What to do a month before joining a B school ? | Key to survive into MBA | Tips for Day 0 Placement

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

The video provides practical advice for incoming MBA students on what to expect and prepare for in the month prior to joining a business school. Emphasizing the importance of networking, CV preparation, and understanding the dynamics of B school life, the speaker encourages students to be proactive and adaptable. The session also highlights key events like case competitions and the need for a balanced team with diverse skills. Students are advised to build relationships, brush up on core subjects, and prepare for a challenging but rewarding journey.

Highlights

The importance of forming the right group for case competitions to leverage diverse skills and backgrounds. 🤝
Networking is essential for overall support, preparation, and opportunities in B school. 🌐
Understanding the stressful environment of B schools, and being ready to handle the pressure. ⏳
Detailed preparation of a master CV that needs approval from prior managers or school authorities. 📑
Revise basic math and finance skills as they are integral to the curriculum and assessments. 🔢
Prepare for potential placement challenges but leverage networking and connections to navigate them. 📈
Keep a realistic expectation of the B school life, balancing academics, competitions, and social bonding. 🎓
Participating in the community helps ease the pressure and provides support through senior-junior bonding. 🤗

Key Takeaways

Start forming diverse groups for case competitions early on to better prepare for collaborative tasks. 🤝
Networking is crucial—build friendships and diverse connections for personal and professional support. 🌍
Prepare a detailed and approved master CV as it is critical for placements. 📝
Brush up on basic finance and math skills to prepare for initial tests and subjects. 📚
Stay mentally prepared for a high-pressure environment, especially in the initial trimester. 💪
Utilize the time before B school to finalize any certifications and documentations needed for CV approval. 📄
Plan for reduced personal time as the first trimester is intensive and demands focus. 😅
Engage in activities you enjoy now, as time will be limited once school starts. 🎉

Overview

In the lead-up to joining a B school, potential MBA students should focus on preparing for the academic and social aspects of the experience. This includes forming diverse study groups for case competitions, which are a staple in many programs, and establishing a strong network of diverse peers. Building connections with individuals from varied backgrounds not only enriches the learning experience but also enhances future career prospects.

Students are encouraged to craft a detailed master CV, which is critical for placement processes. This document requires approval from previous employers or educational institutions to verify authenticity. Additionally, brushing up on basic finance and math skills is advised, as these will be crucial in early assessments and coursework. The initial trimester is described as particularly intense, necessitating a proactive and prepared approach.

While the pressure is significant, the speaker advises students not to lose sight of personal interests and hobbies, recommending that they enjoy these pursuits in their free time before the academic rigors begin. By maintaining a balance, students can navigate the challenges of B school with greater ease and set a foundation for a successful career in their field of choice.

Chapters

00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to B-School Life The chapter 'Introduction to B-School Life' delves into the various aspects of life within a business school as experienced by students over the past five years. Through a series of buzzwords presented in a mind map, it highlights key components such as summer exchange programs, extracurricular activities, competitions, and case studies. The chapter encourages students to reflect on these elements, asking them to identify and discuss the aspects they relate to most.
00:30 - 02:00: Case Study and Competitions The chapter focuses on discussions around case studies and the role they play in both academic and competitive environments. It distinguishes between case studies that are part of an academic curriculum and case study competitions that offer opportunities like Pre-Placement Interviews (PPIs) or Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs). The dialogue reflects a sense of concern or nervousness regarding partaking in case competitions, suggesting they are a challenging and pivotal part of the learning and professional process.
02:00 - 03:30: Forming Groups and Networking The chapter discusses the importance of forming groups and networking in the context of case competitions. It highlights that a significant number of students participate in case competitions, but only about 10% succeed, often due to effective team collaboration. Forming a good group is crucial as it enhances the chances of winning. The chapter underscores the role of teamwork in achieving success in such competitive environments.
03:30 - 06:30: Fun Side of MBA The chapter 'Fun Side of MBA' highlights the formation of diverse study groups in MBA programs. The narrator describes how these groups are often composed of individuals with varying strengths and backgrounds, such as gender diversity, outspoken individuals, those from finance, commerce, or top engineering colleges, and people with strong math or presentation skills. The narrator shares their experience from two years at IMG, noting that once these diverse groups are formed, they tend to remain stable throughout the course.
06:30 - 11:30: Placement Hoaxes and Icebreaker Sessions The chapter titled 'Placement Hoaxes and Icebreaker Sessions' begins with a discussion about the importance of group formation in case competitions. The speaker advises being mindful of the group you form because it's difficult to dissolve and reform with a new one. They emphasize that making friends and interacting with others is crucial since it helps to gather people into your group. The chapter also touches on the challenges faced when starting out in case competitions, primarily revolving around building and maintaining effective teams.
11:30 - 15:30: Inter-College Competitions The chapter discusses the dynamics of inter-college competitions, particularly focusing on the formation of groups. It highlights the challenges faced when individuals from different backgrounds or institutions, like NSIT, are required to work together. Issues such as free-riding and lack of participation can arise when group members don't interact well, which negatively affects the outcome. The chapter advises students to make diverse and meaningful connections, encouraging them to interact with peers from various academic backgrounds such as commerce, beyond their own, to enhance their performance in such competitions.
15:30 - 25:00: Importance of First Trimester and Building CV This chapter discusses the importance of the first trimester in an academic or professional journey and how building a diverse curriculum vitae (CV) can be beneficial. The narrative emphasizes that having a variety of backgrounds, such as those from the arts or with doctoral expertise, can enhance the richness of a panel or team. There is a brief interruption in the meeting as a participant, Ax, requests to be admitted, which is resolved quickly to continue with the discussion. The dialogue hints at a collaborative effort to maintain inclusivity and diversity in professional settings.
