In our list of India's Best 50 - the 50 Most Employable Students from the Class of 2020-22, we feature MBA students who have walked that extra mile and done that little more to stand out! One of those featured in today's story, Jatin Bhandari, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Jatin Bhandari’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst MBA graduates to determine the top-50 Most Employable MBA Graduates of the Class of 2022. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Jatin's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his own words.
Name an instance where you wanted something and went out of your comfort zone to achieve it OR Tell us the biggest risk you have taken so far in your life.
To both these questions, my answer is the same. In my previous organisation, I was involved in the operations domain, handling the New Product Development function for the Largest Carmaker in the country. I always aspired to work in IT as I was fascinated by the power of technology & the pace with which it is changing the world around us. However, the general feedback I received was that it is difficult to change your profile after a substantial work experience (47 months in my case), but I was determined to take that up as a challenge.So, when I was selected for NITIE, I started reading about the latest technology trends & how companies were implementing them & also upskilled myself in the areas of Data Science & Data visualisation. I was then selected in HUL for their IT function, and since this was my first-hand experience of working in IT, I was constantly adapting to the changing needs of the project. During my stint, I worked in the areas of Agile/Scrum, System Architecture & Change Management, all of which were entirely new for me.Not only was it the biggest risk that I took, but during the entire journey, I was operating outside my comfort zone. However, when I reflect, I consider it to be one of the best decisions that I took as my learning curve has been unparalleled and it gave me the confidence, grit & determination to chase my aspirations.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.
The 2nd wave of COVID was a hard time for the entire country, with someone or the other in every family affected by it. The problem was further aggravated by the acute shortage of medicines and medical infrastructure. I was in my internship during this time when one of my friends' family members was critically ill with COVID. I supported him during this tough time & also reached out to contacts for plasma, medicines & ECMO beds. Yet to the best of our efforts, we were not able to save him. This episode affected me deeply & I did not want anyone else to go through it. So, I joined a community of COVID volunteers led by Soquity & whatever spare time I had daily in hand, I devoted it to helping & connecting people with the probable leads for oxygen cylinders, beds, medicines, etc. I am not sure of how many people I successfully saved/helped, but even if I was able to save one life, it was worth the effort.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
I will take an example from my previous work experience. During the scope finalisation meeting at the beginning of product development, the feature list had to be decided for different variants of the product. The marketing team had listed a few of the key features that the customer would like to see in the product when it hits the market such as Touch infotainment, DRLs, alloy wheels to name a few. However, it would push the cost beyond the targeted band. The costing department proposed to keep the cost in check. However, I disagreed with the same and proposed that we should include some of these proposals at least on the top variant as there is a strong correlation of the customer buying trend with it. I supported my finding with the results of the nearest competitor offering and also with the customer preference data. Based on a vote, it was decided to keep the cost in check however we also decided to incorporate the touch infotainment system on the top variant. To this, I proposed to the management to offer the remaining features as accessories so that we leave the customer with an option without increasing the base price of the vehicle. When this project was launched, the top variant was the 2nd highest selling variant of the product. Also, the decision to keep other features as accessories boosted the average accessory revenue to INR 10,000 per vehicle against the average of around INR 6,000.
What is the one thing you can claim to have some level of expertise or depth of knowledge in - it could be anything - a subject, a sport, a hobby, a venture, an initiative which has led you to do deep work in that field?
On the professional front, I have a deep understanding of operations & Japanese lean principles such as Kanban, JIT, Jidoka to name a few, having seen their widespread implementation in my past organization. Also, while working in Product Development, I developed an innate sense of understanding of the overall strategy & market positioning of the businesses in India.On the personal front, I am highly passionate about music & I listen to various artists & genres ranging from ragas, classical, fusion all the way to rock & metal. Apart from Indian and western artists, I also listen to a lot of Nordic artists & I like exploring music from the other parts of the world as well. Adding to it, I also sing & play guitar & was also the vocalist for my college band during my undergrad days.
If 10 Million Dollars (approximately INR 75 Crores) is given to you to use it any way you deem fit what would you do with this corpus?
I will divide the above corpus as follows 1. As a person, I am deeply concerned about nature, especially the plastic problem that is plaguing it day by day. Even if we completely ban plastic today, the magnitude of the waste that we have generated in the past will take years to recycle. So, I would like to invest a sum of 35 Cr for my startup, for recycling this plastic, either through microbial action or through a Waste-To-Energy model.2. I believe human resource is one of the most important capital that India has, and the best way to leverage it is through education. Although the top schools & colleges in metros & Tier-1/Tier-2 cities have mastered the power of technology to propagate learning, it is the Tier-3 cities & rural India that are lacking behind. So, I would like to invest a sum of 25 Cr to propagate this digital learning initiative through the distribution of used phones/laptops to meritorious & needy students from these cities/villages. The operations will be planned in such a way that once a students need is fulfilled, the device will be passed on to the next needy student.3. I would like to invest the remaining amount (13.5 Cr) to have a steady incoming cash flow for myself. As an investor, I prepare both for bullish & bearish days, and the same will be reflected in my investment strategy. I will be investing 20% of the sum in Long term assets (PPF), 30% in liquid assets (FDs, bonds), 30% in Volatile assets (Stocks, Mutual funds, InvITs, REITs) & the remaining 10% in Highly Volatile Assets (Cryptocurrency, NFTs)
Read the stories of the other Employable Graduates here!