An Interview Excerpts

So, recently I took an interview of my class senior. The result was to judge whether I am "Domination material" (college magazine). I am publishing here the full interview of Vaibhav Shrivastava.

“I WRITE TO SIMPLY SHUT DOWN MY THOUGHTS”

                                                                                                                                               -VAIBHAV SHRIVASTAVA

                                                                                                      (An interview by Kunal Bansal)

What were you doing prior to joining Doms, IIT, Roorkee?

After my engineering, I joined Infosys. 2^nd July, 2012 was my last date in Infosys and on 22^nd July, I joined Doms.

Maybe this question must have been repeated to you umpteen times before, but still I would like to hear from you, why MBA?

 See, MBA is as much a degree of an individual as much of an institute.  I mean, it differs from person to person depending upon their perception, their ambition, their skill set. MBA for me was a way to come out of my shell. I had certain qualities, I wanted to nurture more. I had certain deficiencies; I wanted to go away with. And in a way, I would say that I have succeeded. What MBA does is, broaden your horizon, your way to perceive other things. For example, I did my internship in advertising.  My view towards business is completely different now. I look at businesses as less risky and more profitable; previously, it was the other way round.
 

Since you did your summers in advertising and at the same time taken marketing as your specialization. What prompted you towards it?

First of all my skill set and my reasons for joining MBA program were pretty clear. Being an engineer and working in a corporate while in Infosys, my purpose in MBA was to understand businesses and communicate that to clients. By communicating businesses, you talk about your organization’s goal and other salient points and in a way, you sell. And selling is all about marketing. Basically, I see myself as a person responsible for transforming needs into a product like a brand manager or a marketing strategist.

 

You are quite a blogger. Recently, you have even sent your blog “Through my eyes” to IBA (IndiBlogger). Tell us more about it.

(Smiles) Well, I write a lot. And this blog is just a small part of certain articles and thoughts, which I thought to share. And whenever I write and for that matter anybody is writing a blog, the entire focus is on expressing and you write to simply shut down your thoughts. When I started writing, I published some of my poetry, then some articles. Gradually I started writing travelogues, movie reviews and even some short stories. I even wrote articles on social causes. For ex, when Ajmal Kasab was hanged, I wrote. When the gang rape of Delhi happened, I wrote. It was all to express the inner conflicts within me which I decided to share to the world. And sending my blog to IBA was an attempt on my part to show the world that here is a writer who can write and his writing is driven by human emotions. And you all are very well welcome to read it and infer from it yourself.

You have a marketing profile. You are a writer. You have some very good networking skills. So, why not start your career as a journalist or a marketing executive?

When I joined Mccain during my internship, it taught me in and out of advertising. And you would obviously be tempted to work there. After the internship, I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Kishor Chakraborty, VP and Mandeep Sharma, country head MRM. And the crux I would take out from the meetings is that advertising as a career comes in the end. I mean, it should not be someone’s starting career move. Because, in advertising, you are supposed to communicate. And for that matter, you need to understand first, the intricacies and in and outs of any business.  So, according to me, one should start a career in a challenging role and learn day by day and then after a certain interval, join an advertising agency and apply all the plethora of those learning in a sophisticated way.

You initiated a club in DoMS called Samadhan in your first year. How did you manage time with the academics, the club activities, the various other participation and your blog at the same time?

I mean MBA is all about time management and nothing else. You can learn HR, you can learn finance, you can learn marketing, but it is the time management you have to learn and utilize. And you have to make strategies to finish your things that you have started. I initiated this club on the objective to make different strategies and to apply them in real life. Being a coordinator, we explored many options about consulting. Negotiating with many people, bringing the live projects and establishing the image of this new born club among those already established was a bit challenging.  But ultimately it is all about time management. And personally I really enjoyed it.

On a lighter note, IITs are known for its low female population. Your views?

(Laughs) Actually when I joined Doms, I had the opportunity to go to IMT Ghaziabad or Delhi University, so I understood what I am going away from. But I had worked with the female colleague in Infosys and I understand what they think and I have a lot of respect towards them. So, I believe, MBA is a very compact degree and the female population you see here are the business heads of tomorrow. So, you see whatever women we have on the campus are the ladies who will ship the image and ideas for the decades to come. So, if you get along with them nicely, you will be a better father, husband, colleague in future.

Thank you Vaibhav for your time. Any last message you wish to give us first year students?

Yes, as I told you earlier, MBA is a two years degree. So, the input expected from you doubles if you compare from the B.Tech counterparts and the time frame is of course halved. So, make good use of it. Never lose your sight of the goal. And always, always, always be open to suggestions and criticisms.

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