25:00 - 29:00: Career Booster and Networking Importance The chapter explores the lighter, more enjoyable aspects of pursuing an MBA that may not be widely known. It includes an interactive session where the speaker engages with students, asking them to share their knowledge about the fun side of the MBA experience at their respective colleges. A student named 'Sayy' mentions joining IM Ahmedabad but is unsure about the hosts for an event called 'Sangos.' The chapter highlights the significance of such activities in boosting one's career and the importance of networking in the MBA journey.
29:00 - 36:00: Course Overview and CV Preparation The chapter starts with an overview of the course, emphasizing the importance of preparing a strong CV. It touches on the significance of knowing about extracurricular activities, such as sports, in the context of preparing for interviews or team selections. The conversation suggests a candid and informal approach, discussing the integration of sports interests, like table tennis, into professional preparation. It also hints at a balance between seriousness and humor in the course's introductory activities, particularly at SPJMR, setting the tone for an engaging and approachable learning environment.
36:00 - 45:00: Final Q&A and Closing Remarks This chapter consists of a discussion about the final Q&A and closing remarks of an event. During this session, participants recount their experiences with past placement traditions, particularly focusing on a hoax conducted by seniors. This hoax involved newcomers being welcomed in a demanding and adventurous manner, creating pressure during the first few weeks of their placement or integration period.

What to do a month before joining a B school ? | Key to survive into MBA | Tips for Day 0 Placement Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 The life inside a B school and typically when we take survey from last five years students all of these b these buzzwords that you see in this mind map is something that you can actually go and expect in the next two years right so it can be summer exchange it can be extracurricular studies competitions case study how many of you resonate with some of the buzzwords that you see here and probably which is the one that resonates the most with you just unmute and speak up the case study thing I have
00:30 - 01:00 been like talking about we have been discussing about case studies and all okay case study competitions case study competitions okay because when you say case it is two part right one is as a part of your academic curriculum you will have case studies and second is case competitions where you will get PPI PO competitions I was talking about okay okay that's what I'm scared of case competitions participated in one Okay. It's going to
01:00 - 01:30 be new. So, I was looking for what I can do. Okay. Okay. The case competitions are more like fun. Like you will have ample amount of case competitions. And of course, not everyone wins, but typically 10 percentage of the ba batch ends up clearing some of the other case competitions, right? And it doesn't happen as a solo performer. You have to form a group. So, typically, yeah, the better the group, the better the outcome is. So yeah that's also the first thing
01:30 - 02:00 that people go and start forming many groups and they focus more on the academic diversity. There has to be a girl in a group and then people who are outspoken, people from diverse background, someone from finance, someone from commerce background, someone from top engineering college, someone whose maths is good, someone who's like you know presentation skills are good. You start forming a group with diverse set of skill set and then typically a group that is formed at least in my experience of two years at IMG I've seen uh the group remain same.
02:00 - 02:30 So we had the same group in every case competition that we have applied to. So hence be very very mindful of the group that you go and form because it's very hard to break a group and then form another group right. So probably the first thing you will go and that is the reason why interaction making friends is very important because unless you go and do that you won't be able to have people inside your group and that is again one one of the first challenge that you start being facing because case
02:30 - 03:00 competitions come it requires a group of four or five you don't know anyone you start forming random groups people don't interact and hence then a lot of be happens free riding thing happens people don't participate well they don't come up as a group and hence the outcome is also not good. So point is make friends, make good friends, have good connection and the same connect and probably mix up with every kind of people. Don't just be resonated with key are I am from NSIT I'll make friends only from NSIT or maybe engineering background have diverse set of opinion commerce folks
03:00 - 03:30 arts folks people from doctoral background etc etc the more the diverse the better it is from uh a panelist perspective right I'm sorry to interrupt ax was asking to be let in in the meeting okay can someone do that or let I think you only have Okay, fair. Yeah, I think he's in now. Sure. So, with that, let's start with
03:30 - 04:00 the brighter side first. Let's that probably you wouldn't have heard or maybe let me ask you how many of you know the fun side of an MBA. Just unmute and speak up for for your own respective colleges. Sang is a famous participation. Okay. and maybe name yourself and which college are you joining? Yeah, my name is Sayy and I'll be joining IM Ahmedabad. Okay. Okay. So, who is hosting Sangos this year? I'm not sure
04:00 - 04:30 about I haven't read about it. Okay. Okay. Are you into sports? Yeah, I am into sports. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Which which sport? I play table tennis. But yeah, let's see if there is uh any pro any thing regarding that and let's see if I can make it into the team. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Others except Sang for SPJMR. I have heard that the intro thing will be quite serious plus funny.
04:30 - 05:00 They will be tearing off your CVS in front of you and all of that stuff is going to happen. I heard I think it is fun. Yeah. Yeah. So that reminds me of a story. At least during our times there used to be a placement hoax where people at least your seniors get prepared to welcome you in a very very adventurous way and everyone will start giving you a lot of pressure in the first few weeks and all. Uh for example you are like you know asked to come mandatorily into
05:00 - 05:30 classrooms have some workshops. There'll be some second year student who will dress up like some uh company founder. They'll come in and then they'll start like you know talking to you in a very non-soft manner. Let me accept. Oh yeah. And uh then they'll do like a lot of things. They'll start putting a lot of pressure on you. Kr this is something that you have to submit by tomorrow 5:00 a.m. deadlines will be like 2:00 a.m. in the night you have to come and meet these placement committees. 3:00 a.m.
