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Essay writing Tips

Essay writing is gaining more and more importance as a component of the personal assessment round of the top B schools. The general notion about writing an essay is to organize it according to the word limit, structure it into paragraphs and make it worth reading. But while writing an essay for the IIM admission, you better check your watch than planning the structure and counting the words.

While IIM Bangalore will give 30 minutes to write the essay, the time will be even lesser for IIM Ahmedabad and Lucknow. While the Written Ability Test of the IIM Lucknow is of 15 minutes, the time for writing the essay is as less as 10 minutes in IIM Ahmedabad.

Here, the key is to write as fast as possible in order to finish the essay. Don’t waste time in thinking and planning the structure of the essay, you will not be able to complete it. For this, you would need sufficient practice before you actually take the plunge.

According to a student of IIM Ahmedabad, who is also a student mentor, best way to practice is by picking up a current affairs topic everyday and write as much as you can for 10 minutes.

Your focus should be to start the essay and put as many important points as possible. It is not a compulsion to present it in an impressive and flowery language. But accuracy and correctness of spelling and grammar definitely matters a lot.

The evaluation is based on the number of new ideas or points you can produce in a given time, the different angles in which you analyze the topic and the logic behind your arguments.

It is important to develop the ability to think and articulate fast. For the B-School panelists, it is a tool to see how you structure your thoughts and produce them in least time.

Topics of the essays

Like GDs, essays also have a vast array of topics. They can be on anything under the sun from political, social, economic issues to something abstract.

Some of the last year’s essay topics are:

-- The NGO sector in India is not getting due recognition from the society
-- Should India change from a multi-party system to a bi-party system
-- Pen is ‘not’ always mightier than sword
-- Space tourism
-- News channel’s coverage: A reflection of people’s tastes
-- Corporate Governance
-- Fitness classes should be made compulsory for all politicians
-- Should Nehru’s centers of learning remain elitist?
-- Indian education system does not encourage creativity

Some of the topics for this year which have high probability are:

-- Union and/Rail Budget 2009
-- Women’s Reservation Bill
-- Indo Pak Talks
-- Sachin’s Double Ton
-- India in Olympics

The significance of Essay as a precursor to the PI round

The essay you wrote in the first half of the personal assessment round can generate some questions in the interview round. The interview panel can ask you questions about the essay you have written and you have to defend it. Questions on the topic can also be asked, which demands you to know a lot about the topic. But don’t get tense if you don’t know something. You need to simply admit it.

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IIM-L final placements: 370 offers made

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, (IIM-L) concluded its final placement process on a high note by placing 315 students, the largest-ever count for a graduating IIM batch. A total of 370 offers were made to the 315 students, including 41 pre-placement offers (PPOs) and 123 lateral offers for higher-entry placements.

IIM-L does not reveal the highest salary levels offered to its students. However, sources on the campus said the highest salary package offered this year was Rs 75 lakh by a multinational company for a general management profile.

The placement season was much better compared to 2009 when 284 offers were made to 267 students.

A total of 121 recruiting companies visited the campus this year. The number during 2008 and 2009 stood at 98 and 103, respectively.

“Several of our students have been offered senior job profiles because 90 per of our candidates had prior work experience, which is highest among all IIMs,” a placement committee member told Business Standard.

Meanwhile, the placement week saw the return of the finance and information technology (IT) sectors in a big way. At the same time, 32 first-time recruiters including Centrum, Microland, Pfizer, Siemens Information Systems Ltd, Suzlon and Thomas Cook also came head hunting to the institute.

Banks and financial sector firms led with 24 per cent of the total offers in investment banking, proprietary trading, treasury, mergers and acquisitions and global risk management. Prominent companies included Calyon Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Nomura, Kotak Securities, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank, among many others. Sales, marketing and IT/IT-enabled services sectors followed closely with 20 and 19 per cent offers, respectively.

Top recruiters, including McKinsey and Co, Procter & Gamble (P&G), Hindustan Unilever, Aditya Birla Group, Deutsche Bank, Deloitte and KPMG were among the 121 companies that participated in the placement process.

While, P&G, Goldman Sachs and Cognizant made maximum offers at 10 each, Yes Bank and Deloitte hired nine and eight candidates, respectively. PPOs were made by Boston Consulting Group, JP Morgan Chase, TAS, Diageo, Agro Tech Foods, Marico, ITC and Reckitt Benckiser.

