The CAT Writer

I think I have said this in another post — India is probably the only country where people will be willing to shell out more than 20 lakhs for a product and at the same time be willing to accept whatever variant the seller decides to give them. What am I referring to here? When I ask students who have both BM and HR calls from XLRI, what their preference is, or what they would prefer between XL-HR/TISS and IIM-K/MDI, most are very clear — the specialization does not matter, all that matters is the brand; others start bringing ROI into the picture.

I feel people put in more thought when choosing between a diesel and a petrol car! We are so crazy after elite institutions that we fail to even consider whether we will succeed/fail in or like/dislike a particular field. The objective of this post will be to give you enough information to choose the right program when faced with a choice between a premier HR program and other programs.

As most of my students would know, I have been with IMS for more than a decade now.

But I started teaching for aptitude tests way back in the past, right after my graduation, while preparing for the CAT a second time around.

At the time, I felt that the teaching stint had a great role to play in my cracking the CAT; I felt the teaching made my thought process very clear when faced with a problem since one has to have the utmost clarity of thought to explain a problem in such a way as many students understand the solution right away. Also, one is always looking to find better, cleaner or, to put it simply, more elegant solutions to problems.

Over the past year, I have interacted with a lot of students across the country who are readers of the blog, so I was wondering if any of you might be interested in working in the Learning Management Department along with Amit Sir, Parameshwar Sir, Shashank Prabhu Sir, and me (IMS students will be aware of the mentors I have mentioned from the webinars and Masterclasses we conducted over the year).

Apart from this, we have roles that involve working with the Learning Management and Learning Technology Teams. Both are related to myIMS. The former is on the design and content side. The latter is on the technology side.

In both of these roles, you will be actively working with me, our internal tech team, and our external tech partners to introduce new features that will further empower learners.

Openings on offer

DEPARTMENT	ROLE	PROFILE	APTITUDE	SALARY	LOCATION
Training	Mentor	Fresher or Work-ex	CAT: 98th or higher percentile in any section	5-8 LPA	Mumbai, Bangalore
Learning Management	Project Manager	>18 months of work-ex	CAT/XAT: 95th or higher overall percentile or 99th in sectional GMAT: 720 and above GRE: 325 and above	12-24 LPA	Mumbai, Bangalore
Learning Management	Intern	Fresher or Work-ex	CAT/XAT/SNAP/NMAT: 95th percentile or higher in any section	4-6 LPA	Mumbai
Learning Technology	Technical Project Manager	>36 months of work-ex		12-24 LPA	Mumbai/Remote
Learning Technology	Project Manager	>24 months of work-ex	CAT/XAT/SNAP/NMAT: 95th percentile or higher in any section	8-12 LPA	Mumbai/Remote
Learning Technology	Full Stack Developer	>18 months of work-ex	CAT/XAT/SNAP/NMAT: 95th percentile or higher in any section	6-8 LPA	Mumbai/Remote

Role — Mentor: Quant/Verbal

Training and mentoring students for BBA, Law, Study Abroad and MBA entrance exams. Depending on your academic capability and teaching skills, we will assign you to a particular stream.

Requirements: You should

have secured the 98th percentile or above in any one of the sections on the CAT
be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power Point
have excellent communication, people, and public speaking skills

Salary: Rs. 5,00,000-8,00,000

Location(s): Mumbai, Bangalore

Role — Project Manager, Learning Management

Responsibilities: To create state-of-the-art learning tools for learners by seamlessly integrating pedagogy with technology.

Brainstorming and ideating with different academic stakeholders to come up with new features and tools for our learning technology platform
Creating detailed project requirement documents for the technology team to share with vendors and start design and development
Manage the project end-to-end through the various stages in conjunction with the different stakeholders to ensure that the product is delivered on time and as per specifications.
Work with different academic teams to ensure that content development is aligned with the pedagogy and goes hand in hand with technology development.
To collect learner feedback and incorporate those into the next

quality, and timely communicate status with stakeholders.

Profile: Working professionals with at least 18 months work-ex in web and/or mobile application development with hands-on project management experience preferred. Those from elite educational institutions or elite work-ex will be preferred.

Requirements: You should

be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT/XAT and secured the 95th percentile or above overall or 99th percentile and above in one of the sections.
have taken the GMAT and/or the GRE and scored above 720 and/or 325 respectively.

Salary: Rs. 12,00,000-24,00,000

Location(s): Mumbai, Bangalore

Role — Intern, Learning Management

Responsibilties: To help the learning management team create error-free digital content by helping with the testing and proofing of both content and tech features.