05:30 - 06:00 you have to go and pick up CVS. And then uh you do all of that for next couple of weeks. And then probably later on you like you know realize that hey all of this was like just a hoax nothing of it was true and then that's how the senior junior bonding gets started and then there's a party and then good things in the party and then people just dance out and that's how the icebreaker session used to happen in IM Kolkata at least and similar stories are there for all the colleges but again this used to happen until two years ago I don't know
06:00 - 06:30 the scenario because colleges have become more stricter now at least that's what I've heard from your fellow juniors but yeah be ready to have anything into a into a particular B school you join right but yeah let's maybe show you some of the snippets and these are the actual colleges snippet anyone what is this kabati kabi of course it is written so this is sar I think sahed mentioned
06:30 - 07:00 about sus this is an IMABCL meet I'm not sure if any new IM have been added here But uh until back then it was ABCL and this is a female Kapadi match Bali. This is again uh I am ABCL Sang. Then this is uh especially the folks who are maybe let me ask you how many of you are joining IM Kolkata.
07:00 - 07:30 Okay. Can anyone tell me what is this place? Is this NHS still compound? I don't interesting. Uh who was this your name? Raa. Raa. Okay. Raia. Good. Yeah. At least you have done your research. Others I the first thing that you know about IM Kolkata is the names of the host and there's a lot of rivalry between different host. I'm surprised if you haven't figured that out until now.
07:30 - 08:00 So yeah, this is NH hostel and typically NH is I was also in NH for two years and NH hostel is the hostel with the least infrastructural facilities but then people still stick to that because there is a lot of connection, lot of bonding and lot of brotherhood and sisterhood is what you'll see into this hostel. People like go crazy for each other. So this is again the entire hostel preparing for entire hostel rivalry competition. And this is a picture taken at 3:00 a.m.
08:00 - 08:30 Right. So just besides that, you can see a canteen that is open till 5:00 a.m. in the morning. And then this is the volleyball court where people play football. So I'm not sure how many of you know the name, but at least in Kolkata this sport is very famous where you play volleyball with your legs, right? So you can't use your hands and then there are three four females and then three four males and then people form team and play here. So that's what this particular picture is
08:30 - 09:00 about. Anyone can tell me which place is this? Is this even a B school or is this some slam area of some place? No one. This is especially folks. research it looks like you you don't know much about what happens by the way all of these folks are the first
09:00 - 09:30 year students who are who have just joined the college this happened one to one to two months after joining a college so these are folks like you have just entered into a college this is I am Kolkata by the way and this is a part of inter college rivalry competition a very famous league which is happening since 1960 so last 30 40 50 years competition happens It is called as uh tire raid. So what you do is there's a historical tire which is there somewhere in the college
09:30 - 10:00 and uh one hostel is expected to dig that tire deep inside the ground by doing all the work and then put obstacles over that and then the other college which is competing is expected to take out that tire. Right? And whatever time that college will take to sort of take out the tire is the time that the other team has to cross and build. But then it is not easy because while you are doing all of it the entire college is there on in their
10:00 - 10:30 roofs in the lobbies and then they and then they are throwing water balloons everything at you. They are like you know sledging you like anything. So hence it sort of it's like the first competitive spirit that you start developing. But then you might feel scared looking at it which of course most of the students do that but after doing this a lot of bonding happens and then you become like like you know get you actually become acclimatized to a particular college say I'm kolkita for this matter so that's what this entire
10:30 - 11:00 competition is about right so all the sophisticated folks who are like no I want to have this standard of living even when I go into a college no probably leave everything aside in inside a college go as raw as you can because a lot of unknown own things happen right and that's what becomes the first element of your networking alumni bonding everything okay people are still joining in cool so how many excited and uh how many are scared looking at
11:00 - 11:30 this maybe I want to hear like because I can't see what you're reacting or commenting just maybe unmute and say how does this look to you is this something that you're expecting or is this like a shock Shocker, pleasant shocker or a surprise shocker. Gives a very engineering college vibe. No. Yeah, we didn't have any such thing especially in the engineering times but maybe other engineers can comment. My
11:30 - 12:00 college had a very renowned uh treasure hunt. So it was kind of like that. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Then right. So then there is something called nostalgia meet. Uh I was the alumi at least back then. So what happens there is nostalgia is nothing but alumni meetings right where 10 years older alm 15 years older alum they all come together they meet first year second year students a lot of bonding happen a lot of numbers also get
12:00 - 12:30 exchanged because these are the folks who come and so that is the event that happens in Kolkata again for folks from other college. uh while I'm only talking about Kolkata because that that's the stats at least I have in hand similar activities happen for nearly every college right so I have so these slides are only to give you a sense on like you know what you can expect then that was the fun part similar I lost portion happens these are the snippets of case competitions that probably you all are
12:30 - 13:00 like you know going for so the first one is a picture of our group uh from I think ET was a case competition economic times of young leaders. So this was the final uh part happening in Mumbai. The second one is the flipkart wired case competition which happened. So again and like in our team if you see uh like all of us are still friends. The middle one is me. Of course you can't recognize me.
13:00 - 13:30 I've gotten like 10 years older now but at least during college this is how I used to look. The right hand side guy is a friend of mine. He is currently working in Google as a marketing person and he also is based out of Guro. The left one is a consultant. He is currently based out based out of Mumbai. He is in BCG. He's in BCG since last 10 years. So he's about to become a partner mostly. You might see him into your college. Right? So the point is everyone
13:30 - 14:00 was from different stream. I was more a product product person. And then we had someone who was a marketing kind of a person. We had someone who was very good at his PPD skills. So of course a consultant right? So these are just some snippets to give you a sense on what happens and then you are called to the finalist. For example, we went to IM Bangalore because that's when the final event happens. So you also get to travel to a lot of other colleges. So it's also interim bondings and not just limited to your own college that you go to. Right.
