Is "Business School Admission Process" The Key To Corporate Hiring?

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A thorough and standardized selection process is the best way to sort out the best from the numerous applications received every year. The B-School selection process sets a precedent of excellence. The rigor of the selection process ensures that the applicants maintain the quality throughout.

B-School Admission Process and Campus Hiring

The selection process is a roadblock not only for students but also for Corporates. This may not be apparent but the business school admission process is actually the very first step of corporate hiring. Only those who make it to these B-schools comprise of the pool of students from which corporates hire. Making this process completely out of control of the Company HRs.

Knowledge is power and sometimes knowing the business school admission process can help you devise strategies and techniques to hire a pool of talented individuals, by-passing the loopholes of the admission process. Which in turn will help you choose the best of the lot, suited for your company.

Common Practices by B-Schools

A common practice for most Institutes is an initial CAT percentile screening followed by a Written Ability Test and a Personal Interview. A panel of three people conduct the PI mostly. All the old IIMs follow this procedure. However, there are B-Schools who have devised their own selection process. Some of these B-Schools form a part of the Top 20 B-Schools in the country. One additional process that is mandatory in a lot of schools is conducting Group Discussions.

MDI Gurgaon and NITIE Mumbai conduct only Group Discussions and Personal Interviews as a part of their process. This is after they consider the CAT percentile cut-off and other profile related details like academics, work experience, extra-curricular activities, and diversity in terms of background. Whereas IMT Ghaziabad conducts only extensive PIs as a part of their entrance process.

XLRI Jamshedpur and NMIMS Mumbai have similar processes. The applicants are first screened on the basis of their candidature. In line with their entrance exams XAT and SNAP, both conduct Group Discussions or Case Discussions along with Personal Interviews. MICA also follows the same steps except that the applicants have to appear for MiCAT as well as CAT and/or XAT.

SIBM Pune and SCMHRD follow the same process of the initial entrance exam of SNAP followed by a Group Exercise, a Written Ability Test and finally a Personal Interview or Personal Exercise. IIFT Delhi, XIMB and TISS conduct Academic Writing Tests, Group Discussions and Personal Interviews as a part of their initial selection process after their own entrance exams.

SPJIMR Mumbai has a very unique process where candidates are expected to appear for a personal interview. They then have to write an executive summary of a paper in their area of interest and present the same in front of a panel.

FMS Delhi, on the other hand, conducts Group Discussion, Personal Interview and a round of extempore that helps them finalize students for the academic year whereas JBIMS  conducts all the three processes of Group Discussion, Group Exercise and Personal Interview for admission.

Wrap Up

Most colleges also have their own, unique way of identifying the candidates best suited for their institute. The different phases in each admission process can highlight the candidates with a particular skill set and eliminate those without. Due to the number of applicants, viewing each candidature as a unique case is not possible in India. Hence, it is designed as an elimination process and not a selection process. Insights into the business school admission process can shed light on the additional skill sets that require testing. This, in turn, will give added insights into their placement in the Corporate world. 

In Conclusion

At the end of the day, the entire eco-system is working towards maintaining sanctity and growth; growth of the Company and its Leaders.