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, Sarthak Sharma, has shown an incredible amount of passion to achieve his true potential. Read on and find out his story!
The following are Sarthak Sharma’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, Sarthak'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.
After completing my CA, I went on to work with a global investment bank based out of Pune. While working there, I realized the gap in my communication and soft skills, primarily when addressing a large gathering. The experience there prompted me to do something about my communication skills and overall personality. I learned about Toastmasters during my stint at UBS only, and I decided to be in charge of my development. After leaving UBS for my CAT preparation, I joined Toastmasters in Jaipur. The initial few days were daunting since I had to face my fear of public speaking. Over time, as I started coming on the podium more often, taking up various roles, and as I kept on delivering speeches, the fear of public speaking started waning down. My 1st speech at Toastmasters was titled "Magic happens when you step out of your comfort zone," and in the true sense, the entire journey helped me in transforming my personality. I became more confident, more sociable, and more adept in communication. Over time, I started participating actively at my club level and moved on to take roles across different clubs, areas, and division levels over 1.5 years. I have been awarded as the Best Speaker, Role Player, and Evaluator on 11 instances at various club meetings. I was fortunate enough to get elected as the Public Relations chair for the division-level event "Royal Bliss 2019", whereby I led a team of 6 and oversaw the event's marketing, resulting in a reach of 100+ people. The sheer joy of being acknowledged for my efforts in front of a large gathering was unparalleled. Now, I can say that I have conquered my fear of public speaking and have bolstered my overall communication and networking skills.
When was the last time someone relied on you? OR What did you do which was purely for someone else - a truly selfless act.
I have been an active part of Konsult - The Consulting Club of IIM Kozhikode for two years. Since I was the only member to continue being a part of Konsult in the 2nd year, it became imperative to take the legacy forward by briefing the new members. One of the major tasks that I envisioned was the publication of IIMKs consulting casebook. We had a lot of expectations from the Student Council, Placement Committee, and general batch to build the consulting culture at the campus. We had a gigantic task of developing the Consulting Casebook for the general benefit of the batch. We, as a team, worked hard in collating the interview experiences of previous batchs students, delineated several frameworks, worked on guesstimates, and summarized major industries insights. With the help of the various stakeholders, we all could design our own Consulting Casebook (IIMKs 1st edition). It felt amazing when my team and I did something for the batch, for IIM Kozhikode, setting precedence for all the future Konsult members to take this legacy forward. The official launch of the 1st edition Consulting Casebook happened with much fanfare in the presence of the Institute's director, and the act ended up giving me a sense of accomplishment, an indescribable feeling.
Tell us about a time when you disagreed with an opinion/idea/decision. What did you do about it?
When I was working at UBS, I was a part of the product controlling team, whereby we had to manage the reporting requirements of various corporate lending products of UBS. The work required me to deal with multiple stakeholders in the US, UK, and India. There was a defined process while dealing with the stakeholders in the US. Over time, I had developed a decent rapport with my products US trader, and he started to prefer calling me and explaining things in case of any clarification. My manager believed that we should route the communication through another US team, creating an intermediary between our team and the US trader. The entire process took considerable time and was not optimal in case of urgency in communication. I discussed my disagreement with my manager and suggested a smooth process by keeping the intermediary team in the loop even if the trader preferred calling us directly. This suggestion ensured transparency in communication and allowed things to be documented for all the stakeholders. I was able to convince my manager regarding the process improvement, thereby enhancing the overall workflow.
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?
I believe I have deep knowledge of finance since I love and cherish learning about the subject. I have developed practical domain knowledge in the matter after doing CA, clearing all levels of CFA, and pursuing MBA. My stints across statutory audit, financial reporting, wealth management, social impact investing, and private equity helped me bolster my overall expertise in the subject. I have been fond of trading and investing in public stock markets for 2-3 years, which also aided in sharpening my knowledge of the financial world.
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 would allocate the entire 10 million dollars into four broad buckets. The funds that are not immediately utilized in each bucket would be invested into diverse asset classes to beat inflation and grow the portfolio over time. 1.Family ($3 Mn): My family has been there for me throughout my life journey, sharing the joys and sorrows; therefore, I would love to share the corpus with them in several ways. I would gift my parents and my sisters the things that they desire. Above all, I would love to spend quality time with them by planning get-aways to show beautiful places, cherish good food, and create memories. The corpus would be earmarked separately for current as well as future family requirements. My entire family would be made beneficiary so that they can utilize the funds as per their requirements. 2.Spiritual Cause ($1 Mn): We have always been spiritual and religious and have never shied away from helping the unfortunate in whatever way we could. My family have/had been associated with Narayan Seva Sansthan (a charitable organization serving physically-challenged people), Brahma Kumaris (an organization working towards spirituality), and Gayatri Pariwar (a movement working towards building a futuristic society focusing on equality and unity). I would love to continue my familiar values by contributing and aiding these organizations in furthering their cause and by helping lesser fortunate people in multiple ways throughout my life.3.Entrepreneurship & Investing ($5 Mn): I have a deep interest in finance, businesses, and the startup ecosystem and aspire to be an angel investor/ venture capitalist/ private equity investor over the long term. With the corpus, I could make substantial efforts to become part of the coveted PE/VC industry. I have worked in the social impact investing space and would love to be associated with startups that make a measurable impact on society. 4.Personal Expenses ($1 Mn): I would earmark this portion for my lifestyle expenses and personal portfolio. With the money, I would love to travel places, own a car or two (since I am fond of cars :)), learn different skill sets, languages, musical instruments (have always wanted to learn drums :D). This portion would also act as an emergency fund to take care of any exigencies.
Read the stories of the other Employable Graduates here!