An advertisement pamphlet which came with my newspaper today.. the caption ran like this..(or something similar)"We made the earth lighter by 57000 Kgs this month...what is your contribution?"
..and no..this is not an ad for any wastage disposal company or government agency...its the caption for a specialized beauty/slimming clinic!
Innovative advertising anyone?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
It pays to be Process Oriented!
One of the areas which most organizations talk about being important to their business but is relegated to being the pain point in their day to day operations is processes (the other close competitors would be compliance & technology, although the first one does manage to have considerable power). In spite of the initiative taken, once in a while, by a well meaning business unit head or a CEO, processes in any organization remains, unfortunately, something which is good to have – let’s have it, document it and forget about it. Why bother about it when the business is making money eh?
Well, with mammoth financial institutions having a history of more than a century folding up within just a week, people will now wake up to the importance of having a laid down process and following the process to a T.
How many times in our career have we come against an argument that we are losing business and so why don’t we tweak that process a little bit? Well it definitely works that way in most organizations but the perpetrators are too short sighted to see and understand that in the long term it ends up hurting the very business that they were clamouring to build.
Not that these venerable institutions didn’t have a risk management process. Assuming that would be a childish if not an imbecile thought. But the real question is how much of importance was given to the laid down processes in the mad run for generating business and making money.
Financial institutions which should worry about three different costs – cost of funds, cost of operations and cost of compliance, by ignoring to follow the processes unknowingly ends up adding to the cost of operations which ultimately adds to the cost of funds and when things get out of control, finally to cost of compliance!!
Well, with mammoth financial institutions having a history of more than a century folding up within just a week, people will now wake up to the importance of having a laid down process and following the process to a T.
How many times in our career have we come against an argument that we are losing business and so why don’t we tweak that process a little bit? Well it definitely works that way in most organizations but the perpetrators are too short sighted to see and understand that in the long term it ends up hurting the very business that they were clamouring to build.
Not that these venerable institutions didn’t have a risk management process. Assuming that would be a childish if not an imbecile thought. But the real question is how much of importance was given to the laid down processes in the mad run for generating business and making money.
Financial institutions which should worry about three different costs – cost of funds, cost of operations and cost of compliance, by ignoring to follow the processes unknowingly ends up adding to the cost of operations which ultimately adds to the cost of funds and when things get out of control, finally to cost of compliance!!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Split Generations
I am not old. Ok, maybe i should say "I am not that old", yet i was appalled to see this one particulr program on MTV and was left wondering whether the cultural identities have shifted significantly even to vary within the same generation. In the "olden" days, we used to have the older generation (mostly your uncles, a bit older cousins etc) and you would often have these good natured disagreements about which generationhad the better songs and actors etc. But the age difference which separates these two different generations were quite considerable.But now, things seem to be changing. So now, to the topic.There is this new program which is being aired on channel V in which there are two guys and a group of girls, whose objective is to make sure that they get one of the guys to date them (something on these lines). And so we have "competitions" in each episode and then there are "elimination rounds" where girls are "Dumped" based on various "parameters". And its shocking to see these girls taking it so seriously!I mean, what kind of message are we sending to the millions of youngsters who are glued to these channels?That, being a girl, you are a loser if some &@#$!@&* doesnt want to take you for a date? That you need to "compete" and "prove yourself" inorder to be an object of affection? I mean, come one, gimme a break!Is this the definition of being "Cool" for the teenagers? Shouldnt this kind of competitive mentality be used to motivate them to take on better things, which could be cool too?
I wish i could know the opinions of teens on this!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Back to Books!
So, after a long hiatus, i get back to what i love the most. Reading. Picked up a couple of books from the ISB library and got busy!
Midaq Alley (Naguib Mahfouz)
I picked this up from the ISB library only out of curiosity because this work had won the author the Nobel prize in literature. 30 Pages into the book and i was bored and decided to give it back and try my luck with some other book. But then met NM on the way and was told about how it gets interesting, so decided to give it a second shot and boy, was i surprised?This one starts slow but picks up pace towards the middle and then leads you into a vortex of emotions running through the mind of the central character of the book - Hamida. For me, she is one of the most strong-willed character that i have ever come across in all the works that i have read till now.Yes, she is enchanted by the pleasures in the world and doesnt consider the sanctity of means for her to achieve her ends. Yes, she chooses the lure of money over a committment of love. She gives in to the thinnest of possibilities which could get her out of Midaq Alley.But the way in which the author has been able to balance the extreme aspects of her character is mind blowing. It is almost like a Shakespearean play - whatthe audience sees and what the characters on the stage believe are totally different!So we have Hamida who thinks she is wielding power over Ibrahim when the latter was courting her, but it is so evident to the reader that, in her eagerness to extract herself from her pitiful existence in the alley, she was simply playing into the hands of the pimp.What strikes you about the book is the fact that you can imagine the street and visualize the characters taking shape, once you are through with the book and not many books are able to achieve this feat - at least in my experience.
Miguel Street (V S Naipaul)
Avoid.
Fasting Feasting (Anita Desai)
Started off well, but i lost interest towards the mid. Disjointed stories, it seemed, although the characters were part of the same story. One part ended rather abruptly and the other...well, what was the essence of it?
Riot (Shashi Tharoor)
Masterful. Shashi Tharoor weaves a story which captures your imagination for the way in which he blends it into the political backdrop of a village in India some years back and the happenings during that period. What stands out here is the way in which the author presents compelling arguments for opposing ideologies. From the perspective of a Hindu about the muslims, from the perspective of Muslims about the hindus, from the perspective of "real indians" about "spoilt, elitist and over-educated" indians who doesnt have a clue about the real india and then for the other side, etc. And if the book is able to convince you about each of these arguments when you are reading them one by one, then you know the mastery of the author on his material.Although i did feel that the romantic/sexual undertones could have been little lesser and more space was provided for the ideological debates and commentaries.
