S.P Jain (SPJIMR in full or SP as it is usually referred to) is one of the most underrated business schools in the country. One of the highlights of the S.P.Jain admissions process is that applicants have to choose their specialization at the time of application. While this might be tough for freshers who do not have enough information and self-awareness to choose a specialization, it is a boon for applicants with work experience.
Specialization Matters
The biggest advantage of such a process is during placements. The placement team will ensure that for each specialization there are enough recruiters coming on board during the placements. For example, for a person with 3-4 years of work experience in the operations sector, S.P.Jain will be a much better option than maybe even the IIMs since there will be recruiters coming down specifically to hire people with such a profile. At an IIM the placements committee does not have the responsibility to specifically find 60 niche operations jobs.
The college also enjoys having a huge locational-advantage with Mumbai being the financial capital of the country as a well as the city where the most sought after Marketing recruiters such as HUL are headquartered.
Profile-based Calls & Score-Based Calls
S.P.Jain also has two different routes through which it gives out calls after you fill in the application form, the deadline for the same is 23-November.
Profile-based Call: The first is an interview call based purely on your profile — your profile should be in line with the specialization you apply for and what recruiters hiring for that specialization look for. This shortlist is out even without a test score. Once the CAT/XAT/GMAT results are out you need to meet the criteria given in the table below.
| Qualifying Criteria | CAT 2018 | XAT 2019 | GMAT 01 Jan 2017 – 31 Dec 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Qualifying Criteria | 85 percentile | 85 percentile | 85 percentile |
| Sectional Qualifying Criteria | 75 percentile | 75 percentile | 75 percentile |
Score-based Call: This shortlist is released after the CAT scores are out and based purely on your CAT scores.
This goes on to show that if you get a profile-based call, you will need a lower percentile to get an interview call than if you get a score-based call.
How To Fill The S.P.Jain Application Form
A great profile needs to rank highly on the following parameters:
- Academic track record
- Co-curricular & extra-curricular track record
- Profile-specialization match
So a lot depends on making a good application that reflects each of these. We will look at a screenshot of how each component of the online application looks and then discuss the best way to go about filling it.
Academic Achievements
Academic achievements primarily relate to such achievements as standing in the top performers in your class at various levels, X, XII, Graduation Year or in an exam such as the NTSC or JEE or Math Olympiad.
How does one go about filling this part?
Make a list of all academic achievements. Rank order them not in chronological order but in terms of
- Level of achievement or position you secured
- Level of competition or perceived toughness – NTSC, Olympiads, AIEEE, JEE
- The scale of the achievement – school, city, state, district national
In case you do not have 3 academic achievements then list co-curricular achievements such as paper-presentations, journal publications or anything that is related to your academics.
Describe in less than 50 words: Try to be as brief as possible if the achievement is something that can be easily understood. Use the remaining space to describe how this is something that you have been consistently good at. For example, you have only one top 1-5 in terms of academic achievement but you have always been driven to do well academically. Add that part in the description — throughout your education, you have stood in the top 10% (do not write 10%, calculate your position) of your class etc.
Add anything that puts your achievement into perspective — the only person from your town/village/school/institution to achieve this, the number of participants etc.
Versatility
For the versatility section please make a list of all your areas of interest that fall out of the curricular and co-curricular category.
Do not approach it from the perspective of what evaluators might find attractive but rather look at the level of interest/achievement you have in that area. For example, if dancing is your biggest passion/interest then rank it first. Do not rush to rank social-service activities first.
If you have certificates and achievements great, but even if you do not, you can still go ahead and fill up three areas as long as you have a strong interest and have done more than your peers.
For example, if reading is a major passion, you will not have any certificates to show for the same! But use the description space to present how much you like reading — favourite genres, favourite authors, reading since age so and so, read so many books a month etc. Any genre is fine as long as it has some international/intellectual significance. For example, fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, all are fine. Just ensure that you do not cite Chetan Bhagat :-).
The same applies to any other area of interest that does not correspond with certificates. Applicants from this part of the world (TN & AP), please do not write watching movies since everyone does it. If you watch world cinema or any specific genre of movies a lot, are knowledgeable and can hold a conversation about the same then you can go ahead and mention movies.
Since this deals with versatility ensure that you choose three different areas. If you have participated in CSR activities at your workplace or volunteered for NGOs please include that as well.
Most importantly, when it comes to extracurriculars (not to be confused with interests), please understand that it is not a case of what you have done but what you have accomplished. So participation in various events is just that participation, no points for that, did you win anything is the question.
Again this does not apply to interest such as theatre or plays. For example, I will cite theatre or dramatics as an area of interest and cite that I have played major parts in plays right from my early schooling to college and PG, the high-point being a performing XYZ play directed by ABC etc.
Overall Versatility Rating: Rate yourself based on the diversity of things you have participated in and the level of interest across areas.
Responsibility Shouldered
The two sections, personal and professional are clearly demarcated.
In the personal section, include any activity where you took or were given the responsibility. They can be
- on-going or long-duration responsibilities such as helping you brother/sister in his/her education or guiding him/her throughout, taking up some household responsibility owing to a family situation (working parents), or
- specific short-duration responsibilities such as arranging the wedding of a sibling or family member etc or having to help out your parent in a specific task etc.
In the professional section include responsibilities that you undertook that were not part of your KRAs or job description. They can be can be
- handling responsibilities higher than your designation due to the absence of manpower
- special projects/initiatives that you undertook or were given to you
- organizing events at your workplace
In both cases use the description to put in perspective
- the scale/importance of responsibility,
- the role you played and
- the quality of the outcome
Programme Details
This is possibly one of the most important aspects of applying to S.P.Jain — choosing the right specialization.
How does one go about this? The first question is whether you are applying with work experience or applying as a fresher.
Work-experience candidates should apply to the area in with the reason “relevant work-experience”. This has to be the first preference.
If you are applying with IT work-experience, unless you can really connect the nature of your work with another specialization, choose Information Management (IM). In previous years, applicants whose profiles did not match with the specialization they applied to have been reassigned to a different specialization! DO NOT make your first preference based on “special interest in this area”, make that your second preference.
In many cases, you might not find your profile relevant to any other area apart from the one in which you have work-ex. In this case, choose any of the areas as a second preference citing special interest in this area.
Freshers should apply only to Marketing or Finance.
Operations and IM both attract recruiters who are looking at people with relevant work-ex. The batches of both streams usually have an average work-ex of at least 2 years.
If your job profile involves being part of the design, procurement, production, quality control, maintenance, or logistics — anything that is part of the entire process of manufacturing and delivering a product or service (not IT products or services) — you can apply to Operations.
Mechanical engineering freshers also do not stand a chance of getting an Operations shortlist since management roles in Operations cannot be given to a fresher, recruiters look for candidates with hard-core ops work-ex.
The same thing applies to CSE/IT freshers applying to IM. Post an IM degree you will be handling business roles in IT and there is no way you can take these roles up without having been part of a software product/services projects.
Non-engineering freshers such as Commerce, Economics or BBA graduates can apply to Finance. You can choose a second area as Marketing based on “done specialized courses in this area” or “special interest in this area”.
The reverse holds true for Engineering freshers, Marketing first and Finance next.
Please note that for Finance you will be competing with people who have “graduated in related area” such as the backgrounds mentioned above and CA. So do not mention it as your first preference unless you are really serious about it and are sure that despite your profile not being relevant you will get a shortlist through a stellar CAT score.
A safer option is to apply to Marketing (since recruiters in this sector look for freshers) based on “special interest in this area” and Operations/Finance as a second preference under “done specialized courses in this area” or “special interest in this area”, whichever is relevant.
If you are mentioning Special Area Of Interest, you have to provide an explanation in 50 words.
Use this space to mention
- why you like this specialization and how your skills or traits are aligned to the same and
- the things you have done informally that demonstrate your special interest in this area.
You might have done a lot of things for which you have no certificates to show —
- say organizing events in your college and firm or working unpaid for an event management for Marketing
- following stock-markets or investing on your own keenly for finance
- in both fields, you can mention the books that you have read to improve your knowledge of the same
The last part of the form is the work-experience details, the filling up of which should be pretty straightforward.
Also, freshers — internships DO NOT COUNT as work experience, whether it is done before or after college; work-experience needs to be full-time, paid, work. Start-ups can be counted as work-experience provided you have registered the firm and have proof of the same. Work experience in the family business also needs to be supported by salary slips.
