For Satna born Agrima Shrivastava, PGDM has been a very serious journey but the cheerful girl did not forget to catch up on her share of fun either. “We had our moments. For instance, we secretly ate lunch in the classroom while hiding it from the course instructor or sometimes simply indulged in a round of pen fights while instructor was delivering a lecture… I mean it is of course silly and irresponsible on our part but then, come on, we are students after all,” remarks Agrima with a mischievous smile on her lips. The girl just wrapped a power-packed PGDM from Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida with a 9.57 LPA CTC being offered to her from Federal Bank. What was the interview process like?
“Oh it was intense!” she quips. There were 150 students vying for the office of the Junior Management Grade 1 of Federal Bank but Agrima knew she had to keep her calm and stay true no matter what. The final selection process started with an aptitude test followed by a group discussion and interview. “There were volleys of questions coming from the interviewer but there was a particular one which had me thinking on my toes- what is that one topic which you don’t like to talk about with people? Took me a while to answer that,” says Agrima.
During her interview, Agrima mostly drew her experience from her internship that Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida had facilitated for her after she completed her first year of PGDM at the B-school. She had interned with Voltas where she had worked as a finance intern in the company’s finance and commercial department. The project was on working capital management. And in Agrima’s words- “a lot of questions revolved around my project and work responsibilities at Voltas.” Her specialization in Finance and Marketing was a cherry on the cake. Her domain knowledge backed by her two years’ training within an intensive PGDM curriculum had her deal questions around teamwork and people management efficiently.
And did the MP girl know she was going to make it to one of the major scheduled commercial banks of India as soon she completed her PGDM? Well, of course not but what Agrima knew was- “to not leave any opportunity unanswered.” She stayed focused in her academics from day one in her PGDM and kept herself occupied with one of the busiest student clubs on campus- the Media Relations Club (MRC) alongside. She was one of the key content writers of the team and was also a member of the Communications Club. While others might network to make business contacts, Agrima networked to make friends and build relationships. “I met fabulous people these last 2 years of my PGDM life and I am hopeful, we shall stay in touch and contribute to the world in our own big or small yet significant ways,” says the girl who is about to join Federal Bank in a matter of few months.