Definitely worth a read!
The five dollar smile (Shashi Tharoor)
These are short stories which was written by the author when he was in his late teens. Some of them are really nice and some of them, you could feel are amateurish.Good for a read though!
Journey to fulfillment
Smiling, he met me at the doorstep,
“Welcome my child to your final destination”
My face was writ with trepidation
On seeing the lord himself at his step.
His face shone with radiance,
His eyes greeted me with understanding,
His smile was kind and assuring
And his words, devoid of pretence
“You look divine and beautiful
And make my heart fill up with joy
All the murals and paintings
Never did you any justice!”
"Thank you my child, come let's go"
"But god, there is something i want to know
how can you meet each and every person
when they leave the world after their season?"
"My dear child, this world doens't have time,
being here is being in eternity
when mortals leave their earthly belongings,
they become angels, join me for the final journey"
"Why do i feel peace and serenity,
when i have just separated from my loved ones?
and where are you taking me now,
to the heaven or to the hell?"
"You are at peace my dear child
because the time stands still here
and dont let your heart go wild
thinking of heaven and hell"
"For, there is no heaven or hell
all my children belong to one big world
your deeds and actions as a mortal
already took you through heaven/hell"
"You have played your part in my story
you cease being an actor henceforth
you will be with your loved ones here
from now on and till eternity"
“Welcome my child to your final destination”
My face was writ with trepidation
On seeing the lord himself at his step.
His face shone with radiance,
His eyes greeted me with understanding,
His smile was kind and assuring
And his words, devoid of pretence
“You look divine and beautiful
And make my heart fill up with joy
All the murals and paintings
Never did you any justice!”
"Thank you my child, come let's go"
"But god, there is something i want to know
how can you meet each and every person
when they leave the world after their season?"
"My dear child, this world doens't have time,
being here is being in eternity
when mortals leave their earthly belongings,
they become angels, join me for the final journey"
"Why do i feel peace and serenity,
when i have just separated from my loved ones?
and where are you taking me now,
to the heaven or to the hell?"
"You are at peace my dear child
because the time stands still here
and dont let your heart go wild
thinking of heaven and hell"
"For, there is no heaven or hell
all my children belong to one big world
your deeds and actions as a mortal
already took you through heaven/hell"
"You have played your part in my story
you cease being an actor henceforth
you will be with your loved ones here
from now on and till eternity"
Friday, March 14, 2008
Placement experiences & More
I intend to pen down my thoughts on ISB in the next few weeks (the last term here!) and what I think are right and what I think are wrong. Some of it is not going to make some people happy, but I am going to do it anyways. I thought the first of these should be my interview experiences during the ISB placement week. So here we go. I am not posting the experience with the company with which I finally took up the offer (which is Barclays), but the other three which I had on day 1.
I think I should also express my thoughts about the placement week. Placement week at ISB creates an artificial job market which puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on people leading to a lot of well deserving candidates missing on jobs for which they have worked their **** off for the last one year. What happened in the Reliance power IPO where 100X people applied to X number of shares? Most people ended up not getting any shares at all (which, in hindsight was not a bad thing at all). The same applies here. The companies coming to the campus have the advantage of being selective because there are 420 students out here from which they can choose and so they get the upper hand. This makes the pressure levels go up and hence we need a system where the students have the upper hand. For this, the concept of the week long placement process should be removed and it should be spaced out. If the companies that are coming later complain about them being not able to get the crème de la crème, they have to be made understood that all the students in ISB are here because they were best in their previous jobs and hence focusing on the top of the batch of the “batch of extremely talented 400 odd people” is not the best approach to take. Instead they need to focus on whether the candidate who has applied to the job is interested and has done enough research on them (by reading the EOI and resume – please read them cause we take a long time to write them) and will fit their culture and see a long tem career in the company etc.
Most companies are not very hung up on grades (Except for the consultancy companies who anyway are not going to be a topic on my blog), and do look whether you have some transferable skills to bring from your previous work experience, which is where being in ISB makes a difference.
The ways in which the interviews are conducted by some of the firms are also abhorable. Having conducted a lot of interviews in my previous job, I believe that a good interviewer should take out time to read the resume before deciding whether they want to meet a candidate or not, otherwise it is simply a waste of time for both. Mechanically short-listing based on grades only or relevant experience only does not work here at ISB because ISB has a diverse talent pool, most of them who are here to shift domains. If they wanted to hire people with relevant experience only, then why not recruit directly from the industry and why come to b-school at all? Firms should have an open mind to take in people who might not have relevant experience, but have the passion to make a career in a new field and also bring to the table skills, which are not technical in nature (organizational) and which can be applied in any company.
Think about it. When a firm recruits a fresher from an engineering college, then she has to be put in an induction program, a big part of which will be on the organizational aspects like social skills, etiquettes etc. also, during the first few years, a new joiner learns a lot of things on the job in the organizational like how to conduct meetings, mentor and manage other people, network in the organization, leadership skills, how to make a different to the organization through non-core activities etc.
A company which recruits from ISB do not need to spend these efforts on the candidate and the only induction program needed would be with respect to the area of work. Does it really make sense to look at the previous relevant experience then? I think not.
Another aspect which I find despicable is the fact that some of these companies that come to ISB has the audacity to offer salaries which are less than offered to the students from the best engineering colleges in the country. What exactly do they think? Are we fools? I mean, don’t their HR departments have any self-respect?
