Profile Evaluation

Question

Hello,

Please review my profile. GMAT 720, Q49 V40, IR 3 AWA awaited. Indian Male engineer. Total work-ex as on Aug 2022 : 6 years
 Applying in R2
Target schools (in that order) : Anderson, Tepper, Foster, Mccombs

Summary: Project manager with 5 years of industry experience responsible for managing global agile teams for multiple clients across
several domains.

EDUCATION

Vellore Institute of Technology, GPA 8.92 Vellore, India  
Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science June 2012 - July 2016

SKILLS

Agile Project Management : Sprint Planning, Stakeholder Management
PowerBI Data Visualization : Data Cleaning, Data Analysis, Data Visualization, Interactive Dashboarding. 
Azure Devops : Sprint Scheduling, Project Tracking , Delivery Estimation, Dashboarding.
EXPERIENCE

Project Manager   May 2017 –Present  
Microsoft – Hyderabad, IN

Global Delivery Team (Project Management)
● Lead a team of 15+ vendors and employees spread across American, European and Chinese time zones to successfully deliver 
engagements with a defined scope of work and concrete deliverables
● Accelerated growth and revenue with upto 25% Profit margin for engagements
● Granted early promotion owing to successfully execution of engagements with several big ticket clients: 711 (US),
OOCL (China ~3M$ USD), Govt. of Israel, German Police engagements, Reuters, Nestle, ING Bank, L’oreal, GSK, Ahold Delhaize 
(Cloud Transformation ~12M EUR, Program Management)
● Nurtured client relationship to extend into €800K repeat business from Nestle
● Lead delivery maturity initiatives for a team of 20 Project Managers
o 2018: Project Backlog Accuracy, Slow Burning Revenue, Escalation discussions
o 2019: Delivery Quality, Project Health, internal/external stakeholder management
● Worked closely with the leadership from China, Europe and APJ to manage customer stakeholders
● Organized teams for skills upgradation: Certification study groups, knowledge sessions
● Participated in various management hackathons that identified Business Priorities, Next Step proposals, readiness, 
collaboration and delivery process improvement initiatives
● Mentored and onboarded campus hires to the Project Management community in Data and AI domain in 2018 and 19
● Organized networking sessions for 50 members with senior leaders from Microsoft China
Associate Consultant Dec 2016 – May 2017
Microsoft - Hyderabad, IN 
Global Delivery Team
● Developed customized Window 10 offering upgrade for a remotely located client
● Acted as offshore lead for a team of 4+ members lead to successfully deliver a Win10 remote PoC
● Nominated as an attendee for the Microsoft Ready Conference(June 2017)

Business Development Manager Aug 2016 - Oct 2016
Easyops - Bangalore, IN 
● Streamlined inbound sales and initiated business partnerships with other small-scale startups
● Initiated inventory management partnerships with flipkart, myntra amazon, snapdeal
● Onboarded 15+ scale retailers and provided an easy-to-use Omni- channel Sales dashboard

Business Development Executive Jan 2016 - May 2016
InstaMojo - Bangalore, IN 
● Drove 15% growth in outbound sales for the year 2016 through Instagram
● Managed and led a team of 5 interns in growth marketing, social media and guerilla marketing
● Major Clients: rentomojo, urbanclap

International Exposure  :

Nominated twice as an attendee for Microsoft Annual Tech conference  
-Attended various tech symposiums here
-Represented Microsoft India (globally) once as a Technical Consulant and as a Project Manager the second time

Certificates and Achievements 
● Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
● Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
● Microsoft Best Project Manager FY 20: Financial Planning Accuracy
● Volunteered for the ‘IamYou’ inclusivity initiative
● Part of the organizing team at Confluence ’19(Microsoft’s Annual Conference promoting diversity)
● Host and organizer for: Microsoft Annual PJM Get Together 2018 and 2019
● Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
● Image Processing: Coursera
● Azure Fundamentals
● French Language Level 1

