SJMSOM was my first interview call and needless to say it came with a lot of pressure. After having read multiple interview experiences and preparing from diverse topics to be very “interview-ready”, the day arrived. The entire process was set up on the Gather platform, something which none of the other colleges I got calls from did. It was incredibly efficient and gave us a feel as close to a real-life interview experience. During the whole process, the seniors who conducted the process were extremely helpful and clarified any queries we had (via Telegram and Whatsapp). The document verification and interviews happened simultaneously for separate sets of candidates, which pretty much reduced the wait time. Candidates were informed well beforehand about their status in the queue for the interview.
The best part in my opinion was how they grouped us into separate “panels” within the platform and gave us an overview about each panel’s interviewers and their backgrounds. The actual interview happened over Zoom where we got redirected to when our slot arrived. In the Zoom waiting room there was another senior helping the candidate relax and have a friendly conversation. And more importantly, before letting us in to the call with panel, the previous candidate would join in and share their experience with us. All these steps ensured that the candidates were in the best possible mental state before entering the interview.
In the interview, the panelists were all from Computer Science background and were IIT Bombay alumni. In spite of that they did not just stick to engineering questions but also asked from various relevant topics. They also made the interview more conversational rather than a Q&A session.
By far, the smoothest MBA interview experience and I’m glad I was able to convert my call.