In this respect, we need to put in place a policy which mandates that no company offering a salary less than X will be given a slot. It was heartwarming to see something similar happen last year at my undergraduate college (Regional engineering college Calicut) where the top IT Majors could not find a slot because they were giving salaries less than the institute cut-off!!!!
Interview experiences
Company: A Leading private sector bank in India
Role: Equity Sales & Trading
Duration: 35 minutes
Category: Genuine
There were two senior folks in the panel and an HR lady who walked in half-way. The table in front of them was a mess with lot of food stuff and water bottles. In between the interview, food was again bought over and he actually asked me whether I minded him having his food (Did he expect me to say Yes?!!!!!)
One person (more senior) was not interested at all and he was just sitting there looking down most of the time and lost in though. The whole interview was done by the second person except for some rare comments by the senior guy).
The interview was very technical. I had indicated in my resume my interest in tracking markets and so they started on that. First they asked what a carry trade is and I explained the Yen dollar carry trade and told them about the interest rate parity. Then they asked whether the GDP growth in India is sustainable and I told them yes. Then they asked why and I explained that the GDP growth in the recent years was mainly contributed by the investments that the private sector is making and not really driven by consumption as is the broadly believed perception.
The senior guy suddenly looks up and asks “How are you making all these inferences?” So I tell him that I had been reading research reports and this was based on one of the report in ICRA. Then he says “Yes, that is correct". He then goes back to his old pose of lost-in-thought (and checking blackberry in between).
Then I was asked what was the most important thing haunting the global markets at that point of time and I knew it was a bait for sub-prime and I gladly bit it because I could speak about it with authority. I gave the whole story right from pass-throughs to CDO's to CDS to monolines and they were very happy. The guy said "You have not covered some aspects of it, but you have covered most of them in detail".
I was, for a moment, happy!
Then they asked me which are my favorite sectors (I had written about tracking sectors in stock market) and I said PSU banks and power. He asked me why power? I gave the whole funda of the capacity addition (78000 MW) that is going to be done over the next 5 years and how this sector had to grow for the economy to sustain the high growth rate. I also talked about the proposed government spending on infrastructure in the 11th 5 year plan and how much of that is going to be in Power. He then asked me to name a specific stock in the power sector and I said I liked NTPC. He was not very convinced with my pick and asked me since NTPC has an annuity based stream of revenues, why are people so hung up on that. I told him that from the valuation front, NTPC is really attractive and gave him the info on the P/BV and the interest coverage ratio and the debt equity ratio.
The senior guy again looked up and asked me what is the cost per unit of electricity produced for NTPC and I said I don’t know but told him the unit rate at which they bid for projects.
“No, I want to know the cost per unit that it takes for them to produce a unit of electricity”
I said I don’t know.
He then told that equity sales and trading does not really come under them (wonder why it was then put on the JD!!!!!!) and they are more into derivatives and other stuff and asked me whether I was really ok about this or was I inflexible about the role. I said I am flexible about that but I don’t think he was convinced and he believed me to be very interested on the equities side.
He then asked me whether I had any questions and I asked about a recent article that I read regarding SME's sitting on huge MTM losses because of exposure to exotic forex derivatives which they didn’t understand. He then asked me to give examples and I gave examples of Hexaware. He said it is a very valid question and said that as long as there are controls in place, then this is a good business to be in.
I then asked him about a news-item in the press which mentioned about the top three private banks (including this particular bank) in India having a combined exposure to about 3 billion worth of sub-prime and asked him how much his bank’s exposure to this was. He expressed shock at this number and pushed it aside saying that press always exaggerates (Wonder what he has to say about it now that the news of this particular bank’s loss has come out in the press in public!)
I think the interview went well and I had a fair chance of getting an offer. Would have definitely liked to know whether I had an offer, but I never got to know because I went and signed Barclays offer in the night.
Company: Citibank
Role: Financial Analyst
Duration: 30 minutes
Category: Genuine
The interview was done by a senior person from HR and he came across as very friendly and amiable. It was more like a dialogue and never for a moment had it felt like sitting in an interview. It started with him asking me how I was doing and how was the week etc. then he asked me to tell him something about me and asked me why I wanted to do wealth management. So I explained him that I was on the technology side of wealth management industry at Goldman Sachs and wanted to move to the business side. He asked me to explain the wealth management flow how it worked in Goldman Sachs and I explained this to him He then asked me about my interest in capital markets that I had mentioned in my resume and asked me which sectors that i thought would do well. I told him that I was bullish on the public sector banks and the power industry and he asked me to justify why public sector banks. I rattled off the reasons on why public sector banks and then he asked me any stock picks. I gave Canara bank and PNB and then he asked me why specifically these. I told him about the reach of these banks and told him that I expected the growth to be driven by agriculture and SME's in the next few years and these banks were best positioned to ride on that. I also justified the attractive valuations for these banks and compared them with their private sector peers.
Interview went exceptionally well and I could see that the person was very happy with my knowledge of the markets and wealth management industry in general. He was mainly explaining how Citi smith Barney model was like and how it required entrepreneurship skills and networking skills etc. I could sense that maybe he had thoughts about me not fitting in with this aspect and whether I will stay there for long. He asked "You would be having more leverage in Kerala and contacts with HNI" and I said, yes, I would definitely be interested.
He then asked me whether I had any questions and I asked him about the career progression in the role and he explained it very frankly telling me that it would be entirely like running your own organization and how it would be a commission based model. I then asked him whether it would involve portfolio mining or acquisition and he replied that the focus would be more on acquiring new clients. I got the impression that he was trying to make me understand that it was a pure sales job that required sophistication to deal with rich and wealthy clients and the gab to get new clients.
