Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaraa...: Taking Control

Taking Control...

Purpose of this post - simple - give you an alternate approach to attack your interviews. The core essence of what I'll be discussing here is something you already know. Knowing this is one thing. But realizing it and acting on it is something very different.And if you don't act on it, that means in essence that you've not really realized it. And this means that you just know it and care to do nothing about it.
I'm gonna just restate whatever PGP2s have been repeatedly reminding us. But I'll be following a different approach to communicate this to you and hopefully, I'll be able to make some change and possibly help you take more control over the current situation.

The reason I'm writing this is the following: I had a few friends who got rejected on Day 0 and were not feeling great. Since I knew them, i went to them, spoke to them using the approach I'm about to discuss. And it actually clicked. I could see that they were getting motivated in a way I thought was so essential while entering an interview.
So I wanted to share the thoughts to others in my batch. Ideally, personal communication is the most effective. But again, i do not know a lot of you well enough and it might be misconstrued as me being a little condescending. Then i thought taking a video of me telling this - Again, i thought I'll be too conscious.
So long story short I decided to blog about it. Without any further delay, I'm getting into the core content of what I wanna tell you guys. Just spare a few minutes to read this post. Even if I'm able to influence 1 or 2 of the many who will read this, my ROI is positive.
Disclaimer: Reading this post will take you 15-20 minutes. If you're reading it, read it slowly. Don't rush through. And trust me, I guarantee you that the time you spend on this will be completely worth it. When you read it, please ensure you follow a "No Stops No Pauses " policy. Read at one shot without pauses till the end.
In a nutshell, what this post will offer you is the following: Your interview is over and you're sitting in the interview room just about to get out. Your frame of mind will be one amongst the 2 options below. Once you finish reading this post, I guarantee you that you will walk out of that interview hall with a smiling face no matter what your frame of mind is - Guaranteed ! ! !
This post will analyze how to deal with these 2 above states of mind to ensure that you walk out of the interview smiling. Part 1 of this post will cover stuff you probably already know. But I think it is apt to re-iterate these points. These will be conventional points being covered but I'll be presenting it in an unconventional manner to hopefully create a better impact. At this stage, I think it'll help a lot. If you feel it's redundant - Advance apologies for the upcoming bugging.
In Part 2, I'll cover an unconventional technique which I'm sure most of you would not be aware. One friend of mine used this technique on Day 0 to convert a horrible final round interview into an offer. Today, another friend of mine used the exact same technique in a similar situation to get the desired result. And personally i have used this technique in every single interview I felt went bad and it's worked for me. I know a long list of people who've used this and every single time ended up walking out with a successful result. So TRUST me - This will work for you.
If you've reached here, let's begin TAKING CONTROL.

The Alternate Approach

Assume that I'm the candidate getting into an interview. There are a few options. I either love the firm that I'm interviewing with and so badly want the job OR I've had enough of summers, I cant handle this stress, I wanna get placed in whichever firm possible. Usually, your frame of mind will lie between these extremes.

Either way, usually you're stressed getting into the interview. The issue here is that this ends up giving your interviewer more power and control over you making you play your game on defense mode. By the end of this post, I guarantee you that I'll change that power balance and make you more confident. Just read along.

PART 1

Out of the 2 states of mind I mentioned above, it doesn't matter which one you're in . One - you do your interview very well and thereby you're confident that you'll get in. Two - you screw up or have a feeling you could have done better and are not satisfied. Let's break down the first outcome now.

1st outcome - You do well in the interview and expect it to be converted

There are 2 possibilities after this

1. They obviously like you and they hire you - Brilliant !!! Then you're out of the process. So you WIN the game

2. They don't hire you. Now here is where you let your emotions affect you.

Agreed. You're human. We all are and hence, it's normal to feel disappointed. But think of it this way - During the interview you felt you put your best foot forward and there's possibly nothing better you could have done.

You had pitched yourself as a person to that company in the best possible way and those corporates did not want you. Why the hell would you want them then?

