EIGHT tips to ease your life during summer placement process

             Oh God! GD, shortlist…Random boss random. Absolutely random….

And the count goes on. Virtual experiences with fear, anxiousness, or maybe excitation has already pervaded your body and mind due to input from seniors, alums or friends from other b-schools. In reality the entire experience is way more than what you actually imagine. You might be dragged into your discomfort zone. Some might have to take solace of tears and anxiety. On the other hand a bunch of you might feel like Mark Zuckerberg flying high in the sky of Silicon Valley. Whether it becomes a hysterical experience or unbelievably ecstatic experience, it is undoubtedly once in a lifetime rare experiences of your life. Some will be bejeweled with lifetime lesson of adaptability, some might discover inexplicable confidence in himself. Many will actually realize the real bonding in their friendship. While others will be blessed with new friends. Whatever it is, give a red signal to your imagining process, cynical thoughts about it and try to enjoy the entire new experience wholeheartedly. Here are 8 tips from my experience which I believe will help immensely to tackle the situation with more ease.

1)     

At least a day before the process starts, bid adieus to all the tensions.  For a while don’t check the placement noticeboard site. Forget about the definition of shortlist, interview, GD and every kind of species which fall under this category.   Basically forget about everything for a while. Browse your favorite movie site and watch a few. Go out for nice romantic dinner if possible or indulge in a tête-à-tête with your best friend strictly avoiding talks about summers. One more important thing. Make sure to sleep like a baby this night. Next 3-4 nights you might be deprived of luxury of good night’s sleep.

2)     

 

                She has 10 shortlist today and I don’t have any :( 

               Tired of running excitedly to the noticeboard to check new shortlists!

              I thought my talking was stupendous but I am starting to hate GDs now!!

Wait wait wait…take a real deep breath and relax for some time. This is not end of the world. There are instances where people get one and only shortlist in 3^rd day and successfully convert it. Impatience and fear are not going to help you in anyways. They will simply but definitely spoil your next process. Relax and keep yourself prepared to ace the next GD or interview.

3)   

Good night’s sleep and relaxed body actually can’t be promised during the duration of the process but freedom to hog like a pig can never be snatched from you. Don’t compromise with your health. Only way to keep it bit intact is by maintaining your sound diet.

4)      Solidarity

Wow! I am the happiest man today. Feeling like I have touched the Moon! I am placed I am placed I am placed yayyyyyyy……...... 

Sssshhhhh…..Your best friend is still sitting in the corner with extremely bland face. And do you really want to rejoice your success so loudly. Don’t make it more difficult for your friends whom you really care about. Wait for a few more days and you can party hard together. Show your caring and loving side of yours. Friends in need are friends indeed!

5)     

Even if you feel that entire World is on top of you make sure to keep your confidence level high. Make sure that this confidence reflects in your next process which you are going to attend. In an interview if you have that desired confidence half the work is done.

6)      Mentally prepare yourself for ridiculous unpredictability

Remember I was telling you about “random hai boss random hai…” For a while learn to believe in “Sun might rise in the west and set in the east!” It is completely different from CAT GE-PI processes where you can predict to some extent whether you have done well or not, whether you will be selected or not. You are free to encourage the misogyny in you due to unpredictable nature of women and compare it with the process. But make it a point to handle the situation with care without letting it affect your ego.

7)      Forget that you are an atheist and temporarily believe in God

Temporarily start behaving like a typical superstitious Indian aunty and start relying completely on your fate. Whatever sins you have committed relating to your profile, your academics anyways cannot be undone now. Again, if point number 6 has to be supported then this completely makes sense. How, what, Where with which interviewer it will click for you it is actually not very predictable. Which leaves you only with two choices: i) to give your best and ii) keep faith in some supernatural power which you can name as God

8)      Exploit your seniors

Last but not the least, make use of your seniors. Seniors have faced it all. They know how it is and are always there to help. Approach them for even minutest of problem instead of sobbing in some cheesy corner. Starting from what kind of questions to prepare for a certain company in the process, how to be extremely articulated in your forthcoming GD to even catering your basic needs like tea, coffee or food.

Good luck to each and every one who is preparing for this grand battle called summer placements!

- Indu Wary

Indu is a second year student of IIM Lucknow. She interned at Omega Analytics. Read her summer internship experience here. You can follow Indu on InsideIIM here.