IIM CAP interview – the saving grace for several aspirants who missed out on the sectional cutoffs by a whisker. The IIM CAP interview has been going on for over a fortnight now, in three phases, with the second phase coming to an end on 27 February. With the third and the last phase all set to begin on 8 March (and goes on until 13 March), here is an interview experience of a candidate who attended their IIM CAP interview during the first phase.
This is yet another article of our personal interview experience series. To check out the other posts, head to the corresponding links provided below:
- Great Lakes
- IMT Ghaziabad
- IMT Ghaziabad #2
- IIM Rohtak
- Symbiosis
- NMIMS
- IIM CAP #1
- S P Jain
- IIM Rohtak #2
- IIM Lucknow
Done with the prelude. Let’s proceed further!
The panel for this IIM CAP interview
The panel consisted of two males – one seemingly in his early 40s and the other in his mid-50s. Let us call them P1 and P2, respectively.
The candidate
The candidate is a male, engineering grad with two-and-a-half-years of work experience in service operations, quality control and content writing and marketing. Let us call him C.
With this, the next set of formalities are also done with. The premise is set.
On to the actual interview!
The interview was not a long one, with the panelists moving on to the successive questions they had for the candidate, once they got the answers they expected for a particular question.
Here are the questions and the candidate’s responses
P2: Tell us briefly about yourself.
C: Usual rehearsed answer. Graduated as an electrical engineer. Worked in Quality Control for 2 years. Shifted to content writing. Interested in multiple domains. Wish to do an MBA.
P2: What content do you write?
C: Explained the product that I work in and that I write both technical and marketing related content, mostly related to cybersecurity. (I had prepped in that subject a bit and was hoping for questions on that)
P2: Apart from this, where else do you write as you are passionate about it?
C: (Didn’t understand the question and asked him to repeat).
Told him I was a freelance writer in college and wrote football articles on websites like Sportskeeda. Followed it up with how I used to freelance. Also told him I had won cash prizes in poetry contests.
P1: You are interested in football?
C: Yes, Sir.
P1: Who is the coach of Mohun Bagan?
C: Sorry, Sir. I don’t know as I don’t follow Indian football.
P1: Why? Is it bad?
C: Sir, it is not bad, but since childhood, I was hooked onto International and European football. So, I am into that.
P1: Alright. Do you follow Spanish League?
C: Yes sir, somewhat.
P1: Okay, who is the coach of Atletico Madrid?
C: Sir, Diego Simeone.
P1: No, I don’t think so that he is the coach now.
C: No, Sir. He still is.
P1: Are you sure? (smiling)
C: Absolutely, Sir! (Diego Simeone has been the coach of Atletico Madrid since 2011)
P1: Who is the coach of Juventus?
C: Andrea Pirlo.
P1: He was a former player also, I think?
C: Yes, Sir. He was a legendary player for the Italian national team, and AC Milan and Juventus. This is his first coaching assignment.
P1: You are a passionate person. You are into writing blogs and poetry and all. An MBA is a very boring and monotonous course and will lead to a boring and monotonous life. Why do you want do an MBA?
C: Gave some generic answers. Told him that MBAs from top colleges such as IIMs are challenging and engaging and are usually never regarded as monotonous. Also told that creativity comes from within.
P2: Do you have any followers from your writing?
C: Told him that I don’t, since I do not write on a particular platform as such.
P2: Tell me something you have excelled at?
C: Honestly Sir, I try to be more of a “Jack-of-All-Trades” kind of person and have not formally excelled in anything. During my undergrad, in the Soft Skills class in my first year, I got a certificate for giving the best extempore in the department and…
P2: (cutting me off) Thank you. I think you have answered the question.
P1: What is your percentile and what other calls have you received?
C: Mentioned my CAT and XAT percentiles, and listed the calls I have got thus far.
P1: Once again, I am telling you. Think before joining an MBA. You are a very creative person and you may not have time for all this creative work. MBA will drain the creativity. (Some more rants about this) If you get admits, think before joining. (P2 was nodding). Thank you for your time. You may leave the meeting from your end.
How did this IIM CAP interview go?
Overall, the interview was very smooth and positive. The interviewers asked the candidate questions from what he knew, and there was not much grilling. Apart from the gyan towards the end about MBA being monotonous and creativity-draining, it was a good interview.
Stay tuned for further updates on many more interview experiences.
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