Here's Aarushi Agrawal, a MICA alumnus, sharing her journey from an Instagram Influencer to ITC Limited to Unilever along with tips on how to crack the selection interviews of colleges and companies. Read on to know her journey here!
Often, we find ourselves standing at a crossroads where we ask this question to ourselves, Should we follow our passion or the career expectations of the society. I was lucky enough to find my safehouse, MICA, which not only nurtured my skills but also helped me get my dream job.
Being from a city like Indore, where the love for food and travelling is in the heart of every resident, Even I had my inclination towards travelling, writing about different fashion styles, exploring different foods which led to the start of my blogging journey.
I started writing blogs and posting my lifestyle pictures on Instagram. The initial posts got so much traction that a start-up named Indore Voyage approached me to become one of their founding members.
I started working as a video jockey and content writer for them. I realized my passion got appreciated by people. I used to get hundreds of DMs from my followers, and collaboration opportunities with brands like Makemytrip, Shein and many local cafes of Indore made me understand that there is a potential market for my work. I figured I could pursue becoming a social media influencer. Within a due course of time, I got 70,000 followers on Instagram and multiple brand associations. I became the cover girl of Indore Voyage magazine and won National excellence award for Video jockeying and an appreciation reward from Instagram.
Join us at Klub AltUni as Aarishi walks you through her journey as an Instagram Influencer, how Instagram Influencer Marketing works and the trends. Check the details of Klub AltUni here!
Being a computer science engineer who has some interest in Marketing, I wanted to continue blogging as my career. I gave CAT, SNAP, NMAT, XAT and few other examinations to pursue my masters in the area of management. Though I was aiming for the IIMs and the top B-schools, deep in my heart I was hoping for a college where I could take out some time for my passion for blogging and learn further about influencer marketing.
Within a few months, the result was out and I got shortlisted for all the examinations I had given. When I started giving interviews, looking at my profile and interests, in almost every interview some panellist would ask me if I have applied for this college named MICA. Completely unaware of MICA, I started researching about the programmes, curriculum, teachers and the entrance examination. I gave MICAT-2 and made it to the PGP-25 batch of MICA.
The decision came easy for me despite being selected by top B-schools in India that MICA is the only college that will help me pursue my dream and passion both. With such a diverse mix of students, culture, and courses, MICA was the perfect fit for me to be. Soon, the subjects like Semiotics, Luxury Branding, Digital Business Strategy and Analysis and a special section of Influencer Marketing itself helped me professionally. I was able to incorporate the power of storytelling, relatability, and the art of building a connection with the consumers in a way like never before.
Through its Digital Capstone project, which is an incubator programme the students can take in the second year where they can pitch any idea and convert it into an actual working startup. MICA gave me an opportunity of taking my blogging career one step further, where currently, I am developing a system where the brands can find the right influencers for their campaigns who are experts in what they do. This platform will help brands find the right influencer that suits their brand values and reaches the right audience despite the number of followers they have. With the ongoing execution of my Digital Capstone Project, the next thing in line was the final placements. Being a fresher, I was prepared to answer questions like Will a fresher be able to do sales? Or say, Why a particular industry or sector.
During our placement season, ITC, which is considered to be one of the top FMCG companies came to recruit on campus. I was overwhelmed with joy that my dream role and company was here at MICA! The company shortlisted 24 candidates for their AUT program, and I was fortunate enough to be one of them. The selection process included four rounds- Online Assessment, Online Application Submission, Group Discussion and Personal Interview. In the group discussion, we were given a situation based case. Approaching the case with a different perspective and my ability to take the discussion towards the solution helped me in getting to the next round of personal interview.
In my personal interview, there were mostly CV-based questions and was a mix of HR and technical questions. A lot of emphasis was given on my summer internship, my family and values, my openness to explore new roles and places. They asked me about my experiences where I have shown leadership skills and if I have the zeal and passion for sales. They asked me if as fresher I would be able to do sales or not. To which my reply was, “As I come from a Marwari family, where my dad is a businessman, I have seen him on the field doing sales and he has taught me the value of relationship management, quality control and fulfilment of customer requirements which has helped me sell myself as a brand”. I was asked about my blogging journey and my favourite campaign that I have done and why.