Even after you put your best, they were not deserving enough to get you. Just change/tweak your thought process a little bit. Just think of it as "Hey, those guys missed out bigtime.. Tough luck for them.. not me...My character is unique and those guys were not good enough to buy it". And this tweak in your thought process is a very powerful tool. It makes you feel that you have control over them as much or may be more than what you think they have over you. So that way, this game - You WIN. For example, hypothetically, if there were 2 questions in your interview. The first question was something like what is 1+1. You give the answer as 2. Second question is "What is the capital of India". You give the answer as New Delhi. You're satisfied with your performance. You think there's no reason why the company shouldn't take you. But they end up not taking you. Why the hell would you even want to work in that company? They don't deserve you. I know it's a hypothetical example, but I think it's a strong enough analogy to convince you to think this way if even after you are satisfied with your performance, the company ends up not taking you. I'll give you a personal example. I interviewed with IIMA last year. I had 2 years solid managerial workex then. They did not ask me a single question regarding my workex - Not a single question. They asked me to solve some random differential equations, which was something I had learnt 7-8 years back and did not really remember. But still, i ended up solving most of the questions convincingly. They did not select me. My mindset was "They weren't even mature enough to ask me about my solid ITC workex, which is more relevant from a MBA perspective. They expected me to remember some differential equations / integration from my JEE prep days, equations which you would hardly use anywhere directly while you're working as a manager. I was still satisfied with the way I performed. They didn't select me. Big deal - They don't deserve me. They're the ones losing out. Not me." This way of thinking gives you tremendous positive energy within you.

Now, let's analyze the

2nd outcome - you screw up the interview or have a feeling you could have done better and are not satisfied

Now this is a tough one. Assume that you have just finished the interview and you're at a point where you have to say "Thank you" and get out of the interview. At this juncture, let's break down further and look at it. There are 2 possibilities.

1. You're really NOT keen on the profile being offered or the company or the sector - Again, refer to the tweak in the thought process which was mentioned above. If you're that clear that it is not something you want and decide not to do anything after the interview - Just tell them thank you, get out and be happy that you're not somewhere you never wanted to be. So again - It's a WIN game. Now, let's look at the 2nd case here and I believe most people will fall in the second category

2. You're actually interested in the profile or you wanna get into that firm and get done with summers - Fair enough. It depends on your mental state at that point. Just to remind you again - We're analyzing the case where you've actually not done well during the interview and at the juncture where you're about to leave, you feel that there's no chance they'll hire you but you actually want to get in. Now there are 2 things you can do

a. Tell them thank you and get out - If you do that you actually LOSE the game. You're giving up. Since we're focused only on winning, let's look at what is the other thing you can do

All that I've covered above constitutes Part 1 - It's information you probably already know about. But I had to build it up so that we can get into PART 2. At this stage, the worst has happened and you're not sure what to do. Here starts

PART 2 - The Sales Pitch

b. This may sound very unconventional and I'd prefer to use an example to explain it so that it'll connect better with the reader. This unconventional approach has worked for me whenever I've tried it.

When I was interviewing with ITC in undergrad, I had no chances of getting in primarily because I'm a civil engineer and ITC is a manufacturing firm looking primarily for Mech/Elec/Chem people. So there was no way I was getting in. I knew that for a fact and did not want that to be the reason I got rejected. So I did something radical. It is the same thing everyone can do in a similar situation.

And it is to pitch the person you are - like a proper sales pitch - "Sell yourself" - telling them why they should hire you and how you'll be able to add value to them and make a difference to them. connecting to the interviewer with a lot of passion. And you don't have to create that passion. Trust me - It'll automatically come when you start selling yourself at that stage. Just be careful to draw a line between pitching yourself and boasting. It's a judgement call where that line needs to be drawn. You just need to ask the interviewer for a minute to speak and pitch to the extent that he should feel that he'd be giving up on a big catch if he or she was to not select you. Each of us is unique and we all have our own set of unique experiences, where we would've shown our character. You can try using some of those instances as examples to show how you'll be able to contribute to the potential employer.

So here you're not selling them your "Marketing" or "Finance" or "Ops" skills. You're selling your character and that will say a lot about you. For example, Say for instance you were attending a Finance interview and you had fu*king no clue going into the interview about anything in Finance because probably you're a fresher or had a non-finance workex and really did not have time to properly prepare for Finance. It's normal for people to be in that situation.

Now, if I were in that situation and the interview doesn't go well and I'm sitting there knowing I performed badly and awaiting to be kicked out, I'd sell myself by stating something on the lines of "Ok Sir. I understand that my finance fundaes arent great. But it's something I definitely can pick up" and then build on that and pitch yourself, if possible using examples from your past experience.

Ultimately everyone's human and finance is no rocket science. You need to subtly convey that it's something you can pickup and by the end of your pitch, the interviewer should know the character of the person you are. He should know it to the extent that he should have second thoughts if he feels like rejecting you - "Will I be missing out on this awesome guy/girl" It's normal for the interviewers to think that way.

