Interview with Sadaf Zia
NMIMS Merit Rank : HR Rank 316
Firstly, congratulations onconverting your call to NMIMS. Our readers would like to hear something about your background?
I did my schooling from DPS Bhilai following which I did my B.Com from St. Thomas College, Bhilai. I did not have any prior work experience.
“Why MBA” must be a common question doing the rounds these days. What was your reason for pursuing MBA?
I am passionate about learning and trying out new things. Be it a new subject which I have to study, be it making new friends, or be it going for a trip to a new place. I will always be ready for it even if it is at the middle of the night. There is always something to learn from a new person you meet or the new place that you went last vacation.
MBA would be a good option for me as it would let me come up with new ideas to a given situation or looking a given data from some a new angle or getting to know new people from diverse backgrounds.
Tell us something about your preparation strategy. What would you suggest future aspirants regarding the same?
Written exam : clear all your basics and then go for as many question papers as u can go for. Exams like SNAP & NMAT (unline CAT & XAT) are more of a speed game. So solving a lot of question papers in given time limit will eventually increase your speed.
CD/PI: Attend as many CD/PI as you can. IMM conducted 4-5 online sessions per week each session having 2-3 CDs and we also had 2-3 telephonic interviews which were more than sufficient. I learnt that in the Interviews you should avoid lying as much as possible, because if the panel comes to know about it they will reject you before even thinking twice.
Lastly for a person to clear the exam he has to love the routine of solving mocks analysing them reading articles, jotting down the new words etc. And in this process you may have to let go of the parties and outings with friends and I have missed that too, but it really doesn’t matter to me as I loved my routine plus the result bought me more delight than a 100parties put together.
Tell us something about your Case Discussion / PI experience?
CD Topic: Bus accident in a remote area and there are 10 people and we had to rank them according to the ones we wanted to save first, second and so on.
Someone started the CD without proper introduction and when the 2nd person had just entered I interrupted and gave an Introduction, I also felt that I gave the group a proper direction when they were talking about the same thing for a long time and tried to be a good leader. The 10people who we had to rank were divided into 3 groups and we came into consensus in proper time. Overall I came out of the CD all positive.
PI- It was really strange! The panel looked like they will doze off any minute. I tried being as cheerful as possible but their expression was the same all the time, so even though I gave them all the answers confidently still I had a negative feeling.
My interview had questions which were similar to the mocks taken by Abhirup sir and Anuradha ma’am. 70% of the interview was about the NGO and the extracurricular activities mentioned in the SOP. They also asked why I wanted to go for HR and little bit about my background.
How has IdeasMakeMarket helped you in your preparation? Would you recommend it to other users?
Like a lot of students out there I had always been a person who was super scared of the GDPI rounds. My first few CDs were horrible. I barely had one or two points which I struggled to make as whenever I tried speaking someone would interrupt me and if I was given a chance to speak the silence made me so nervous that I mumbled something which would hardly add one or two points. But eventually after 5-6 CDs the nervousness got away.
The best part was we did not have limited CDs in the package. Sir used to conduct sessions 4-5 days a week and every session had 2-3 online CDs and they were very tough with a lot of data and tables given which was very difficult to grasp in 5 minutes. But since I had practiced the tough ones my actual CD was a cakewalk.
PI- I had 2-3mock PIs which were very helpful since the actual PI was on similar lines with the mock PIs.
Besides studies, what other interests you have.
Watching movies and serials, Cooking non vegetarian dishes for my near and dear ones. I also try to keep myself fit by Jogging, exercising or dancing.
What is your career plan in the long run?
All the long term goals are best achieved when broken down into shorter goals, and the short term goals which keeps on changing from time to time and becoming a little more challenging every time is the best way to achieve a long term goal. My goal right now is to give my best at NMIMS, work hard so as to learn a variety of subjects from experienced faculty in a competitive environment and take on new challenges over time. Ultimately, I’d like to take more management responsibilities and get involved in with peers for self as well as development of the company. Lastly, I want to work for an organization where I can build a career.
We wish you the very best !
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Glad to hear about your experience Sadaf.