I, The Absolute

These days, the clock invariably hits 3 am before I go to sleep. Tomorrow I have branding exam, but I have hardly given any time to it. Much of my time goes into reviewing concepts learnt during core terms, updating myself on current affairs and writing down answers for resume based and behavioral questions which could be posed during interviews. One good thing at ISB is that there is no dearth of resources. There is access to so many databases. Additionally students have created a huge database in our network folders. The issue, however, is with overload of information and lack of time.

Meanwhile, McKinsey shortlists have formed themselves into separate groups colonizing every nook and corner of the school and chanting the Porter and the Kotler mantras. All in the process of preparing for the dreaded “case interviews”. I don’t know if the case interview is the most appropriate way of measuring the fitment of a candidate, but not only the consulting companies but a few other marketing companies have also taken to this form of interviewing. Those who have not come from consulting are not used being tested on what they don’t know. Usually interviews cover what you know, what you did and what you are as a person. But the case interview tries to test how you think, how you process/structure information and how you handle ambiguity and arrive at solutions. If one is well prepared on basic concepts learnt during the MBA program, has been reading newspaper and a magazine thoroughly, handling case interview should not be terribly difficult. But handling the unknown always puts people under pressure, which is what makes handling this form of interview a difficult one.