If you're passionate about the firm, but the interview has gone bad - Still you're really serious about getting into that firm - the minute you start selling yourself, that PASSION will DEFINITELY be VISIBLE in the way you sell yourself. It will come out no matter what. So the minute it starts coming out and the interviewer starts seeing it - that's ALL you need. Because at the end of the day, the interviewers would want to see that you are a distinctive character. All that the interviewer wants to see and would effectively notice is the SPARK in your character.

So when the interviewer sees that this fellow is actually passionate about getting into this company, the interviewer will realize that the candidate will be successful. The interviewer will possibly think - "When I know that this candidate is passionate and willing to learn, I can teach and train him. All I'm looking for is the SPARK."

I've myself heard recruiters in other places say "I can teach anyone who is willing to do it. And I can make that anyone a master. All I'm looking for in an interview is that passion and willingness to deliver. Even if that guy is the most dumbest guy on the planet it does not matter. If he shows passion and willingness, I will take him no matter what"

And when you take control of your life there, trust me - It'll seem as if something else other than yourself is pushing you to be more passionate than you've ever been in life. I've experienced this multiple times. It's just about pushing yourself to Sell yourself. It takes courage to take that risk. But it's worth it and the confidence you gain out of that is something you can carry for the rest of your life.

If you need any personalized help in creating your pitch, I can help out. Anyway, with all your passion you pitch and there are 2 possible outcomes after you Sales pitch

1. The interviewer says YES -
At a point where you dint have any option and might have lost the game, you took the risk, TOOK CONTROL of your life and made a choice to sell yourself. And it has paid off. You'll have soo much confidence that gets built up in you because of that experience and it'll redefine yourself. Forget about others - the Kind of respect you'll have for yourself will be kickass. So in this possibility, it's a WIN game. Now, let's look at the last possibility

2. The interviewer says NO - You're not hired - Now think of it - You made the most awesome portrayal of yourself that interviewer was not worthy enough to buy it. Again, goes back to the similar logic I had mentioned early. You have pitched your character completely - the best you could have done - and they don't have the balls to get you in. Screw them. You deserve better. Way better. You'll realize then for yourself that you as a person will not fit in that firm. If they don't see the value of you as a person, as a human being, as a person with a unique character - Even if they offer the fattest monthly paycheck - You will be in the mental state to think "Screw them. They definitely don't deserve somebody of my caliber and character"

This way of thinking gives you tremendous amount of confidence, which you can carry for your next interview and more importantly, which you can carry for the rest of your life. Again, the focus is getting control and power from the interviewer. There is a balance of power now. So again, this is a WIN game. Yes, you'll have to have the maturity to think of it, ie train your mind to think that way but again, if you've read this post carefully till this stage, TRUST ME - you can do it and you will be able do it.

The most brilliant part about this alternate approach is the kind of confidence it gives you is amazing and if you just think of this thought, the initial confidence that you get after thinking will positively feedback and create more confidence in you to make you think more about this creating even more confidence leading to (in my words) an infinite feedback loop so that you have tremendous/infinite amount of confidence going into an interview and also, getting out of the interview even without getting an offer.

So, I'm not asking everyone to do this or stating that this is the right approach, but do give it a thought. Here are a few "Testimonials" for this approach.

Testimonial 1 - During Day 0 - A friend of mine went through 3 rounds of interviews for a consult firm.. He realized at the end of it that he might not be offered the job and he was so passionate about it. We had discussed this approach before 9.00 AM. He decided to take the shot - Gave all his heart into pitching his character across - Ended up getting the offer and the firm explicitly conveyed to him that it was because of his non-traditional final pitch that that the small doubt that they had in him got cleared. (He did not want to be named since the company's name also will be out)

Testimonial 2 - Today, another good friend of mine used the same approach in his first round interview with a firm which did not go well. He pulled off the Sales Pitch. And they completely bought it. He had 2 further rounds and they were impressed with him.

Testimonial 3 - I myself used it during my ITC interview and partly for my IIMB interview (with not a great CAT score and a bad WAT - I feel the pitching part helped bigtime - I remember having played a 30 second drum solo on the interview table with pencils, my certificates file and 3 glasses of water - water was at different levels in the glasses creating different sounds- they were glasses the interviewers were using.. lol :) ) and it has worked for me and I will continue the same approach because ultimately whether it is me or you - Everyone's unique and deserves to get the best thing. And if you don't get the so called best thing, just assume that the best thing was not deserving enough to get you because you're unique in your own little way.

If you want to know how exactly you need to frame the sentences of your pitch - I can surely help out. The thing is your pitch is personal to you. It's a subjective way of telling them who you are and connecting with the interviewer. So there is no Cookie cutter approach for this. Just remember to use this strategy ONLY if the interview has gone bad. If it went well, Go to Part 1 and follow the same. If you use the "Sales Pitch" after the interview when you feel you've already performed well, this strategy might backfire. So beware of this. Don't use this blindly. But the confidence you'll have by adopting this approach will help in going through the interview with a feeling of complete satisfaction and fulfillment.