Will I get a call from S.P.Jain?
If you look at the comments thread for this post you will see that there is a deluge of queries.
It is understandable. Everyone would be jumping at the chance to get a call at 85 and they just want to know if they can get a call.
Here is a simple way to figure out if you will get a call.
First Milestone — Profile-Specialization Alignment
Please understand that profiles are not evaluated independently of the specialization you have applied to.
Most aspirants think that profile-based calls evaluate the quality of your academics, extracurriculars, and work-ex in isolation. Wrong.
The question is never — do you have a good profile.
It is always — do you have a good profile for Marketing, Finance, Operations or IM.
So if you are planning to apply to specializations without following the guidelines above then you are taking a risk and you can rest assured that in all likelihood you will not get a call.
Second Milestone — Academics
If you have more than one — X, XII or Graduation — less than 80 then a profile-based call is well-nigh ruled out.
Please understand that since they are giving out calls at 85 percentile, they will expect you to have the academic capability to handle a rigorous 2-year MBA program. The only way for them to check this is your past Acads.
You might have a 90 or 10 CGPA in your X, a 75 or 7.5 in your Grad, both of which are great, but if your XII marks are less than 80 due to your IIT attempt, then there is no way that with two 70s you can get a call unless you some insane spike in your work-ex or extracurriculars.
Third Milestone — Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars kick in only after you have cleared the other two milestones. Given India’s population, you know that there would be enough people who clear the first two. This is where a good extracurriculars or versatility comes into the picture.
A good extra-curricular profile can be one that has a major achievement in one area — state/national-level sports, concert-level musician/dancer or any other achievement that clearly puts you in the top percentiles in that area — and one more interest which can be minor.
Another kind of profile can be one that has a lot of width — sports, music, social work, leadership — average achievements in one or two areas and minor in others.
I have had the odd student — an engineer with good academics and a big brand work-ex — who got a call for Finance but have not seen a single case where they eventually cleared even the first Group Interview. They themselves felt that the peer group they were sitting with was in a different league as far their knowledge and profile-match for Finance went. The same students made it to IIM-B and other big schools but could not clear the first Group Interview of SPJIMR.
So before commenting and asking me whether your profile is good, please do a sanity check above.
If you clear all the milestones your profile will be competitive.
But does it guarantee a call, it depends on the quality of the other applications.
For Finance, for example, you will be competing with candidates with two 90s and an 80 and a big brand Commerce college plus a CA/CPT/IPCC plus big brand work-ex plus social work and other extracurriculars.
SPJIMR Current Batch Profile
SPJIMR puts out the summary profiles of all the candidates who are part of the current batch. We took an exhaustive look at it and this is what we found:
MARKETING: 25 percent freshers, mixed educational background
FINANCE: 25 percent freshers, only 1 engineer
OPERATIONS: Only 1 fresher (city-topper in graduation), average work-ex of 2.5 years, 50% mechanical engineers
IM: No Freshers, only 2 students with less than 24 months of work-ex, all candidates had IT/Tech work-ex
What if I DO NOT want to apply to the specialization my profile is aligned to?
Well very often, especially for those with IT work-ex, the whole point of an MBA is to escape IT and rediscovering one’s real passion:
- Marketing — owing to an extroverted personality that puts people at ease or above-average exceptional communication skills or something that tells you that you will be great at making ads
- Operations — Mechanical Engineers, usually
- Finance — it is either straightforward – the money and glamour associated with Finance as projected through Wall Street and Wolf of Wall Street, a fascination with stock markets knowing a thing or two about it and maybe having invested your own or someone else’s buck or two, a fascination with stock markets knowing nothing about it or a reason that is still inscrutable like the nature of God
So whatever your reason, if you want to change your domain — do not apply to SPJIMR. Both recruitments and admissions are aligned to profiles.
Does this mean that your MBA dreams are sealed?
Not really.
All other b-schools give you more leeway in that you are not asked about your choice of specializations in the application and in the interviews but only your reasons for an MBA in general.
What sort of profiles get calls
The whole idea of a profile-based call is to give calls out to exceptional profiles even if the CAT percentile is quite low.
From past data, it is very clear that they look at exceptional academic profiles first and then they look at other aspects of the profile. This is but understandable since the MBA is an academically rigorous course, so if they are letting you are a much lower level of CAT score, you need to have a much higher level of academic profiles.
Think of it this way, they have a certain weight for X, XII, Grad, and CAT Score. If your X, II, Grad are so good that you will get very high marks for those, a lower CAT Score will suffice.
What is a good academic profile?
A 90/90/80 is par for a SPJIMR profile-based call. It is pretty tough to get a profile-based call with lower marks than these, unless you have some crazy national level achievements or a professional degree such as a CA or CFA that is very relevant for a Finance specialization.
A rejection for a profile-based call is not a rejection of your profile
Do not take my comments about whether you will get a profile-based call or not as a referendum on the quality of your profile for MBA applications in general and become despondent!
Also, do not take rejection from SPJIMR for a profile-based call as a rejection of your profile. SPJIMR will give you a score-based call, even after rejecting you for a profile-based call if you score above 96-97 percentile!
Another thing, I do not blog for a living, I am the Chief Learning Officer for IMS and do this out of my interest over and above my daily responsibilities. Why am telling you this? So that you don’t get jittery if you do not receive an immediate reply and post — Sir, please reply sir comments 🙂 You will usually get a reply anywhere within a minute to 36 hours depending on my schedule.
This has already been a super-long post. Hope I have covered most of the stuff needed to fill the form and give you a fair idea of whether you will get a call.
In the comments section, you will have seen that I have personally replied to individual requests for profile assessments. I would like you to post a comment only if you feel that you have a query that the post does not answer. I can easily make out if someone has only skimmed through the post and dumped their profile in the comments looking for a quick-fix 🙂
The CAT Writer 
I had secured a content writing internship from INTERNSHALA for which I had received a certificate from Internshala and an official contract from the company as an offer letter but the internship completion certificate was not a part of their job offer as it was just a work from home internship and neither do I have the salary slips as the payment was variable based on the no of articles written and approved per se so can i put this under versatility section of spjimr application as content writing is indeed my core area of interest. Will the Internshala certificate and contract email suffice as valid proof of internship?
Sir, I need your guidance regarding the same as I have no other proof to back my content writing claim…..
LikeLike
Thanks for such an informative article.
My profile details :
X : 89.7 % (ICSE)
XII: 84.4 (science, CBSE)
Graduation: 77.1% (Computer Engg.)
Extra-Curricular Activities:
1) Was awarded Emerging Star of the Year from a pool of more than 2000 freshers.
2) Won Gold medal and Silver medal in basketball in national level college tournament.
3) Worked as ‘PRESIDENT’ in Computer Society of India, College Chapter.
4) Worked as Training and Placement Representative in College.
5) Did an internship in Marketing Management.
I want to apply for Marketing, but it seems IM would have higher chances of getting a call.
Also I do not have any impressive academic achievement other than staying on top 6-7 in 10th and 12th.
What should I fill in academic achievement section, Can i mention my professional achievements there ?
Also is this advisable to fill Marketing as my first preference and IM the second?
LikeLike
How many months of work-ex do you have?
LikeLike
Hello,sir – thanks for the information, my son profile is X th – 95 ℅ XII – 92℅ and
B. TECH – CGPA – 9.2, he is a IT professional with work ex. 4.5 years and few certificates in extra curriculars also, like acting,dance drawing but no national certficates ,only maths olympaid SILVER MEDALin PRADNYA , Can he get profile based call for specialisation in INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY? Can u help him to write a good profile sir? Please help
LikeLike
Hello,
Given his academic profile, he was a very good chance of getting a call from SPJIMR for IM.
I run the blog so that it can serve as a guide for aspirants, in addition to my role IMS, I do not help out students on an individual basis.
All the best!
LikeLike
Sir, thank you for this exhaustive post. My percentages are 87.54 in 10th, 93.17 in 12th and 75.89 in Graduation (BBA-Marketing from NMIMS Mumbai). I have 18 months of work experience as a Client Servicing Executive (not exactly related to the maketing field) in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and a 6 month work ex in an NGO related to organic farming and tree plantations all across Gurgaon’s prime properties. There, my whole work was related to the marketing field, but I’m afraid I had to cut it short in October end, to focus solely on CAT. I have extra-curriculurs in Singing )winning positions) and two online certified courses on Digital Marketing from University of Illinois (Coursera). And I have a sure shot chance of getting above 85 percentile. Do you think I have any chances of getting a profile-based call?
