Reflections Of Life

A dream... a wish... a hope... a reality!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

For some, who have reached the stars they aimed for, it’s the most exciting period…

For some who are talented, the right thing hasn’t come their way… some dejected souls but some still with exuberance and confidence!

For some who have reached smaller stars than their dreams, it’s a period of disappointment or compromise…

The mood isn’t great around… offers are flowing in everyday… but the number of satisfied souls isn’t big… reasons aplenty!

On the personal front, I have achieved more than the stars I aimed for!! Have made a successful career change…

At the start of the placement season, I wasn’t really hoping for any shortlists for the first two days… was confident of making it to only Infy and Cognizant shortlists… 6 shortlists flowed my way – Microsoft, Infy, Cognizant and Dell from the IT – and Citibank and ICICI Securities from the Fin.

Started Day 1 with Microsoft and Citi interviews, one of the most tiring days with 5 interviews… performed more than my expectations in all of them… still Citi didn’t take me after second round… I was very happy with the way Microsoft conducted their interviews (had applied for Solution Specialist – Financial Services)… cleared the three rounds on campus and was asked to make a final presentation in Mumbai!

Day 2 – Attended Infy – had applied for Business Analyst at the Banking and Capital Markets division… I was in the same division before joining ISB… so the interview was more of a casual discussion… was one of the easiest / most comfortable interviews I have ever given and before I knew I had got my first offer… decided to withdraw from all other IT companies except Microsoft. An interesting conversation after my interview… I was walking back with my offer and I met the person from Infy who interviewed me… He asked me what other companies I was looking at… I told him about Microsoft and Cognizant and that I was would not be attending Cognizant the next day… He told me that I should speak to the Cognizant people as they seem to be doing something right to be the fastest growing IT Services Organization… I had already made up my mind to withdraw but was just impressed with someone who worked 15 years at Infy praising Cognizant!

Day 3 – ICICI Securities had scheduled for a GD for the 27 people they had shortlisted… it was supposed to be at 17:30 hours so the whole day was left for my preparations… went through everything that I had prepared earlier, slept well and was pretty relaxed… the competition pool had a good number of people with finance experience and I wasn’t really sure this firm would consider me… and I also hated the GD concept when there were just 27 people for them to choose from… the team arrived 1.5 hrs late and CAS successfully convinced them to interview everyone… I was one of the first few to be in and was questioned on all the papers I have written! I wouldn’t say the interview went great, but it was good… answered most of the questions… Also told them that since I didn’t have any relevant experience to this role, I am ready to join in the fresher MBA position… I was told to come back at 12 midnight for the results!

Results – I was one of the two who was offered the ‘Investment Banking Associate’ role by the firm! – Did I ever think an I-Bank was gonna give me a job? – With 1.5 years of non-fin experience and a CGPA that I can’t boast about, I never dreamt I would be given this job – But I have done it! Have accepted the offer! (have rejected Infy and infomed Microsoft that I would not be attending the final round) I am too excited that I haven’t slept for 4 hours in the past 48 hours!!

This is just the first step in the change – Don’t know how the new industry, new job, new place is gonna be – but long time to go before I experience it and find for myself!

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