14:00 - 14:30 So these were the happy things right but still you like uh as much as you talk to your seniors as much you start googling as much you watch YouTube videos there is always a negative side of it yeah there's a lot of stress people don't get to sleep there are placement crashes that keep on happening there's a lot of pressure on CV making etc right so now let's also talk about that part for example these are the newspaper highlights that especially in last two
14:30 - 15:00 four years owing to all the macroeconomic situations we have seen even colleges like ABC while they would always claim it as 100% but on ground it is not 100% because what typically happens is it's 70 80% and then the remaining folks who are not placed out of the college the actual truth is that they'll be asked to opt out of the placement process so that's how the entire conversion becomes 200% is that again I'm not quoting any particular IM here But these things do
15:00 - 15:30 happen right. So hence the point here to make is it's not always sunny into a B school. You have to work things out to be able to make sure you get placed. So don't go with that preconceived notion score percentile convert. I've converted all the top colleges I had. So now life is a fairy tale for me. I'll go and get placed in the top companies. That doesn't happen. We have seen students 99.98 99.99 getting placed on day two
15:30 - 16:00 day three right and folks with like 97 98 just crossing the border going into going into a B schools getting placed on day zero and MBB or whatever other dream companies right point to note is percentile there is no role once you enter into a B school because every second person you talk to no matter which category he's he or she is from no matter which stream they are from No matter what is the percentile, no matter how many colleges did they convert, everyone is at the same level, right? So
16:00 - 16:30 the only things that would matter uh after you enter into a B school is first how much is your networking because the more the networking the more is the source of prep that you will have because there are a lot of peer-to-peer activities. A lot of friends do their CV reviews, a lot of friends study together and there will be downtimes into every B school. So you would need some morale support from these folks. So hence that's one. Second is
16:30 - 17:00 uh the first two three months into a B school is super crucial. Why? Because that is the time when you'll be pushed to make your CVs and making CV is not easy. No matter how much you make your CV now even once you into enter into a B school you'll have to create a master CV which is a five pager CV then there is a one pager CV. It is so important because once you submit a CV to your placement team then you cannot even change a particular word from that CV. So then you have to use the same word into your actual CVs that are going to the dream
17:00 - 17:30 companies for short listing. Right? That is the reason why CVS are so important. That's one and second then there is a CV approval process also because once you enter into a B school you might write 10 things in your CV right but then first is how do you put everything into one pager in the same format same uh aesthetic beauty everything and second is every word has to be approved by the respective folks so that's where I'll tell you key again go back to your college have good relationship with your
17:30 - 18:00 managers have good relationship with your colleges have good relationship with your schools if you are planning to write any point of your school like in 12th I was in top 10 of my entire district right if you write a line like this it has to be proved either by a newspaper article or it has to be on letter pad of your school if you're saying I got rank one in class 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 there has to be a proof either a mark sheet or maybe a a letter of the school and you will be asked to go back to your school get it approved so hence
18:00 - 18:30 the next one and a half month is so crucial for you that start talking to school start having good relationship with your managers. If you're writing any three pointers about your work, these are the three things I've done. This is the impact that I've created this is the revenue that I have generated for the company. These many man hours I've saved for my company. You'll be asked to get it approved by your manager and that can't be anyone else. You can't even play random thing here because that manager the LinkedIn profile will be seen and in his LinkedIn profile it should be mentioned that yeah
18:30 - 19:00 this person is working in this capacity in the same company that manager has left the company then again there is a lot of chaos because the placement team wouldn't approve it right so just giving you heads up on what all can you expect there'll be this CV pressure there'll be case competitions you'll be of course in a fun zone you'll be meeting a lot of friends there'll be these inter college events surs all the sports extracurricular event happening and your first trimester would have kickstarted right and the importance of first trimester is especially the students who
19:00 - 19:30 are like not CFA L2 CFA L3 who don't have like a super solid 999 kind of a profile but still they want to target say MBBS or they want to target the top finance companies they want to target investment banking there are two ways to sort of get into it one either your profile or CV is like rock solid it has a CFA level three, it has a CA, it has a CFA level two, level one or it has some finance work experience, some exposure to finance. Similarly, for the
19:30 - 20:00 consulting either it has to be 999, right? And a lot of POS and a lot of extracurriculars. If you do that, well and good. If you don't have that, you still have a chance because the first trimester may if you get into the top 20 of your college, right, which is called as as institute rankers. IR is the label that different colleges have it for the for the students. If you get into the top 20 of the colleges then that list is softly passed to the placement team and
20:00 - 20:30 that placement team does share that list. They wouldn't tell you because results wouldn't be out officially but internally people would know the results and that's how the companies who are coming for the placement they would have a sense hey these are the top 20 students and they would shortlist them. So majority of the students from top 20 get shortlisted in top consulting and top finance companies and even companies like TAS if you're targeting general management if you're targeting Microsoft for your product management getting into top 20 is still in your hand because everyone is is at
20:30 - 21:00 the same level right so you still have that chance and your profile is something that you can't really change right now but that will be another advantage these are the two getways to enter into your dream B school so I did receive a lot of uh texts from some of you key sir what do I do right now right hence I wanted to address this to everyone be prepared and the first trimester is that's why very important because you have to be focused on everything and which is why people say because while you you can choose to
21:00 - 21:30 don't give a to any of it and still have fun in your life but then because you're investing so much and it's your dream college people don't do that very easily and that is the reason you'll be pushed to stretch up for 15 16 18 20 hours but it's only a matter of the first 3 months right so again the point to note here is it's not for the entire two years first 3 four months the first trimester is the most important phase of your MBA because that governs your placement that governs your profile that governs your case