Although the interview went quite well, I was not quite sure at the end of it. The conversation however was quite pleasant and being my first interview experience during the placement week, helped me to reinforce my belief that it was more of a conversation.
Company: a Leading private sector banking group in India
Role: AVP – Wealth management
Duration: 20 minutes
Category: Random!
I walk in and they don’t have my resume. They look at me questioningly.
“Are you carrying your resume with you?”
There were three members on the panel. 2 Ladies and one gentleman. One lady never spoke during the interview, so I imagine she was observing my behavioral skills.
“Yes, I do have”. I hand over the resume.
“Hmm…so you were working with Goldman Sachs Technology? What division?”
I tell him that I was with private wealth management technology.
“It looks like you were doing really well in your previous role. Why do you suddenly want to do a volte-face and move to business side?”
Volte-face?!! Told him the reason why I came to business school!!
“Can you describe to us the model followed by GS in their wealth management business?”
I explain the model. While I explain, he draws the model on the back of my resume.
“Hmm..ok..so that is the model”
He does not seem sure of it and had a facial expression as if I had conjured up the model from thin air. I sat wondering whether I was expected to explain more.
“So..do you have any questions for us?”
I was shocked. The interview had not even lasted 15 minutes. I was determined to waste some of their time. So I started off.
Asked them a couple of questions and they replied half-heartedly.
“It was good talking to you Vinod”
“Pleasure meeting you sir. Should I wait outside or would you be contacting us if needed?”
“We will contact you if needed”
Translated – we never had any intention of taking you!
I really don’t understand why these companies don’t read the resumes of the people they have short-listed. It saves them so much time and makes their job easier too!
And why short-list people you have no intention of taking at all?!!!!!!
I think I should also express my thoughts about the placement week. Placement week at ISB creates an artificial job market which puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on people leading to a lot of well deserving candidates missing on jobs for which they have worked their **** off for the last one year. What happened in the Reliance power IPO where 100X people applied to X number of shares? Most people ended up not getting any shares at all (which, in hindsight was not a bad thing at all). The same applies here. The companies coming to the campus have the advantage of being selective because there are 420 students out here from which they can choose and so they get the upper hand. This makes the pressure levels go up and hence we need a system where the students have the upper hand. For this, the concept of the week long placement process should be removed and it should be spaced out. If the companies that are coming later complain about them being not able to get the crème de la crème, they have to be made understood that all the students in ISB are here because they were best in their previous jobs and hence focusing on the top of the batch of the “batch of extremely talented 400 odd people” is not the best approach to take. Instead they need to focus on whether the candidate who has applied to the job is interested and has done enough research on them (by reading the EOI and resume – please read them cause we take a long time to write them) and will fit their culture and see a long tem career in the company etc.
Most companies are not very hung up on grades (Except for the consultancy companies who anyway are not going to be a topic on my blog), and do look whether you have some transferable skills to bring from your previous work experience, which is where being in ISB makes a difference.
The ways in which the interviews are conducted by some of the firms are also abhorable. Having conducted a lot of interviews in my previous job, I believe that a good interviewer should take out time to read the resume before deciding whether they want to meet a candidate or not, otherwise it is simply a waste of time for both. Mechanically short-listing based on grades only or relevant experience only does not work here at ISB because ISB has a diverse talent pool, most of them who are here to shift domains. If they wanted to hire people with relevant experience only, then why not recruit directly from the industry and why come to b-school at all? Firms should have an open mind to take in people who might not have relevant experience, but have the passion to make a career in a new field and also bring to the table skills, which are not technical in nature (organizational) and which can be applied in any company.
Think about it. When a firm recruits a fresher from an engineering college, then she has to be put in an induction program, a big part of which will be on the organizational aspects like social skills, etiquettes etc. also, during the first few years, a new joiner learns a lot of things on the job in the organizational like how to conduct meetings, mentor and manage other people, network in the organization, leadership skills, how to make a different to the organization through non-core activities etc.
A company which recruits from ISB do not need to spend these efforts on the candidate and the only induction program needed would be with respect to the area of work. Does it really make sense to look at the previous relevant experience then? I think not.
Another aspect which I find despicable is the fact that some of these companies that come to ISB has the audacity to offer salaries which are less than offered to the students from the best engineering colleges in the country. What exactly do they think? Are we fools? I mean, don’t their HR departments have any self-respect?
In this respect, we need to put in place a policy which mandates that no company offering a salary less than X will be given a slot. It was heartwarming to see something similar happen last year at my undergraduate college (Regional engineering college Calicut) where the top IT Majors could not find a slot because they were giving salaries less than the institute cut-off!!!!
Interview experiences
Company: A Leading private sector bank in India
Role: Equity Sales & Trading
Duration: 35 minutes
Category: Genuine
There were two senior folks in the panel and an HR lady who walked in half-way. The table in front of them was a mess with lot of food stuff and water bottles. In between the interview, food was again bought over and he actually asked me whether I minded him having his food (Did he expect me to say Yes?!!!!!)
One person (more senior) was not interested at all and he was just sitting there looking down most of the time and lost in though. The whole interview was done by the second person except for some rare comments by the senior guy).
The interview was very technical. I had indicated in my resume my interest in tracking markets and so they started on that. First they asked what a carry trade is and I explained the Yen dollar carry trade and told them about the interest rate parity. Then they asked whether the GDP growth in India is sustainable and I told them yes. Then they asked why and I explained that the GDP growth in the recent years was mainly contributed by the investments that the private sector is making and not really driven by consumption as is the broadly believed perception.
The senior guy suddenly looks up and asks “How are you making all these inferences?” So I tell him that I had been reading research reports and this was based on one of the report in ICRA. Then he says “Yes, that is correct". He then goes back to his old pose of lost-in-thought (and checking blackberry in between).
