“Per Aspera, Ad Astra” is my favourite Latin phrase. In English it translates to,
“Through hardships, to the stars.” This phrase resonates with me at a fundamental level. Everything that I have achieved in my life was a direct causality of the learnings that I have imbibed through the challenges, and it is exactly this which helped me reach the doorsteps of XLRI Jamshedpur, India’s oldest and one of the most prestigious B Schools.
My XLRI story starts way before I actually started preparing for CAT or XAT. Coming from a small city and humble backgrounds I did not have a proper idea about MBA. It was 2019, and I was doing my undergraduate studies in physical sciences from Gargi college, DU with chemistry as my major. It was the conventional choice for me having score a decent 93% in my CBSE. But although conventional, I soon realised that it was not what my heart wanted, when
I was elected as the Vice President of the Physical sciences society. It was my first exposure to leadership where I actively managed multiple stakeholders, recruited and led a team of 30 members and executed huge events. I realised leadership and administration was something which I liked doing the most. Although, I was doing pretty well in chemistry with a CGPA of 9.1, I quickly realised I needed to look for other career options, and hence I was initiated into the world of MBA.
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I started actively looking out for opportunities in related fields.
I manage to get myself an internship in My Captain, as a city manager overseeing new business development, managing a team of 150 plus interns. It was also the first time I was exposed to Talent Acquisition, and other aspects of HR. It intrigued me to a great extent, and
I decided to pursue an internship in Leadershaala first as an operations lead and then an internship manager. These experiences made me sure of my choice of HR as a career choice and I made up my mind about pursuing HR from the best institute of HRM in the country.
My preparations for XAT started in full swing in March 2021, in my final year of my college. I wanted to give it my best shot without compromising on my UG studies. The preparations were going strong and I was performing very well in my UG as well. But when everything seemed to be going perfectly, tragedy struck. In the month of September, during my peak preparation phase, I lost my younger cousin brother who I grew up with under unfortunate circumstances. I was emotionally devastated, and it felt like I had lost a part of myself in the process. My life as usual came to a complete halt. It led me to a point where I could not comprehend the reality of our lives. By the time I slowly could get back up, the time for XAT had already passed.
Although it was the lowest point of my life, it taught me resilience and perseverance. I joined a company, as a talent acquisition professional right out of college as I did not want a gap year in my profile. But the zeal to do an MBA in HR was ever so embedded in me. I was able to regain my confidence and start preparing for XAT again in October 2022, even though most people said it was a highly impossible task. With 3 months of preparation, I sat for XAT. Although I felt I could have done better I performed well enough to get an interview call for XLRI HRM.
Simultaneously under the pressure of a job, I gave it my all to prepare systematically for the interviews. Day after day, I put in hours of work religiously as I was mostly self-preparing. I reached out to the alumnis of college to discuss my preparation, and this was the best step I believe I took. On the D-Day I was confident, calm and composed. I knew who I was, I knew my story that had brought me there, shaped me into the person I am.
The interview lasted for 25 minutes. I was asked behavioural and situational questions. The interview also revolved around my work-experience, as I was working as an HR professional. I wasn’t able to gauge much about my performance in the interview.
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The wait post interview was the longest, but as I waited for the results
I participated and got selected as an HUL Changemaker, one of the 50 selected nationally. I gained a wealth of experience as a changemaker in HUL’s foundation school and solved real case studies. The results are awaited but I am confident I will get to live the dream very soon.
To every aspirant reading this, My story might help you undertsand the power of patience. No matter how tough life may gets, you need to stand for yourself and you need to clap for yourself, when no one else might be clapping for you. Trust in yourself, trust the process. And, just as Tom Hanks said, Know that, "This too shall pass". All the best.