Requirements: You should

have secured the 95th percentile or above in any one of the sections on the CAT, XAT, SNAP, and NMAT
be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power Point
have excellent communication, people, and public speaking skills

Salary: Rs. 4,00,000-6,00,000

Location(s): Mumbai

Role — Technical Project Manager, Learning Technology

Responsibilities: We are looking for a Technical Project Manager who can manage multiple software development projects. You need to coordinate with the internal teams, document the requirement specifications, coordinate with technical teams, plan and monitor development schedules, manage the quality of the deliverables, proactively identify concerns that could impact the schedule and/or quality, and timely communicate status with stakeholders.

Profile: Working professionals with at least 36 months work-ex in web and/or mobile application development with hands-on project management experience preferred.

Requirements: You will need to

have a good grasp of web architecture, mobile development, and DBMS concepts
have a desire to work with multiple technologies
be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power Point
have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 90th percentile or above in any one of the sections.

Incase you have friends who are not interested in an MBA and have thus not taken any of the above-mentioned exams but have the skills for this role, you can ask them to apply.

Salary: Rs. 12,00,000-24,00,000

Location: Mumbai/Remote

Role — Project Manager, Learning Technology

Responsibilities: We are looking for a Project Manager who can manage multiple software development projects for myIMS – Student Portal. You need to coordinate with the internal teams, document the requirement specifications, coordinate with technical teams, plan and monitor development schedules, manage the quality of the deliverables, and timely communicate status with stakeholders.

Profile: Working professionals with at least 24 months work-ex with hands-on project management experience preferred.

Requirements: You will need to

be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 95th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 8,00,000-12,00,000

Location: Mumbai/Remote

Role — Full Stack Developer, Learning Technology

Responsibilities: We are looking for a Full Stack Developer who can work on multiple web application projects. You need to maintain the existing applications, implement feature enhancements, create admin modules for managing workflows/reports, and timely communicate status with stakeholders.

Profile: Working professionals with at least 18 months work-ex in web application development/maintenance with aspirations for a career in project management

Requirements: You will need to

Good grasp of web architecture, web application development, and DBMS concepts
React + Python experience and desire to work with multiple technologies preferred
be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 95th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 6,00,000-8,00,000

Location: Mumbai/Remote

Role — Social Media Content Creator

Responsibilities: We are looking for those among you who are extremely comfortable with creating digital content to create informational videos with the help of our experts for our various social media accounts.

Requirements: You will need to

be extremely camera-friendly with respect to presence and delivery
have excellent communication, people and public speaking skills.
be well conversant with Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Video creation and video edition software
have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 85th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 5,00,000-8,00,000

Location(s): Mumbai, Bangalore

Who should apply

This is job is ideal for

those who want to work for a few years before their next CAT attempt
repeat-takers who want to crack CAT with the support of the best IMS mentors
software professionals who want to work in Edtech later

How to apply

Those who wish to apply for any of the above roles may drop an email to tony@imsindia.com with the following details before 28-Feb.

A resume/CV and scorecards
A short answer to the following question: Why do you feel you have the skill sets to take up this role? Feel free to include anything that you feel will let us know why you feel you have the potential to take up the role — exam/test scores, professional expertise, fit with career plans, communication skills — anything that you feel captures your suitability.

It goes without saying that the biggest perks of this job will be that you have direct everyday access to the best mentors in case you are taking another shot at the CAT.

This is what a couple of our past recruits have to say about working with us.

RUTUJA PATIL

My introduction to CAT

After completing my engineering, I was working in manufacturing at an automobile MNC. I didn’t had any plans of MBA at that point of time. However, I appeared for CAT, as I had filled out the form on recommendation from a friend who was preparing for the same. But, unlike the experiences I have read, I didn’t score in the higher 90’s after going unprepared.

During the 2 years of work-ex in operations, I was more inclined towards management and wanted to take up those kind of roles instead of tech ones, in the future. I quit my job around September 2020 and started my “serious” CAT prep. I had joined IMS earlier and had completed the classroom sessions. In CAT 2020, I did score well above 90, but it was not enough for the best calls.

I decided to give CAT another chance.

CAT Prep

Before starting the prep again, I was looking to take up a job, preferably related to management. I found the role of Project Lead with IMS on Tony sir’s blog. This was a fantastic opportunity; the role was in project management, I was to be mentored by Tony Sir, and the team was aware that I will be studying for CAT.

Enjoying the CAT prep and approaching it with a practical mind will save you from the pain of finding a daily dose of motivation. All of us have those best scores as well as the rock bottom ones. However, as percentiles depend on a lot of things, they are bound to vary. So, analyzing the mocks closely, identifying and closing the gaps with each passing mock are the wise things to do.