Then I was asked what was the most important thing haunting the global markets at that point of time and I knew it was a bait for sub-prime and I gladly bit it because I could speak about it with authority. I gave the whole story right from pass-throughs to CDO's to CDS to monolines and they were very happy. The guy said "You have not covered some aspects of it, but you have covered most of them in detail".
I was, for a moment, happy!
Then they asked me which are my favorite sectors (I had written about tracking sectors in stock market) and I said PSU banks and power. He asked me why power? I gave the whole funda of the capacity addition (78000 MW) that is going to be done over the next 5 years and how this sector had to grow for the economy to sustain the high growth rate. I also talked about the proposed government spending on infrastructure in the 11th 5 year plan and how much of that is going to be in Power. He then asked me to name a specific stock in the power sector and I said I liked NTPC. He was not very convinced with my pick and asked me since NTPC has an annuity based stream of revenues, why are people so hung up on that. I told him that from the valuation front, NTPC is really attractive and gave him the info on the P/BV and the interest coverage ratio and the debt equity ratio.
The senior guy again looked up and asked me what is the cost per unit of electricity produced for NTPC and I said I don’t know but told him the unit rate at which they bid for projects.
“No, I want to know the cost per unit that it takes for them to produce a unit of electricity”
I said I don’t know.
He then told that equity sales and trading does not really come under them (wonder why it was then put on the JD!!!!!!) and they are more into derivatives and other stuff and asked me whether I was really ok about this or was I inflexible about the role. I said I am flexible about that but I don’t think he was convinced and he believed me to be very interested on the equities side.
He then asked me whether I had any questions and I asked about a recent article that I read regarding SME's sitting on huge MTM losses because of exposure to exotic forex derivatives which they didn’t understand. He then asked me to give examples and I gave examples of Hexaware. He said it is a very valid question and said that as long as there are controls in place, then this is a good business to be in.
I then asked him about a news-item in the press which mentioned about the top three private banks (including this particular bank) in India having a combined exposure to about 3 billion worth of sub-prime and asked him how much his bank’s exposure to this was. He expressed shock at this number and pushed it aside saying that press always exaggerates (Wonder what he has to say about it now that the news of this particular bank’s loss has come out in the press in public!)
I think the interview went well and I had a fair chance of getting an offer. Would have definitely liked to know whether I had an offer, but I never got to know because I went and signed Barclays offer in the night.
Company: Citibank
Role: Financial Analyst
Duration: 30 minutes
Category: Genuine
The interview was done by a senior person from HR and he came across as very friendly and amiable. It was more like a dialogue and never for a moment had it felt like sitting in an interview. It started with him asking me how I was doing and how was the week etc. then he asked me to tell him something about me and asked me why I wanted to do wealth management. So I explained him that I was on the technology side of wealth management industry at Goldman Sachs and wanted to move to the business side. He asked me to explain the wealth management flow how it worked in Goldman Sachs and I explained this to him He then asked me about my interest in capital markets that I had mentioned in my resume and asked me which sectors that i thought would do well. I told him that I was bullish on the public sector banks and the power industry and he asked me to justify why public sector banks. I rattled off the reasons on why public sector banks and then he asked me any stock picks. I gave Canara bank and PNB and then he asked me why specifically these. I told him about the reach of these banks and told him that I expected the growth to be driven by agriculture and SME's in the next few years and these banks were best positioned to ride on that. I also justified the attractive valuations for these banks and compared them with their private sector peers.
Interview went exceptionally well and I could see that the person was very happy with my knowledge of the markets and wealth management industry in general. He was mainly explaining how Citi smith Barney model was like and how it required entrepreneurship skills and networking skills etc. I could sense that maybe he had thoughts about me not fitting in with this aspect and whether I will stay there for long. He asked "You would be having more leverage in Kerala and contacts with HNI" and I said, yes, I would definitely be interested.
He then asked me whether I had any questions and I asked him about the career progression in the role and he explained it very frankly telling me that it would be entirely like running your own organization and how it would be a commission based model. I then asked him whether it would involve portfolio mining or acquisition and he replied that the focus would be more on acquiring new clients. I got the impression that he was trying to make me understand that it was a pure sales job that required sophistication to deal with rich and wealthy clients and the gab to get new clients.
Although the interview went quite well, I was not quite sure at the end of it. The conversation however was quite pleasant and being my first interview experience during the placement week, helped me to reinforce my belief that it was more of a conversation.
Company: a Leading private sector banking group in India
Role: AVP – Wealth management
Duration: 20 minutes
Category: Random!
I walk in and they don’t have my resume. They look at me questioningly.
“Are you carrying your resume with you?”
There were three members on the panel. 2 Ladies and one gentleman. One lady never spoke during the interview, so I imagine she was observing my behavioral skills.
“Yes, I do have”. I hand over the resume.
“Hmm…so you were working with Goldman Sachs Technology? What division?”
I tell him that I was with private wealth management technology.
“It looks like you were doing really well in your previous role. Why do you suddenly want to do a volte-face and move to business side?”
Volte-face?!! Told him the reason why I came to business school!!
“Can you describe to us the model followed by GS in their wealth management business?”
I explain the model. While I explain, he draws the model on the back of my resume.
“Hmm..ok..so that is the model”
He does not seem sure of it and had a facial expression as if I had conjured up the model from thin air. I sat wondering whether I was expected to explain more.
“So..do you have any questions for us?”
I was shocked. The interview had not even lasted 15 minutes. I was determined to waste some of their time. So I started off.
Asked them a couple of questions and they replied half-heartedly.
“It was good talking to you Vinod”
“Pleasure meeting you sir. Should I wait outside or would you be contacting us if needed?”
