PPOs.... Spreading the joy around....
Term 5… Ah, it’s that time of the year when it starts raining PPOs and PPIs in bschool campuses… Almost everyone on is happy… The placement committee, because they get all the credit for no work of their own…plus, lesser work to do for the actual placement season… Students who got the offer are happy because…….well, they got the offer… Companies are happy because they think they are one up on the other companies by reserving the best candidates early on… Profs are happy because attendance will soon cease to be top priority… lesser doubts, lesser ACP, lesser headache….And the rest of the students are happy because there will be a lesser competition for the final process…. You keep hearing the tales of all the PPOs... endless gyaan sessions, CV reviews, GD tips... the placed students keep thinking of innovative techniques to spend time... But there is another face of the coin.... The deals that did not happen... Amidst all the smirking and taking yer heat out on the ass of the latest PPO-er, my own position seems to be quite unenviable….
My own conversation with the mentor had been quite endearing….
“Ah, Rishi…tell me…how are you? How are yer studies going on?”
Aha! Looks like hez trying to find out how interested I am in Finance!!!!!!
“Sir, it’s going damn good... I was getting sick of sitting in the systems lectures in the first year!!! Now that we have electives, I can finally choose electives that I am interested in…” and sleep in the last row as usual…
“Oh, that’s good that’s good… So how is the general PPO scene there?”
“Awesome, sir! XYZ Ltd just gave PPOs to all their 4 interns.. News just came in this morning… As of now, around 35 or so would have got PPOs” Yeah, that’s right…if u want real talent, u better give PPOs to yer interns!!!
“Ah, by the way…Rishi, about that last draft for reimbursements… there are some formalities with HR that we need to sort out…please don’t mind the delay”
“Not at all sir, not at all…” I have Rs 89 in my bank a/c…but the delayed draft is an excellent excuse for me to keep in touch with you!!!
“You know, commodities is really hotting up right now…”
“Yes sir, totally… The internship really got me hooked on to that… Only last night, I was conducting an event study on how the ##################”
Note: The above piece has been censored…The content included highly technical and offensive material, especially to peace loving back benchers like yours truly…
Yeah yeah… I know you guys are calling me a suckup… but welcome to corporate life… this is what will get you your payoffs…
Rule # 1: If you suckup to yer boss and get promoted, you are just a good manager…But if yer colleague does that, he is disgusting and lacks the balls to believe in his merit!!!
The conversation continues…
“Sir, totally forgot to tell you…. I’ve started a blog in which I debate on leading issues pertaining to commodities….” Yes, a debate… you could call that when 3 people read your blog…you, your friend on whom you invested a bottle of vodka last night (the same friend who returned the money for the vodka before the got to the end of the first paragraph btw…), and a stranger in your orkut friends list who fell for the spam you sent out… BRAVO!!!
“Oh, that’s great Rishi… good, good… I always knew you would get a very good job in your final placements….”
Er…. Did he just say final placements???? Hmm… That doesn’t exactly look good on the PPO front…. The unfinished sentence finished a lot of things for me….
“Yeah yeah, obviously….Thanks for your wishes sir… And, do let me know when the draft formalities are done…”
“Sure….Bye…”
Click
“Yeah whatever….”
I thought of all the alumni meets and booze parties I missed during summers, and my neighbour who was not allotted a project but still got a PPO…. I thought of waking up all those days before the sun to catch the 7:21 local to CST and spending 4 hours every day sniffing at someone’s armpit…. I realized that I had grown up… I began to appreciate how life is on the other side of the campus wall… I began to realize how naïve I was as a fresher… A lot of things about my workex friends became clear to me.. why they say certain things and act in a certain way…
As I was unlocking my door, my neighbour confronts me… “Dude, what the heck is FLIX doing yaar??? I’m done with all the movies in yer servers….download some good movies, have some nice screenings yaar… Dunno why people take up responsibilities they cant keep!!!”
I could not help but smile at the irony… People who get PPOs get jobless….and for the others, work just keeps mounting up!!! But I’m only happy for him.. Because when I get placed in SBI and have a salary that barely keeps me alive in Mumbai, I have someone with a high Present Value of huge cash inflows to repay my educational loan EMIs… My neighbour, my friend, my financier who gives 0% interest rate structured finance products ;-)
My own conversation with the mentor had been quite endearing….
“Ah, Rishi…tell me…how are you? How are yer studies going on?”
Aha! Looks like hez trying to find out how interested I am in Finance!!!!!!
“Sir, it’s going damn good... I was getting sick of sitting in the systems lectures in the first year!!! Now that we have electives, I can finally choose electives that I am interested in…” and sleep in the last row as usual…
“Oh, that’s good that’s good… So how is the general PPO scene there?”
“Awesome, sir! XYZ Ltd just gave PPOs to all their 4 interns.. News just came in this morning… As of now, around 35 or so would have got PPOs” Yeah, that’s right…if u want real talent, u better give PPOs to yer interns!!!
