…and that’s how I got to intern with HUL - By Ashutosh Gupta from IMT Ghaziabad

Little did you know that some competitions like HUL L.I.M.E., Godrej LOUD, and L'Oréal Brandstorm are a ticket to your dream company. You might not fit in a companies’ shortlisting criteria when they visit your campus but if you prove your mettle in these competitions, you can get a direct entry to the interview round of these renowned companies. In fact, sometimes there are no interviews and you directly get hired based on your talent! It cannot be stressed enough that competitions are a great way to get direct job interviews and luckily Pre-placement offers. (And that’s how I got a chance to intern with HUL!)

Wouldn’t it be great if you know just how to leverage your MBA life? Yes, but all of this is no breeze without the support of seniors and mentors. And since we can’t read the minds of the winners and leaders, we can give you the next best thing: An exclusive story of one such young achiever who has amassed a slew of accolades and continues to excel in his career path. We're not bragging, but he has won every major corporate competition you can think of. In that spirit, here are some of his valuable insights and lessons learned that might help you bring your A-game!

Born and raised in the small city of Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, I always aimed high and thought of a bigger picture. Like all, result-oriented education was the crucial part of my schooling and graduation but equally important were extracurricular activities that helped me blossom my personality. A district tennis player, an active orator, and an adventure sport lover - yes! It is these interests that taught me to manage my time and set priorities. Hang on, how can I forget to mention my love for social work? I was also a part of Gramiksha for three years and taught students at Government schools. 

It is these small contributions that have widened my perspective about the world at large. This helped me interact with new people. I realized that I am a social person who enjoys hearing out the experiences of people and eventually discovered my true calling: marketing.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete)(@dare2compete)

Making dreams a reality, one step at a time

As soon as I realized that I belonged in this field, I took my first decisive step (taking CAT). It was an article of faith with my decision that every step afterward will lead me to the place where I wanted to be. Although this wasn’t as easy as it sounds, I had my fair share of tragedies in my life.

(Moral: The path to success is paved with seemingly insurmountable obstacles) 

Let me take you through my bumpy journey in a most discrete way.

Get, set...CAT (or TCS?)

Like a very average run-of-the-mill kind of student, I too attempted the CAT exam more than once. Going down memory lane, I first started to prepare for CAT in my last year of engineering. But like a classical middle-class family, I was suggested to grab the campus placement offer first.

And why not, when you have a PPO in hand from a company like TCS you are ought to take it. But I never let the CAT preparation off the track, after attaining the PPO I rigorously prepared for the CAT exam. Ah! But irrespective of my excellent percentile in coaching I performed terribly poorly on the D-Day (Yes, I just scored around 84-85 percentile!) 

As decided, I went to take on the role of an Associate System Engineer at TCS. For 9 months I dedicatedly worked on my projects, developed a certain skill set, and took time out for CAT preparation. I would be wrong if I had said that I was happy with my score on my second attempt. This was not my best, but I tried my best. 

Verdict: I got shortlisted for colleges including IMT Ghaziabad, IIM Jammu, IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Sambalpur, and IRMA.

An app, a book, and IMT Ghaziabad

Apart from CAT, I held my fingers crossed for the XLRI interview. Having scored 98.54 percentile in XAT, I actually had high hopes for it. But not everything goes the way we plan. So now the picture was pretty clear that I would go for IMT Ghaziabad and get the best out of my MBA life. I must say, my journey to getting into one of the premier B-Schools was fully loaded with intricate learnings.

Talking of this, I must mention how, along with my Innovation team at TCS, I contributed to making an application. It was a prodigious moment in my life watching my idea turn into reality. The app gained appraisal from my seniors as it focused on reducing the time wasted in the canteen to pick up the food. 

Another sparkling milestone during my journey to IMT Ghaziabad was my book! Yes, I published my book When life turns into poetry on Kindle without any help from editors. Inspired by a love story, the book consists of a collection of poems that might help people overcome heartbreaks and their lingering side effects. 

All of this taught me how to utilize my potential well, and how to put the body, heart, and soul into whatever we do. I even got an opportunity to be a guest on a live session hosted by a couple of Instagramers. I must say, these life experiences shaped me into a self-assured, positive, and outgoing adult.

