Applicant profile: IT 7.5 years, UK, GMAT : 680

I dialed in at the schedule time and there were two people on the other side; one was a admission officer and the 2nd an alumni. There was confusion over Skype id but it was resolved within minutes…the i/v then started

Q) –> Tell us something about yourself

A) –> Easy response

Q) –> then they moved to one of the significant achievements (20% revenue increase by correcting estimation process)

A) –> Explained in detailed

Q) –> Another significant achievement (synch. of database resulting in 80% call reduction)

A) –> Explained my role

Q) –> Most significant achievement

A) –> There were about 20-25 resources who joined this key integration project at the same time in Glasgow and I was the least experienced of the resources;

But I was able to prove myself and now I am the lead designer with people more experienced working under me.

Q) –. What did u do to make it happen?

A) –> Proactively asked for more work, discussed with the PM to gain an understanding of the project and go through the documents whenever I was low on work….all this gave me better understanding of the system and thus was promoted to the lead designer role.

Q) –> Typical day at work

A) –> Right now, the project is set to high live towards Nov end and we are into comparison testing and as a lead designer have to provide inputs to resolve the issues.

Q) –> Why MBA when you can get into Project Management via PMP ( My long term goal is Solution Architect and short term is Project Manager)

A) –> MBA would give me the exposure which a PMP won’t provide; PMP can give me a theoretical foundation but its best to learn from the peers, through networking and the MBA experience

Q) –> You are wrong.. PMP does goes about by taking a project into consideration.

A) –> I may be wrong but I have observed people in my company getting PMP but cribbing about lack of practical exposure; I believe that MBA would give the exposure and the diversified learning which cannot be gained by any other source; recently ISB had an conclave where imminent speakers came and spoke about Cloud Computing, an emerging technology. Where can I get such experience?

Q) –> What are your long term plans?

A) –> Work as a Solution Architect

Q) –> This speaks for only till you are 37 years (right now I am 32)…what next

A) –> Senior Solution Architect, Master Solution Architect

Q) –> That is till 45 years…what about next

A) –> I haven’t planned for that long…my planning it for 5 years and I’ll take it from there on…

Q) –> What are the three companies that you would like to work for?

A) –> I told them that I have picked Accenture and Deloitte and the reasons why I would join them.

Q) — Why not join them straight away?

A) –> Right now I am not ready…Currently a Lead designer…the next thing is to do an MBA and prepare myself for the ROLE…

That was the major part of the interview…20 – 25 mins of discussions…a grilling interview…