This is the real ISB interview experience of a candidate who has 2 years 11 months of work experience as Analytics Consultant.
The ISB interview was conducted on October 14, 2018. In his/her opinion, the interview was mainly focused on the profile and based on your responses.
| Interview Date | 14th Oct, 2018 |
| Work Profile | Positive integers (Data Analytics Startup) – Executive in Consulting Team |
| Re-Applicant? | No |
| Your Opinion on the approach of the interviewers and their key focus | Questions were extremely relevant and to the point. |
| Suggestions and Preparation Tips for Prospective Students | Focus on the Essential questions (shared by ISB mantra to me) and questions based on your profile. |
Qn: Where are you from?
A: I am from Chennai.
Qn: When did you reach Hyderabad?
A: I came here yesterday.
Qn: Do you like Hyderabad?
A: Yes.
Qn: What do you like in Hyderabad?
A: I find the infrastructure to be in place, compared to Chennai.
Qn: Would you like ISB in Hyderabad or in Chennai?
A: I would prefer Hyderabad.
Qn: Why?
A: During my school days, I have been put in 10 different Schools, as my father had a transferable job. I think it’s in my blood now to move to new cities after a while.
Qn: So Pratap, tell us something about yourself?
A: I am a graduate with the Business Administration major. I went to the American College. During my college days, I was a part of the Madurai Toastmaster Club. After Graduation, I moved to Chennai where I chose to work for a Data Analytics startup called Positive Integers, where I was a part of the consulting team. In my free time, I play tennis and I power walk to keep myself fit. I also like music and reading books.
Qn: In your application, you have mentioned Quizzing.
A: I took part actively in Quizzing during my college days, after that I took up other interests.
Qn: What is the recent book that you have read?
A: I read this book called The Billionaire Raj, by James Crabtree.
Qn: What is the book about?
A: It is about the Rise of billionaires in India and the role politics had to play in their rise. It is a contemporary history of Modern India.
Qn: What is your role in Positive Integers?
A: I am part of the Consulting Team, My job is to analyze data and generate business insights and build rule-based frameworks to solve business problems, Apart from this I also manage the various stakeholders.
Qn: This is what a company does for every client. Do you mean to say that you do all the work?
A: No, apart from this, there are two other teams, The Business Intelligence Team and the Analytics Team. The BI team helps with the managing of Data, while the Analytics Team build predictive and descriptive models.
Qn: Tell us about one Framework which you built.
A: I spoke about the Market Opportunity Grid – The Base Data for it – Process of the Framework – The Logic Behind it – the end result and success.
Qn: Did you do a Pre Post (I didn’t understand this part I asked her again)
Qn: Was there a split of Prepaid and Postpaid.
A: Telenor India has only Prepaid customers, so no.
Qn: Did it involve predicting the Lifetime value of the customer?
A: No I used only actual data, hence no predicted data was necessary.
Qn: Tell me some of your clients?
A: Our Domestic Clients include Telenor and Aircel India. Our International clients are Telenor Myanmar and Axiata Malaysia.
Qn: But Aircel and Telenor shutdown in India, right?
A: Yes, we ended our engagement 6 months back.
Qn: Why do you think they shut down?
A: A disruptor in the market induced price wars and hence smaller operators could not compete with the major players.
Qn: But Telenor had problems even before that.
A: That is Uninor – a Joint venture between Telenor and Unitech Builders. Uninor was involved in the 2G Spectrum Scam.
Qn: So, Pratap who is a leader?
A: A leader is a person who can look into the future and direct people to work towards a common goal.
Qn: Are you a leader?
A: Yes, in the past I have exhibited a few traits of leadership.
Q: Instance?
A: In toastmaster, I have mentored a student for a rural background whose aim was to develop his soft skills. I mentored and helped him reach the Competent Communicator Status in TM.
Qn: That is mentorship, Are Mentorship and Leadership the same?
A: They are not the same, but mentorship is an integral part of Leadership.
Qn: Where else have you applied?
A: I applied only to ISB.
Qn: How important is ISB for you?
A: On a Scale of 10, I give ISB a 9.
Qn: Where is that one Missing point?
A: My company is trying to digitize the informal retail (Kirana stores in India), If I am offered a Business Development and Account management role that would be a 10.
Qn: Will you choose that even if you are offered an admit?
A: The chances of getting that role is negligible, but if offered I would take that up.
Qn: In the Application, you’ve mentioned that you want to get into Business Development and Account management. What do you think are the key requirements of that role?
A: I went through some Linkedin Profile with that role and I found that they needed strong pitching skills, the power to convince people to buy into their ideas. I also saw that they need to be strong in ideation – to generate new marketing campaigns.
Qn: Why ISB?
A: At ISB I would get to interact with a diverse student body (Quoted the split between Engineers and Non-Engineers, mentioned that it is the highest among the top b schools in India). There is also a steady influx of professors from foreign b-schools, I think they would bring a very different perspective to the table at ISB. Also mentioned the Marketing club.
Qn: What do you think of the future of Digital Marketing?
A: In India Number of Data users is expected to double by 2022 from 44 crores to 88 crores. In the future, other platforms like google home would enable a higher inflow of data as they are contextual, hence higher personalization would be possible
Qn: Don’t you think Google and Facebook are losing their significance?
A: I think subscribers are moving out of it due to bombardment of irrelevant ads. Once there is higher-level data we would be able to solve that problem (Quoted an Example of my shoe buying experience)
Qn: Don’t you think that’s happening already?
A: It’s happening at a slower pace, would be faster in the future.
Qn: Pratap, I am still not convinced why you should be in ISB.
A: I have worked for 3 years with Data, I would bring this perspective of looking at business problems with the Data Lens.
Qn: This can be done by profs also, crunching numbers to bring out insights.
A: I would bring something apart from the professors POV from my work experience.
Qn: Okay Pratap, We are done, do you have any questions for us?
A: No Sir, I had the opportunity to talk to some of the alumni before so I am clear.
Qn: How many students did you talk to?
A: 3
Qn: Okay Pratap, have a safe journey back.
A: Thank you for your time.
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