LikeLike
Hi Soumya,
Your profile is above-average but I am not sure if it is one that guarantees a call. It will depend on the other applicants, it is not an outright yes, unlike some of the profiles I have reviewed here.
Do let me know through the comments if you get a call.
All the best!
LikeLike
Good morning sir. Thankyou so much for all these post which clears all our doubts and is very helpful while form filling. I just had few more doubts in S P JAIN forms which were not mentioned above-
1. Sir are the forms for both profile based and scored based same?
2. At the end stage of form filling before the payment part they were asking for cat score and percentile also with marks in each section, but how is that possible to mention it and why is that given over there? what should we do? should we skip and move to the payment?
LikeLike
Yes, the application for both the calls is the same.
You have to upload the score details once the results are out.
All the best!
LikeLike
Sir I want to choose Finance for specialization however I am confused how to directly link my profile with it. My background is Graduation in Economics (Hons) from DU and 3 Actuarial Science exams cleared in Business Economics, Financial Mathematics and Probability and Statistics along with 2 years’ experience in Actuarial field as an analyst in a consulting firm. So what would you recommend shall I link Graduation in economics and certification in actuarial directly with Finance by ticking on graduation in relevant field and relevant certificate courses or chose Finance by ticking on special interest in field and then explain it ? OR do you think my background can be linked with marketing also ?
LikeLike
Hi Nikhil,
Economics is a valid area of study as a precursor to an MBA in Finance, apply citing relevant educational background.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello Sir!
Below are my profile details:
1. Class tenth : 10 CGPA (School Captain in Class tenth)
2. Class 12th : 96% (CBSE)
3. Graduation : Bcom (H), Shri Ram College of Commerce (85%)
4. Work ex : Tax Analyst at Ernst & Young (EY) (Duration: 22 months)
5. Awards and Recognition: 1. City topper in Class tenth 2. Awarded Merit certificate in Mathematics for being amongst the top 0.1% all over India in class 12th (100/100) 3. Awarded Kudos and The spotlight by EY
6. Certification Course : Intermediate (Integrated Professional Competence) Examination Certificate : Cleared IPCC Examination held by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (November 2016) with an exemption in 4/7 subjects.
7. Social Service: Worked with an NGO based in Delhi for a year. The NGO looks after the children of AIIMS employees and provides them remedial classes
8. Extra curricular: Learnt classical music for 5 years
9. Position of responsibility: 1. Member of the Placement Cell, SRCC 2. Member of the Commerce Society, SRCC 3.Member of the Computers and Mathematics Society, SRCC
I had applied to SP Jain last year as well. But unfortunately, my application was not shortlisted. I would like to know how to improvise my last year’s application. Further, please note that I have quit my job this year so there is not much addition in relation to the same. The only thing that I did this year, which I never thought I would, was a Himalayan trek. But I guess I can’t put that in my application.
Request your kind revert on the above.
Thank you!
LikeLike
Hi Mansi,
You should have gotten a call last year, the only thing I can think of is the way you used the 50-word space for each category to summarise. The other factor can be the huge competition for Finance from CAs and CFAs. You can and should add the trek under Versatility.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLike
Thank you for your reply Sir! Will it be possible for you to review my application if I send it you over email in a word format?
LikeLike
Too busy, Mansi.
LikeLike
hello sir
i have organized an entire event of my college society in college with a team of 50 people
can i put it under professional responsibilities?
LikeLike
You can put it under Versatility, Positions of Responsibility.
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
I am looking for MBA in general management, and i don’t see SP Jain offering an MBA in this specialization. Does that mean i have to rule out SP jain or am i missing something there.
LikeLike
Unlike other schools, SPJIMR does not offer an MBA in General Management. They select profiles aligned to particular specializations and also attract recruiters for specific specializations. So yeah, you can rule out SPJIMR if you want a General Management approach to both the selection and the recruitment.
LikeLike
Thank you Sir for quick response!
Have a good day.
LikeLike
Hello Tony sir. Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation. Pls clarify my one question mentioned below:
I am working in Ashok Leyland and I currently have 3.5 years of Work Experience and the split is: 0.5 years Induction training, 1.5 year in Market Research for Buses and 1.5 years (currently) in Sales and Marketing of Electric Vehicles at Ashok Leyland.
As per your post, you have mentioned that for Marketing Specialization in SPJ Profile based calls, they give more weightage for Freshers only. However, I would like to continue in Sales and Marketing profile and am interested to opt for that Specialization.
Considering this, please advice me if I should apply for Marketing Specialization, where you mentioned that chances might be less for a 3.5 yrs work – ex (or) If I apply for Operations, is there a chance that I get a Profile Based call in Operations even though my work-ex is in Marketing.
My Acads are decent: X – 93.66, XII – 95.7, Grad – 86.4
Please clarify my doubt and suggest a specialization which would be probable for me. It will be really helpful.
LikeLike
Hi Pranav,
You should apply to the specialization you are interested in citing relevant work-ex, which will be anyway reflected in your current designation since you have down Market Research as well. Use the 50-word space to make a good case for 3 years of Marketing work-ex. The duration might be a hindrance but the relevant work-ex and academic profile can get you a call.
Operations might not be aligned since your work-ex is not in Ops.
Do let me know through the comments if you get a call.
All the best!
LikeLike
Is my profile good for score/profile based call:
1. 10th – 10 CGPA (95%)
2. 12th – 92.5%
3. Graduation – 9.57 CGPA (88.2%)
4. Work Ex – 2 years, currently quit job to prep for CAT. I am a Civil Engineer working in a very niche field called Flood Modelling (<1000 modelers in India). Completely software based work involves flood risk assessment of ground realities and solution modelling.
I was part of team that organised the graduate development program at my workplace for new recruits. We were a group of 10 selected from 80+ employees.
5. I have an academic break – I was studying architecture in CEPT University, Ahmedabad (one of the best colleges for Architecture in India) during the time. However, due to family problems I had to return to my home town.
6. I have received a gold medal for ranking 3rd in the university exam. I have consistently received semester wise scholarship for being in top 3.
7. I have organised a fest in college.
8. I was part of the art team in college and my extra-curricular is also in arts. Won some school level competitions.
9. Won a couple of quiz competitions, one was organised in college for civil engineers and other was a general quiz in a city based club.
10. Wrote CAT last year with 96 percentile, expect to improve to at least 98 this year.
LikeLike
I am not sure if this adds value but I have completed a bunch of courses on corporate finance on coursera and should complete the specialization in a month or so. Also, I have interned Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation for 6 months, students for this internship were selected after a lot of scrutiny of our abilities.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Which specialization do you want to apply to?
LikeLike
As per your post I see that I have a chance at Marketing as the educational background is diverse but that isn’t something I want to. And I guess my profile would not be appropriate for finance? This leaves me Ops and IM. Is my profile relevant there at all?
LikeLike
hi sir
my self akhil from hyderabad
10th-87%
12-87%
BBA-65%
Working for mercedes benz in hyderabad for last two years as sales consultant
1) best employe of the year as a fresher went to international trip
2) won sedan championship pan india 8th place and went to germany headquarters from mercedes benz india
3) won suv championship and won mac book air from mercedes benz india
4) best employe award month of may 2019
5) sold 50 cars in an year all these are done at the age of 21 and 22 as a fresher this in record in mercedes benz
is this profile is okay sir ??
LikeLike
Hi Akhil,
Your profile is quite good. If you get a call for Sales & Marketing chanced are high that you will be able to convert.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello sir,
I secured 17th rank in MT CET entrance for pharmacy in 2014, out of a total of 26000+ students in Maharashtra? Can I put this achievement in academic achievement section?
LikeLike
Yeah, you can.
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Is my profile good for score/profile based call:
1. 10th – 9.8 CGPA (93.1%)
2. 12th – 94.1%
3. Graduation – 6.84 CGPA (68.4%)
Extra curricular activities : Divisional Level Player in Table tennis.