The Higher-Entry Placement Program witnessed over 100 lateral offers by Olam International, Philips, Goldman Sachs, Yes Bank, Ernst & Young Dubai, Deloitte, Cognizant, Mindtree Consulting, IBM Consulting and Rediff, among others.

Key recruiters in the sales and marketing space included Nokia, Puma, Pepsi, Cadbury and Reckitt Benckiser among others. Conglomerates such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, RPG, Essar and Siva Group were prominent recruiters. Philips, Asian Paints, and Arshiya International were firms offering Supply Chain Management profiles. The PSUs, who visited the IIML campus this time, included ONGC, Power Grid, NTPC and Shipping Corporation of India, who offered lucrative profiles in Finance, HR and General Management.

 

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XLRI Highest placement of Rs 50 lakh

JAMSHEDPUR: Pharma major Novartis offered the highest placement offer of Rs 50 lakh (USD 1,10,000) at the XLRI School of Business and Human Resources here for its prestigious HR leadership role at Basel, Switzerland.

The highest domestic package was Rs 26 lakh made by a consulting firm for its Mumbai desk whereas the average domestic package was at Rs 14.2 lakh, a 20 per cent increase over last year's figure.

The placement process attracted 75 companies giving a total of 205 offers to a batch of 120 Business Management and 60 Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (HR) students, XLRI Placement Committee Secretary Venkatesh K told reporters here last evening.

The campus recruitment programme 2010 saw 90 per cent of the batch accepting offers made by some of the most coveted organizations for their Indian and international locations followed by a strategically planned rolling process which enabled 100 per cent placements, Venkatesh K said.

XLRI, Venkatesh K said, maintained its position as a destination for premier finance roles as 28 per cent of the total offers came from the financial sector such as Goldman Sachs, Nomura Holdings, Edelweiss, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, ICICI, Axis Bank and YES Bank.

He said marketing has drawn renewed interest from the students and was the most sought after profile with 30 per cent accepting offers.

A total of 25 per cent of the students received top notch consulting offers.

"XLRI has once again reinforced its long standing supremacy as the best B-school in Asia-Pacific for Human Resources Recruitments continues to be robust and growing with the participation of major firms in this sector." 

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Future managers should put theory into practice

The pursuit of success unfolds many challenges and choosing right career option is the first step towards meeting them. However, a few understand that it's not the end but a beginning. Certain careers beckon students for their good job prospects.

Management education is one of the most sought after options today. Aspiring MBA set their eyes on getting a toehold in the best business school. However, the industry professionals say students are under a wrong notion that entry into a premier management institute makes things easier for future. More than teachers, infrastructure or syllabus, it is perception that makes the best business institute stand out. Management is not just a lucrative career option but it's an attitude, the experts feel.

Students should understand the whole concept, says Dr (Capt) Chitale, dean, department of management sciences, University of Pune. "In order to become good managers, students should know what management is. It is part of every walk of life. Many aspirants have some vague idea about management. There are sub-options like finance, human resources, marketing, IT, communications and so on in the management field. Students should zero in on the branch they would like to pursue. When one is clear about one's goal, it can be approached easily," Chitale adds.

According to him, management schools should act more as academic institutes. "They give knowledge and create a solid foundation. Nowadays, many of them appear acting more as placement agencies. The syllabus is more or less industry-centric but all that matters is its implementation. There are certain things, current affairs for instance, we cannot incorporate in the syllabus. B-schools should organise seminars and workshops on issues like global warming, terrorism, budget and the like. Management is required everywhere, right from home to traffic to governance. These could be good lessons for budding managers," he says.

Students should not be learning the basics after joining jobs, he feels. "Proper orientation is needed. Many of them can't recollect in the fourth semester what they learn during the first. If they want to succeed, they should think beyond jobs. Most industries are not happy with today's management school products. Why have any disparity between needs of the industry and education?" he wants to know.

Putting theory into practice will take students far, he opines. "Perfect application of theory is crucial. Learning process continues all through the life. Management education is mere preparation and real learning starts with experience. They should hone their skills and get the basics right. Basically, why should one learn for getting jobs? If we study to build competence, success follows," Chitale says.

Good business schools should develop students' ability to think and anaylise, he says. "This is what management is all about. That's why it is called an attitude and way of life. Let students learn the basics and rest assured. B-schools should focus on this ground reality," Chitale avers. 

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