shirinbharat
Hi,
I request you to evaluate my profile. I am really confused. I scored 710 (q-49,v-39, ir-4) in GMAT. I have experience of 27 months . My condition after mba is to come back to india and work in india, prefebally in product management and long term goal after 5 years to start my own venture. I am aiming at ISB india, Nanyang, singapore, NUS singapore, please also suggest colleges which would be feasible (cost basis) , so that i can work in india
2010-2013 - Bachelors of Business economics from delhi university
Highlights- started up a venture in 2011-2012 with classmates. I was the main founder. Developed the whole idea and the Website . we were able to have positive revenue from day1. Stopped because of issues between co-founders.
Developed online registration websites for multiple college fests
Member of Aiesec. Hosted Foreign students who were interning in my city
Participated in college level Mun's, business competitions and debates.
2013- 2014 (9 months)- Worked as Analyst(online sales) with an e-commerce arm of a company selling refurbished electronics. Area of responsibilities was equivalent to that of an assistant product manager.
Highlights- worked on revamping the website's design and supervised development of new features including making the site mobile friendly. Interviewed candidates for 'UI designer' profile. Created macro based excel sheet for content team which decreased data entry time to 50% and increased accuracy by the same percentage. Implemented task management software instead of email for content team for better tracking and communication. Proposed and lead a project for creating a dynamic system where sales manager can use different design elements to highlight different product catalog on different days without asking tech team to do anything. Proposed and helped revamp the order tracking system for customers.
2014-2014 (one month)- Worked as a product manager with zomato, a leading food related startup in india.
Highlights -
I was called for an interview after the company's ceo read my post about the company on a social media platform. I was interviewed and hired directly by the ceo. Worked speficially on their newly launched social newsfeed. I proposed some drastic changes in the approach like showing stories based on user's favourite cuisines and locality based on user's history. I had to leave the company so early as my parents needed my urgent help in their construction project in my hometown.
2014 august- November 2015 (15 months) - Worked as Co-owner of a hotel construction project with my parents
Highlights-
My parents were planning a student's hostel but seeing the trend in the city, i asked them to convert the project in to a mid-budget Hotel. I was responsible for major design-related decisions and procurement of materials needed. I took all the major design decisions related to furniture, lighting, beds, floor, paint colors etc. During this time i contacted a manager of a major hotel brand for a possible partnership but it couldn't happen because of lack of funds required to furnish the brand's compliances. But nevertheless, I build good relationship with the manager and he connected me with several companies and contractors to procure materials and hire them . Because of this, i was able to get superior quality and low prices which was not possible to do on my own. During this time, I learned a lot from my parents who have been doing business for last 25 years. I also experienced the Ground realities in India like challenges faced by small businessmen, hardships of the laborers and low waged employees.
July 2015- December 2015(5 months) - while working on the hotel project, I didn't want to leave my interest in online consumer internet sector, so with a friend, I started an online event discovery website based in Delhi. I hired a programmer based in another city, worked on the user interface and design myself and skyped till late in night with him to coordinate the project, my friends was talking to event organizers in Delhi as I couldn't go there because of hotel project but I used to go on weekends. I had to stop it unfortunately as it was getting very difficult to manage two projects and ultimately I chose hotel project as more funds were invested in that and a huge risk involved
December 2015- current(1 year) - Starting and running the hotel
Started the operations of the hotel. Hired the staff. my parents helped a lot in making key hire decisions. My father taught me to keep an eye on Finances. Developed key relationships with executives of different online hotel selling companies and listed the hotel on several websites. created website for hotel. I give incentive to staff based on customer reviews. In one year, we have averaged occupancy above 70%, build tieups with corporate companies and we get positive customer reviews. But the main important thing i learned is there are huge problems to solve and opportunities in india and i need a better platform, opportunity to connect with great people and enhance my skill set to fulfill my long term goal of creating a postive impact on the society.
Hey there,
I think you have a interesting profile, and your focus on schools in Asia makes sense given your desire to return to India - you could also look at schools in Hong Kong, China, and Australia.
I think right now your biggest potential weakness is that your work experience is choppy and can be perceived as relatively weak. You may have done a lot, but working for a small family business will not necessarily be perceived as strong work experience (of course, in the essays it will be your job to MAKE that perception).
Thus I would think you should add a few lower-ranked schools to be on the safe side, but otherwise, pretty good!
Best of luck,
Jon Frank