21:30 - 22:00 competition group that governs your circle networking everything so first right you might feel like giving up it's such a chaos there's a lot pressure. There's a lot of mental pressure on me. If any of you feel something like that, we already have a community for the last five years where you will find students of every college. So anytime once you enter into a B school, my prep zone is not over. Our aim is to create that community. So even
22:00 - 22:30 the first batch 2018 batch is still connected to us, right? We do have meetups within Gura, within Mumbai, within Bangalore. So anytime you face any challenges, you feel like giving up, we just a call away. Give me a call. Give Prashant a call, give your mentors a call. If you need to speak to anyone, I'm just a phone call away. Right? But these things will happen. So I'm just making you mentally prepared key. This is what happens. A lot of students feel like giving up. A lot of students even give up. But then this is just a phase of the first three four months. After that once you enter into a summers about
22:30 - 23:00 second year is like pretty chill. You'll go for summer exchange in some foreign universities. That's fun. Second year. Okay. So now let me also take some moment then I'll address all the questions key. Is there anything that probably you can do? There are a couple of things that you can do on your own and then there are a couple of things that we offer as a part of career booster and the entire objective is yeah once you enter into a B school then you wouldn't have any time to refer to
23:00 - 23:30 anyone outside the college. So typically uh it is said key people who are into a relationship they become single once they enter into the school because you don't even get time to talk to a family leave alone your boyfriend's girlfriend so that is kind of true at least in the first trimester to people who already have someone make them mentally prepared hold on to it and be patient because time availability will be a challenge but yeah jokes apart what is it that probably you can do because you
23:30 - 24:00 all have around 40 is okay I see folks are still joining in cool so the point is with still 45 days to go what is it that is there in your hand right now and then what are the things that you can control right of course one hidden objective is by the way I've just joined a new company in Gurau as a director of product management and uh I have met few folks who were the last year my prep zone students so I'm not I think some of them
24:00 - 24:30 would have also mentored you. Siddhan Samyak was one again who converted I am ABC he joined the same company right and today he's in the he's in my team so the point is you would like whatever companies you go to for summers you would be placed in the same company where you would already see mentors who are there so make good opportunity of it for example we have a very good relationship now because he's in the my team I have to sort of judge him on his inter internship and everything but uh
24:30 - 25:00 having someone whom you already know into a company always always help. So make connections, stay connected to your mentors or anyone that you are in touch with as a part of the my prep zone community or even beyond stay in touch with them. You will need them for at least next two three years or even four years, five years for the lateral placements. And by the way placements and all it's not 80 90%, it has improved now last to last year it has taken a dip. This year again it wasn't 100% per se but it's around 85 90% placement.
25:00 - 25:30 When I say 90% 90% good placements are happening and again you all have to at least make sure top 90% you shouldn't be in the bottom 10 15 20% right those are typically the students who feel like giving up who give up they don't do anything they feel so lethargic after going into a B school so don't be in that zone because it's not 100% placement of and people who are placed are getting good money also right your stipen is also in decent range it's it's like good Right. So if you want to
25:30 - 26:00 discuss, you can always ping me or your mentors and you can have those one-on-one conversation. But the placements people who are getting placed are getting good amount right I'm sure majority of you are also taking loan so loan and all gets recovered in the first two three years. So all of that is there right based on the colleges that you're joining. But yeah uh like you know coming back to this a career booster key why we started it and what can you actually expect out of this because of
26:00 - 26:30 course it's only a one month kind of a program it won't last if you enter into a B school because you wouldn't have time to attend any of us uh once you join your like you know colleges. Hence this is more of a self-arning recorded with some element of live session and some one-on-one help given so that the next one month you have to give time to your family members. You have to travel probably go on a trip, go out on weekends. You might be having farewells
26:30 - 27:00 in your company, right? So end it on a very good zone. Hence we don't expect you but in a week maybe take out two three three four hours that's the bare minimum I would expect everyone and these 15 16 hours will give you a lot of 3x 4x competitive edge against other students once you enter into a B school and we have designed the entire curriculum considering it right. So if you belong to any of
27:00 - 27:30 these four clusters CV is there a way that probably next 45 days may you have the first draft of your CV? Yes, you can have a first draft of your CV. So that once you enter into a B school you probably have to only do some finetuning based on the formats of the CV but your CV master and one picture is already done right then comes first step is CV CV about short listing short listing about interviews again if you are shortlisted it doesn't mean
27:30 - 28:00 interview because that happens on a sequential basis maybe 100 students are shortlisted for a position of 20 product managers and if they find 20 product managers in the first 20 they wouldn't even take the interview of the 21st candidate. Hence your CV speaks a lot in terms of where do you rank in terms of the calling. So then second is if you get interviewed than interview conversion rate and typically interview conversion rate in an interview is lower
28:00 - 28:30 than your interview conversion rate of a GDPI because you still relatively audience isn't that mature. Not a lot of folks prepare for GDPI as extensive as you guys have done it but into a B school to you will see all the creams around you right so everyone is like puly entho have a very good profile is like all in once they have a short list that is the reason why you have to be at least some interview mode ready that's one and second truth is the B school wouldn't prepare you for the interviews right so your first trimester syllabus
28:30 - 29:00 has got zero overlap with your interview preparation whether it's finance interview preparation or it is consulting a interview preparation or product management or marketing or general management that preparation is pulls apart than what you are taught in the first trimester. So point to notice B school wouldn't teach you how to prepare for interviews right that you have to discuss it with your seniors your second year seniors there is a placement team there is a case competition team there are clubs
29:00 - 29:30 consulting clubs finance club there is a lot of material that gets shared with you from different v schools puran interview experiences will be shared and you expected to prepare on your own so so maybe go with that assumption handhold into a B school right Third is which specialization to pick up again you can have some sense these are the two things where probably is uh fitment based on your profile right one is yeah I want to go into finance right but if my profile isn't about finance then even