I advise to keep reading and learning about the new innovations in marketing and to be honest in personal interviews. One should be very thorough with their CV and have some story behind each of their achievements.
After my graduation, I joined ITC Limited. While I got to work on an all-India transformation project in ITC, I got an opportunity to work with 7 different teams, including BCG & ITC infotech. We were landing a project on transforming salesmen productivity at ground level & how monthly action plans should be from top management to people on the ground, the kind of exposure & learning I got was immense and it will always be one of the most cherished stints in life.
While being in ITC, I got an opportunity from HUL, and getting an opportunity in Sales and totally different geography, culture, language, people… I thought this will give the maximum learning & who doesn’t want to work with the biggest FMCG hence this is how my journey in HUL has just started.
Life has been great how I got to work with the two biggest FMCG companies - ITC & HUL… and I hope learning keeps going.
I am grateful and happy for how grown as a person because of constant support from my family, my passion for blogging and the learnings at MICA. I hope to continue thrilling my readers and leave an impact wherever I go!
***
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Comments
Mihir
All I can say is wow! I just hope I get IIM ABC calls. The gap is too much for me to go anywhere else. Thank you InsideIIM for helping us aspirants. I always knew ABC were the best but didnt know difference in placements between ABC and others is so high! Fingers crossed for 11th Jan!
7 Dec 2011, 01.23 AM
Mission IIM ABC
Ok I'm neither from IIM B or IIM C but as an external observer it turns out that IIM C has all the big names while IIM B has more diversity in the profiles. My conclusions are based on the way data has been put up on this website. I feel if you want to do something different IIM B might just be a better option. For Finance and Consulting, in terms of names and offers IIM C is a much better bet. For e.g. I cant see UBS, Credit Suisse in the IIM B report. I am not saying one is better than the other. Just thinking aloud how someone can choose where to go if someone has both the calls. Both are among India's top 3
7 Dec 2011, 08.16 AM
Wonderkid
@Mission IIM ABC - That is because quite a few top I-Banks (including bulge-bracket ones) chose not to go to IIMB.
7 Dec 2011, 11.26 AM
Raj
Three regular recruiters viz. JPM, Credit Suisse and UBS did not visit IIMB this year for summers. Of course, the reasons were purely the market conditions which forced them to cut down their requirements by almost 70-80%. And there is a pecking order these three banks have. E.g. for JPM and CS the order is A, C and B. If these banks have the bandwidth to go to only campus, they will go to only IIMA (E.g. Finals 2011, these two banks went only to IIMA). Btw, the situation is so bad, that JPM has not offered any international offers at even A this time. If they can go to two campuses, they visit A and C (E.g. Summers of 2012). On most occasions they visit all three campuses. For UBS, the order is C,A, B (E.g. Finals 2010, UBS had recruited only from C). For Goldman Sachs, the order is B,A,C (E.g. In Finals 2011, GS recruited only from B and A). The number of offers made by GS at B this year was equal to the sum of offers made in A and C. Also, offers made by GS at B this summers is roughly equal to (or perhaps more) than the offers made by JPM, CS, GS, UBS put together at C.
7 Dec 2011, 12.13 PM
+Read Replies (8)
Prithvi
Hi Raj, During the finals bulge bracket firms generally don't recruit many as they give PPOs to summer interns. Many a times there aren't suitable as well interested candidates in the finals for these firms to recruit. GS had come last year in finals to C, but didn't give any offer.
