 people turn up to listen to them. so whats the deal? nobody knows.
one thing i have noticed is that people rush in herds to listen to consultants from the mckinsey's and bcg's of the world. does that give any clue?
coming back to creativity and advertising, we should know that advertising is all about exploiting the minds of the consumer. if you dig deeper, then you'll realise that most advertising themes are lifted directly from events that happened in a person's life. right from Persil that said "dirt was good" to coca cola kept inside the well, its all about incidents that happened in your childhood, teenage and the later stages in your life.
then there is also this concept of connecting it with the audience. jackie chan in a bajaj ad looked like a chowkidar, but lalithaji in the surf ad was just like our mom.
ads also have to be changed according the changing trends, that is, it should reflect the mindset of the current generation. for example, we cannot use the same 15 yr old liril ad in which the bikini clad girl was dancing in the waterfall. with that lets have a look at the new liril ad. i had never seen this ad before. but when i saw it yesterday, i was surprized and thrilled. the ad was quite interesting. its based on the live-in relationships that we currently see in films or amongst friends. something like the hum-tum or salaam namaste.
well, blame it on placements - will you? but even before the placement buzz knocked on the students, most lectures were poorly attended. so you cant blame today's poor attendance on this single aspect. maybe there's some other reason or just that most people are just too lazy to move those cheeks.
the whole thing is so skewed and mysterious. we've had great people who have contributed to changing the face of the indian economy and then just 20 people turn up to listen to them. so whats the deal? nobody knows.
one thing i have noticed is that people rush in herds to listen to consultants from the mckinsey's and bcg's of the world. does that give any clue?
coming back to creativity and advertising, we should know that advertising is all about exploiting the minds of the consumer. if you dig deeper, then you'll realise that most advertising themes are lifted directly from events that happened in a person's life. right from Persil that said "dirt was good" to coca cola kept inside the well, its all about incidents that happened in your childhood, teenage and the later stages in your life.
then there is also this concept of connecting it with the audience. jackie chan in a bajaj ad looked like a chowkidar, but lalithaji in the surf ad was just like our mom.
ads also have to be changed according the changing trends, that is, it should reflect the mindset of the current generation. for example, we cannot use the same 15 yr old liril ad in which the bikini clad girl was dancing in the waterfall. with that lets have a look at the new liril ad. i had never seen this ad before. but when i saw it yesterday, i was surprized and thrilled. the ad was quite interesting. its based on the live-in relationships that we currently see in films or amongst friends. something like the hum-tum or salaam namaste.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Interview Prep begins at the Quad
Well, we've heard of "Charity begins at home". The latest thing at ISB is Consulting interview prep. So, we have this new one-liner "Consulting interview prep begins at your quad". everywhere, someone or the other is preparing with a team of people for consulting interviews. there are so many groups that are interested in the run up for the interviews in february that all group rooms and lecture theatres are full every other day. and out of necessity and enthusiasm to reach the pinnacle, people have started meeting in the quad. they are trying the idea of working in an informal setting and still achieving extraordinary results.
there are almost 50 jobs that students here can make in the consulting arena. and yes, atleast 300 people are making that big fight for the coveted jobs.
on the other hand, the round 1 results are out. i have seen some 70 odd emails today on the isb-pgp yahoogroups about people congratulating each other. more than 90% of the profiles are: 700+ gmat, 4-5 yrs experience on average, worked with one of the big IT firms, went abroad for a while. bottomline: did the same damn shit that most people in the current batch did. that accounts for almost 50% of the batch.
well guys, this fact cannot be denied that the IT guys occupy half the seats in any batch. and that stems from the fact that the number of applicants from the IT industry is to the tune of 100 per top IT company. so even the admissions office cannnot do much. and thats the reason why almost 50% of the jobs that people get from this place is in IT.
future applicants - for example, its not easy for someone with an IT background to make a shift to finance. thats the fact. in fact, its extremely tough and be prepared for the challenge. from what i see, the current batch is trying to position itself as a consulting savvy batch.
the companies that pay filthy unimaginable salaries take a maximum of 2 people. most people end up with the milkround recruiters and what they pay is somewhere near the last year average salary. some say its even lesser.
and i have seen that its next to impossible to make a complete career shift in a less than one year programme. you can argue with me that some people have made the shift. well, thats like a countable few and in a batch of more than 400 people its one or two percent.
there are almost 50 jobs that students here can make in the consulting arena. and yes, atleast 300 people are making that big fight for the coveted jobs.
on the other hand, the round 1 results are out. i have seen some 70 odd emails today on the isb-pgp yahoogroups about people congratulating each other. more than 90% of the profiles are: 700+ gmat, 4-5 yrs experience on average, worked with one of the big IT firms, went abroad for a while. bottomline: did the same damn shit that most people in the current batch did. that accounts for almost 50% of the batch.
well guys, this fact cannot be denied that the IT guys occupy half the seats in any batch. and that stems from the fact that the number of applicants from the IT industry is to the tune of 100 per top IT company. so even the admissions office cannnot do much. and thats the reason why almost 50% of the jobs that people get from this place is in IT.
future applicants - for example, its not easy for someone with an IT background to make a shift to finance. thats the fact. in fact, its extremely tough and be prepared for the challenge. from what i see, the current batch is trying to position itself as a consulting savvy batch.
the companies that pay filthy unimaginable salaries take a maximum of 2 people. most people end up with the milkround recruiters and what they pay is somewhere near the last year average salary. some say its even lesser.
and i have seen that its next to impossible to make a complete career shift in a less than one year programme. you can argue with me that some people have made the shift. well, thats like a countable few and in a batch of more than 400 people its one or two percent.
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