I used to note down my mistakes in mocks and stick them on the wall; most of them were behavioral changes. They acted as painful reminders to my silly mistakes. Tony Sir helped me a lot to remove the mental hurdles in solving Quant and approaching the overall exam. A mentor can see exactly what is missing.

We most often forget to focus on small things like solving problems on a similar notepad as the official CAT, giving mocks in the same time slot, and looking out for triggers while giving the test.

Also, know what you don’t know. Examples, PnC- If it goes one notch above the basic or is not from the templates I have seen, I will leave it. Locating and solving what you know in less than 2 minutes is the most important thing.

Experimenting and finding the best ‘set of strategies’ according to the situation and stabilizing them with mocks will give a lot more confidence.

Keeping the focus in place

Go off the grid! I went, not because it becomes addictive and time-wasting, but mainly because the content unknowingly occupies headspace.

Along with having a schedule, the code that worked for me during the prep was,

“TALK LESS throughout the day.”

“MEDITATE before studying.”

“Invest TIME JUDICIOUSLY”

“Take a DEEP BREATH”—this one was even on my lock screen!

A week before CAT, RELAX (period). I read a book, watched my favorite movies, and did meditation. At this time, I kept the practice light and went through some methods of solving DILR sets or quant questions that I liked or those that need revision.

No heavy lifting or adventures; keep the waters calm and take it slow.

Before the day of CAT, in my mind, I went through each and every detail of the activity I would be doing the next day. Imagined every possible scenario and the reaction to it. At the same time, was ready for surprises.

My CAT day experience was a lot better than what I had went through in previous CAT attempts. However, I messed up things during Quant. I knew IIM ABC was not happening; I cried, took some time to recover, and quickly geared up for IIFT, which was 5 days away.

The GDPI phase

The interview season will be another roller coaster ride. During the prep phase, it is only you who will be forming opinions about yourself. But during this phase, the interviewers will also join the party!

I had calls from all IIM’s except ABC (as expected), XLRI, SPJIRM, IIFT, MDI, IIT’s and NITIE.

An introduction is the most important part of your interview. And that is why I remember spending nearly 2 weeks and 3-4 iterations with Tony sir, to finalize it. Keep the focus on the spotlight areas of your life so far. For me, it was my work ex. Compile experiences and explanations for YOUR past, present, and future. And don’t forget to keep a close eye on everything that is happening from your city to the centre of our galaxy!

For some reason (no one knows it yet!), even though you have a good 36 months of work-ex and sometimes not in the domain of graduation, interviewers will grill you on grad subjects. So, prepare well for that.

Another thing which helps while attending an interview of a particular institute is going through the interview transcript. True, you will most likely receive a variety of questions, but knowing which direction to focus more, on a broad level, is beneficial.

The rest, follow Tony Sir’s blog and all the sessions of IMS.

In some of the interviews you will be proud of yourself; in some there will be a constructive conversation between you and the panelist; and there will be those interviews which will make you question if you are really fit to do an MBA. Just remember to not let any of it get from your heart to your head. Take what you’ve learned and apply it to the next one. You just need that one good interview and you are through.

A week back I received mail from IIM Lucknow that I have converted the flagship PGP as well as PGP-ABM program. I will be joining the IIM L PGP 2022-24 program amongst other calls that I converted.

All the very best!!!

ROHIT SINGH

Background before joining IMS

I had worked for a year and a half in a leading IT company when I got the opportunity to join IMS. I had taken CAT twice before (with decent scores) but realized that I needed to work harder if I wanted to create a genuine chance for me to join one of the old IIMs.

Experience working with IMS

1) I had mentors all around. I could go to anyone and ask for guidance and all of them were among the best in the business. (when we used to go to office in pre-covid era). Most of them have experience of 15+ years in the field and are alumni of old IIMs.

2) I got to interact with some of the smartest people I had ever seen in my life. We had a lot of people from the top colleges in the office and personally for me, it was a huge confidence booster.

Interacting with them on a daily basis helped me a lot in transforming myself.

So, I became a better person and cracked CAT as well. In CAT 2020, I got 99.37 and 99.58 in VARC and QA respectively.

What’s up with me these days

I am expecting interview calls from XLRI, FMS and some of the old IIMs.

Again, the presence of mentors all around is helping me getting that required confidence before the final stage. I am getting the right guidance and all this is helping me to prepare for GDPI more effectively.

Since, most people here are alumni of top business schools; every now and then, I get to know a clearer picture of the college life. This helps me know what to expect from MBA and to prepare myself in advance for the campus life. I believe this will help me make the most of my 2 years in MBA.

P.S: Since then Rohit has graduated from IIM-C.