“We will contact you if needed”
Translated – we never had any intention of taking you!
I really don’t understand why these companies don’t read the resumes of the people they have short-listed. It saves them so much time and makes their job easier too!
And why short-list people you have no intention of taking at all?!!!!!!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Day 1
So finally I land a job on Day 1. It is a role which I liked and I am happy with it, so I am signing out of the process even though I have 3 shortlists tomorrow (2 of them which I reeeeaaalllly would have liked to consider and had a good chance at!). I have always been a strong opponent of the “job losses” because of the “80-20 rule” (As one of my friends put it! :) ) and so decided to act according to my beliefs. So finally, weeks and weeks of pouring over research reports, tracking the markets and economy, cramming and revising the finance subjects, tracking specific sectors and basically doing everything possible to get a fin role (except for the obvious! :) ) finally culminate in a successful switch. Another vindication of my strong belief that, if you put in your part, god does the rest!
So from about 1 hour back, I am officially out of the ISB class of 2008 placement process.
Offers are pouring at ISB and we have seen some obscene amount of money dished out by some companies (We are not supposed to discuss them in public domain, so readers will have to wait till ISB comes out with the official numbers!). One person who got this particular offer is a good friend and I think he deserves it for the elaborate and voluminous notes he used to take in each and every subject! :)
There are some really good roles/salaries on offer and then there are some companies who have the audacity to offer salaries which are lesser than what undergrads make at IIT’s/REC’s. But it happens, I guess in every market!
It has been two days since the process started (Day 0 and Day 1) and the campus has seen misery, elation, surprise, relief, tension and all those emotions that you can think of. All I want to see is all my batch-mates to get placed as soon as possible. I have always maintained that this is just the beginning of our careers and so lets not get bogged down by the upper hand that the companies have when they come down to the campus. These companies want us as badly, if not more, than we want them! (This is by no means a “bhashan now that I have got placed”, but I have always believed that companies will always be under pressure from their management to hire talent from the best b-schools!
On a side note, I was pretty impressed with some of the articles posted by the class of 2009 on their blog. It is good to see some of them having clear views on the things happening around us!
So from about 1 hour back, I am officially out of the ISB class of 2008 placement process.
Offers are pouring at ISB and we have seen some obscene amount of money dished out by some companies (We are not supposed to discuss them in public domain, so readers will have to wait till ISB comes out with the official numbers!). One person who got this particular offer is a good friend and I think he deserves it for the elaborate and voluminous notes he used to take in each and every subject! :)
There are some really good roles/salaries on offer and then there are some companies who have the audacity to offer salaries which are lesser than what undergrads make at IIT’s/REC’s. But it happens, I guess in every market!
It has been two days since the process started (Day 0 and Day 1) and the campus has seen misery, elation, surprise, relief, tension and all those emotions that you can think of. All I want to see is all my batch-mates to get placed as soon as possible. I have always maintained that this is just the beginning of our careers and so lets not get bogged down by the upper hand that the companies have when they come down to the campus. These companies want us as badly, if not more, than we want them! (This is by no means a “bhashan now that I have got placed”, but I have always believed that companies will always be under pressure from their management to hire talent from the best b-schools!
On a side note, I was pretty impressed with some of the articles posted by the class of 2009 on their blog. It is good to see some of them having clear views on the things happening around us!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Yet again!
The government’s proposal to have a minimum 25% public shareholding in all listed firms was welcomed from most quarters in the stock market, with analysts suggesting that it will lead to a higher float, more transparency and less chance of manipulative trading and better price discovery.
So it should not come as a surprise that which entity will come out against this. It has to the communist party of India.
“It is a manipulative work of the finance ministry to encourage privatization. We will oppose it” Quote-unquote D. Raja, national secretary, CPI.
They are “concerned” that this is a way of the government circumventing one of the CMP points of government maintaining 51% stake in the PSU’s. This comes into picture because the top 5 listed firms in terms of least amount of public holding are all PSU’s. (Hindustan copper, NMDC, HMT, FACT and MMTC).
“It is not a question of percentages. It’s a question of policy. This will weaken public sector undertakings (PSU’s) and make them vulnerable to creeping privatization,” claimed Raja
Weaken? Well, I was just wondering, how can you make organizations like HMT and FACT any more “vulnerable” as they have already been identified as “Sick” organizations?
A classic case of agency problem at work? After all, the “public” shareholding pattern in these companies is miniscule!
Whose interests are they trying to protect here, now?!!
So it should not come as a surprise that which entity will come out against this. It has to the communist party of India.
“It is a manipulative work of the finance ministry to encourage privatization. We will oppose it” Quote-unquote D. Raja, national secretary, CPI.
They are “concerned” that this is a way of the government circumventing one of the CMP points of government maintaining 51% stake in the PSU’s. This comes into picture because the top 5 listed firms in terms of least amount of public holding are all PSU’s. (Hindustan copper, NMDC, HMT, FACT and MMTC).
“It is not a question of percentages. It’s a question of policy. This will weaken public sector undertakings (PSU’s) and make them vulnerable to creeping privatization,” claimed Raja
Weaken? Well, I was just wondering, how can you make organizations like HMT and FACT any more “vulnerable” as they have already been identified as “Sick” organizations?
A classic case of agency problem at work? After all, the “public” shareholding pattern in these companies is miniscule!
Whose interests are they trying to protect here, now?!!
Monday, January 28, 2008
ISB ranked 20 in FT global b-school rankings
Alright! I had written a post some time back on how ISB has not taken part in any of the b-school surveys conducted in India and that the aspirations of this school were global in nature. So now, we have the results for the world to see!