I've kind of summarized all what I've written in a flow chart below. Yes - it might sound/look funny, but trust me - When I was waiting for my interview - This flow chart image kept refreshing in my head a million times and that is all that gave me confidence. If you're not able to read it clearly, please click on the image, read it slowly, come back and proceed forward.

It's just one life everyone has and you cannot let a 2 month summer internship affect you so much. Ultimately in the grand scheme of things / bigger picture, you know for a fact that it will not play a big role. May be the next few years but definitely not for the rest of your life.

Just a few closing thoughts before I wrap up this post. So our professor for Competition and Strategy had mentioned something in class. He said that statistically, it has been proven that around 10% of the success of a company in an industry is due to the "INDUSTRY" effect - which refers to the kind of industry that the firm operates in and around 30 something % of the success of a company in an industry can be attributed to the "FIRM" effect - which includes things like how well the firm uses it resources to be distinctive and successful. One of my friends asked "Ok So what about the remaining 60%" The prof responded saying "Statisticians are yet to find statistical excel modeling/regression tools to figure that out and hence, it is unexplainable as of now" And taking this as an analogy (the numbers might not be statistically proven but I personally feel its a decent analogy) - where you as a person refers to the "FIRM" effect and the environment refers to the "INDUSTRY" effect. Combining you and your supporting environment (in this case - IIMB plays the industry effect), it can only help you out maximum 40%. Personally, I feel that the remaining 60% comes from pure LUCK. I mean it more than anything. By LUCK i refer to all factors you dont have a control on CURRENTLY or your environment does not have a control on. I believe that a successful person can go to extent of giving himself 30% credit for his success. But luck plays a role over which you have very little control.

For example, assume that you're an IITian reading this post. Now, the day before your JEE exam, it was because of pure luck that you did not fall sick. Luckily, you were in good health to write the exam. Agreed. You aced the exam. But don't you think luck played an even more important role in ensuring that you were in a good condition to write the exam. If roughly around 2 lakh folks write the exam, and consider a conservative estimate of .5% people who, for whatever reason (be it health or personal issues at home or financial reasons) could not clear the exam, but on an absolute merit basis, was at a higher capability level than the IITian in the context - that's 1000 folks who lost out and a few / a lot of them could have been above the IITian's rank and that could have changed his entire career. Forget about the numbers and the IIT exam context and all that, but the point here is luck is a factor and the value of gratitude comes from acknowledging that luck is indeed a factor and it has played a huge role in bringing you all the way in life to wherever you are. The fact that you and I were even born, the fact that you're reading this, the fact that you and I have the next precious second in which we live - all of this has a luck component which we shouldn't just take for granted and should be thankful to the universe for the same. So personally, I consider one's life to be a F(Personal Committment or Firm Effect ~30% , Help from supporting environment, parents, friends, the institution (IIMB in this case) or the Industry Effect ~10%, Pure LUCK ~ 60%)

Life is a race but not everyone has the same starting line/point and its not the individual's fault. What matters the most is given one’s situation, what opportunities he/she could generate for him/her and what did he/she make out of those opportunities. So your valuable life is not a race against someone else. Your precious life is a race that you run against yourself by yourself and with yourself to keep on improving on yourself to achieve every single dream that you have :-)

A company can ONLY see the distance you have reached in your resume but in the interview you have a CHANCE to convey the distance you have covered so far. The minute the interviewer realizes the absolute distance you have covered, nothing can stop him from giving you an offer. ( for instance assume the target is 1000m, the front runner might be at 900 and you might be at 700. But for all you know the other person might have started at 300 and you at 0. You are faster and that’s more than enough for you to win the race for yourself, the race is not yet over).