“Ah, by the way…Rishi, about that last draft for reimbursements… there are some formalities with HR that we need to sort out…please don’t mind the delay”
“Not at all sir, not at all…” I have Rs 89 in my bank a/c…but the delayed draft is an excellent excuse for me to keep in touch with you!!!
“You know, commodities is really hotting up right now…”
“Yes sir, totally… The internship really got me hooked on to that… Only last night, I was conducting an event study on how the ##################”
Note: The above piece has been censored…The content included highly technical and offensive material, especially to peace loving back benchers like yours truly…
Yeah yeah… I know you guys are calling me a suckup… but welcome to corporate life… this is what will get you your payoffs…
Rule # 1: If you suckup to yer boss and get promoted, you are just a good manager…But if yer colleague does that, he is disgusting and lacks the balls to believe in his merit!!!
The conversation continues…
“Sir, totally forgot to tell you…. I’ve started a blog in which I debate on leading issues pertaining to commodities….” Yes, a debate… you could call that when 3 people read your blog…you, your friend on whom you invested a bottle of vodka last night (the same friend who returned the money for the vodka before the got to the end of the first paragraph btw…), and a stranger in your orkut friends list who fell for the spam you sent out… BRAVO!!!
“Oh, that’s great Rishi… good, good… I always knew you would get a very good job in your final placements….”
Er…. Did he just say final placements???? Hmm… That doesn’t exactly look good on the PPO front…. The unfinished sentence finished a lot of things for me….
“Yeah yeah, obviously….Thanks for your wishes sir… And, do let me know when the draft formalities are done…”
“Sure….Bye…”
Click
“Yeah whatever….”
I thought of all the alumni meets and booze parties I missed during summers, and my neighbour who was not allotted a project but still got a PPO…. I thought of waking up all those days before the sun to catch the 7:21 local to CST and spending 4 hours every day sniffing at someone’s armpit…. I realized that I had grown up… I began to appreciate how life is on the other side of the campus wall… I began to realize how naïve I was as a fresher… A lot of things about my workex friends became clear to me.. why they say certain things and act in a certain way…
As I was unlocking my door, my neighbour confronts me… “Dude, what the heck is FLIX doing yaar??? I’m done with all the movies in yer servers….download some good movies, have some nice screenings yaar… Dunno why people take up responsibilities they cant keep!!!”
I could not help but smile at the irony… People who get PPOs get jobless….and for the others, work just keeps mounting up!!! But I’m only happy for him.. Because when I get placed in SBI and have a salary that barely keeps me alive in Mumbai, I have someone with a high Present Value of huge cash inflows to repay my educational loan EMIs… My neighbour, my friend, my financier who gives 0% interest rate structured finance products ;-)
Labels: Bschool
posted by Rishi at
8:15 AM
6 Comments:
...look on the bright side son, you are at least on talking terms with The Boss...some of us can't afford to be seen in certain indian cities...definitely an incentive for foreign placements???...
By
Anonymous, at 11:23 AM
brushes with life dude .. that's why they say 80% of the learning in a b-school is outside class (for some like me, 100% of it is outside the class, if any ;0) ) ... after reading ur post, I have a feeling that all the bosses ask abt final placements. .. is it a tactic mentioned in some bestseller as '101 subtle ways of shooing a pursuing summer intern" or do they teach it in term-6 or may be in the first alumni meet !!!
By
Anonymous, at 12:11 PM
Hey dude... i guess these guides jst kno what exactly to say to leave you dumb-founded!!!
My own experience - My guide mails me n asks me abt PPO scene in XL, abt consults coming to campus etc. etc. I shoot him a mail bk givin him d info n also givin him a sneak peek at my rank (hehehe i thot it 2 b gr8!!!) and in the next mail he casually remarks - looks like lotta companies are givin ppos... errrr... for ur rank dear - dun be happy wid it, here in XXXX (my company) we are filled wid top 3 rankers from ur institute!!!
Oooopppppsssssssssssss!!!!! Some1 pricked my ego balloon damn neatly ;) watsay amigo???!!! :D
By
Sid, at 8:23 PM
okie....
i guess der was a small goofup here... this article is totally FICTITIOUS!
only the background is in some way associated with the real life....
anyways, am happy that twas realistic enuff to convince many of u....
cheers!!!
rishi
By
Rishi, at 10:10 PM
Fictitious blogpost or not, I think some gyan from a "Been There Done That" senior is needed here! :-) In the world called B-school, PPOs seem like Mount Everest and CRP looms large as the final frontier! But the fact of the matter is, life plays its cards close to its chest and most of what's going to happen to you outside the Bschool "world" is something you never expected. So the only thing you need to worry abt is how ready you are to take on the unexpected and enjoy it!
:-)
Vasudha
By
Starship Enterprise, at 10:49 PM
very smart... jhoote... ye tune sachchai likhi hai... aur main jaanta hoon!!!!
By
Anonymous, at 6:08 AM
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