Self-Assessment

1. Please describe yourself as a person. What are your strengths and areas of
improvement (at least 3 each)? Cite situations to exemplify each. (WL:
1000)
I am very friendly and approachable. I am quite open minded because of which I
can sustain a conversation with someone about any abstract topic. I am into
fitness and my hobbies include playing football and reading non-fiction. I am an
engineer with two years of work experience as a business analyst with
Accenture.
Strengths:
I am a quick learner. I have showcased this on several occasions in the past. I
have been provided with sudden requirements and changes in my previous job
and I have met my supervisors expectations. The changes that need to done
require knowledge of new topics which are irrelevant to the type of work I have
been doing. I have quickly gained knowledge of the new topics in very less time
in order to complete the task at hand.
I have strong communication skills. I have gained visibility from the leadership
team in the company because of the work that I had done. I followed up and
established a good rapport with them. I also had a good formal relationship with
the project team and have shown initiatives in organizing team meets and
outings. I have mentored two resources in the team and got them equipped with
the necessary skillset to do their work effectively and efficiently and increase
their productivity.
I am an effective team player. I was a part of the college football team. I have
worked with the rest of the team in winning several competitions. I was the
captain of the branch football team. In my final year project of engineering, my
team distributed the work equally amongst ourselves and effectively
collaborated with each other from time to time and finished the work well within
the scheduled time after getting feedback from our project guide.
Weaknesses:
I get nervous while addressing large crowds. I have undergone soft skills training
for the same in my previous company. The nervousness was quite evident from
my voice and body language when I was first asked to speak up and deliver a
presentation to my teammates. I have realized that some part of that
nervousness comes from the fear of judgement and I am constantly equipping
myself with the required skills to overcome this weakness and it is still work in
progress.
I cannot take criticism well. I have been provided with both constructive and
destructive criticism at my workplace. I sometimes take them personally and
realize that they were for my own good very late. I hate being proved wrong. I
have been recently learning the biases and fallacies involved in conversations
and helping myself differentiate between constructive and destructive criticism.

I go on my own way sometimes. This usually involves very high risk. I consider
this a weakness because of the uncertainty thats involved. Theres no telling
where I might end up. I have taken decisions and worked out solutions in my job.
Sometimes they have worked out in my favour. There have also been times when
the results werent exactly favourable. Either way, Ive learnt from the mistakes
that I had made initially and I am learning to take calculated risks.
2. What is your single largest achievement so far? Why do you consider it to
be your largest achievement? What is your largest defeat to date and
why? (WL: 500)
After my schooling, I decided to take loan for engineering on my own. I worked
for two years and successfully paid back all the instalments without any
discrepancies. I consider this an achievement because it gave me the sense of
being independent. I am proud of being able to do this at my age. This also
helped me learn about tax savings for income tax and the different policies the
bank has for loan repayment and how rate of interest works. It maximized my
learning and I do not regret this decision upon hindsight.
I was the captain of the branch football team in the final year of college. I
successfully guided the team to the finals of the inter branch tournament. We
lost in the penalties. I was the one who missed the penalty when it mattered.
Even though I have had let downs in the past, the magnitude of the grief felt in
this particular scenario was huge. It was my last chance to leave a mark as a
good leader and I felt that I let the team down.

3. What are your personal goals in life? Please elaborate in three separate
categories: Short-term (2-3 years), Medium-term (5-6 years) and Longterm (ultimate objective). (WL: 1000)
Short-term goals:
I plan on learning as much as possible in the next two years of my life at IIM
Indore. I would like to prepare myself to face challenges in the corporate world
by learning the necessary skillset. I would also come out of graduation better
equipped to take on challenges in life like handling pressure and making formal
relationships. I would like to make long lasting friendships and also learn from my
fellow classmates. I would like to establish a good rapport with all the professors
at the institute.
Medium-term goals:
I would like to end up in a job where I can afford to sustain myself while paying
back the loan. I would like to progress in the company by learning the essentials
of the corporate world. The objective would be to maximize the learning process
at my first job in order to ascertain my field of interest. Once Ive narrowed down
on something specific, I would like to build my career on it. I would like to
connect with the leadership team in the company and get their perspectives on
the corporate world. I hope to use these valuable connections in order to
progress in the organization.

Long-term goals:

4. What are the three most important values that guide your thoughts and
actions and why? (WL: 500)
5. What type of assignments/tasks keep you hooked and charged and what
are those that you find unexciting? (WL: 500)
6. Who is your idol in life? Identify one of his/her weaknesses and elaborate.
(WL:500)
7. What are your hobbies and interests? How do you intend to pursue them
during your MBA and in the future? [At least 2 hobbies] (WL:500)
8. What are your expectations from your stay at IIM Indore? What new skill
sets and traits do you hope to acquire while pursuing MBA here? (WL:500)
9. Which industry fascinates you the most as a career option after MBA? How
does your current educational qualification and skill set qualify you for it?
How would an MBA help you in this? (WL:1000)
Visualizations and Decisions Making
10.
Describe up to two incidents that have had a deep impact and
brought about a significant change in you? (WL: 500)
11.
How does an MBA at this stage fit into your scheme of things? Why
now? (WL: 500)
12.
At times, many of us are caught in a situation of moral conflict,
where we have to choose between two seemingly right alternatives.
Describe up to two situations when you faced this conflict. How did you
resolve them? (WL: 500)
13.
Sometimes, we may find a group of people disagreeing with our
beliefs/points of view. How do you prefer to handle such a situation? Give
us an instance where you had to convince a group of people on your point
of
view.(WL:500)
14.
Describe an occasion when you realized the need for
change/improvement/self-development. How did you respond? (WL:500)
15.

How do you define the following: (WL:250 each)

Success
Failure

Leadership
Ethics

Demonstrated Acts of Competence

16.
Describe a challenging project or a seemingly impossible task which
you have undertaken. What was the outcome? (WL: 750)
17.
Have you ever adopted a non-traditional approach to manage a
project / situation or to solve a problem? Briefly describe the project /
situation of the problem, the approach and the outcome. In retrospect, do
you think you should have handled it differently? (WL: 750)
18.
Have you been a member of any social/cultural organization?
(Yes/No). If yes, please detail your position and accomplishments in the
organization. What was the key purpose behind your decision to be
associated with this entity? What are your future plans in this regard?
(WL:750)
19.
Tell us about a time when you had difficulty with a co-worker/teammate and how you handled the situation. (WL:750)
20.
Give two examples of how you have demonstrated leadership and
inspired people towards achievement of certain goals. (WL:1000)