'Gap Year' In Your CV? Simran Somani From IIM Ahmedabad Has The Perfect Answer!

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Getting into the B-School of your dreams is no easy feat! It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and time to land the spot amidst tough competition. And what if you have a gap year? What does that mean for your MBA dreams and subsequent career goals? If you too are looking for an answer to these questions, then this article by Suman Somani will surely help you out. 

As Indians, we are always told, “Work hard now, so that you can ‘relax’ later.” And this becomes a passionate reason for all of us to jump head-first into our Tenth boards, then Twelfth, then the competitive exams for our undergrad, and ultimately CAT for our management study goals. But what if you have a dreaded study gap year/ career break in your CV and you fear that it's going to hold you back from realizing your dreams?

Before beginning my explanation, let me first sum up my journey so far in a few words. I pursued CA and became a Chartered Accountant in May 2018. After slogging it out in board exams, at PwC for my articles, for CA final exams, and finally at Nestlé India after qualifying, I reached IIM-A! 

Having spent all of two weeks as a PGP-1 at IIM Ahmedabad, let me assure you, the grind in no way ends at getting into college. And maybe that is the beauty of it – We must push ourselves, no matter what stage of life we reach. 

However, there are some struggles we’d be grateful to have and I am sure the rigor of an MBA from top B-Schools like IIMs is one of them. To that end, today I am going to discuss a crucial question that many aspirants must have on their minds (I certainly did) that helps you get clarity on your MBA aspirations – A gap year or a career break on your resume. So let’s get started with considering if taking a gap year is the right choice. 

Should I quit my job and take a year to prepare for the CAT exam?

What if I do not sit for college placements and end up with a gap year on my resume?

This a legitimate question. The CAT, the interviews, the GDs, and the extempore are nerve-wracking exercises – especially if you have wanted it all your life! The pressure to achieve and excel gets very real, very fast. Therefore, taking the risk of a gap year could fill anyone up with self-doubt. 

The answer essentially boils down to having a clear-cut, thorough understanding of yourself. Consider asking yourselves the following questions and you’ll know the way forward. 

1. Are you the sort of person who can handle the extra stress of having to “make it” because the stakes just skyrocketed?
2. Are you going to be alright if things do not work out? How real or fictional is your Plan B? Will you be okay with taking a lesser-ranked college this year or would you rather take another gap year and write the CAT again?
3. Do you have financial commitments to honor? Are you habituated to a regular paycheque and cannot cope without it?
4. Can you bear the cross of studying endlessly for months together or the guilt of whiling away time after having made a sincere commitment? What about all that time AFTER the CAT and before the interviews and results – How will you battle the restlessness that will kick in?
5. Are you being honest with yourself in terms of the workload you have? Is it truly impossible to balance your job and CAT preparation simultaneously? Have you made an honest effort to push your limits? Is a gap year the only way?

Now, these are very individualistic dimensions that I cannot possibly answer for you. I have, however, tried to get you to think about it for yourself via those five slightly dramatic questions.

If you’re true to yourself and have decided that you have the risk appetite to take a Gap year, read further. If not, double back your efforts into the balancing act – I promise you, it will pay off!

What really matters?

Let’s get one thing out of the way- the gap year on your CV starts to matter only at the interview stage. Your CAT percentile will in no way be affected by the gap year – it is purely dependent on your preps and D-day performance.

Also note, that while having a few extra months of work-ex might add to your composite score for shortlisting, looking at the percentage of freshers who make it, I would not worry about this too much. If your past academic scores are stellar and you have a solid CAT percentile, the shortlist barrier can be crossed.

Now, let me draw from my personal experience and explain how colleges look at gap years during the interviews. What makes me slightly qualified is the fact that I had a gap in my CV myself, and that fear is something that kept me up at night. Let’s begin.

In all the top B-school interviews I gave, I was asked about the gap only in my IIM Kozhikode & XLRI HRM one, and an honest and straightforward “I was out of touch with mathematics, I quit to prepare for the CAT exam” did the trick for me. No cross-questions asked. 

Now, do I think this will be the case for every interview for all students with a gap year on their CV? 

Of course not! The panel may drill you, on your gap year for several reasons. They may want to know what exactly you did during the gap time or pull a classic pressure move of “Why should we take you? You clearly can’t multitask.” What do you do then? In my opinion, it is best to consider what the panel is actually looking for and formulate a subjective answer accordingly. 

What does the Panel Look for? 

I’d urge you to remember three things here, they are:

1. The panelists are genuinely interested in knowing how you made the most of your break. The CAT is, after all, an aptitude test and hence by definition, involves a lot of natural skills too. This means that if you took a gap year, you had some free hours every day and they would want to know if you used that excess time to expand your horizons or not.
2. More often than not, the pressure they create is just to see how you handle the situation. This is a question every gap year candidate must expect (dread rather) and hence staying calm and having clear reasoning for yourself is a must. Besides, SO MANY candidates enter B-schools after a gap year! So clearly, they do not think that all of us were terrible multi-taskers or that we do not deserve admission. They just want to know how you react to that stimulus.
3. Even if it does come up (I used to think it absolutely WILL. I was wrong) and even if it is not the most positive of conversations, that might take up a maximum of 4-5 minutes of a 30-minute interview. The other 25 are just as predictable (or random) as can be. Try to focus on that part more, and shine through them. 

With these things in mind, let’s begin considering what are the different ways to respond to the gap year question. 

How to answer- “Why did I take a gap year?” 

How must one tackle this question, sitting across senior faculty, in arguably one of the most crucial interviews of your life? Here are some recommendations/ tips:

1. I would recommend being completely honest. The panelists have innumerable years of experience, and therefore any attempt to build a false narrative is a suicide mission. Not only can they see through that, but your words also lose credibility.
2. It is best to take up some activities you’ve always wanted to pursue but never had the time for during the gap year! And this is not just so that you have a credible answer in such situations, but for yourselves as well. It could be volunteering work on the weekends or learning a new language or instrument. It could also be reading more extensively or playing a sport religiously. Try to make your hobby more tangible – Start an Instagram page or a YouTube channel around something you’re passionate about. You could even do some certifications! Those will help you once you enter college as well.

If you have opted out of college placements, you could do fruitful internships or research projects with your professors. You could also appear for exams in your field of interest (Such as the CFA/FRM). All these aid in showcasing how you spent your time productively, added value to yourself, and drive the interview in your favor. 

One last thing I want to add for all my readers who have already decided on the gap year and have quit their jobs- stop overthinking! The day IIM-A shortlisting criteria came out for 2019 CAT, and I saw they added a slight weightage to work-ex, I almost had a meltdown. I was so obsessed with trying to find out what the impact of this gap year on my CV will be, that I forgot the most important part - if I did not get the requisite CAT percentile, I would never have to deal with the B-School panel dilemma at all! No shortlist – No interview!

So make sure you get the idea of “justifying the gap” out of your mind until the CAT is done and only focus on maximizing your percentile. Because whether they ask you about your career break or not, they are most definitely going to be asking you for your CAT score! 

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