ISB has been ranked at the 20th spot in the Financial Times global ranking of b-schools. While all of us here at ISb always believed in the brand and knew that we were one of the best schools in the world, it does help when this fact is upheld by an institution of FT's stature. FT rankings are one of the 3 best rankings in the world followed by recruiters and students all over the world.
A couple of things are noteworthy. ISB is the youngest school to have got into the top 20 ever. ISB is the only school to have straight shot into the top 20 ever.
The ranking was based on attributes like the research papers published by resident professors, the career growth of the batch of 2003, the placement statistics, diversity and a whole lot of other factors, which vindicates the fact that this is not a flash in the pan.
All of us here at ISB are celebrating, but with dignity, humility and sensitivity (In the words of our Dy. Dean).
Go here for the rankings.
ISB has been ranked at the 20th spot in the Financial Times global ranking of b-schools. While all of us here at ISb always believed in the brand and knew that we were one of the best schools in the world, it does help when this fact is upheld by an institution of FT's stature. FT rankings are one of the 3 best rankings in the world followed by recruiters and students all over the world.
A couple of things are noteworthy. ISB is the youngest school to have got into the top 20 ever. ISB is the only school to have straight shot into the top 20 ever.
The ranking was based on attributes like the research papers published by resident professors, the career growth of the batch of 2003, the placement statistics, diversity and a whole lot of other factors, which vindicates the fact that this is not a flash in the pan.
All of us here at ISB are celebrating, but with dignity, humility and sensitivity (In the words of our Dy. Dean).
Go here for the rankings.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Deliverance
Sivaraman got off the bicycle and parked it against the village hotel/tea-shop, housed in a shed made of thatched roof covered with dried coconut leaves. He peeked into the hotel and placed the order to nair, who was the owner of the hotel and also doubled up as the cashier as well as the waiter.
“Oru meals nayare” (“One meals, nair!”)
Nair nodded and repeated the same directing it this time to the back of the shop, towards the kitchen. The response came back loud “One meals in the line”. This was the confirmation of the order.
Sivaraman walked towards the banyan tree where the white dilapidated premier padmini was parked. The car had long back given up hopes of being able to ply on the roads of mahadevapuram and now stood on just 3 wheels. Ismail, the lottery vendor, from inside the car, flashed his toothless smile at sivaraman.
“5 rupees one or 10 rupees one rama?”
Nair smiled back wistfully.
“smayile, you know I always take the 2 rupees one and can’t afford the others”
“there is no harm in trying aint it?” Quipped ismail.
This exchange happened at least once a month. Ismail was alarmingly old. Legend had it that, as a 17 year old, he had traveled to one of the eastern Arab countries in an illegal ship and had made tons of money over there. Some people even thought that ismail was a slave of one of the rich sheikh when he was there.
He had then come back to mahadevapuram after 15 long years as a rich man and had married 2 girls, both of them who where half his age at that time. He had started multiple businesses and was the first one in mahadevapuram to buy a car. A white gleaming premier padmini. Disaster stuck when his first wife ran away with an outcaste and ismail then took heavily to drinks. He was chastened by the elders from the mosque and his second wife tried, in her own ways, to lessen the grief that ismail felt, but it just got worse. Finally he lost all the wealth and soon began selling lottery tickets under the banyan tree, sitting in his premier padmini, which soon became more of an antique object than an object of use.
“Is there any chance this time?” asked sivaraman with no expression on his face.
“The coprah mothalali babu who took the bumper ticket last week got 50,000 rupees”
Ismail conveyed this information with a sense of pride which led others to think as if he had a personal role to play in babu’s luck!
“why does destiny always favor the rich ismail?”
“you keep faith sivarama…allah never gives up on decent people”
Sivaraman was 55 years old. He had started buying the 2 rupees lottery ticket almost right from the time ismail had started selling them. He had never won anything on the lottery but still religiously bought tickets on a regular basis. He worked in the brick factory from 6 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon. He would then cycle back from the factory and then stop in the village centre to have his meal. He would then get food for dinner packed for himself and his daughter and cycle back home. This was his routine for the past few years. The meals at nair’s shop came cheap at 8 rupees and was the only affordable option for sivaraman. His income from the brick factory was meager and he had to support himself and his daughter with his income.
Nair would once in a while chide sivaraman with “Shall I take something special to go with the rice?”
Sivaraman would wince at this question and then smile at nair.
“you know I cannot afford it nayare, then why ask?”
Nair was a short thickset sturdy man and was often the butt of jokes of the village folks for his lack of height. But if god didn’t make nair tall, he definitely made sure that he had a sharp tongue. No one escaped nair’s sadistic comments.
Nair recently had introduced chicken biriyani in his hotel. No other hotel or shop in the village served chicken biriyani and nairs biriyani got a lot of mileage and name. even ismail managed to have biriyani once in a week and would always tell nair after his meal “though not as good as my noor used to make, still mouth watering”
Noor was ismail’s first wife.
Sivaraman was a man who loved his food and he would always think for a moment before ordering the regular meals at nair’s shop. Nair would then come out with his sharp tongue “what rama, thinking of ordering biriyani?”
But, biriyani was out of reach of nairs pocket, costing 25 rupees. Sivaraman always dreamed of one day when he would walk into nair’s shop and bark at nair “One biriyani now and one parcel!”
Ah! When one dreams, you should do so unabashedly!
A few weeks later
Sivaraman parked the cycle at the same place that he had been doing for the last 20 years. He walked into nair’s shop and sat down wearily from the fatigue of the work. He called out to ismail.
“Has the results come yet?”
Ismail bobbed his head from behind the steering wheel of his padmini, nodding in affirmative.
