Tell me something about yourself-

I am Dipesh Shukla, I come from the steel town of Punjab known as Mandi gobindgarh. Prior to joining
Goa institute of management, I did B.COM from Gobindgarh public college under Panjab University
Chandigarh. My father runs a business and my mother is a housewife. We are into manufacturing
business and we manufacture hard washers and steel pipes. I handled various responsibilities there
ranging from supervision of factory, Arrangement of laborers and client acquisition for the business. I
did my summers from Rapid metro Gurgaon where my role was that of “client acquisition for non-
revenue segment of the company”.

I am a highly patient, Responsible and good at multi-tasking. During my free time I write blogs on various
genres and I practice Isha kriya meditation.

One liner describing yourself- I am a fun, loving person whom love to meet new people.

Any 3 strengths demonstrating an example of each-

1 Ability to multitask and prioritize things very well- So during the final year of graduation I was
handling three tasks simultaneously. 1 Managing my B.COM academics 2 Preparing for MBA entrance
exam CAT and contributing towards family business. So I have been successful in managing all these
three tasks as I got into a premium B-school like Goa institute of management, I successfully brought
over 30 new clients for the business and got good percentage in B.COM too.

2 Highly responsible- I have always been a responsible person. I always took a keen responsibility of
whatever task has been assigned to me. If your father relies on you to manage a factory which has
materials worth Rupees 80-90 lakhs inside it which shows that you are responsible and mature enough.

3 Highly optimistic- My Attitude is pretty “optimistic”. I always tend to have high hopes from the
upcoming future. So when I was doing my summers at rapid metro Gurgaon during the initial 10 days I
did not get any kind of business but rather then ranting about this problem I tried to look for the
solution for which I talked to one of my alumni of GIM Mr Ashish bindra and got all the necessary
recommendations from him. I fixed an immediate meeting with my reporting manager in order to find
where the gaps are.

Any 3 weaknesses and what are you doing to control it

Which decision in your life you regret the most?

Answer- My biggest regret of my life is to do B.COM from a local college which is Gobindgarh public
college. The biggest thing that i missed during B.COM is the “hostel life” although I could have got an
admission in the top B.com colleges in Chandigarh due to good percentage in class 12. At the time of
taking the decision the importance of hostel life was not known to me but later I realized that hostel life
is an integral part to a student’s life.

Have you ever faced some ethical dilemma and what was your stand on it?

Answer- Yes, it was at the time of summers at Rapid metro Gurgaon so basically during the initial one
week the company use to send a sales representative along with me so that he could guide me on how
to deal with the clients. He came with me during the initial two days but after that he started free-riding
so every day he use to make some call to me and tell that dipesh I will not come for work today due to
some xyz reason and he use to tell me that if our boss Mr. Aditya gupta calls you then simply tell him
that I am with you and is constantly meeting up the clients. So I was highly confused at that point of
time. But finally at the time end of internship while taking feedback from my boss, I indirectly told him
that some of your sales reps use to free ride at a times.

What your biggest achievement of life is and how it is the biggest achievement?

Answer- My biggest achievement in life was when I secured 92.4% marks in class 12 exams. 92.4% might
not be an important aspect here but the way I got 92.4% is more important. So basically my exams were
supposed to start on 3rd of March 2016 but before 15 days of beginning of the exams I suffered from
typhoid so I was totally on rest for around 10 days. Even during the duration of my exams there was
weakness in my body but due to the immense hard work and dedication I put in my exams, Moreover
the type of preparation that I had for my final exams was so immense that I eventually got 92.4% and
got a second position in my school in the “commerce department”.

An instance where you failed and your learning from it?

Answer- I failed in the IIFT entrance exam of 2016. So the cut off during that year was 35 marks out of
100 marks. But I secured 34 marks out of 100. So the reason for the failure was that I gave very less
weightage to the GK or current affairs part and out of the section of GK which constituted 20 marks I just
secured 1 mark. So I missed a chance for a huge brand name like IIFT just by 1 mark.

So the lesson I learned from this is you need to maintain a proper balance in each and every aspect of
life. So in the exam of IIFT I did not maintain a proper balance while preparing for the different elements
of exam that is (Verbal, GK , DI , Quant and GK) and gave more weightage to every subject except GK.

Give an instance where you stepped in and influenced the outcome of a project by assuming
leadership role for that project?

Answer- So this was during the June of 2016, so basically during this period of time there is a shortage
of labor in our business. So as a result we were not able to produce one of the product that we
manufacture (Hard-washers) in large quantities. So at that point of time one client of ours named as
Bansal steel traders in Ludhiana. So they needed 50 ton of material immediately and we had 10 ton in
buffer and on a daily basis we were producing 20 tons so how this 50-30= 20 ton shortage could be
fulfilled. Moreover the client was an old client of ours working with us from the last 5 years. So my
father did not wanted to lose the client. So at that point of time I took the charge of the situation and I
personally brought 5 laborers from outside and convinced the laborers of the factory to work for
“overtime” as well as with improved efficiency by providing them “more wages”.

Why MBA and Why in a particular specialization (mine was marketing)?

Answer- MBA will give me a better understanding of the portfolio’s for an organization in the field of
Marketing, Finance, HR and operations because eventually you learn about all this multiple fields inside
an organization. The case studies that have been provided to us has helped us to apply our theoretical
knowledge into practical skills. This would help in fulfilling my objective of joining the some of the
biggest organizations of the country, Moreover I am aware of the many of the problems being faced by
these organizations? E.g. Through indigo case study we come to know that the indigo’s core
competency of a low cost carrier has been imitated and it is struggling to maintain its core competency.
Thus MBA becomes the best choice for fulfilling the lacunae of management skills.

Why in Marketing-

1 Personality- I am an extrovert person and I always love to meet new people and I can make good
friendly relations with anyone. E.g. During my internship period I even made the security guard of one of
the client companies as a friend of mine which shows your ability to make friends irrespective of age,
income group or seniority level.

2 Prior experience in client acquisition- Moreover during my B.COM period I have contributed towards
my family business so one of my responsibility was to acquire clients for the business which shows that I
am not just going for a hit or trial and am taking something on the basis of practical experience.