29:30 - 30:00 if I want to go into finance I wouldn't have a short list of finance so by the way that happened with me right because I didn't prepare and I was sort of good with math so I assumed math such probably finance is something that I would go go to but I didn't have a single shortest about finance right so While I prepared for finance dam HL stock market some prep 112 NCERTT commerce not NCERTT there was some book uh I don't even recall the name one was uh
30:00 - 30:30 management accounting second was ratios and proportion ratios and accounting class 11 12 by the way this book of class 11 12 commerce is very good that all the engineers should at least read before they enter into a B school because that Because when I was going into B school GDP as you guys have done right so whatever finance sessions you have whatever consulting sessions you had as a part of GDPI revisit during your placement that's one revisit class 11 12th of commerce everyone should do that
30:30 - 31:00 because first trimester finance to subject her college all of you will have to study finance as a part of first trimester and non-commerce students it becomes extremely difficult to score good in that uh subject right I had a fivepointer in only one subject in the in the first trimester and that was finance everywhere everywhere else I had good CG so my overall was 7.7 out of nine in my first trimester but then
31:00 - 31:30 finance was like a leg puller for me right because competition and then people get very confused what is a ledger balance sheet so at least get your basics right before entering into a B so that you are able to understand what professors try to teach you. That's about the specialization. So yeah, I was talking about the specialization part, right? So at least get some judgment of what are the two streams you would want to give a bet to, right? Because you would have to prepare for a particular specialization
31:30 - 32:00 even before having a short list. So hence it's very important to have a judgment based on my CV consulting, short list, finance, marketing, product management, right? Because if you don't have it, for example, if you're targeting finance or finance short, then you will put your entire energy into preparing for finance internship and finance short, right? And then probably you could have used that time to prepare for something short. Hence, it's important to get a
32:00 - 32:30 realistic check and sense on what specialization suits your profile, suits your CV and suits your interest and aspirations, right? And last is FOMO. uh for example this friend of mine when I that I talked about who is currently in Google he got placed on day two in the summer placements so his profile was good he is a bit pass out right good folk but then there was a lot of pressure is there right into a college so and jake you get fully suited up
32:30 - 33:00 there especially kolkata is like super humid imagine you are getting up at 5:30 you're getting all suited up clean shaved uh like you know threepiece 10k You're going to a placement hall where there's no AC by the way. It's just some 50 years old fan. You're sitting there the entire day hoping shortlist right. But then it might happen and you're not even called for an interview right and in that hope you are
33:00 - 33:30 not even going for lunch you're not even going for dinner because you are like interview hence I have to be there. So that is the time when a lot of your friends who would have already gotten placed right people who wouldn't have applied to the companies that are coming helps you bring your meals arrange your meals give you that moral booster extremely important in every B school right and hence there is a lot of FOMO element because you would see our interview the entire day has been lapsed and I'm not even called for an
33:30 - 34:00 interview so a lot of second thoughts start coming in and that's very very natural the my agenda here is to give you some realistic picture so that you don't feel surprised when all of these events happen for you right so these things happen so just a glimpse of last year last couple of years of the placement booster program we do it every year since 2019 is when we are doing it I think it's been six years now it's a short program right short and sweet program which gives you content which gives you a realistic check in terms of
34:00 - 34:30 which specialization suits you which makes you prepare your one pager CV even before you enter into a B school and which gives you the recording so that even if you don't watch that recording today for any particular personal reason you have access to that recording till your summer placements because summers you have to go and prepare for interviews right and college wouldn't give you any video sessions by the way they will give you PDFs 300page PDFs so that is where all of these
34:30 - 35:00 refined contents come in and these content is like only specific to interview it is not specific to your first trimester Right. This year who will be the mentors? The key mentors will be me and Tushar. Tushar Jajani. Tushar is an I am Laknau pass CFA. He is currently into corporate finance in Amazon and I am into product management. I did my consulting internship. So I will take care of consulting and PM as the domain and Tushar will take care of finance and marketing. So sessions are being created
35:00 - 35:30 by us. However, there are around 15 to 20 mentors this year. this year who will be either your who will help you with the CV reviews who might take a couple of live sessions for you and these are the like you know panelist that you see. So the bottom line is the companies where they are. The second line is the domain and the first one is the names colleges. These are the folks from ABCL, IK, SPJN, XL, FMS. These are the colleges of these college of these folks. Right? So that's just a brief intro
35:30 - 36:00 about about a career booster. What's included? The key domains that we targeting this year is finance, marketing, consulting, product management. When we say key domains, it basically means in summers content that we have already created and we have created in a very good case based fashion. So these content is ready and will be given to you the and the other streams like operations and supply chain management HR analytics these are the complimentary domains just content will
36:00 - 36:30 also be given to you. It won't be very extensive because extensive prep as it is in these four domains. So, so whatever domain you choose right you will get access to these other domains at least right that's one career guidance placed live classes placement season what are the key companies that come what do they look at consulting has a very definite way key the first the entire CV should be uniform right first
36:30 - 37:00 half and the bottom half of the CV has to be very extensive finance finance it has to be ACA heavy consulting it has to be PO or extra curricular case competition acade everything has to be balanced. So every domain has a different way of product management has to be workx heavy right marketing has to be again extracurricular and fresher kind of a CV. So every domain has a very different CV hence even if you're targeting France and marketing you will have to create two different versions of CV which will be little different while
37:00 - 37:30 the raw content will be same the way in which artic you're articulating the way in which you're placing the widgets in your CV will be very different. So the CV building sessions will happen. You'll be given access to power works. You'll be given access to uh college based CVs of your seniors so that you can see and start preparing it. And you will be given two CV review sessions with a personal mentor. That mentor would be from similar colleges where you're joining. If you're joining ABC, you'll have a mentor from ABC in the same stream say product management or finance. And they will be mapped to you only for the CV review sessions.
