How to approach ISB?

Every year, people reach out at various points in their ISB journeys–asking for advice on what they should do to derive the maximum value out of their experience. This is what I tell them.

Context

Advice given without context carries the risk of being irrelevant. There are two things you should know before reading ahead:

  1. My pre-ISB background
    • YLP admit with 1 year additional deferral (~3 years of work-ex)
    • Decent undergrad (DTU) with an above-average academic record, well-rounded extra-curriculars
    • Worked at not so popular startups (magicpin, Koparo) in high-impact product and business roles with amazing founders
  2. My mindset and post-ISB aspiration
    • I had read a lot of philosophy and psychology before the start of my MBA–which gave me perspective to rise above the rat race and focus on things that matter
    • This indifference is a rare and hard place to be in as an MBA candidate as there is a lot of peer pressure
    • I wanted to work in and around tech (preferably product roles) post my MBA
    • I wanted a brand and role that would have been very hard to get without the MBA (hence justifying the high cost and opportunity cost)–specially because I was doing reasonably well in my pre-MBA career
    • I eventually got a McKinsey and a Flipkart PM offer

Approach

This is what I did and what worked for me. It might or might not apply to your situation.

  1. Academics
    • I focused heavily on academics during the first three terms. Having a high CGPA is never a bad thing. Initially, when you don’t have much else to do, this is the highest dividend paying activity that you should prioritise and work on.
    • I had a CGPA of 3.8 (when applying for jobs) which was not high enough to create a spike on its own, but strong enough to give my overall profile a good standing.
    • Once the shortlists started coming in, the priority moved to interview preparations. During terms 4 and 5 (closer to placements), I took subjects that I could get through without studying. I feel that this is critical. Getting the right job should take precedence over vanity metrics like being in the top 10%. If you can solve for both, nothing like it.
    • I wanted to do well academically (get into the Dean’s list) but couldn’t achieve that. I found the course to be too fast-paced for my liking. I am a slow learner who needs time with the subject material to attain mastery and I almost never had enough time. However, this structure suits people who are quick learners–people who can listen to lectures and retain most parts. They do exceedingly well. When I figured that I can’t change my learning style in such a short span of time, I let go of my desire and directed my focus at other things.
    • Post placements, I pursued a wide range of subjects following my natural intellectual curiosities irrespective of the specialisation or the difficulty.
  2. Positions of responsibilities (POR)
    • Take them up if you want to really serve people and not because they add a resume pointer. Until you are the GSB president or a club president, firms usually don’t care. Moreover, you are stuck with them for the entire year and it does neither you nor the cohort any good.
    • If you need a resume pointer because your education section is weak, consider being a part of leadership teams of marquee events. They require less effort/time commitment and will provide you with a filler point.
    • I didn’t take up any POR–I was very clear about not wasting my time on things I am not passionate about or suited for.
  3. Case competitions
    • Do only corporate case comps floated by big brands and aim to be campus/national winners. 1 major case comp success is worth much more than first/second level qualification in 10 minor case comps. Focus is the key.
    • You might choose to do the smaller ones if the problem statement seems interesting or to find fitment with a partner–these are reasonable reasons to try them out. But don’t waste a lot of time and energy on these.
    • I just did a couple seriously (Microsoft, Razorpay, HUL) and managed to win the Microsoft PM Engage (campus winner and national finalist) which was the most prestigious product related case comp.
  4. Resume
    • Making a stellar resume is the single most important skill that ISB will teach you. Start early.
    • Part 1 (before ISB starts, latest by term 1)
      • In a spreadsheet, list down everything that you have done in your career (right from high school onwards) in as much detail as possible. There should be at least 3 pages worth of material here.
      • Next, take a stab at picking the best pointers from each experience across sections (education, work-ex and extra-curriculars) and fit it in a page.
      • Post this, take the relevant section from the 3 pager to people you attended school or worked with and ask them to select the best pointers. Eg. if you worked at a startup, take the startup experience section to your manager/CXO and ask them what all should make the cut and be a part of your resume. If you find the right people for this exercise, you will realise that you haven’t documented some of your major achievements or what you consider trivial is actually highly relevant in other people’s perception.
      • Ask for help from them in framing the pointers to ensure the context is abstracted sufficiently, the pointer is clear and brings out the impact you made.
    • Part 2 (term 2 and half of term 3)
      • Google and understand the RAC (result-action-context) format. It is the most impactful format to create the resume in (irrespective of the kind of company you are applying to). A friend and I had among the highest number of shortlists for product, strategy and consulting roles on campus with this format. Don’t waste your time debating on which format is better.