7 Dec 2011, 06.55 PM |
Antariksha
Agree with UBS, JPMC and GS order but not with Credit Suisse. For most of its part Credit Suisse has been an exclusive recruiter at IIMC (except 2009 and 2010 summers). I know your order is based on 2011 finals. But that was because of the profile. In that particular division IIMA has good contacts. But in general if you scan for last few years, CS has been the exclusive recruiter at IIMC and if there is opening in CS except for that profile it will recruit from C.. Regarding GS numbers, GS also recruits for back office located at Bangalore. hence the number is more. This profile is normally offered to IIML FMS XLRI IIMI IIMK etc. However GS also offers IBD roles in IIMB like A and C. That is why the numbers are so high for GS in IIMB. Please correct me if I am wrong in this GS part. For the above CS thing I have confirmed information
8 Dec 2011, 09.24 AM |
Raj
Well, GS offers IBD and Markets roles at B on Day Zero. These positions are based out of Mumbai, Hong Kong, London and sometimes Singapore. This year GS made 8 such offers at B. Last summers the number was 8 again and the in previous year it was 13. The numbers for A and C this year were 4/5 and 2/3 respectively (correct me if I am wrong). And all these are front end roles which are offered on Day Zero. Also the London Desk of GS does not visit IIMC as of now (Not sure for this year). A chunk of GS offers at B come from the London desk. Regarding GS-GIR (Equity Research wing of GS) , these roles are offered on the second day of the process along with commercial/corporate banking profiles of Citi, HSBC, StanC etc. The number of offers was this role was 2 this year (same as last year). Hope this clarifies. And I agree Credit Suisse was an exclusive recruiter to IIMC. However, things changed a bit once Ms Vedika Bhandarkar (IIMA alumna) became the MD, I assume. So the orders that I mentioned above are as of now, which may change in the future....
8 Dec 2011, 01.39 PM |
Antariksha
Yes London desk of GS regularly gives PPO too. Actually I had heard from my friend in 2009 that 13 offers included back office too. But you saying otherwise so i trust you given your display of knowledge. I know MNC banks come on day 0 and 2nd day for different profiles CS as i told, only 1 division, Equity desk Mumbai to be precise has deep IIMA contacts. For others C is choice no. 1. You can also see that CS has been exclusively recruiting from C and for foreign locations HK, Singapore, London etc. So yes for that desk in Mumbai. A is the 1st choice. For others C. I would also suggest we do not go to number of recruits in the last few years. if we do that then Barclays, BNP, RBS, ML, Stan C IBD, Daiwa all would be considered as having C as their 1st choice. lolz Numbers also depend on quality and scheduling and some other factors. So main thing is visiting and not how many recruits
9 Dec 2011, 08.38 PM |
Raj
Just FYI, GS-GIR started visiting B last year only (2010). So your friend had gotten incorrect information. Regarding GS-London, I seriously doubt. But if you say so and if you are a bonafide IIMC student, then I'll take your word.. Just curious how many GS PPOs this year? And how many from GS-London? ;) How many divisions of CS have recruited in the last two years at C? All my statements have been made based upon the last two-three years' data and the trends thereof. "So main thing is visiting and not how many recruits " Visiting is important even more important is the number of recruits... Afterall window shopping does not generate revenues... It is embarrassing to see Oliver Wyman recruiting exclusively in one year and not finding any suitable candidates in the following year....
10 Dec 2011, 10.27 AM |
Abhinav Agrawal
@Raj: JPMC, GS and UBS put together picked up more than 8 this year at C. Don't have the exact no. picked up by CS. Also, GS London desk did recruit from C this year.
11 Dec 2011, 08.38 AM |
Antariksha
Ok Ok. If you have so much info you would know how many PPOs GS gave in the last 3 years and it was quite close to some of the B schools which GS took more summer interns. And regarding GS back office I have confirmed info on how many they hired, you may ask your seniors. Regarding CS i already said and won't like to discuss because i can see what you are trying to do commenting on summers 2013 thread. Good luck with your mission. you have been trying hard to religiously follow this thread and trying to give all sorts of numbers from history civics and geography but with not much success ;). And when a company like Oliver Wyman comes and takes 0, it counts at not visiting. We would not even report such company in our list, if it came and recruited 0. However I know of institutes who practice this, like UBS visiting a South Indian campus in 2009 summers. And I may now agree with you that numbers are more important so going by that Barclays, RBS, ML, MS, Stan C, Daiwa , Nomura (not sure about Nomura) have C in as their 1st choice, apart from some other consult, marketing, IT firms in the so called pecking order theory discovered by you. This is your theory not mine. i am just reminding you about some more companies when you limited it to UBS, JPMC and GS. And i am signing off now. I thought you are mature and we were having a healthy discussion until you brought that Oliver Wyman thing in between. I realized what you are trying to do all through this comments section by reporting incidents and numbers (true or untrue i don't know) from all process and campus. So I won't reply anymore to you. You many continue with your strategy of doing best what you can do. I would just end my comment with this. A company may not recruit after visiting a campus for several reasons like scheduling, obsession with a few candidates, slot given to them etc. You may know how TAS was demanding day 0 in IIML and did not recruit because IIML did not agree to their demands. Same happened with Barclays in IIMC last year. They had 1 offer to make but due to demands they were then forced to go to some other B school for their lone offer. Or in this season, their was an Indian I bank, which wanted day 0 morning slot. in IIMC. It did not visit or if it had come in later slot, it might simply not have recruited because it not got its preferred slot. However it visited IIMB as it got 8 AM slot equivalent to other MNC I Banks. So my friend it is not embarrassing and quality of students was never a factor. if tyouy are in placecom you would know such things happen. ~Signing off ~keep talking about world war, anna hazare, Sachin's 100th ton and many other things in SUmmers 2013 report of IIM Calcutta ~not interested anymore in discussion with you
11 Dec 2011, 11.37 AM |
Team InsideIIM
Ok guys. We have been silent for so long encouraging a discussion. It seems we have run our course. So before this thread becomes nasty lets just call truce and celebrate the great summer placements of both IIM B and IIM C for the Class of 2013. More power to all of you!