3 yrs of work-exp in IT.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Shivaram,
It will be competitive for a profile-based call but the grad marks can be a bit of a dampener; a score-based call is definitely possible if you score about 96.5 percentile.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
These are my details –
10th – 94.66% (ICSE)
12 – 91% (CBSE)
Graduation – 65% (English Honours, Hans Raj College)
Awards and Recognitions – Among the top 10 rankers of my school for both 10th and 12th standard examinations.
Social Service – Worked in an NGO based that provides basic health care and shelter to the underprivileged sections of the society hailing from the eastern parts of Delhi.
Internship – Interned at Times of India, Kolkata in the year 2017.
When it comes to extra curriculars, I’ve loved writing for as long as I can remember. I was the President of the creative writing society of my college. I organised the annual fest of the society and moderated a session with the poets Michael Creighton and Urvashi Bahugana. I’ve also been interested in slam poetry and have performed at various events across Delhi, having won prizes at the school level too. I’ve had my written work published in online journals. Apart from writing, like all writers, I love reading too. I was the Head Girl of my school in 12th standard.
I did apply for SP Jain last year too, but did not get a call (could it be because of my low score in graduation or because my profile isn’t diverse enough?). There hasn’t been any addition to my profile since then apart from the one event that I organised. I also took and academic break this year and have no work experience. Do you think I should apply this year?
I’ll be really grateful for your help. Also, I’ve been ardently following your blog for the last two months and it has helped me in keeping myself motivated (and also, to some extent, sane). Thanks a lot for posting! 🙂
LikeLike
HI Aaryaka,
You have a pretty decent profile, the catch can be the grad marks. Which specialization do you want to apply to? You should apply only to Marketing, as there is no alignment with any other profile. Do apply again, you don’t lose anything by applying again.
Good to hear that you write and perform poetry, I do as well here in Bombay and I have read Creighton.
Glad that the posts have been of help in keeping the head steady.
All the very best for Sunday!
LikeLike
Good Afternoon Sir,
Myprofiledetails are mentioned below:
-X: 10 CGPA
-XII: 90.8%
-Graduation:81.37%
-Work ex: QA (22months.Worked as a Tester, BA, SME for Capital Markets and Commodities Market)
-ECA: Dramatics enthusiast, debater, painter, calligrapher, a social servant
-Achievements: Fresher of the year at the company, Subject topper in 12th, recognized for 10 cgpa in 10th for Sanskrit, amongst the top 10 in college and top 5 in school
Sir, is it an intelligent choice to fill operations and finance as my preferences as I have worked in the capital market domain?
Further, do I stand a chance for a profile based call?
LikeLike
I have already replied to this comment, Yukti.
LikeLike
hi Hussain here, my grad details are
10 th- 7.2 CGPA
12 th – 88% Commerce-CBSE Board (3rd rank across school&district)
Grad – 78% BBA- (MIT- Pune)
Appeared CA Exam ,cleared Level 1 and now to go for level 2 exam
Certificates:-
1.)Have IIM Bangalore Business Summmit Certificate as i have presented a business plan and got
in the top 10 ranks held this year
2.) Participated& won JBIMS B2B Case study and securing 5 th rank for evaluating a b2b case study, this year.
3.)Won in Khel MAhakhumbh for Khusti Sport in Gujarat and won 3rd place for competing against above age category level and was awarded by CM of Gujarat(but lost Certies)
4.) Secured 3rd rank in class 12 th among my school&district
5.) Joined KPMG from campus placement from my college in finance field but left away because it wasnt as per the job offered in profile.
so please reply earliest as whether should i apply for profile based calls in SP JAIN from CAT/XAT exam.
Scores in CAT EXAM – 90-105 marks
LikeLike
Hi Hussain,
I suppose you want to apply to Finance.
I feel that your profile is not competitive enough for Finance, the academics are a bit low overall and you have not finished your CA yet (that would have compensated for the academics).
You can still apply since the same application is considered for score based call for which you need a 96 percentile or above. If you feel that you can score 96 and above apply, else apply only if you have the budget to take a chance.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
These are my details:
Class X: 94.83%
Class XII: 95.6%
Graduation in BCom(Appearing) : 9.02/10 (75.96%)
Academic Achievement I received an award for securing more than 85% throughout the year for 5 straight years at School Level.
Versatility:
Certification course on Advance Excel and Tally from Aptech Education
Captain of the Assam Squash Team for National School Games Of India, 2016 hosted by the School Games Federation of India.
Received and Award for Excellence in Sports at School Level
Participated in Inter-Collegiate Squash Tournament.
Social Service: Listener at 7 Cups. (7 Cups is an online platform where we listen to people having issues such as anxiety and depression)
Went for a Round Square International Conference on Environment and Sustainability, Singapore, 2016 where we were addressed by experts in the field of exploration, women empowerment and humanitarian service.
Although I did not excel at tennis, I love watching tennis.
I also love playing the guitar and have participated at various events at school level. (No professional training of western classical though)
Responsibility Shouldered: Squash Captain and Event Management Prefect of the School.
Sir, do you think my profile is good enough for a Profile based call and is there anything that I should remove from the profile?
Also Should I mention Event Management under Versatility or Responsibilities Shouldered or both?
LikeLike
Which specialisation do you want to apply to?
LikeLike
I was thinking Finance as my 1st preference and Marketing as my 2nd preference. But where do you think my chances lie?
LikeLike
Go ahead and apply to Finance, you have an exceptional academic and extracurricular profile that should get you a call, your only competition will be from, CAs and CFAs who have great academics and relevant work-ex.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Can you please answer my queries.
1. How to decide what to put in overall versatility rating – from good, very good, outstanding?
2. Is 1 year gap between 12th and graduation to be written in academic break?
3. Can achievements from primary school like 1st prize won in English spelling contest and science exhibition be written under academic achievements?
LikeLike
Hi Priscilla,
1. I can only explain using an example. If you are an avid trekker and have done more than 15 to 20 treks and some at a really tough grade and have done some mountaineering training as well, you can classify it as Outstanding. If you are a trained dancer/shows and have done a lot of shows you can classify it as outstanding. So overall, if you are outstanding in most fields, rate yourself as outstanding and so on.
2. Yes, it is an academic break.
3. Nope, no achievements at school level below X standard are worth mentioning.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
Please let me know my chances on the basis of the following profile :
1) Class X 2012 – 9 CGPA (85.5%)
2) Class XII 2014 – 90.6%
3) Grad 2017 – 74% B.Com (Hons.) from Delhi University.
4) Work Experience – 24 months with Deloitte. (Worked in the Audit department as the Audit Senior Assistant)
School level achievements – I was the school subject topper in Accountancy and Business Studies in Class 12. (95 and 98% respectively).
Scored 97.9 percentile in English Asset Olympiad (Global Test)
Have had a flair for writing during school and have won a few Story Writing and Spell check and Dramatics competitions.
Also, received a General Proficiency Award in 2009 in school to highlight my Academic Achievement (Top 4 in a batch of 200).
College Level – Vice President at the Entrepreneurship Development Cell, Senior Coordinator at the Placement Cell. Successfully headed society and college level fests. Have done 2 internships during college. (Led a visual blogging club for a Marketing company), The other was a Client Acquisition role for Aditya Birla Moneymart, wherein, I completed a project on the Mutual funds industry in India. Not sure if I should be listing these internships in the application.
Social Initiatives – I have volunteered for Enactus during my college wherein we rendered entrepreneurial skills to the plant nursery owners. Also, volunteered at Teach for India (selected post a rigorous process), wherein, I imparted education to girls.
Deloitte specific – Consistently fared among top 10% Audit professionals in all of Deloitte’s Annual Performance Reviews. • Received the ‘Spot Award’ for two consecutive audit busy seasons for quality of work, dedication and commitment. • Part of social initiatives such as the ‘Deloitte Employee Giving Program’ and member of ‘IM Centre of Excellence’.
Versatility – I really love to dance and have garnered a lot of appreciation for the same but have not participated in any competitions as such. Should I be mentioning it?
Passionate traveller and recently went on my first solo trek to Kheerganga with unknown travellers.
Please let me know what all to include in my application. I want to pursue Marketing from SPJIMR.
I have also done a Content Marketing certification.
Thankyou.
LikeLike
Hi Prabhleen,
You have a really good profile that can get you a call but the big question is the alignment of your profile to Marketing — your educational background and work-ex are related to Finance.