The three musketeers: Lockdown, MBA, and competitions

With families confined together in closed living spaces for days on end, coronavirus has brought everything to a complete standstill. Many students are grumbling about not being able to make the best of their college (which is fair) but trust me it’s not that scary if you can be strategic enough. With some effort, planning, and creativity thrown in, you can manage to put up with the lockdown nuances. Curious, how?

First things first, I set clear priorities because MBA is like a pool of knowledge and it is up to you how you explore different aspects of it. I divided the course of my MBA into four buckets (more or less):

1. Competitions
2. Academics
3. Clubs and committees
4. Fun and time out with friends

The next step was prioritizing and managing them. For instance, my term exams always collided with some or the other rounds of corporate competitions like HUL L.I.M.E., L'Oréal Brandstorm, and Myntra Stylbiz. But I decided to manage the competitions and academics together. 

For my love for marketing, I also decided to join the marketing club of IMT Ghaziabad, Markup. Being the Content head of the club, I look after curating content, posting events, etc. My club also came up with 3-4 case studies in the past year which got heavily complemented by the judges from prestigious companies! 

All in all, let me break it to you: You won’t get what you want if you can’t manage properly. After all, this is what MBA is all about. 

Say NO to these, if you want to win corporate competitions

Even before pitching into corporate competitions, I began participating in inter-B-School level competitions. I gradually learned that competitions are not just about innovation, they are also about feasibility, scalability, and simplicity. Being a part of the Innovation team at TCS also helped me understand certain eagles of competition. It aided me in looking through the expectations of the jury and gave me the liberty to judge the feasibility of the idea.  

L'Oréal Brandstorm (National Winner), HUL L.I.M.E. (National Semifinalist), Myntra Stylbiz (National Semifinalists), Godrej Loud (Special Invitee), KPMG Ideation Challenge, Mahindra Rise, Reliance TUP, Nestlé 4P Challenge, Bond with Pidilite are some of the competitions I participated to date. And guess what! I am definitely looking forward to nominating myself in Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete)Awards 2022. 

Little did you know that some competitions like HUL L.I.M.E., Godrej LOUD, and L'Oréal Brandstorm are a ticket to your dream company, especially if these companies do not visit your campus. Even if they do, you might not fit in a companies’ shortlisting criteria but if you prove your mettle in these competitions, you can get a direct entry to the interview round of these renowned companies. In fact, sometimes there are no interview rounds and you directly get hired based on your talent! It cannot be stressed enough that competitions are a great way to get direct job interviews and luckily Pre-placement offers. (And that’s how I got a chance to intern with HUL!)

Before you start participating in competitions, remember:

• Start small - If you do not win them, dig deep and analyze what went wrong. Because these learnings will act as stepping stones to corporate competitions.
• Do not let the fear of rejection hold you back from competitions - A majority of students are unable to handle rejection. But if you want your MBA journey to be worth remembering, participate in competitions. 
• Do not see competitions as a waste of time - Even if you do not win, there is always some learning you can garner from your experience. (To the bare minimum you learn about the company.)
• Overconfidence is a slow poison - My team and I were flying high when we made it to the semi-finals of Myntra Stylbiz and took our very next competition, Marico Over The Wall too lightly. Things went bad and we could not even clear the preliminary round! 
• It takes time to form a team you are comfortable with -  For me, it was only after 5-6 competitions, I was able to come up with my current team. But once you have it, embrace team bonding. Either you win or lose, always stay together. (Talking of our team compatibility, here is the submission of our team for L'Oréal Brandstorm that bagged a huge number of votes and shall always remain close to my heart)

• Learn to analyze which competitions are worth participating in - It is not just about the brand name, it is more about your interest. For instance, if you want to explore the FMCG sector go for companies like HUL L.I.M.E., L'Oréal Brandstorm, Marico Over the Wall, etc.
• Keep a tab on the current competitions with the help of websites like Dare2Compete and your seniors. Above all, you cannot afford to miss the chance of presenting your work to the CEOs and executives, unbelievable exposure, a smart monetary prize, goodies, and lucrative perks. Well, did you know, one gets to go to Paris if you win L'Oréal Brandstorm? And I even got my name on FORBES India for excelling in competitions.
• Last but not the least, failures are a part of life, choose to jump over them.

Go for learning!

And, remember even when things get rough and out of your control, try to stay positive and channel your energy through productive means.

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