11 Dec 2011, 01.06 PM |
Raj
Anyway, I would like to congratulate the IIM Calcutta Placement Committee. With 8-9 members in the team, I believe they have done a fabulous job in getting 440+ students placed.
7 Dec 2011, 12.24 PM
Mission IIM ABC
Isn't the private equity scene and VC firms scene much much better at Bangalore? I mean some of the biggest names seem to there and they are missing from IIM C report. I'm sure students at neither IIM B or C are unhappy with the recruitment options. Just pointing this out because there is a discussion here. I'll be lucky to enter any of them :P
7 Dec 2011, 02.06 PM
+Read Replies (1)
Prithvi
Students will never be happy, every one wants the slot0 bulge bracket fin offer, when there are only limited of them.
7 Dec 2011, 06.56 PM |
Raj
Of course, the kind of opportunities that one would get at IIM Bangalore in the PE/VC space is unmatched by any other campus in the country including IIM Ahmedabad. IIMB's location gives it an advantage over its peers. IIMB hosted more than double the number of PEs hosted by either A or C. While the report does not include all the big names that visited B, as many as 7 PEs visited solely IIMB for this year's recruitment. Again, each campus has its own strengths.By and large, ABC fall in the same cluster as far as placements are concerned. PS: My intention here is just to give some data points and not make any comparisons among the institutes that I have mentioned.
7 Dec 2011, 02.44 PM
+Read Replies (2)
Mission CBA
Getting Blackstone on campus is definitely worth some salt. It eclipses all other PEs recruiting from elsewhere. So IIMB scores on this. However equally great is getting Hedge Funds on campus which is regularly done by IIMC, especially in the last 6-7 years. And given their astronomical batch size, I think the placements are just superb in all respects
8 Dec 2011, 09.27 AM |
Raj
And I do agree, IIMC placements are fantastic :)
8 Dec 2011, 01.40 PM |
Guest
@Raj.. why are you being so defensive?
7 Dec 2011, 04.05 PM
+Read Replies (1)
Raj
As I am not aggressive :)
7 Dec 2011, 04.14 PM |
Sunny
@Raj - Thanks for your insights. What's your take on the consulting space across the top 3, ISB & beyond. eg - I know that Booz does not visit C, while the numbers Oliver Wyman picks up at A/B or even ISB is far more than C. On the other hand, numbers from MBB at C are apparently always higher than at A or B.
7 Dec 2011, 04.16 PM
+Read Replies (4)
Antariksha
Sunny, You have generalized about Oliver Wyman. It has happened only 1 year. In 2010 finals Oliver Wyman recruited more than twice the number from IIMC than in IIM A and IIMB combined
8 Dec 2011, 09.02 AM |
Raj
McKinsey picked up 8 each from B and C this year for internship. I think the number was lower at A (not sure though). BCG picked up 8 from B, 12 from A, and 7 from C. Bain picked up 2 from B, 8 from A and 5 from C. This year I guess A did the best as far as these 3 consulting firms (MBB) are concerned. If you look at the PPOs offered to students from 2010-2012 batch, McKinsey has offered 5 each to all four campuses (ABCL). BCG offered 7 at B, some 4 or 5 at A and C. Bain offered 3 at B, 5 at C and 2 at A. A T Kearney offered 5 at B, 4 each at A and C. In 2011 finals, the top 4 common consulting firms put together made 35 offers at both B and C respectively. The numbers were less at A. Traditionally BCG has made more offers at B while McKinsey has made more offers at C. However, the difference is of 1-2 offers only. Based on my understanding of the system, I believe by and large the common 4 consulting firms make more offers at B and C than A. This year was an exception though.
