Aayush Sharma
Textile Technology
>
Placements
Groww
Associate Product Manager(APM)
Interviewed by:
Pratik Kedia
Internships
Placements
20th September 2020
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When to start preparing for the Placement season?
Comparison between your intern and placement interviews?
Learnings from this placement season?
How did you decide your field of interest? What about backups?
If someone does not get an intern via OCS in their 3rd year, what should they do?
Major problems that you faced?
Online vs Offline placements?
Does the higher studies application timeline and placement
session go along easily?
session go along easily?
Necessities for targeting your field?
Though I started at around September-October and formed my case group then, I feel it was a little late and it would be better to start at least 3-4 months before the nterview, that is around August. This will help you to form a case group of your choice, with people you resonate and are comfortable with.
Case Interview Prep book and videos, IIM Ahmedabad Cases are good steps to start
preparation for consulting with your case group. Try to complete all the cases in these books.
Case Interview Prep book and videos, IIM Ahmedabad Cases are good steps to start
preparation for consulting with your case group. Try to complete all the cases in these books.
There is a lot of difference in interns and placements. In internship, its a very small and uncertain process, as they only take you for 2 months. Very few consult companies come for internships anyway, and you can’t judge yourself upon internship performance is it is more luck based. In placements, the selection process is very rigorous and exhaustive. They care about your skills, and try to judge you in depth on multiple levels. You also have a much better understanding of the role and are better prepared. In consulting, more companies come for placement and almost all have the buddy system for helping as well as evaluation, and there are multiple rounds of interviews too, so it depends a lot on your skills and much less on your luck.
I was in the hotlist of 2 of my consulting interviews, but I could not give my best on that particular day due to a particular industry course. To juniors, firstly I would like to say that get a better understanding of different industries, don’t leave your weak point anywhere during the case prep. Don’t be nervous during the interview, have the confidence that you have with your case group.
I researched about the field a lot, asking many seniors as well as my brother who was doing consulting. Also I tried coding but was not interested in it, and found consulting much more similar to what I had done in college, trying to solve problems through various initiatives. It is the most interesting and lucrative option for 3rd and 4th year students.
Field most popular after consulting is business analyst, as there are a lot of opportunities there too. They ask only for basic coding, and quant/finance questions in the test. So students who are not confident in consulting usually do two things, they prepare for CAT exam aiming for MBA and they brush up their coding and quant skills for the business analyst role.
Field most popular after consulting is business analyst, as there are a lot of opportunities there too. They ask only for basic coding, and quant/finance questions in the test. So students who are not confident in consulting usually do two things, they prepare for CAT exam aiming for MBA and they brush up their coding and quant skills for the business analyst role.
Having an intern in 3rd year does have an effect on placement in two ways. If you have a good brand name in your internship then it is a plus point, and if not, you should present your work in a way that is very impressive to the interviewer. In consulting, once you are shortlisted, it mainly depends on your skills and knowledge for the professional world. Thus, if someone does not get an OCS internship in pre-final year, they should go for some work that would actually improve their skills and showcase their skills and work to the interviewer during the interview.
I got my Apollo internship through IITD notices, so stay updated on IITD notices and also try to reach out to alumni through Linkedin. You can also opt for internships at business schools abroad. Almost half of my interview was about my internships at Apollo and NUS. Thus if you do not get a brand name, you can go for startups that will give you good work and help you improve your skills.
I got my Apollo internship through IITD notices, so stay updated on IITD notices and also try to reach out to alumni through Linkedin. You can also opt for internships at business schools abroad. Almost half of my interview was about my internships at Apollo and NUS. Thus if you do not get a brand name, you can go for startups that will give you good work and help you improve your skills.
Firstly forming the case group late was a problem. Apart from that, there are no tests, or very easy ones, so there’s no problem in that. More importantly, after shortlist in companies, you are assigned a buddy by the company, who will also help you in case preparation as well as evaluate you on how you are doing your cases.
During online prep, there is sort of disconnect and we don't get to know what other people are doing, when they have started and so on. That bit is better in offline mode, otherwise everything else is similar.
I have seen people prepare for the CAT exam as well as secure a job in the placements. The timelines do overlap, but people who are not confident in consulting usually also go for CAT preparation and Business Analyst roles as a backup.
So there are three most important skills that you need in consulting. First is communication skills - even though people say it doesn’t matter, it is very helpful to be able to present your views forward clearly in an interview. Secondly, having good problem solving skills and business acumen is very helpful, to be able to analyze any problem from a consultant point of view. Having the problem solving part ready before the preparation would be a good add-on. Third, having industry knowledge is quite helpful for framing your arguments and analyze the situation to present your solution more accurately. So being updated on situation of major industries is also helpful
At the end, only the skills matter, so stop bothering about other distracting things and focus on developing your skills and knowledge. It is not necessary that Day 1 companies are always better than Day 2 and so on, you can have a great future in any of those. So be focussed and keep trying.
Takeaways