The only thing that you can do is to put in the maximum effort possible for whatever is within your control to learn and build your skills and capabilities to ensure that the you today is way better than the you yesterday. If you have done that and then, if someone is not shortlisting you because you did not go to an IIT or NIT or you did not have a finance background or you were a fresher or you had a relatively low CGPA or whatever other random reason - just train your mind to think - "Screw you !!!. If you are going to judge me by who I was yesterday and not by who I am today - You clearly don't deserve me. You're the one losing out. Not me"

If you follow this framework that I had mentioned, there will be a power balance at all points during your interview. Most people forget that the interview is a 2 way evaluation. Whichever company you might want to go to might have a huge brand name, career growth opportunities and all that which gives the interviewer a lot of power. But you are equally powerful. From wherever you started off your life, you've powered through and come all the way until IIM Bangalore. People completely forget that most of the time. You need to acknowledge that fact. This framework I've mentioned above is just a tool that helps to remind you to acknowledge that fact and ensure that the power balance is maintained. And in case for whatever reason some company does not shortlist you or give you an offer after you perform during the interview using the tool I've suggested, just train your mind to think of whatever I mentioned earlier regarding the company not deserving you. Additionally, a thought that can enforce this is - even if you had joined that company, you might have had to deal with such people who don't deserve being with you, which would have made life messy and stressful in your future which would have led to you possible leaving that company then - Why take all that tension in your future - Just be happy now that you're relieved of that potential future stressful scenario. This will ensure that most of the potential negative thoughts are killed off. And look at it positively - whoever is selected is apt for that company and let the best man win and be happy for others. When you be happy for others, the luck/gratitude component which I discussed earlier will make you naturally happy. And acknowledging this fact will ensure that you are super confident not just for an interview, but through out your life.

You know for a fact that you're an awesome individual. Everyone's a hero or heroine in their own movie - their individual lives.

Just because of certain factors, if you did not do something years back - You don't have control over that - It's ok. Logically, if you think about it - Letting the past affect you is just creating some negative energy within you. Look at the past as a learning and imagine every new second you are starting a new life, as like you're being born again to live a wonderful future. Think of you TODAY and Sell the person you are today and forget about the person who you were in the past. The only reason why you should reflect on your past is to think of whatever genuine mistakes you made in life, learn from them and not repeat it again. And when it comes to success in your past, give yourself some credit, some credit for the environment supporting and helping you out and a lot of credit to pure luck.

Anyway, I started off this post wanting to discuss only on the alternative interview approach but towards the end I think i got a little carried away. Apologies if you felt that there was some bit of globe here and there. I would have loved to come in person and tell this and it would have been more effective. But again, like i mentioned initially, I do not know a lot of you people well enough and am a little apprehensive whether I'll come across as a little patronizing. If any of you want to talk to me in person, I am totally open to it. May be we don't know each other well enough - Big deal - Ultimately we're here as a family and I'd be glad to talk. Just give me a call @ 08939862171 or @09446523232 if you feel it'll help.

The key takeaway I believe is the flow chart and a perspective on life, luck and the value of gratitude. Whatever I've discussed, don't accept it at face value. In fact, do not accept anything anyone tells you before you objectively analyze it for yourself. Listen - Analyze logically and objectively - Filter it and ensure you internalize the positive takeaways.

Take control over your life. Yes. you already have taken that control by reaching IIMB. But don't for a even a tiny moment, think that some corporate company can take the control away from you. Remember - It's just one life and ONLY one life and you should always have that control.

I'll finish this post with a line that has always helped me see the bigger picture. It has been a very powerful line that has influenced me and continues to influence me in every incremental second of my life - Just try using it on a daily basis - second by second and it helps you appreciate life a little extra every second which in totality makes you feel true happiness in its most purest unadulterated flawless form :-)

"Dont take life seriously. But be sincere to it"

To my batchmates who've gotten placed already and had the patience to read this post -

If you've been placed already and have reached to this point of the post, I believe you kind of get the core essence of what I've tried to convey. Congrats on being placed and it is indeed an achievement. Your family and friends have supported you and remember to give your luck a lot of credit. You or I could have as well been in the situation of our batchmates yet to be placed.

The limitation of this post is that it may not reach everyone who needs it. And nothing works better than personal one-to-one communication. So in case you've got my frequency match, go talk to them. They might not have been able to read this because of the time constraint. But you and I can easily go talk to them and influence them in a big way. This can spread through a cascading effect and every single person who needs that extra push will get it. Please don't feel that I'm forcing anyone to do this. Don't go there for the sake of going or because someone else is going. It's completely your call and the power is ALWAYS in your choices. It'll not take you too much time. You don't have to show them the flow chart or go to the level of detail I've gone in this post. But if you can convey the core message in a very concise manner, I'm sure it'll be very effective.

And you'll feel like you're giving back to the entire system that has been with you and supported you all through out your life - something we shouldn't just take for granted.

At least for me, this post has helped me feel like I'm giving back. So it's not like an act of selflessness or going out of the way. When you acknowledge luck as a contributing factor and give back to your eternal beautiful home - the Infinite Universe - for helping you out with the luck to bring you to wherever you've reached in life - , you're completely being happy for yourself. So I just did this to make myself a little extra happy. Period.