8 Dec 2011, 02.08 PM |
Antariksha
:O How do you know so much? You are in placecom or what?
9 Dec 2011, 08.39 PM |
Raj
Does it matter? ;)
10 Dec 2011, 10.05 AM |
Aarthy
IIMC is awesome.. Its the best B school placement wise. I have a friends in all the top campuses and from what i have seen inspite of the economic conditions IIMC always does a great job
7 Dec 2011, 07.32 PM
Sceptic
Everything is fine and good....but why not mention average stipend.... don't you think when you are paying 13.5 lac for two year course salary,stipends,CTC does matter a lot.The real placements lie there in stipend.If you are made a managing director of a big company but you are paid only 10 percent of the salary paid to earlier MD....what kind of MD have they made you then....I wonder...????
7 Dec 2011, 10.30 PM
+Read Replies (4)
Team InsideIIM
We expect the schools to release salary figures during final placements. Stipends are not so relevant as summer internships are technically an academic requirement and in an ideal setting should be used for learning as much as one can. Except for FMS,JBIMS, XLRI no one has released stipend figures. Even IIM A is not expected to do it for summer placements.
8 Dec 2011, 07.23 AM |
Raj
Yes, even I think B-Schools should start reporting stipend figures as per IPRS. I hope IIMA does it this time...
8 Dec 2011, 02.09 PM |
Guest
@Raj.. is IIM B thinking of using IPRS to report stipend figures??
8 Dec 2011, 06.19 PM |
Raj
IIMB does not reveal salary packages for Final Placements, leave alone stipend figures for internships. :( However, I do feel that all institutes, including IIMB, should reveal remuneration/stipend details for Final/Summer Placements for the sake of transparency, especially when these institutes charge around 1.5 million bucks for their courses.
8 Dec 2011, 06.25 PM |
JoininJoka
Helion VC came on Day 4??? Oh man. Btw InsideIIM, you should update your chart in the VC/PE section to include Helion.
13 May 2012, 03.13 AM
crackthe cat
@Team InsideIIM: I have a query. I went through the summers reports of IIM C as well as IIM B. Both have reported 85+ international offers. (Coincidently, both B and C have reported 43 international offers in final placements this year :) Seems like they mutually decide between themselves about the numbers). As I understand, these numbers are mere estimates as they have not declared the exact numbers. On the other hand, IIM A declared that the number of international offers (for summer placements) is 42 (As per the audited report). Surely the number 42 is authentic. Both B and C have similar placements to A. Almost the same number of banks and consults (perhaps more) visit A. Hence to me it seems highly unlikely that number of international offers made at B and C is double the number made at A. Will it be possible for you to validate the information? A difference of 10 - 20 % is acceptable; however a difference of 100 % seems makes matters dubious. Hence the query.
1 Jun 2012, 02.59 PM
+Read Replies (3)
Team InsideIIM
Your contention is correct. It is highly unlikely that number of offers will vary so much. However, currently we are not in a position to validate this. Ultimately, there are limitations to how much we can verify. Maybe we shall omit this statistic next time round. As we gain more experience these numbers will also tend to be more accurate. Not all our data at this stage is 100% accurate.
1 Jun 2012, 06.54 PM |
Ambarish
Please take all unaudited reports with a bucket of salt.. Be it B or C or M or C....
1 Jun 2012, 11.29 PM |
BelltheCat
You have to keep in mind the reporting rate. If IIM-A has a 100% reporting rate and THEN 42 international offers were reported, your logic might make sense. If on the other hand A had a lower reporting rate, then many international offers might not have been reported.
5 Jun 2012, 10.30 AM |