It was 5 minutes past midnight in IMT when 400 odd souls crowded the entrance lobby of the academic block, an unusual scene given the extremely low occupancy rates of classes during day time in this trimester. But for 50 of them, including me, it was to become the most memorable night of their careers. The date was 14th Dec, 2009 (actually 15th since the date had changed midnight), the Day 0 Slot 1 of Placements 2009-10 at Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
The day had begun with high degree of uncertainty and nervousness for our batch (barring those who already got placed in envelope companies or got PPOs). 12 companies were expected to visit the campus which promised lots of action in GDs, shuttling between one process and another, the rhetoric announcements of GD lists, the much awaited interview calls and the lucky few to get the final offers towards the end. My strong CV made sure that I make an appearance for almost all the companies wherever I had applied. Let me give you a firsthand account of my day, except that I’d refrain naming the companies barring mine, for obvious reasons.
I woke up at 6:30 am and got ready, except for the bath, for a PPT scheduled at 7:30 am. As expected, the recruitment team of Puppy Poopy (PP) arrived only 110 mins late. Soon after, I was in a GD room discussing who should be the celebrity endorser for PP. I made only 1 entry with 2 words, while the group, loaded with the local celebrities of IMT, took every possible name from bollywood and cricket.
After waiting for half an hour in the auditorium, my name was re-announced for another GD. I don’t know what business interests Bawander Ltd has in Naxal hit areas, but they asked us to discuss the Naxal problem which we did quite comfortably. Soon PP and Bawander gave out the interview shortlists and I was through in both of them. “2 on 2”- I’d have liked to add it on my CV.
The next in line was Aavjo Insulting Ltd where we argued over a product launch. My lack of interest in marketing strategies was clearly discernable from my lame suggestions. Next up was Hip’s GD on ‘Rakhi ka Swayamwar vs Roadies: Which is a better business proposition?’ Again my apathy of reality TV shows let me go unspoken in the fish market. The last one was Polar Bear Ltd on the topic ‘Is ethics a business pretence?’ Before losing hope, I tried to introduce the topic twice but to not heeding from the group.
Soon I was rushed to MDP block for Infosys’ interview (where I was directly shortlisted based on my CV). To cut it short, I think it was one of the best interviews of my life and I spoke for 97% of the interview duration.
My last GD was for Baba Motors on ‘India’s stand at Copenhagen’. As expected, most of the discussion was incomprehensible since at least 3 people were talking at any given point of time. Later, they shortlisted only 6 for the interviews out of 60 who appeared for GDs. Obviously I stood no chance among the biggies.
So by now I was left with 2 more interviews to end the day. PP’s interview panel informed me that my 2 words in the GD made them classify me as an ‘unconventional thinker’. But probably they soon realized that my unconventional thinking does not go beyond those 2 words. Bawander’s interview was rather unconventional since they were standing (they were too tired to sit) and me sitting for the 4 mins long interview. I was last on their list, and probably they had already made the choice and I was just a liability to finish.
I had attended 6 GDs and 3 interviews in 7 hours. But for the next 7 hours, we had only one thing to do: wait for the results until all the processes are over and final lists are ready. Having given our best (and worst in some cases), anxiety was rampant in the air. At 11 pm, everybody assembled near the control desk at entrance lobby. We made futile efforts of easing out tension by making noise and singing motivational songs. The results of multiple offers had already leaked out, so I was sure I had not got more than one. After an hour, our placement coordinator arrived and began disclosing the results beginning with the PPOs. On each name announced, the crowd roared and applauded and hugged the lucky one. Mine was 54th of the 99 names announced that night.
