Day 404 - 21st February 2012

Had 3 sessions on International Marketing in the morning. The prof. was a visiting faculty from the industry. He had 20 odd years of experience in the 'adult beverages' industry as he like to call it. He explained the different factors that we needed to keep in mind while devising international marketing strategies. He shared his experiences while launching Fosters in India. The alcobev industry in India requires innovative marketing strategies for a brand to succeed in India and he took us through his work. After a 25 year stint in the industry he is now an entrepreneur, he has started a chain of beer cafe's, a relatively new concept in India which seemed pretty interesting.

Post lunch there was a company presentation to attend. Had some MCSA work after that, we have to slowly start handing over work to the newly elected MCSA. Introduced them to the senior management and some of the people in the administration. Met my dissertation guide to get some final changes made to my dissertation. Overall she has approved it, need to make one modification after which I can submit it.

Played tennis for about an hour and went to the gym after that. Post dinner made the final few changes to the dissertation report. Continued reading the Winning Way and called it a day early, have a class at 930 tomorrow morning. Hope to wake up in time for it!

Days 347 to 355 - 2nd to 10th December 2011

During our seniors placement week last year I always used to wonder how our placement week would be. There are somethings that never change - the anxiety while a shortlist is being announced, the disappointment of  not being able to clear a GD after being shortlisted and the greater disappointment of not clearing an interview after clearing the GD. Placement week takes its physically and more importantly emotionally on all people involved. Sitting through endless company presentations from as early as 7 in the morning to as late as midnight. Giving interviews at 4 in the morning and the anxiety of waiting for the result. There were just way too many things that were common between last year and this year, which leads to me guess that its pretty much the same story every year. There are some fundamental changed that I think need to be brought about in the whole concept of placement weeks across B-schools. Will share my thoughts on that later though.

Coming to the placement week - apart from the hectic schedule it was an emotional roller coaster for a lot of people. There were a lot of good jobs on offer. Kore made to an analytics firm, Kalkar got into a gaming company, SIR will be working with a pre IPO startup firm, Sania had a PPO from a leading telecom company and yours truly made it to the leading spirits company in the world which is associated with a lot of sporting events and teams through both sponsorship and ownership. It was the only company I applied for and I consider myself extremely lucky for getting through - for starters they didn't conduct GDs which was something I was dreading. They shortlisted candidates and were conducting interviews for everyone, though the interview was a rapid fire round of questions. My interview started with my internship, moved onto my career goals and some suggestions for the company in their existing marketing strategy. Got to know in sometime that they had made me a spot offer, which was a huge relief! Got my offer letter the same evening.

All in all, it was a roller coaster ride and I'm glad that now its over. Regular classes start from tomorrow!

Day 346 - 1st December 2011

CIM lectures began at 12 today. The prof. did a mock FGD with students being panelists and the role of the moderator kept switching between the prof and another student. The purpose of the FGD was to bring out the differences perceived between motorcycles and scooters. The major learning was how to moderate a FGD by using subtle techniques to get emotional answers rather than probing questions which could panelists back into a shell. Post lunch had some MCSA work which kept me busy for a couple of hours. Had a meeting with the director regarding assignment submission deadlines over the next couple of weeks. Went to ISCON in the evening to collect my trousers which I had given for alteration. Most of the shops in the city were closed but luckily the stores in ISCON were open. With placement week starting from tomorrow, the sale of formals must have seen quite a spike! Got back to campus by 6 and got down to getting some clothes washed (yes placement week makes you more efficient w.r.t housekeeping responsibilities!). Dinner was at Honey9 with Sania, Kore, Kalkar, SIR (who has now been rebranded to Buds) and Ishan. Had some pretty interesting dinner conversations over Shikari chicken and Thums Up! Got back by 11 and decided to call it a day early.

With placement week starting from tomorrow, will now be able to post only once its done (as has always been the norm). I will be following the same approach that I took for the summers, though there might be a company which I might just apply to during the week. Until then, adios!

Day 345 - 30th November 2011

Had a late start today with a CIM lecture at 12 in the afternoon. The session continued with the different approaches towards qualitative research. Post lunch was busy with MCSA work, with 450 sweatshirts that needed to be ordered for the students and management. Had to go to the old city to place the order for the sweatshirts. Two members each from the junior and senior MCSA went to meet the vendor. On our way back we stopped at Bangs Fried Chicken on Judges Bungalow Road. It is a desi version of KFC and they make some pretty decent burgers. Got back to campus by 11. Did a little tp at the Gulmohar courtyard in the night, with a beach umbrella in the center and chairs all around it. A couple of guys had packed some fried chicken from KFC which opened its first outlet in Ahmedabad. The discussions mainly revolved around placements and what can be expected over the next ten days. Slept off at around 2 and then got woken up at 4 for an emergency MCSA meeting which went on for about half an hour. Going back to sleep at 530, luckily dont have any classes tomorrow morning!