Co-Curricular Skills 
● Program representative at the Student Council (2012-14) for a batch of 650 CSE 2016students.
● Core Committee Member: Association of Computing Machinery: Organized hackathons, quizzes.
● Core Committee Member: Fep-Si : Volunteered as a teacher for local underprivileged children.
● Tech fest Coordinator , Cultural Fest Coordinator for VIT University  
● Teaching Assistant for Linear Algebra, French, Computer Architecture and Operating systems.
● Speaker at Toastmaster’s International
● Athletic Training, Squash, Nutrition Science

MBAGuide · Answer

Hi, overall decent profile for target schools. Average GMAT score for Indian Male Engineer category. I would recommend to bring forth some really strong leadership stories from the many many projects you have handled. I would be interested to know your post MBA goals to understand if they align well with how you have shaped your career so far. Would recommend adding some more colors to your extra curriculars as most have been college time (or core technical) activities (from the look of it).

Best wishes

Ksajnani · Answer

Hi  MBAGuide ,

Post MBA goals are around Product management roles involving client interactions
Would you say I have a shot at Anderson and/or Tepper? Their GMAT acceptance are pretty high for my category, right?

MBAGuide · Answer

Product management aligns well with your profile and strong tech focus in both the B schools. Yes GMAT scores are competitive for your category (A 750+ score surely takes your chance up a notch) , however that is not to undermine the importance of having stellar essays to demonstrate your skills and qualities.

MBAandBeyond · Answer

Hi Ksajnani , Thankyou for sharing such a detailed profile. I see a lot of amazing aspects in your profile that will help you create incredible stories. You have a decent GPA and a good GMAT score. You belong to an overrepresented pool of candidates, however your work experience makes up a big chunk of your profile and is fascinating. It will assist you in making up for any shortfalls in other areas. I see a clear career trajectory with significant accomplishments and impacts on the organization you are working for. Leadership, I believe, is a strong aspect of your profile since you have led numerous large projects and have solid mentoring experiences both within and outside of work. You will need to demonstrate your roles and responsibilities and your influence on the organization. So, if you can explain your experience right and strong, you're pretty well sorted. You also have some international work experience. If you can describe how these international experiences have inspired you, it will strengthen your application (because this is one of your major USPs, and you must be able to bring it out right in your apps). You may want to read an article on STAR approach strategies to ace your MBA application essays; you will get some insights

Regarding your ECs, these are quite interesting. Speaking about them with the right enthusiasm will add diversity to your apps. Your accomplishments and skills are noteworthy and should be highlighted impactfully in your applications. Overall, you have a strong profile and a good chance of getting into your desired school. You can also consider elite schools in the EU and the US, but it all comes down to how you present your story and put a mark on the adcoms. If you truly want to apply for R2, you must begin working on your applications as soon as possible! I would like to know your post-mba goals, as they play a crucial role in shortlisting b-schools. If you’d like, we are happy to hop on a call with you sometime this week to discuss your profile in length and further chances to the b-schools. Feel free to book a free session with us as per your convenience. Maximize your chances for top MBA programs in January intake Cheers! Neha Hadke Profile Analyst & Channel Manager, MBA and Beyond Testimonials Email: neha@mbaandbeyond.com

MG4MBACrystalBall · Answer

Ksajnani ,

A few thoughts on your profile evaluation and plans

The academic arc has a slightly mixed bag feel to it. The GPA and undergrad school pedigree is on point. The GMAT however, may come across as lower than your peer group average which tends to be a good 20-30 points above a given school's average. Have you already tried retaking? The certifications aren't likely to add much/anything on this front am afraid and make sure to err on the side of being crisp when listing those out. 
  Your professional profile is intriguing given the switch from a BD role into a PM profile. The initial short-lived engagements will have to be put into perspective. MS brand helps - have peers/seniors from your teams been admitted to top schools in the recent past? Once again, make sure to articulate the business aspects of your work and steer clear of tech jargon. 
  The ECs arc shows some potential but will have to be fleshed out. This is why   ECs matter  . Also not clear if anything is ongoing or all in the past. 
  For reasons mentioned  here , we don't speculate on school selection or chances. Overall, there might be a slight distance here to be covered so make sure you push harder.

Hope this helps. Do feel free to reach out directly for any further queries.

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