SP Jain is known to send GD-PI calls to candidates even before the CAT is held. Why and how is it done?

We do respect the CAT, which is an entry-level examination for the MBA education. However, how can you have the full idea about somebody’s potential using a two hour test? So we have frameworks using which we can spend more time in evaluating a candidate. How we do it is we use various criteria like good continuous education, versatility and good value system, work experience and more. We look at the candidates’ application forms and categorize them then on S, A, B and C grades. S is Super, A is Good, B is Satisfactory and so on.

So in the good continuous education criterion, all three of your class X, XII and graduation degree should have had good scores and from reputed institutions. If two school education boards and one university have seen you as a consistent performer, for instance if you have 90 in tenth and twelfth and a distinction in your college and that too from reputed schools and college, then we give you an S. Or if you have done well but not from a reputed college then we give you an A.

Second is what is called versatility and a good value system. If you have been put through some adversities in life, it makes you a better suited person. So a single parent child for example, who has seen a single mother or father struggle in life and has himself or herself struggled to complete education, has proved himself or herself in a challenging situation. Then there is the family background parameter where things like honesty are valued, for instance somebody’s father is an academician or the mother is a government servant or the grandfather was a freedom fighter, then you know the person has definitely picked up a good value system. So again, we rate this criterion on S, A, B or C. Same for quality of work experience.

Now that we have so many criteria, we prioritize. To get an interview call you have to be an S at least in one criterion. So if you are a person who plays hockey for the Indian team or have an NCC certificate you have an S. So even you have an academic A, because of this S you will get an interview call. Or if you are an academic S but you are a B in the versatility criterion you’ll get the call. But in any case, you should not be below B in anything and you should be an S in at least one thing. I think it is a very good set (of candidates) we get out of such combinations.

So once we have this shortlist, we interview them. After the CAT results are out, we use their CAT performance to sort this list. Now all the people who are eligible for SP Jain will be sorted in the descending order of their CAT performance. So the CAT is taken as a criterion but not as the primary criterion. You have proved yourself in academics, you have proved yourself in life, you are a good person and you also do well in a test. That is what we are looking at. I think it is the right way of looking at admissions. So you can be an ace in CAT but if you are not a good human being then we don’t need you.

What are the criteria for the interview calls that you send after the CAT results are out?

CAT is also a criterion. If you are an S in CAT then you receive a call. However there is weightage given to the rest of the parameters too, so even if you are a CAT S but you are not at least an A in academics, you will not make it to SP Jain.

How much time do you spend on each candidate’s CV before you take a call on whether he or she is an S or A or B in a parameter?

We have parameterized some things in the online application stage. We already have a list of reputed colleges on our server so when your percentage and college name is selected by you the computer program can pick it up and grade you accordingly.

So the computer already has a database of the good colleges?

Yes, which we keep on updating using the UGC list, the state department, student feedback and from our own experience. So for most of the parameters it is a computer-generated thing. But of course for the value system criterion, we have to manually search the forms.

How many people are roughly short listed for interview in the stage before CAT?

We receive about 15,000 applications each year. We generally shortlist about 60 pc of our total shortlist for the interview stage before the CAT takes place.

And how many of this 60 pc usually get a final call?

A proportionate number.

Can you tell us the dynamics of the two-stage group interview process that SP Jain follows?

There are two panels, which test you in a group interview. It’s about how you perform in a team. If you combine me and him with her and if you are targeting a business and the three of us don’t make a good team then the thing doesn’t happen. Therefore you should know how to perform in a team. That’s why we have a group interview concept.

There are two interview panels that see you. So out of panel A and panel B if both rate you as an S then you are through. But if Panel A says you are an S and Panel B says you are a C then there is a problem. The two panels then discuss about it and you are graded later. Sometimes there is a re-interview in which the same panels sit together or we offer it to a third panel because it is basically a judgmental decision.

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How does SP Jain treat work experience before CAT?

We have four streams and of them for the marketing and finance there is no work experience criterion. Even with low work experience or no work experience, if you are excellent in studies and CAT you will still get a call for marketing and finance. Do well in the interview you will get final admission for marketing and finance. But for information management and operations experience is a must. We do not like to take anybody with less than one and a half or two years work experience. The students have to finalize their specialization at the time of applying. We believe that one needs to be focused about what he wants to do later.

How good is the judgment of students in selecting their specialization given that many of them have never worked fulltime before?

As far as marketing and finance is concerned I give it to them, their judgment is fairly good because the youth today is able to make out where they would fit in. Generally outgoing people with good communication skills, who like traveling and meeting people, are the ones who usually choose marketing. People with affinity to numbers take up finance. If people wish to change their specialization after a year they can definitely do that but they have to debate it out with us. The change should be a decision arrived out of logic and not out of frustration of not doing well. The decision should be informed and intelligently taken and not an impulsive decision. It shouldn’t be that your pal is taking finance so you also plan to change your specialization to finance.

SP Jain also asks for SOPs…

This is to check the value system of the people as well as know certain individual traits. For example a person may perform better in teams, he maybe a team player. So I ask him to write three or four of his experiences. However smart the person maybe and whatever coaching classes he must have been through, we are capable to find out the truth and make out the differences.

The SP Jain website mentions about two one-year courses… one is the EMBA and the other is PGDM. How are the two different?

The EMBA or Executive MBA is actually a one and a half year course. The difference between the two courses is that the executive MBA is for working professionals who have not left their jobs. They only come to campus for nine days in three months. In those nine days you are totally with us but the rest of the three months you remain in touch with us online on a weekly and fortnightly basis. Submit your assignments checked by your mentor in your work place to the in-house guide. That way you remain in touch six times in one and a half years. The one year PGDM on the other hand is for working professionals with high experience who have left their jobs to pursue this course.

How does your PGDM compare to ISB’s one year programme?

They are two different products. ISB’s programme is a general MBA whereas ours is a focused MBA. We are firstly focusing on information management in the operational domain and secondly the student focuses on the role he would like to take up. We customize the training according to the role each student wants to do

You have an Entrepreneurship Cell in your campus. Can you tell us how it works?

Every manager has to perform three different functions: that of a leader, a manager and an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship makes a manager risk-taking, innovative and experimental and that is what is required in fast pace business of today. No risk, no gains. Time will tell how many will actually become entrepreneurs. We just started with the Cell last year. We have also started a program and the first batch is on. Sixteen of them will become entrepreneurs already in some time. I am expecting more and more students to take it up because more ideas are coming up.

Does S P Jain help these students in getting funds for their entrepreneurial ventures?

We have faculty who have experience in the industry, who have worked in their field and now come to SP Jain. We follow the practioners method, like how a doctor is taught by another doctor. Have you seen a surgeon teaching another surgeon who has never performed a single operation? Same is the case here. How can a professor teach students marketing if he hasn’t sold a single soap? Our entire marketing faculty has once been a part of industry for at least five to ten years. Therefore we have practioners on the faculty board including our own Dean. Therefore our students get excellent in-house consulting for auditing of ideas. Were making SP Jain a very good place for incubation of ideas.

Prof Sunil Rai has fifteen years of IT experience in corporate organizations, Infrastructure Management, Execution of Information Security and networking projects. He has twenty-two years of experience in managing Ships and technical establishments of Indian Navy in various capacities.

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