      • The reason RAC works is because most people scan through your resume and left to right is the typical reading flow. If they find an impactful pointer, they read through the rest of the line. Putting the impact up front also helps in easy perception formation.
      • Next, go to KMP and download the last 5 years resumes of people who made it to your target firms. Go through these resumes and look for patterns on how they formed the sentences, how the sections were divided, what parts were highlighted etc. You should aim to study at least 200 resumes to get a solid understanding of what works. Imbibe them in your resume when you are crafting it.
      • Find people with experience similar to yours on LinkedIn. So if you went IIT Delhi, find other IIT Delhi folks who have graduated from ISB. Or if you worked in tech at Microsoft, find other software engineers who were at Microsoft pre-ISB. Look at where they joined post ISB.
      • Then log on to KMP and get their resume. Look at how they have described the pointers in the common (shared experience) section. You don’t need to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel. You can simply pick up elements from these and repurpose them by using your data.
      • Now, read through your resume to check whether it is actually in the RAC format or not. At least, 85-90% of the pointers should be. The buffer is for some pointers where you might not have impact worth describing or you want to bring out some other facet like leadership. This activity takes time to master. A true RAC pointer looks like this ~ “Generated ~₹xx Cr in GMV through a segmented targeting campaign that nudged users to achieve higher spending goals”. Here the ‘generated xx Cr’ part is the result, ‘segmented targeting campaign’ is the action and ‘nudging users to spend more’ is the context for the action.
    • Part 3 (term 3 and 4)
      • Get a lot of resume reviews done (from peers, mentors and alums). But get it done from the right people. Just because an alum is telling you something, doesn’t mean they are right. Most people give useless advice. It is important to find the right people and apply your brain before incorporating their advice.
      • Utilise the MBB resume review sessions. The consultants are trained on this trait day in day out and I found their advice to be the most relevant.
      • Keep iterating on the feedback until you start getting inputs only on cosmetic changes.
      • Don’t over-optimise beyond a point.
  5. Interview preparation
    • I prepared for product and consulting interviews. This section will require posts of its own which I intend to write sometime. Feel free to email me till then.
  6. Relationships
    • Networking for the sake of it is a sham. Don’t get into it.
    • 5% of every cohort is comprised of super-excited, high-energy extroverts whom you will find on all platforms (Telegram/social media, clubs, GSB, events etc.). They are not representative of the batch so don’t form your entire perception based on the acts of these people. There are enough people like you–you need to seek them out.
    • Your closest friends are most likely to come from your first study group and your quad. People you do case comps or interview prep with might also end up becoming key people in your journey.
    • The best way to find people you can vibe with is by being kind and helpful and excelling at a few things. Simply being nice (without having an agenda) is rarity at B-schools. It is a sad reality but it is what it is. And being great at things helps people respect you. It also creates a reputation that travels fast.
    • If you end up leaving ISB with 3-4 very good friends, that is a great outcome. Do everything possible to ensure that you stay strongly connected with them. It needs a lot of effort. I have seen very strong friendships fade away because life gets in the way–people move to different cities, get married, have kids etc.
    • From a professional standpoint, knowing a lot of people in your batch at a superficial level works (e.g. having a couple of good insightful conversations or doing some activity together). These are the connections that will refer you for jobs, make introductions or help you bypass bureaucracy. When you reach out to such people later in life, they will be able to put a face to the name and help you out.
  7. Parties
    • There are a lot of parties at ISB. Go if you want to but if you are an introvert like me who doesn’t enjoy partying–feel free to stay back in your room and do things that you love. It makes no difference whatsoever and you don’t miss out on anything. I just attended parties hosted by close friends.
    • It is hard to constantly say no–takes a lot of willpower but draining your energy in saying no is far better than going, feeling out of place and spoiling the next day entirely.
  8. Miscellaneous
    • Don’t over compromise on sleep. Try to get at least 6 hours every night and more on the weekends. Lack of sleep leads to sub-optimal performance.
    • Try expanding your worldview. It is highly likely that you have grown up with people similar to you in intellect and interests. ISB is a great place to meet diametrically opposite people and learn from them. Understand how they think differently.
    • Get out of your comfort zone and do challenging things. This can be done post placements as well. I tried swimming.
    • Have lots of fun. It is a great time to be carefree and it won’t come back–make lasting memories.

If you want to chat beyond this, feel free to email at the address mentioned in the footer.

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