ISB Essay 1 : If we were to admit just one more candidate to the Postgraduate Programme (PGP) at the ISB, why should it be you? (400 words max)

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. – H Jackson Brown Jr.

Spending more than a decade in the IT industry has made me a versatile IT professional and my achievement rewards speak volumes about it. I grabbed the opportunity to directly work at the customer premises in XYZ barely 8 months into my first job, and to mentor and organize the offshore team after my return to India 4 months later. I showed an early display of leadership when I led a 6-member project before completing 3 years of experience, and later worked at customer premises in ABC in the capacity of an Analyst, Designer, Developer and Tester, all combined. This way I not only saved costs for my company, but also impressed the customers with my multitasking skills. The project was customer’s first involvement with my company in the embedded systems domain, and my stint ensured that the company won another 0.2 million $ project from the same customer.

In my current company, I had 3 designations in just 4.5 years. I played a key role in scaling up the team size from an initial 8 to a peak size of 60+, by taking interviews, mentoring development team and helping management in re-structuring the team. I served as the development coordinator, handling the technical and general coordination work with my onsite counterparts and customers. Through my business trips to several countries I have learnt cross cultural communication, which is a vital competency in any international business. My current position has given me proficiency in setting up and managing fairly big global teams.

As an official employee engagement partner of my company, I have conducted external events such as campus connects, job fairs and recruitment drives, and internal events such as fitness challenge, technical paper contests, corporate quiz and software conclaves for 3000+ employees of the company. I led the celebrations for company’s XX event in India in 20xx, organizing various technical & fun events and managing finances of the program. This role has allowed me to frequently interact with the company leadership for several strategic initiatives and demonstrate my large scale organizational skills.

I believe I offer a unique value proposition to the class by offering my technical expertise, organizational skills and leadership qualities. My urge to learn from the diverse peer group to prepare myself for a better tomorrow makes me a right fit for ISB.