If you are really interested in Marketing you can go ahead and apply citing area of interest and use the 50-word space to mention the certification course you have done. Apply to Finance as a second preference (also since Finance is very competitive, CAs & CFAs eventually the competitiveness of your profile for both Marketing and Finance will end up being the same)
You can mention dancing and trekking as areas of interest in versatility.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLike
Thankyou for your valuable insight, sir.
LikeLiked by 1 person
(reposting as my prev comment was fragmented and didn’t provide you with right details)
Is my profile good for score/profile based call:
1. 10th – 10 CGPA (95%)
2. 12th – 92.5%
3. Graduation – 9.57 CGPA (88.2%)
4. Work Ex – 2 years, currently quit job to prep for CAT. I am a Civil Engineer working in a very niche field called Flood Modelling (<1000 modelers in India). Completely software based work involves flood risk assessment of ground realities and solution modelling.
I was part of team that organised the graduate development program at my workplace for new recruits. We were a group of 10 selected from 80+ employees.
5. I have an academic break – I was studying architecture in CEPT University, Ahmedabad (one of the best colleges for Architecture in India) during the time. However, due to family problems I had to return to my home town.
6. I have received a gold medal for ranking 3rd in the university exam. I have consistently received semester wise scholarship for being in top 3.
7. I have organised a fest in college.
8. I was part of the art team in college and my extra-curricular is also in arts. Won some school level competitions.
9. Won a couple of quiz competitions, one was organised in college for civil engineers and other was a general quiz in a city based club.
10. Wrote CAT last year with 96 percentile, expect to improve to at least 98 this year.
I am not sure if this adds value but I have completed a bunch of courses on corporate finance on coursera and should complete the specialization in a month or so. Also, I have interned Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation for 6 months, students for this internship were selected after a lot of scrutiny of our abilities.
As per your post I see that I have a chance at Marketing as the educational background is diverse but that isn’t something I want to do. And I guess my profile would not be appropriate for finance? This leaves me Ops and IM. Is my profile relevant there at all?
LikeLike
Hi Soumya,
You have an exceptional academic profile that is right in the top-tier that should get you a call.
Since you are a civil engineer and have work in back end operations and modelling, you can apply to Operations, a lot of Operations is driven by ERP softwares such as SAP.
As you have rightly figured, Finance will be a tough ask since you will be competing with CAs and CFAs against whom the certifications on Coursera are not strong enough.
So apply to Ops first, citing relevant work-ex and Finance next citing area of interest.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLike
Thank you for your response sir. Also, your last few posts on CAT have been extremely helpful. So, many thanks for all your efforts in helping CAT aspirants like me. Your words are truly motivating.
LikeLike
Glad to know the posts have been of help,
All the best for Sunday!
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
My profiledetails are mentioned below:
X: 9.8 CGPA
XII: 93%
Graduation:81.2%
Work ex: nill
ECA: Debator, Intensive gamer
Achievements: Subject topper in Grad, amongst the top 10 in college and top 5 in school, TVS Gk competiton school winner, Spellbee gold medal winner.
Sir, o I stand a chance for a profile based call?
LikeLike
Which specialization do you want to apply to?
LikeLike
Marketing Sir
LikeLike
Hi sir, thank you for this post.
I might be very late but it would be great if you can help me with one query.
Under personal responsibility, can I add ‘Organizing a New Year party for 2 consecutive years at my residential complex for 200 people at the age of 15 & 16’. Or is it too naive and not worth mentioning ?
And if I should not mention this, then is it okay to leave the personal responsibility section blank?
LikeLike
You can write it if you can write a good description.
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Please let me know whether should I apply for SPJain Operations or not…
My Profile is as follows:
1) 10/12/B.E – 95/89/74%
2) B.E in Mechanical Engineering from private college
3) 25 months of experience. I have been site engineer at an electrical contractor firm for around 17 months, 4 months of appprenticeship at Oil PSU and 3 months of sales experience
4) I don’t have any National or State level certificates…just one district level certi in swimming
and rest includes merit certificates in intercollege events.
Please let me know as early as possible
LikeLike
Hi Kalpesh,
You have a competitive profile for Operations given your 25 months of relevant experience but am not sure if the overall profile guarantees a call. So I would suggest applying since it is the same application that gets considered for a score-based call and a profile-based call, the latter will need a 96 percentile and above.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for such an informative article, sir
My profile details :
X : 10 CGPA
XII: 85.67% (Vocational Electronics, Maharashtra Board)
Graduation: 70% (Electronics Engg., Mumbai University)
Work Ex: 2.5 years in Ad-Tech Industry (Knowledge Management)
Acad Achievements:
1) Consistently in the top 5 from class 1-12. Received Merit certificate for top 1%-ile in 10th.
2) Received awards at national level science exhibitions in class 10
3) Completed a research project at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
Versatility:
1) Football and Track events: Have been involved and won various prizes at school and college level. I have represented the school for athletics twice at the district level.
2)Poetry: I write Hindi and English poems. I have participated in poetry slams and have also been published at the college level.
3)Painting
4) Social Welfare volunteering work at 2 NGOs
5) Event Management
I want to apply for Finance as my first choice and Operations as my second choice (Both being my Special Area of interest). Should I instead apply for Information Management as my second choice, as that aligns well(somewhat) with my Engineering Degree and my work experience?
Please let me know your opinion on this.
LikeLike
Hi Omakant,
Your profile is above the average overall. There is no point even applying to Finance or Operations since there is no alignment with educational background, work-ex, or professional certifications.
You are better off applying to Marketing and IM citing relevant work-ex focussing on the tech for one and one the industry (advertising) for the other.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello sir,
Adding a few more details to my last comment:
I’m an Engineer and my I want to move to marketing. I currently have 13 months of work-ex.
But I worked in marketing in college at the Students Council (for festivals, events, etc).
I have entered my first preference as Marketing.
Is that wise?
10th : 94.55
12th: 83.69
Grad (Computer Engineering): 75.79
About Profile:
1. Started at Ernst and Young last November as a Risk Analyst, doing revenue management and investment monitoring projects in the real estate sector. I also do automation and data analysis, considering my background. Received ‘Kudos’ award for organizing various events. Before this, I worked briefly at an Analytics startup.
2. Part of the Students Council in college as Public Relations officer. Led a team of 500+, raised sponsorship upwards of 25 lakh for festivals and organised 20+ events in college.
3. Fouding member of Parvaah, the social wing of my college. Herein I organised events for LGBTQ+ community.
3. Research paper published at Microsoft Conference in 2018. Implemented a cyber security project at BARC.
4. Been painting for over 20 years with several national and one international award.
5. Started kickboxing 4 years ago and have since also conducted individual sessions and helped my coach expand to multiple locations. I handle social media and PR part.
I want to switch my field to marketing/business consulting and that’s primary reason to do an MBA.
I’ve put in marketing as my first choice.
Should I change it to IM?
LikeLike
Hi Srijith,
Yours is one of the most diverse profiles I have come across – painting, kickboxing, and risk analysis are as fields diverse as can be.
I think your Acads are a bit average but your profile will rate high on versatility.
You should use the same to make a case for Marketing.
All the best!
LikeLike
Pingback: How to fill the S.P.Jain profile-based form? | IMS VKpedia
This blog post was a great read, Sir. Thanks !
Could you please spare some time to check if I may be selected for a profile based call in IM domain from SPJIMR.
Profile Details :
X (WB Board) : 85.86%
XII (WB Board) : 81.29%
Graduation: 8.4 CGPA (Consistent Topper) – B.Sc. (Hons.) in Computer Science, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata
Work Ex: 2 years in Technology Consulting at Deloitte.
Academic Achievements:
1) Published 5 research papers in following International Journals on various topics viz. NLP, Facial Recognition and Human Brain Computation :
a. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCE RESEARCH IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND
MANAGEMENT STUDIES (IJARCSMS)
b. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING (IJIRCCE)
c. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EMERGING RESEARCH IN MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY (IJERMT)
2) Represented school at Jagdish Bose national science camp and won best project award among 70 others.
Professional Achievement:
1) 3x Certified Salesforce – Platform Developer, Sales Cloud Consultant, and Administrator
2) ITIL v3 Certified in Service Management and Agile Project Delivery
3) Received Deloitte Applause Award for exceptional client impact and project deliverables.
4) Got fast track early promotion for outstanding performance.
