Selecting students for the institute is a taunting task and it is mentally draining activity. I rarely ask any questions to students since I believe that it is only by listening you make sense of a student and also communication experts tell us that 93% of any communication is non-verbal (I don’t understand how they managed to measure and arrive at this percentage). So, why to waste time in asking questions?
Recently went for the interview to select students for HRM program. As usual students were full of energy and confidence, they answered the questions with real guts, didn’t care whether the question made any sense or not.
Prof: can you tell us about your schoolings?
Student: up to 10th STD I had studied at St. Xavier’s and for secondary I went to Don Bosco.
Prof: Who is St. Xavier?
Student: I am not sure but can make a guess.
Prof: You studied for 10 year at St.Xavier’s, yet …
Student: This type of question was never asked in the exams, so….
Prof: OK, at least tell me, who is Don Bosco?
Student: He is a Christian for sure, certainly not an Indian, and might had been a successful teacher or a student, and sorry for this too I can only make a guess…
Prof: since you are coming from west Bengal, I am asking this question. Say something about Swamy Vivekananda.
Student: He is a great man; he had a great personality …
Prof: Making a guess on this too …
Student: No sir, I know about him. He gave a great speech at the national conference of Economics at USA.
Prof: National Conference …
Student: No sir, it was the international conference on Economics.
Prof: Economics …
Student: Absolutely.
Prof 2: Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize, can you tell about the contribution for which he was awarded that prize?
Student: It is for the poem “Jana Gana Mana….”
Third professor did not dare to ask any questions.
That student reminded me of Albert Einstein, why bother about remembering the past and cloud the brain with all kinds of information. You can always refer the book and find out the correct answer. And if you don’t know the history then you are in an ideal position to create a history. I liked his confidence and attitude. Since studying HR will be under utilizing his creativity and insult to his intelligence, I did not select him for the program. Sincerely, I will fail if Einstein or Newton applies for MBA programs.
It is another genius who gave me nearly a heart attack with his answer to the question: What is working capital? Without even blinking his eyes he answered, “Any capital that is working the company is a working capital”.
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