37:30 - 38:00 Right? This is about it. So I then one question is sir I have no clue which domain do I choose. Do I choose marketing? Do I choose finance? Do I choose it? I probably want to try for everything. So yeah even for that we have something called you can get access to all the four domains. Finance, marketing, consulting, product management. So that maybe if you're preparing for finance but if you end up getting a short list of product management, you're not very shocked, right? you still have access to the content and you at least have some
38:00 - 38:30 readiness for you to be able to perform better in an interview. So for for those kind of students who are like not very clear and who wants to leverage their risk and prepare for everything you can either go for with full combo full combo is nothing but all the domains for content right so if you choose one domain everyone is outside your GDPI batch because a lot of students from other coaching also joins a lot of other folks also join if if any of your friends outside my prep has to join that is the price for the for everyone or GDPI batch I think the fees that you all
38:30 - 39:00 have paid it already had 50% percentage per discount, right? Hence, the price is 50%age discounted for all the GDPA batch students. CV review is an add-on. If you don't want CVP, you can choose to not have CV review. If you want CV review, that will be added. CV review is only an add-on that can be availed over a particular domain. You can't come and say sir, I I only need CV review. That is not available as an SKU. CV review can only be an add-on over any of the SKU like marketing, finance, consulting, etc. So that's about the fee structure.
39:00 - 39:30 Now comes the major part key whether you be here you don't do that what are the things that you should at least do in the next 45 days right so these are the 10 things get started with your CV I'm not sure how many of you did the first assignment that Prashans has asked you to do once you joined the prep zone JDPI programs asked you to create a four fivepager document on your life story
39:30 - 40:00 right right from the time you're on till now whatever you have done just write everything. So that is the document that will come very handy for creating a master CV. Master CV is nothing but class second I was I won a kite making competition. I won a f I won a fancy dress competition. You have a certificate for that. You would feel silly. You don't even want to include that in the CV but add it as a master part of master CV. Master set is nothing
40:00 - 40:30 but a supererset of your final CV because one CV that will be taken from your master CV only right hence master CV gets frozen first once it is approved by the placement committee you can't add any other point outside the master CV h that's very important to create a master CV and that one pager is what is getting submitted to your final companies build relationships by relationships I mean build friendships into a particular college basics of finance 11 12th commerce
40:30 - 41:00 friends within this group, outside this group. Take their textbooks, take the ebooks, start reading class 11, 12th, finance, revise basic maths 11, 12 maths, statistics, whatever you have done for CAT, revise it. At least some of the colleges as soon as you enter into a B school, there is a maths test and most of you will be informed in next couple of days. There will be a maths test, right? And this is a pass or a fail test. And we have seen students
41:00 - 41:30 getting failed in these maths test. Even I I recall there was a 9197 from IIT Bombay. He failed in the maths test probably because he was in a very different zone. Test is not very difficult but it is extensive. So you have to go back revise your 11 12 maths brush it up and then appear for this test. Excel PBD skills. Excel may not macros and all but at least basic Excel skills because you'll be asked to create balance sheets ledgers on Excel. So at least we look up X lookup what is H
41:30 - 42:00 lookup right and there's also an Excel playlist on my prep zone Instagram channel which we created last year you can go through it but basic Excel skills see there even if you go and do a YouTube search right there is some channels of Excel that you can get subscribed to Excel and PPD skills will also be taught as a part of the career booster. You will have some sessions specifically talking about Excel and PBT skills from a college perspective. Reading news, I cannot emphasize more on this. You have
42:00 - 42:30 developed a very good habit at least in the first two weeks, first two months of your GDPI. Everyone was reading news. Everyone was super top-notch. Everyone used to keep on publishing news on Discord channel. But that hasn't happened over last two three months for obvious reasons. But whether you're publishing or not, please do continue reading those news. If you stop that habit now, it will be very very difficult for you to again uh restart that habit. Right? So subscribe to the newspaper, mint, economic times,
42:30 - 43:00 whatever that you are reading and continue reading news very important from an from a placement perspective. Soft skills is see the interview soft skill didn't matter much right. Hence whether it's English, Hindi, how do you communicate doesn't matter. What do you communicate matters more but from a placement perspective now your communication will matter right so start developing soft skills if you're not if you don't have a very profound command on your vocabulary or communication or English skill join
43:00 - 43:30 any English uh speaking course nearby you it may sound silly but these small things help you to at least gain confidence right and be any which phase next one and a half month is chill phase for you so use that time to develop your soft skills capability certif certifications, specializations, get hold of all the certifications you have so far, right? Because you will have need it to be able to substantiate your CV pointers, social contribution. Some of you who don't have any uh extracurricular activities or
43:30 - 44:00 point of respons or PS, you might want to attach yourself to any NGO join so that at least you have some bucket in your CV to be able to talk to, right? And just figure out wherever you live join any NGO go there once a week have good time with underprivileged folks kids do some humanity work and in return you will have some certification which you can use to put in your CV right and most importantly follow your hobby and passion because probably after one and a half month you may not get a chance to
44:00 - 44:30 follow that at least for the next three four months. So have good time with your family. If you like doing swimming do that. If you like dancing do that. If you like running, do that. Giving do that. Traveling, do that. Whatever it is, give at least one hour to it, right? Work, office, all of that. Deep prioritize that. That's okay. No matter what they say, but focus on these 10 things because that's very important from the next three months perspective. Right? These are just a
44:30 - 45:00 slide of powerworks. You will also get access to a detailed PDF once you join career booster course. But what this basically means is you will hear this this par verb a lot of times. These are the verbs that you will use in your CV right. So for example um if you are writing any point key um let me think uh correct for example if you are an
45:00 - 45:30 analyst right and if you want to uh write a point hey I did some analysis based on which we estimated uh x percentage uptake etc etc then probably the better way to write this is because every sentence of your CV Every line of your CV has to start from a par right so maybe you will use words like forecasted orchestrated tailored deserved etc etc to be able to uh put wages on your lines right otherwise to that line looks very