5) Led multiple firm initiatives for practice growth.
Versatility:
1) As a Senior Cadet, NCC, Indian Army Wing I participated in various camps and army activities.
2) Volunteer at NSS, extensively travelled rural areas of WB and contributed in overall growth and learning of economically deprived children and continue to do so through CSR initiatives at Deloitte.
3) Led the PR team as Director in Xavotsav 2016 and ensured all stakeholders’ satisfaction.
Thanks in advance, looking forward to hear back from you.
CAT Score :
OA 126 (VARC 60, LRDI 32, QA 34)
LikeLike
Hi Ashin,
You stand a decent chance to get an IM profile based call.
All the best!
LikeLike
Thank you sir ! Fingers crossed _/|\_
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Got the Profile shortlist ! Can you please write a blog or redirect me to any article you’ve previously written for the Group Interviews?
Thanks,
Ashin,
LikeLike
Hi Ashin,
Congrats for the call.
I have written only broad posts for the GD-PI and not college-specific posts.
Last year, we had designed a video-based WAT-GD-PI program with more than 35 videos that give you in-depth how-to videos for the process of each and every top-30 college. This covers the SPJIMR Group Interview as well. You can access the same if you are an IMS student and the variant you have enrolled for includes the same, else — https://www.imsindia.com/GD-PI/
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Thanks for the guidance, I cracked it, got a direct convert ! Your analysis and suggestions really helped a lot !
Thanks,
Ashin.
LikeLike
Good to hear that. Congrats, Ashin. All the best!
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
First of all thanks for the detailed analysis of the Form Filling process.
My profile Is as below :
10th : 10.00 (95% CGPA)
12th: 83%
Grad : 9.09 CGPA (83.4%) General Engineer Male
WORKEX: 27 Months at Oracle India Pvt. Ltd. As Programmer Analyst
Internships :
1) 1 Month Internship Under Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL),Bangalore
2) 1 Month Internship under Nuclear Power Corporation Of India , Kaiga
3) 1 Month Internship in PACE Power Systems,Bangalore
Achievements:
Academic :
1) National Merit – Meritorious Scholarship (NMMS) for securing good Mark’s in NTSE Exams
2) District Topper in 10th Std Exams
3) 10.00 CGPA and College Topper in 1st Year Engineering Exams
Extra Co – Curricular Achievements :
1) Represented Karnataka states 2 times in National level Table Tennis Competition (Both Times captaining the Side)
2) 2 Times in a row 1st Position in State Level Competition in Karnataka in Table Tennis
3) Universiry level Silver Medal in Lawn Tennis
4) College Fest coordinator for all major events.
Applying for : 1) IT ROLE 2)Operations & Supply Chain
LikeLike
Hi Sharath,
Pretty strong profile for an IM call, you should get it, Ops won’t happen since the profile alignment in terms of work-ex is missing.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi,
I’m a GEM fresher and I’m expecting 160 in CAT slot-2. My academics are 93/84/78. I have a 1-month internship in a renowned fin company. I have selected finance as my first preference, do you think I have a chance of getting score based call from SP Jain.
P.S.: I have no significant academic or non-academic achievement.
Thanks
LikeLike
Hi,
I’m a GEM fresher and I’m expecting 160 in CAT slot-2. My academics are 93/84/78. I have a 1-month internship in a renowned fin company. I have selected finance as my first preference, do you think I have a chance of getting score based call from SP Jain.
P.S.: I have no significant academic or non-academic achievement.
Thanks
LikeLike
Hi Shyam,
You will easily get a score-based since they look only at the score and not at the profile and 160 should put you into the late 98s or early 99s.
A Fin final admit, will not be easy to crack given the educational background.
All the best!
LikeLike
Greetings sir,
Ankur Jain here
My profile Is as below :
10th : 10.00 CGPA (95%)
12th: 92.8%
Grad : 8.29 CGPA (82.9%) General Engineer Male Fresher
Cat Expected score : 148 – slot 2
Internships :
1) 2 Months Internship at EY, India – Aerospace & Defence Team
2) 4 Months Internship at Centre for Regional Trade, IIFT
3) 1 Month Internship at BHEL in Project Engineering Management
4) 2 Months Social Service work at NGO
Achievements:
Academic :
1) 100% in chemistry AISSCE – CBSE-XII
2) 97.49 percentile in All-India JEE Mains(2016)
Extra Co – Curricular Achievements : No – specific
Applying for : 1) Finance 2)Operations & Supply Chain
Thanks & Regards,
Ankur Jain
LikeLike
Hi Ankur,
Your score will get you a percentile in the 97s and you have good acads, both of which should help you get for a score-based call, it will be the final call that will be tough given that you have a non-Finance background.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
I have shortlisted for the profile based round. I had a few doubts regarding the process.
1. Does First Phase of interview process has any advantage in terms of selection chances over the Second Phase?
2. I have been selected for IM and I have 24 months of work-ex. However, I have left my job in the month of July. How much will it affect my chances of getting selected? Also, i’ll be joining my family business in January after the completion of all the exams. Will it help if I mention this during the interview?
3. In profile based shortlist, apart from clearing the minimum required criteria for entrance tests, does the scores count for getting selected in the final merit list?
LikeLike
Hi Kartik,
Congratulations on the call!
1. Both phases have the same importance, it does not matter which slot you choose.
2. You will get whatever marks are awarded for work-ex, it does not affect your chances of getting selected as long as you can give a convincing answer as to why you quit, in case you are asked. Just mentioning family business will not help in any way.
3. CAT score will have a weightage; if the CAT score weightage is 30% then you will get (your score/300)*.30. The total of all the marks you get across all the parameters — Profile Score, CAT score, GI score, WAT Score — will end up determining whether you get a final call or not.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
Sir, i got a profile based call from SPJain. I had a query regarding slot booking for interviews. Does it matter if i give early interview in January or can i opt for the February slot too.
LikeLike
Congratulations! It does not matter which interview slot you choose.
LikeLike
Hey,
I got a profile based call. Could you throw some light on the second form that needs to be filled out?
Best,
LikeLike
Hi,
.
Here is my profile:
– 10th: 9.2
– 12th: 82.46 (Maharashtra State Board) Grad:
– B.E EEE 7.26 CGPA
– House Captain – Junior College (House secured 1st Position that year)
– 12th Board topper in college in Computer Science Stream
– Graduation final year project selected as one of the best projects and received partial funding. – –
– One research paper published in an International Journal
– Participated in All India Inter AEES Basketball Championship U-16 Men’s category (National Basketball Championship)- Stood 4th
– Served National Cadet Corps for one year – Passed Certificate ‘A’ exam
– All India Camlin Painting Competition – School level second
– National Cyber Olympiad City Rank – 2
– Founded the Rotaract club (Part of Rotary International) in my Engineering college and Charter President of the Club and have organised various fundraising events and other events for the club
– Lead Graphic Designer for College Annual Cultural fest UTSAHA (One of the biggest in Bangalore)
– Event coordinator for TechTransform 2k17- inter collegiate Technical fest
Hostel Mess Incharge 2018-19
Right now working for Aon Consulting as an Associate (from Jan 1, 2020)
Planning to apply this year. What are my chances?
LikeLike
Hi Harshit,
SPJIMR matches profiles to specializations and does not independently select of reject profiles
Which specializations are you planning to apply to?
LikeLike
Hi sir
Thank you so much for the post. I am a student of IMS and have been following your blogs since then. Could you please guide me for my application in SP Jain
Profile :
Class : 9.8 CGPA
Class 12 : 91.2 % (Commerce)
B.com H : 7.5 CGPA, Delhi University
work ex : KPMG in Audit for 1.5 years
I don’t have particular achievements to mention but thoughout college and office I have been a part of various committees, student council, CSR activities, internships and various leadership roles.
Is there any chance for a profiile based call. My first preference would be Marketing (though you mentioned it is not in line with my work exp) and second would be Finance.
I really look forward to your reply.
Thank you.
LikeLike
Hi Isha,
Given your marks and your PoRs, you do stand a decent chance of getting a Marketing shortlist.
Apply to it as first preference under Area of Special Interest and use the 50 words to precisely describe why marketing by aligning it to your PoRs.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi sir,
I was going through the application form for PGDM in marketing. In my graduation (B.com H) I have studied following subjects related to it :
Principles of Marketing
E marketing
Advertising.
