Sunday, February 17, 2008

Day 2

More than 25 domestic companies and many international companies have made their offers yesterday. This includes all the consulting firms, many I-Banks, commercial banks, IT majors, Conglomerates and real estate majors.

My guess is that more than 150 people should have got an offer and about 100 or so could have actually accepted it. Will get back to you on getting some more dope on this.

I had two interviews yesterday and got an offer from both of them. However i have rejected both the offers. Both of them were banks.

My interview had of course gone well with both the guys. At the end of the interview, when the HR lady broached the salary topic and gave me a number which they had in their mind, my first reaction was "Mam, may be you are missing a couple of zeroes, could you please recheck and revert?". But then i realized that she was damn serious when she made the offer... So, you can imagine the rest of the story..

My experience with the other bank was even more interesting. At the end of the interview...

HR: "Ok Mr. Rangarajan, we are impressed with your skill sets and achievements and are pleased to offer you.... blah.. blah..."

Me: "Mam.. can i bring something to your attention?"

HR: Sure.. go ahead

Me" "I had already mentioned this during te interview, but i guess this fact got missed out. One year back, before i joined ISB, i had an offer from you. However, i could not take it up, because i had decided to join ISB. The grade you had offered me then was one level higher than what you are offering me now and the salary you are offering me now is about ___ % lesser... Could you please take these facts into account" (I had a mind to ask... Do you really think, ISB could have brought down the value in me?.. however, i restrained myself..)

HR: Is it so? I am very sorry. Give me a couple of minutes, let me check and revert..

Me: Sure.. take your time

HR (20 min later): Sorry Mr. Rangarajan, our mandate for today is to hire up to a maximum of this level only. You can take this offer if you want to..

Me: Oh.. thats wonderful. I am sure you understand my position... Thanks for the efforts..

This again reiterates my views about the HR community in general (there are of course some exceptions..). Its best that i dont voice them in this forum.

My plate is again full today and I have an intersting array of companies to meet..

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting blog..gud that the real scene at the ISB is coming out..helps manage expectations for future aspirants...always believed that ISB hype is like the sensex..the bubble is waiting to burst...

Rangarajan said...

Hi Anonymous,
I am not sure if i buy your argument on comparing ISB with Sensex. I will restrain from commenting on the same..

However, your other point on managing expectations is bang on. ISB is not Hogwarts... as long as we keep this mind, it will save us a lot of trouble..

Anonymous said...

Hi Rangarajan...excuse the comparison..my mouth is still bitter from the recent R2 reject....not that such info would deter me from trying again but such transparency helps....