45:30 - 46:00 simple plain in vanilla but if you use these powerups the weight of that line increases and that's what becomes ATS friendly and you get more shortlisted right so that's just a snippet about how do you create a CV I think That's quite a monologue. I'll open the forum for any questions s and answers that you may have now. But how do you feel? Was it helpful? Not
46:00 - 46:30 helpful? What is your opinion now? Um hi sir, one question. Um can we get two domains instead of like all? You can. So how would the pricing for that work? It's the same. So whether you get two, three, four, it's the same pricing. So hence the pricing for for one is four and for everything whether it's two, three or four, it's the same which is
46:30 - 47:00 right. Hence price is made made in such a fashion that it's okay whether you take two, three, four doesn't matter. You can take all have the content but at least from a CV perspective from a prep perspective you can be ready for two. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I had a doubt like uh right now as we prepared for our uh uh PIS. So what is in the terms of the mindset? What is the continuity from these two are summer
47:00 - 47:30 inter interviews like to give an example. So I have a 2 year plus gap for UPSC. So right now I felt positive about that and I used it in a positive manner in my PIS that I this I really wanted to go there. took it from there that I can do impact consulting and all and it worked out well. So I converted C. So thank you for that and uh so like but going forward towards corporate like how will they look at our gaps and irrespective of gaps in general like do we still stick to the same points which
47:30 - 48:00 we were sticking to in our PIs or now do we need a reset do we change our ways now 100% the same thing right so whatever story so again it depends how well have you drafted the personal answers but if you followed that two hour three hour session of mine you had a video of personal HR where I've described every question how do you write answers to those questions what is that framework staff framework everything right that session was taken from the content of my first year internship answers that I
48:00 - 48:30 have prepared right so the answers and the framework that you have used for your GDP answers you have to use the same thing right it's just some other additional questions on the workings is what you may have to change but especially from a person's HR perspective stick to the same story okay got it thank you sir Hi sir. Uh sir you mentioned about preparing the master CV. So do we need to share it to with the placement committee or only the final version? Both. So the first deadline that comes
48:30 - 49:00 from the placement committee is submit a master CV which can be maximum five pager. Once you submit the five pager then after a few weeks they will ask you to go and create your onepager CV. Then you create a one pager CV but then the approval happens for the master CV right so once a point is approved in the master page in the master CV then you don't have to take an approval from the one pager because one pager line you will just borrow from the master CV right so master CV every line has to be approved from respective folks but then
49:00 - 49:30 one pager is just a subset extracted from the master CV who approves the master CV I didn't get it so if you're writing a point about your workx right hey I worked in this company as this person. I was a star performer. I got five on five rating. I made I worked on a project which has helped the company make $2 million revenue point needs to be approved by the respective authority. For example, your manager in the company has to send an email to the placement committee that
49:30 - 50:00 yes, I approved these three pointers mentioned by Ammer for my company say Goldman S. Only once it is approved what you are writing will be taken. If it is not approved, C placement committee will just strike off that line from your seat. Okay, understood. One one more thing to notice guys, deadline into a B school is super duper stringent and typically deadlines are 2359 59. Hence you would see even in my prep zone a lot of uh deadlines was 23 59 59 because
50:00 - 50:30 that's what the v school deadlines are also which means if you get some sleep or if you are not there if you're late by 2 seconds you wouldn't be eligible for the placement you your CV would not go to the respective companies so be very very cognizant about the dead deadlines it is just non-negotiable no matter how critical the situation is so that discipline is very very Yeah sir, can we submit different
50:30 - 51:00 onepages CVs for different companies? Absolutely. Okay. But for that you will have to create few versions of CVS right get it approved and then you can so basically you can submit eight versions of CV to your placement committee and get it approved and then you can use some of those eight versions to just submit to the to different companies right but you can only use what is approved by the placement committee you can't make something of your own got so sir I I assume something like this would
51:00 - 51:30 be possible say I write my workx then I write six points in my master CV. Three from a maybe consulting perspective, three from a finance perspective. And every time different companies come, I include only those three points. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Uh sir, I have a question. Yeah. kind of a silly question but what if you don't have a good relationship with your past manager and then uh and
51:30 - 52:00 then maybe they're not willing to approve few of the points and some something like that so what would happen then because this session I'm going to upload on YouTube I can't answer that question right now but maybe you can me and we can discuss that on the one sure definitely [Music] okay any other question. Do you know Povitra? I think he's your batchmate. Yeah. Yeah, I know him. We have met also
52:00 - 52:30 in Gura. Oh, I think you guys are in Gura. Nice. Yeah. Huh. By the way, this reminds me, I'm also in Gura. If there are a bunch of students who are based out of Gura, maybe create a group prep zone diaries and add me. Let's just catch up once before you enter into a B school. So if there are at least five, six, 10 folks of you, let's just catch up sometime on weekend. Would love to meet all the folks who are here. Similarly, if you guys are in Lucknau, meet Prashant sir, right? So no matter
52:30 - 53:00 which city you are in, we'll have some mentors. So you can go and meet them in person if you want. Yeah, sure. Uh sounds great. Cool. Any other question? So uh I have been hearing about uh finance and everything in IM Kolkata very stellar but what for other specializations is it how is it Kolkata finance is just because there were a few alams from finance domain who got placed
53:00 - 53:30 but it's not like finance finan right so it's it's same so it's not non finance it is nearly same it's just typically colleges tagline right so we consult ing A is more marketing and C is more finance. It's just based on some historical alumni who have done some good thing but it's not like that but even if you look at placement stats right it's it's similarish example
53:30 - 54:00 consulting companies have hired a lot so uh I was chatting with this last year student he works in my same company he mentioned around what 70 80 students uh were taken only by accenture strategy into consulting division right from top EBCL. So it is nearly same inclination but it's not huge. Okay.
54:00 - 54:30 Okay guys any other question anyone has or you want to discuss? No. Okay then enjoy the labor's day and uh yeah all the best for the next two years. Uh looking forward to staying in touch with all of you. Keep on updating us about where do you get placed stay in touch with me Prashant sir and your respective mentors. Would love to see you guys doing wonders into
54:30 - 55:00 a B school. Chal all the best. Bye-bye. Thank you sir. Bye. Thank you sir. Bye bye. Thank you sir.