In the form there are four options, to select for the first choice of subject :
a) graduation in related area
b) relevant work experience
c). specialised course in the chosen area
d). specialised interest in this area (a 50 word write up is required only if we select this)
Would it be fine for me to select both a) and d) ?
Looking forward to your reply.
LikeLike
Hi Isha,
Your graduation is a B.Com and is thus technically aligned to Finance and not Marketing, so you should not choose A. A BBA with a specialisation in Marketing will be considered graduation in related area.
You should choose D and use the courses in the description to back up your interest.
All the best!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Sir
There are certain things I have participated in but not sure which category should i put them under, for instance:
1. Worked with AIESEC in Delhi IIT for a year on Sustainable dev goals (education and healthcare in slums) , raised monetary partnerships with NGOs.
2. was awarded special recommendation for a campaign ‘scholars for change’ initiated by IIM A for underprivileged children.
3. been a part of college student’s union, csr activities, NSS
4. was in organising committee for Ted talk in college
I believe they should fall under versatility but what should be the sub head then (max 25 word limit)
Looking forward to your reply.
Thank you.
LikeLike
Hi Isha,
You can include 1 and 2 under versatility with the title of Social Work.
You can include 3 and 4 in professional responsibilities shouldered.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi Mr.Tony,
I served as a Dean’s Nominated convenor for sports fest, can I add this to Academic Achievements as it was in my Engineering college.
LikeLike
Hi Vishnu,
You should fill this in the Responsibilities Shouldered section not academic achievments.
All the best!e
LikeLike
Good morning Sir,
Thanks for the great article. Clears up a lot of the air.
Although, I would still like to ask you about applying to Marketing after working as a software developer for 2 years. My company’s domain lies in marketing and advertising. I was working on the development of a customer loyalty enhancement product for clients of my org.
I have also done Google’s digital marketing certification.
I have started a small business initiative pertaining to bath and body products (about more than a year ago) and have used influencer marketing to promote the same (Though I do not have a huge turnover to show for it). The design of the products, creative photography, logo design, were all done by me.
My Acads are
10th – 89.71
12th – 93 (one of the university toppers)
Grad (information science engineering) – 68.63
I also am a self trained musician and western music vocalist and have certificates of my wins. Fashion show organiser and participant (biggest event of my college).
I have also taken part in CSR activities and organised a few. Got the best employee award in my team for a quarter.
I also have LinkedIn recommendations from my reporting managers about my efficient work and communication skills ( I don’t know if they would really care about LinkedIn recommendations).
So my question is, is it okay if I put marketing as my first preference even though my work ex was in technology, considering all else above?
LikeLike
Also, since the company’s domain is “marketing and advertising”, would it be right to tick the “Relevant experience” checkbox in the application?
LikeLike
You can tick the box.
LikeLike
Hi Akarsha,
Given that you have done quite a few things that are very relevant to Marketing, you can apply to Marketing first and IM next.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLike
Thank you for the reply, Sir! What would be your take on my chances of getting a profile based call? Considering my grad marks are on the lower side.
LikeLike
Chances are decent but not a lock-in but definitely worth throwing your hat into the ring.
The only reason for you to not apply would be if you are certain that there is no way you can cross a 96 percentile, in case you miss the profile-based call.
All the best!
LikeLike
Thanks a lot sir!
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
My Academic details:
10th 9.8 CGPA
12th 88.4 %
B.E (Civil) 78.5 %
work Experience: 36 months
I had topped Sikkim in English Olympiad in 10th standard. I have anchored multiple seminars in my college. I had represented my school in the National Youth Parliament program as the speaker of the house in Calcutta. I am thinking of applying to IM. Sir would my profile be good enough for the same.
Thank you.
Regards,
Pragya
LikeLike
Hi Pragya,
Your profile will be competitive for IM, so you should definitely apply, it will depend on all the other profiles but given the work-ex and gender diversity you should get a call.
All the best!
LikeLike
Thank you for your valuable inputs sir.
LikeLike
Hi sir !!
Thanks for writing this !! Cleared a lot of doubts.
Kindly go thru my Profile below:
Specialization: Operations and Supply Chain
Work Ex: Operations- 30 Months in Hero Motocorp (Worked on New Model Development, Capacity Expansion and Rationalisation, New Plant Setup ..1 Greenfield Project & 1 Brownfield project)
Other than that, I have 2 paid internships In Operstions verticle itself.
Academics: 10/12/Grad: 9.2 CGPA/87%/73%
Achievements: 2 Gold Medal(School Topper) In each Maths and Science Olympiads in class 10th and 12th
Extra-curricular: SAE Member, A part of Formula Student team in college, Handled the position of responsibility as Vehicle Dynamics Lead and participated in 2 events at National Level.
Versatility: Organized events in Cultural fest at College level. and Organized a few events for office patties.
(I do not have any specific hobby to mention or any relevant achievement for this section, pl. suggest how to put this in a good way)
Looking forward to your reply…
Thanks and Regards,
LikeLike
Hi Pranjal,
You have a pretty competitive profile for Ops, so do apply.
Use the professional responsibility shouldered to write about being part of the organizing teams at the cultural fest.
The events for office parties, mention it only if you feel it is something that is noteworthy.
All the best!
LikeLike
Thank you for your inputs.
In addition to what has been mentioned, I Have done an ONLINE Certification (Udemy) for Lean Six Sigma-Green Belt (15 Hours Course). Though the course gives pretty much detailed insights on Lean Six Sigma, however, it does not offer any Certification from any recognized Body (like KPMG/ASQ/IASSC etc.). Can I still mention it under certifications column?
Thanks !!
LikeLike
You can mention it.
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Thank you for your help. Please see my profile below and share your valuable views on the same.
Specialization 1 * : Operations and supply chain management. (18 months work ex)]
Specialization 2 * : Marketing
Mention Your Interest * My current job requires me to interact with logistics and marketing teams of various clients which has peaked my interest in this particular field whilst also placing a strong focus on customer service and product delivery.
Academic details:
Class 10: 92.8
Class 12: 84.4
Graduation: 66.64
Work Ex: Operations executive at GoComet solutions Pvt Ltd (Logistics and supply chain)
Total work ex: 18 months
Job description:
Responsible for implementation of GoComet process solutions in manufacturing enterprise accounts that includes understanding the current logistics and supply chain process of the client and consultation on it’s optimization, implementation planning and execution, vendor management, report configurations and analytics whilst also working with the product team on product enhancements.
Academic Achievements:
Department of mechanical engineering – Best Project – 3rd position
3rd position in school in class 10 boards.
Versatility:
Name of the Activity Interest Proficiency Award Level Description(Max. 25 words)
Football High Expert First University Won the Inter institute football championship with my college. I Play the sport regularly and a keen follower of the sport as well.
Sports Committee High Expert None College Part of the college sports committee and mechanical branch head.
General Knowledge Quiz Medium Intermediate Second School Stood second in Navi Mumbai along with my teammate in the Limca Book Of records quiz held in Jan 2013
Reading High Intermediate None None An avid reader with a keen interest in fiction and sports autobiographies. Big admirer of Dan Brown and his works. Also love the works of Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens.
Football Coaching High Intermediate None None Volunteered with Football School Of India to coach kids under the age of 12.
Overall versatility rating: Good
Responsibilities shouldered:
Personal: (Level: medium)
Description: Currently guiding my younger brother for his class 10th board examinations and teaching him mathematics and science on a daily basis. Also evaluating him with weekly tests.
Profesional: (Level medium)
Undertook the responsibility of vendor training and solution implementation in Brenntag Asia pacific across locations such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia in the absence of my colleague. Came up with a british auction process which helped the brenntag team to award their freight contracts and lower the costs.
Kindly please let me know what do you think of the same. Looking forward to your reply.
Thank You!
Emad
LikeLike
Hi Emad,
You have a decent profile for Ops, given the work-ex, but not necessarily a sureshot one given the graduation marks.
I would suggest throwing your hat into the ring and taking a shot with Ops and first preference and Marketing as the second preference.
All the best!
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
Thank you in advance for the help.
Academic details:
Class 10: 79.4
Class 12: 91.4
Graduation: 81.10(Chemical Engineering with specialization in oil refining)
Work Ex: 18 Months as a Research Analyst for the Energy and Power Sector. The responsibilities involve preparing a research report for the global oil & gas scenario along with the power sector on a global scale along with the country-wise exhaustive research.
