Crossing the GD hurdle
MEERA SRINIVASAN
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CAT 2005 is over. But candidates now have to face group discussion and personal interview sessions that will decide their entry into an IIM or top B-school. Some tips from experts.
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BE A TEAM PERSON: The group discussion and interview for the CAT admission focus on assessing candidates' soft skills and attitude. Photo: K. Ananthan
Taking the Common Admission Test (CAT) or even faring well in the test for that matter, only amounts to winning half the battle to enter the top notch B-schools in the country. The group discussion and personal interview sessions that follow play a vital role in fetching a candidate admission into an IIM or other top B-schools.
"It would be wrong to term these sessions as interviews. In reality, what B-schools do in these sessions is personality assessment," says Gautam Puri, managing director, Career Launcher India, an alumnus of IIM-Bangalore. "They look for the ability to work in a team, their level of commitment of individual students and their ability to think logically," he says.
A group discussion normally lasts 15-20 minutes. "IIMs go for 8-14 candidates at a time. Topics are general in nature, which is where your reading habit helps. There are also times when the topic could be picked up from the day's newspaper headlines," Mr. Puri says.
IMS has a module on communication building to make students familiar with these rounds of testing. "This exercise begins well in advance as general awareness levels can be worked on only over a period of time," says Rishan Rynjah, Regional Manager, IMS, Chennai. They also bring out an in-house, in which topics ranging from current affairs to brands and economy are discussed.
The starting point for any interview preparation, says Mr. Puri, is to try and understand oneself. It is very important to be aware of one's personality, likes, dislikes, strengths or weaknesses.
"In GD too, you have to work on your own list of dos and don'ts. If you don't want people shouting at you then you should not be shouting at them. The basic tenet is to be heard, without being unpleasant. The important thing to keep in mind is that this is a group task, so you have to take care of not only yourself but the sentiments of the group as well," he adds.
Mr. Rynjah emphasises the need to be calm, confident and honest. "One's personality and how he or she carries himself/herself would play a major role."
Of the nearly two lakh candidates who appeared for CAT, only about 3,000 are likely to get interview calls from the IIMs. "There is a positive way to look at this scenario.
Out of 1,75,000 who sat for CAT'05, about 3,000 will get interview calls. Of them, only 1,200 will make the final cut. So, prospects are much better at this stage. Moreover, these 3,000 will also get calls from other B-schools and hence, will gain admission into one B-school or the other," explains Mr. Puri.
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