My Interview (GEPI) experience: MICA, Ahmedabad

Name: Sourav Dey

XAT’21: 93.62 %ile, MICAT 2 score: 30.25

B.Tech (Civil Engg.)

Overall Acad Profile: 8/8.24/8.11

Work Ex: 22 months (Sales & Marketing)

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Venue: Hotel Hindustan International (HHI), Kolkata

Date: 12/03/2021

Slot: Morning (8 AM)

GEPI Rounds

The day started with RTPCR, Score Card, and Call Letter verifications. Then we had to submit our Personal Information and SOP form before we proceeded for GE and PI rounds.

Group Exercise (GE):

I was part of the first GE group of that slot. Parallelly, they were conducting Personal Interviews.

GE Topic: Design a facial mask which suits older people and runners

Total Members: 7; Time Allocated: 30 minutes

Props: Chart Paper, Ribbons, Sketch Pens, Pencil, Knife, Tape

Contrary to the conventional going, I felt the GE topic given was less complex for our group (from MICA’s standard). That’s why it became a bit more challenging for us to develop a MICA standard presentation. We initially took a couple of minutes to think about the problem given. Next, we discussed our rough ideas and divided ourselves into three small groups. The first group worked on the ideation of the mask and sketched it correctly. The second group worked on the Product Strategy, and the last group was on Branding and Campaigning. In the previous 5 minutes, we all decided on the Product Name, Tagline, and small advertising jingle from multiple options and presented that before the jury. Overall, our GE Round went decently well

Personal Interview (PI): [Duration: 40 minutes]

There were three professors in my panel. 1) Male (in 30’s) 2) Male (in 50’s) 3) Male (in 40’s) [Left to Right]. I will be referring to them as P1, P2, and P3

After entering the Interview room,

P2: Please sit down. Feel comfortable. Have some water or cookies (reading my SOP and other details on the form)

Me: (Greeted all of them) I am fine, Sir.

P2: So, you did a Marketing internship during your UG. How was your mentor/ instructor?

Me: I described him as a person and how his instructions helped me solve the project.

P2: What are the three things you learned from there? Tell me three key takeaways.

Me: I explained it and told him how I learned about Rural Marketing and E-Commerce strategies.

P2: So, are you interested in Rural Marketing or working in rural economies?

Me: I explained how I don’t see a reason not to work for rural market, explained about my root and my connection with rural areas. Also, I briefly mentioned our family business in Rural areas to bring home my point.

P2: Nodding.

P3: (Some basic questions related to family background) I see a small gap in your profile. What did you do at that time?

Me: explained to them how I spent the time preparing for my Engineering Entrance exams and how I learned various elements of Construction Design principles- paved my way for a degree in Civil Engineering.

P3: You seemed confused in life. You wanted to do Engineering. But after your Engineering, you picked up a Marketing job. What’s your plan?

Me: I told them how I got into Sales and Marketing and ended up liking it, my future goals and how an MBA from MICA would justify that.

P2: Okay, you seemed very passionate about Marketing. What about a Rapid-fire round about Marketing?

Me: Sure, Sir (bit low on confidence internally)

P2: Four questions asked one after another…1) What’s the difference between Sales and Marketing? 2) What’s Branding? Can everything be branded? 3) What is Brand Equity?

4) Why there’s a 7P? 4P wasn’t sufficient?

Me: Answered all questions satisfactorily [feeling relieved]

P3: You mentioned in the form that you are interested in Sustainability. Can you talk about any sustainable change in the process that you have come across recently?

Me: I told him about the drip irrigation process and how it could solve the water crisis in agriculture.

P2: (noticing the small sanitizer bottle with me), which sanitizer brand do you use?

Me: Dettol, Sir.

P2: Which is the parent company of Dettol? [I knew this was coming]

Me: Reckitt Benckiser, Sir

P2: Do you follow this brand? Can you name any recent campaign run by Dettol?

Me: talked about the ‘Banega Swasth India (BSI)’ campaign by Dettol and how it impacted more than 10 million lives [prepared for it, right]

P2: (interrupted) Any CSR initiative of Reckitt, you know?

Me: I told them about Reckitt’s partnership with water.org and their work in India.

P2, P3: [seemed satisfied]

P2: Suppose I give you Rs. 1 Crore to initiate a change in society. What would you do?

Me: It took a few seconds to think about it and then talked about how the amount could be spent to formally train unskilled or semi-skilled medical practitioners to make them more competent and explained its long-term implications.

P2: That’s a smart idea. [seemed happy with my answer]

P2: Sourav, see, people are staying inside but dying due to COVID. Previously they were traveling a lot, but road accidents were rampant. What do you think is the solution then?

Me: I kept a neutral stand and tried to give a diplomatic answer. I tried to contrast them from the point of view of the workplace and explained how it’s necessary to go out for certain activities while staying home is essential from the safety point of view.

P2: (Going with the flow of my answer) who do you think is primarily responsible for road accidents? What is your opinion about the growing no. of E-Rickshaws on the road?

Me: talked about the importance of traffic safety rules, current traffic scenarios in Bengal, how pedestrians could be made aware of it, and how having driving licenses is important in E-Rickshaws.

P2: (final question from my side) Given the current COVID crisis, do you think Work from Home is the ultimate solution? After all, it saves electricity and real estate costs for the companies and increase employee productivity?

Me: talked about the importance of teamwork and certain drawbacks of Work from Home policy and explained how a more balanced and nuanced scenario could be created using both work modes.

P1: (finally) What other calls do you have?

Me: Answered

P1: Isn’t there any better Marketing School in India? Any BSchool better than MICA in Marketing?

Me: (heart rate increased) FMS, I said.

P3: (sudden interruption) Sourav, I think you should take a retake next year and go for FMS?

The other two professors started nodding.

Me: (the most challenging situation), Somehow tried to convince them by explaining why joining MICA would be a better decision keeping the goal in mind. Here I got a chance to talk about a few professors and some unique subjects like Imagining India, Semiotics, Behavioral Economics offered in MICA.

P1: Okay, what all specializations do we offer?

Me: (really stumped) I could remember two of them but couldn’t complete all four names accurately.

P3: (again interrupted) you are so passionate to be a MICAn, yet you can’t name all specializations?

Me: (in deep trouble) I am sorry about that. I checked it but can’t recall at this moment.

P3: Did you research about MICA?

Me: talked about how I reached out to some of the current students and alumni over LinkedIn and enquired about MICA.

P1: It’s alright, Sourav. What do you do in your current job? I see, you have a history of changing job frequently.

Me: explained it in detail.

P1: (nodding his head) So, what is more important? A Team player or a Leader?

Me: explained both aspects while mentioning the difference between the two terms.

P3: (again interrupting) Can you talk about any instance where you solved a dilemma being a leader?

Me: explained it satisfactorily (took a page from my AIESEC experience)

P3: You mentioned ‘Thought Leadership’ in your SOP. What is that? How long does it take to be a thought leader?

Me: explained it with an example.

P1: Can you mention any instance when you took a business decision based on data analysis?

Me: I talked about an instance from my latest job.

P3: Do you follow the news regularly? What is Gig Economy? What’s Govt. doing about it?

Me: explained its importance, effect on the economy, policy norms, etc.

P3: (final question from our side) What’s your opinion about farm bills?

Me: Ah! It ended nicely, pretty much prepared for such questions.

P2: Do you have any questions for us?

Me: I asked about MI IMPACT and other immersion programs in MICA

P1: Thank you, Sourav. You may leave now. All the best!

Done!

Verdict: Converted