Sivraman walked over to the bench where the day’s paper lay strewn and picked it up.
His shaky fingers went straight to that familiar page where the results of the lottery were always declared. Sivaraman’s fingers always shook during this ritual, even after 20 years of taking a lottery and not winning anything. He took the crumpled lottery ticket from his pocket and put on his soda glasses to read.
The miniature wordings were difficult to read, but this time, that didn’t explain why sivaraman stood staring at the paper and then at his ticket for what seemed like an eternity.
“what happened sivarama? Shall I take the usual?” nair asked.
Sivaraman removed his spectacles, folded the ticket and put it back in his pocket and placed the paper back on the wooden table. He then rubbed his eyes, looked up to the sky, his eyes closed and then smiled, as if saying a prayer of gratitude to the gods in heaven.
He then turned to nair, smiled and said “No nair, get me a chicken biriyani”…….and then, not forgetting to add “..and yes, please get one as parcel too!!!”
“Oru meals nayare” (“One meals, nair!”)
Nair nodded and repeated the same directing it this time to the back of the shop, towards the kitchen. The response came back loud “One meals in the line”. This was the confirmation of the order.
Sivaraman walked towards the banyan tree where the white dilapidated premier padmini was parked. The car had long back given up hopes of being able to ply on the roads of mahadevapuram and now stood on just 3 wheels. Ismail, the lottery vendor, from inside the car, flashed his toothless smile at sivaraman.
“5 rupees one or 10 rupees one rama?”
Nair smiled back wistfully.
“smayile, you know I always take the 2 rupees one and can’t afford the others”
“there is no harm in trying aint it?” Quipped ismail.
This exchange happened at least once a month. Ismail was alarmingly old. Legend had it that, as a 17 year old, he had traveled to one of the eastern Arab countries in an illegal ship and had made tons of money over there. Some people even thought that ismail was a slave of one of the rich sheikh when he was there.
He had then come back to mahadevapuram after 15 long years as a rich man and had married 2 girls, both of them who where half his age at that time. He had started multiple businesses and was the first one in mahadevapuram to buy a car. A white gleaming premier padmini. Disaster stuck when his first wife ran away with an outcaste and ismail then took heavily to drinks. He was chastened by the elders from the mosque and his second wife tried, in her own ways, to lessen the grief that ismail felt, but it just got worse. Finally he lost all the wealth and soon began selling lottery tickets under the banyan tree, sitting in his premier padmini, which soon became more of an antique object than an object of use.
“Is there any chance this time?” asked sivaraman with no expression on his face.
“The coprah mothalali babu who took the bumper ticket last week got 50,000 rupees”
Ismail conveyed this information with a sense of pride which led others to think as if he had a personal role to play in babu’s luck!
“why does destiny always favor the rich ismail?”
“you keep faith sivarama…allah never gives up on decent people”
Sivaraman was 55 years old. He had started buying the 2 rupees lottery ticket almost right from the time ismail had started selling them. He had never won anything on the lottery but still religiously bought tickets on a regular basis. He worked in the brick factory from 6 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon. He would then cycle back from the factory and then stop in the village centre to have his meal. He would then get food for dinner packed for himself and his daughter and cycle back home. This was his routine for the past few years. The meals at nair’s shop came cheap at 8 rupees and was the only affordable option for sivaraman. His income from the brick factory was meager and he had to support himself and his daughter with his income.
Nair would once in a while chide sivaraman with “Shall I take something special to go with the rice?”
Sivaraman would wince at this question and then smile at nair.
“you know I cannot afford it nayare, then why ask?”
Nair was a short thickset sturdy man and was often the butt of jokes of the village folks for his lack of height. But if god didn’t make nair tall, he definitely made sure that he had a sharp tongue. No one escaped nair’s sadistic comments.
Nair recently had introduced chicken biriyani in his hotel. No other hotel or shop in the village served chicken biriyani and nairs biriyani got a lot of mileage and name. even ismail managed to have biriyani once in a week and would always tell nair after his meal “though not as good as my noor used to make, still mouth watering”
Noor was ismail’s first wife.
Sivaraman was a man who loved his food and he would always think for a moment before ordering the regular meals at nair’s shop. Nair would then come out with his sharp tongue “what rama, thinking of ordering biriyani?”
But, biriyani was out of reach of nairs pocket, costing 25 rupees. Sivaraman always dreamed of one day when he would walk into nair’s shop and bark at nair “One biriyani now and one parcel!”
Ah! When one dreams, you should do so unabashedly!
A few weeks later
Sivaraman parked the cycle at the same place that he had been doing for the last 20 years. He walked into nair’s shop and sat down wearily from the fatigue of the work. He called out to ismail.
“Has the results come yet?”
Ismail bobbed his head from behind the steering wheel of his padmini, nodding in affirmative.
Sivraman walked over to the bench where the day’s paper lay strewn and picked it up.
His shaky fingers went straight to that familiar page where the results of the lottery were always declared. Sivaraman’s fingers always shook during this ritual, even after 20 years of taking a lottery and not winning anything. He took the crumpled lottery ticket from his pocket and put on his soda glasses to read.
The miniature wordings were difficult to read, but this time, that didn’t explain why sivaraman stood staring at the paper and then at his ticket for what seemed like an eternity.
“what happened sivarama? Shall I take the usual?” nair asked.
Sivaraman removed his spectacles, folded the ticket and put it back in his pocket and placed the paper back on the wooden table. He then rubbed his eyes, looked up to the sky, his eyes closed and then smiled, as if saying a prayer of gratitude to the gods in heaven.
He then turned to nair, smiled and said “No nair, get me a chicken biriyani”…….and then, not forgetting to add “..and yes, please get one as parcel too!!!”
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