IIM Calcutta Interview Experience

My IIM Calcutta interview experience. I would say it was horrific, at the very least.

This was my first ever offline interview.

Date: 18th Feb, 2023

Venue: Delhi

Class 10: 89.3% (CBSE)

Class 12: 92.6% (CBSE)

Grade: B. Tech from DTU in 2021- 83.2%

Work Experience: Founder's Office at Lal10 for 1 year and then as an Associate Product Manager (2 years from June'21 till June 23)

After reaching the venue, we were asked to check the panel number and serial number and wait for our turn for Document Verification (DV); WAT started just after DV.

WAT: It was along the lines of the Indian economy and how the war has changed the scenario (Not the exact words, but along these lines)

We were given 30 minutes to think and write (one sheet is provided; no extra sheets allowed)

P1: You are the first one for the interview. Are you nervous?

Me: Yes, sir, a little bit, but a lot more excited

P1: So you have played football. What is the history of football in India?

Me: I don’t know, sir.

P1: What about the current Indian team? Can you tell the full team?

Me: Sir, I know a few names like Sunil Chettri, Gurpreet, Ishan, Sandesh.

P1: What was the question, Ashwin? 

Me: Sir, a full squad of the current Indian football team?

P1: So if you don't know the full squad, tell me you don't know. (silence after this)

P1: Stood up and started walking behind my back. 2 interviewers in front. (A panelist of 3 and I thought that the interview was over but)

P1: So, why is football not growing in India and which are some teams in India? (P1 is walking behind me, and I am looking straight - He is asking questions from the back)

Me: Gave an answer for the same.

P1: What is the moment of inertia in football?

Me: I don’t know, sir but I know MOI is the integration of dmr^2

P1: Why was football white in colour?

Me: (Thinking it is not the case) I don’t know, sir.

P1: Tell me the number of footballs bought in Delhi every day (A guesstimate out of the blue) 

Me - Discussed this for 4-6 minutes

P1: What do you do for work as a product manager?

Me: Sir, I am responsible for the product vision and creating an ecosystem for both our buyers and sellers using a website and a mobile application. 

P1: Which platform are you using?

Me: Sir, NextJS

P1: No flutter?

Me: Sir, we used it before but switched to Next.

P1: Why did you switch?

Me: Sir, we had 1 person who knew Flutter and 5 new employees who were comfortable with JS.

P1: What was your role in the decision-making process? 

Me: Sir, our CTO decided this. 

P1: You had no role to play in this decision as a PM. 

Me: No, sir.

P1: Why did you say this, then?

Me: Silent

P1: What do you do then?

Me: Sir, I talk to consumers, understand their requirements, and write product requirement documents. Then, I collaborate with the marketing, design, and tech teams to execute the project. P1: It has been 3 minutes, and I can understand that you write emails and take a lot of money from your company for doing that. Sir, I am done. Do you want to ask anything?

P2: Ashwin, you help MSMEs. Can you tell one success story? 

Me: Sir, RK industry is a garmenting unit, and we have achieved giving 2 Crores consistent orders to them monthly. Right now, we are at a run rate of 200 Cr for this year. 

P2: But in the form, you have written that you help artisans. What do you do?

Me: Sir, there are 2 models. One with artisans, tier 3/4 clusters and the other with MSMEs. We have defined them differently on the basis of if they can fulfil the order and how much support we can provide them. 

P1 while walking: Sir, isse kuch nahi pata, Ye sirf beth kar mail likhta hai. 

P2: Biggest MSME regions of India

Me: Sir, I don’t know the biggest, but Panipat and Jaipur do the maximum export trade for handicrafts and apparel. 

P1: Do you know only these 2 names? Is West Bengal not a part? 

Me: Sorry, sir, I am not aware of the crafts in Bengal. P3: Ashwin, take any one recent event and convince me for or against the topic. Like ChatGpt, Russia-Ukraine

Me: Talked for 2 minutes on ChatGPT, its usage, and how it will be the new disruption in the industry. 

P3: Thank you, Ashwin. You can leave.

Result: Waitlisted

What can one learn from this?

Expect anything and everything. Be ready for the unknown. And keep your confidence up, no matter how many times you are unaware of the answers.