'I Don’t Just Embrace Change, I Thrive In It' - Oshin Singhal - Best50 - Class Of 2017

About Me: I have had a nomadic childhood which has made me very adaptable as a person. I have attended 9 different educational institutes, lived in 11 houses, visited 10 states in India, more than a dozen countries in Europe. Put me anywhere on the globe, and I’ll feel at home. I have a background in production, consulting and investment banking courtesy my internships and job. I always strive to deliver at the highest level. I don’t just embrace change, I thrive in it. I pursued Chemical Engineering from MNIT Jaipur. Being an avid reader, I veered towards the Literary Society. I became the Joint Secretary thanks to constant involvement in hosting workshop sessions, competitions and panel discussions. The same year, I was Communications Head of our Cultural Fest, Blitzschlag and Student Editor of the commemorative Golden Jubilee Magazine. I balanced all these activities with my academics and graduated with Department Rank 4. I worked at ZS Associates prior to joining XLRI. Here, I was part of the Strategic Analytics Team for a European Pharmaceutical Client. At any given moment, I was working on multiple deliverables with varied deadlines which made me a better organiser and increased my efficiency manifolds. Once, my team realised that our assessment of input time required to complete requests was inefficient. It was done heuristically and the wrong estimation meant we were often left chasing deadlines. Looking to find a logical solution, I began creating an Effort Estimation Tool. I took inputs from my colleagues and from other teams dealing with similar difficulties. It was an elaborate procedure but the result made it worthwhile. Using the tool, we successfully achieved 100% timeliness in our next month with a stark reduction in rework. The highlight was the tool being taken up by in-house analytics pod with plans to roll it out to the entire ZS Delhi office. I am currently pursuing finance & marketing at XLRI Jamshedpur. I interned with Investment Banking Division, Goldman Sachs.  I chose to channel my energy into business competitions and was rewarded with pre-placement interviews from KPMG, Deloitte and AB InBev.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

and miles to go before I sleep.”

The above lines by Robert Frost are inspiring. They go well with my goal oriented self, pushing me to keep a positive attitude, not be deterred by failures or regrets, remain focused and attain success.

Location: Black Forest, Germany

  Give us an instance when you failed miserably and how did you overcome that downfall? Fifteen days into my first job at ZS Associates, I was told by my mentor that perhaps I should have chosen a different career path. It was very humbling to see myself struggling to learn the nuances of this new corporate life I had entered and I took those words as constructive criticism. I realised that I had to not only master my work, but also learn the language of the consulting world, learn how to communicate better with my colleagues, seniors and our clients. I realised that it was my responsibility to ensure a productive use of my time, that performance and results hold more importance than counting the number of hours that went into the work. Thus, it was a moment of pride when I received appreciation for my work from the clients within two months of that incident. Most importantly, I learnt that we always start at the beginning and make our way up.   What is the biggest risk that you have taken so far and why? I believe the biggest risk people can take is not taking charge of their lives. I, meanwhile, believe in making decisions. So far in my life, I have taken all the decisions, whether it was choosing which stream to pursue, which college to join, which firm to go after, whether and when to go for MBA and from where. These have been very well thought out decisions because this time is the building block of my life and career. After the roller coaster ride of these past two years comprising life at XLRI, internship at Goldman Sachs and Exchange Term in Europe, I have a conviction that I will do well in any field I choose to pursue. Now, I have stopped micro planning and started embracing some of the uncertainties life brings. This is the biggest risk I am taking and I'm sure it will pay off.   If you had a magic wand, what is the one problem in India that you would magically wish away? Explain why. I would wish away India's illiteracy and lack of education. All other problems of the country shall vanish within one generation if everyone becomes educated. If our citizens have the chance of joining mainstream jobs, they shall turn away from a life of crime, of drugs, of idling away time, of insurgency even. It will give people a chance to move up from yearning for basic necessities like food, water and shelter to living a secured life with dignity. Our young population, if fully educated will be able to put all their energy into constructive work that has the potential to grow our economy multi folds.