Academic Achievement :
AIR 10318 (JEE Advance 2015)
Paper presentation At SEFCO organized by Indian Institute of Petroleum(IIP) in 2017
Internship :
1-month Internship at IFFCO Phool Pur in 2017.
2-month intern at IOCL Panipat in 2018.
Position of Respoonsibilty
Overall Coordination Annual Cultural Fest 2018.
Placement Coordinator
Interest : Watching football along with reading novels. Have read novels by Dan brown along with books like Man Searching for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and various books on stock market. Recently(since last 1 year) started to invest in stock market too.
Sir is it advisable to apply for the SPJAIN? Please suggest the specializtion i should be applying?
LikeLike
Hi Raunit,
Unless you know which specialization you are interested in and which one you are passionate about it is tough to crack the SPJIMR interview since you will be competing with people whose profile is strongly aligned to one field.
There is no point applying for the sake of applying, you are better off applying to a General Management program.
If you still want to apply (your profile is decent but not a sureshot)you can apply to Marketing given the research background since market estimation and research play a huge part in Marketing.
Where your work-ex will be really relevant though will be Consulting.
All the best!
LikeLike
Sir my name is Harsh ( BTech civil engineering (3 rd sem)
Academic details:
X-9.0
Twelfth-85%
Current Gpa: 8.21
Achievements:
1.) AITA seeded player
2.) Scholarship awardee ( MRD scholarship)
3.) stood in top 1% percentile of class.
4.) won a good number of MUN’s
In my first and second year I had interned at AKDN ( Ava Khan Development Network ) in the fields of water piping and dam set up.( 3 months each).
Third year: interned at Shapoorji Pallonji construction company , Baba Saheb Ambedkar Project for a period of 2 months.
Profile good enough for marketing or IM
LikeLike
Hi Harsh,
You have a profile that is competitive for Marketing. Since you have not IT or tech work-ex, you might not get an IM call.
All the best!
LikeLike
* 3rd year
Harsh
LikeLike
Thanks a ton for your advice and there’s one more thing I had to ask. Since I’m in my third year and being aware of the fact that the form filling is a very important bridge that helps a candidate reach the stage for selection, how should I go about my profile building. I will be joining an internship in a civil firm probably next year. Do let me know .
Harsh
LikeLike
Hi Harsh,
You can go through this post on profile building — https://thecatwriter.com/2019/03/18/how-to-build-your-profile-for-an-mba-2/
All the best!
LikeLike
Hello Sir,
Thank you so much for this detailed blog. I just had one confusion:
My work ex is in Ops. (28 months) & I am a Mechanical Engg.
but I want to change my domain to Finance (special interest) in which I have done some courses
(1. Investment Foundation Course of CFA Institute, 2. Financial Markets of Yale University from Coursera, 3. Fundamentals of Quantitative modelling of University of Pennsylvania from Coursera and a course on Fintech also from Coursera)
10/12/Grad: 87.4/91.8/73.6
Sir, do I stand a chance if I keep finance as my first preference?
LikeLike
Hi Shantanu,
The profiles you will be competing with will be CAs, CFAs, and Commerce Grads with quality work-ex.
So while your certifications do demonstrate your interest, the profile might not be competitive enough.
You might get a call but I have rarely seen final admits into Finance without exceptional Finance profile.
In the Group Interview, you will be telling them, in effect, to ignore your background so far and evaluate you only on the basis of your certifications and interest in Finance.
You are better off applying to General Management programs and giving SPJIMR a miss if you do not want Ops.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you sir! for your valuable advice, it indeed clarified my doubt. And thank you so much for your blogs and videos too, they have helped me a lot in my preparation.
LikeLike
Glad you found the blogs and webinars useful.
All the best for tomorrow!
LikeLike
Hi sir !!
I am Sukrity Shrivastava
Thanks for writing this !! Cleared a lot of doubts.
Q.1 Kindly go thru my Profile below and let me know if with the specialization I am planning to select based on my profile will I be able to get a call. Is there any improvement/modification required or
if anything sounds irreverent?
Specialization 1: Information Management
Specialization 2: Operations and Supply Chain/Marketing (Confused)
Work Ex: Software Engineer- 29 Months in HSBC (Developed APIs, microservices, and automation solutions. Demonstrated processes through documentation, flowcharts, layouts, diagrams, charts, code comments, and clear code. Prepared environmental setup, the pipeline for deployment, and also guided new team members. Involved in Production Support to support internal and external partners.)
Academics: 10/12/Grad: 8.6 CGPA/82.2%/83.5%
Academic Achievements: 1) Letter of appreciation from SAIL during the Summer internship.
2) Scored 90+ in Mathematics of 8th and 12th class board exam.
3) Scholarship from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Govt. of India.
Versatility: 1) Organized a few events for office parties/Great Place to work events/Award ceremonies.
2) National level Dance participant in the Youth festival, in 11th class.
3) Volunteered.CSR Activity to empower academically strong and financially challenged girls of Lila Poonavala Foundation by providing them Finacial literacy Sessions.
4) Volunteered CSR Activity for Mahashramdaan Day with Paani Foundation.
5) Got shortlisted as one of the Global Representatives for Coalition team formed by HSBC Group CIOs and COOs.
Responsibilities shouldered:
Personal: (Level: medium)
Description: Guided my friend’s younger sister in her class 12th Mathematics Supplementary exam. Finally, She was able to pass the exam with the second distinction.
Profesional: (Level medium)
Undertook the responsibility of training new members of the team(vendors/permanent employees). Automated testing process and linked JIRA, Confluence, and GSD for a better experience. Scanning new tools/libraries in the project to ensure Cybersecurity. Have also delivered various sessions on GCP on the departmental level.
Looking forward to your reply…
Q.2 Should I opt for an early interview in January or not? By selecting no, will my chances of getting the profile-based call lower?
Thanks and Regards
LikeLike
Hi Sir,
I am Annie Sharma and would be writing Cat 2021.Thanks for this detailed blog, it is really helpful. There were somehow few doubts that I have regarding the form filing of SP Jain. Firstly I wanted to ask, can I put the marks of class 10 and graduation under the academic achievements? Will it be considered ? If not then what would be the most appropriate please suggest- any certificate courses, language certifications, or any paper published at undergrad level? Please guide as I am the forms will be out soon.
Thanks and Regards,
Annie Sharma
LikeLike
Hi Annie,
If academic achievements include things such as standing in the Top 3 of X, XII, Grad, Olympiads, and as I clearly mentioned in the post in bold:
“In case you do not have 3 academic achievements then list co-curricular achievements such as paper-presentations, journal publications or anything that is related to your academics”
Hope this helps,
All the best!
LikeLike
Sir my name is S Harsh Kumar and am currently in my fourth year, im confused whether i should be applying for the profile based call or not.
Academic details:
X-9.0
Twelfth-85.6%
Current Gpa: 8.67
Achievements:
1.) AITA seeded player
2.) Scholarship awardee ( MRD scholarship)
3.) stood in top 1% percentile of class.
4.) won a good number of MUN’s
In my first and second year I had interned at AKDN ( Ava Khan Development Network ) in the fields of water piping and dam set up.( 3 months each).
Third year: interned at Shapoorji Pallonji construction company , Baba Saheb Ambedkar Project for a period of 2 months.
Is the profile competitive for marketing and operations and managment.
LikeLike
Hi Harsh,
While your academic profile is great for Operations they look at profiles with 2-years of solid work experience in design, manufacturing, quality control, logistics or any other Ops related field.
In that sense, the probability of a profile-based call for Ops is very low.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
LikeLike
Sir my name is S HARSH KUMAR and am confused whether i should consider applying for sp jain profle based call.
Academic details:
X-9.0
Twelfth-85.6%
Current Gpa: 8.67
Achievements:
1.) AITA seeded player
2.) Scholarship awardee ( MRD scholarship)
3.) stood in top 1% percentile of class.
4.) won a good number of MUN’s
In my first and second year I had interned at AKDN ( Ava Khan Development Network ) in the fields of water piping and dam set up.( 3 months each).
Third year: interned at Shapoorji Pallonji construction company , Baba Saheb Ambedkar Project for a period of 2 months.
is the profile competitive for marketing or opns
LikeLike