Students' Speak: How to deal with GD and PI rounds

By: Abhishek Desai

When it comes to the GD, in case a candidate isn’t well aware of the topic, he/she must wait for others to speak up which would give a fair idea about what points to mention later in the discussion.

No matter how well prepared a candidate is, one cannot rule out the challenges (internal and external) he/she might have to face during the GD-PI rounds. Hence, one must keep them in mind as well and prepare accordingly.

Some of the common challenges during these rounds are as follows:-

• GD: Unable to put your point forth properly during the discussion, someone else cutting up your point midway, not getting a chance at all to speak, the entire discussion turning into a fish market, less/no awareness about the GD topic, points getting contradicted, etc.
• PI: Less/no awareness about the current affairs, blanking out while answering about a question, being stumped on encountering a totally unexpected question, panelists not getting convinced with the answers, being overly panicky during the PI, etc.

With proper preparation, a candidate can easily overcome any/all of the above challenges. When it comes to the GD, in case a candidate isn’t well aware of the topic, he/she must wait for others to speak up which would give a fair idea about what points to mention later in the discussion. In case you aren’t getting a chance to enter the discussion, you should try requesting your immediate colleagues in an assertive (and not aggressive) voice for the same.

When the points are getting contradicted, one must never back away from his/her stance and rather try to analyze whether the said contradictions sound rational or not. If the points in themselves are logical to the discussion, one must stick to them throughout the GD irrespective of others’ opinions. The GD turning into a fish market can rather act as a boon for a serious candidate since no panelist likes the GD to turn into one no matter what. In such a scenario, the one(s) initiating and contributing to the fish market is/are immediately rejected by the panelists and only those who put forth their points peacefully stand a chance of scoring well in the GD.

To overcome the PI-related challenges, one must simply know his resume inside out and sound confident while answering any question asked. In case of a stress interview, a candidate must keep his cool and simply focus on the answer to be given and not get influenced by the opinion of the interviewers (only if the answers are totally correct in themselves). Hence, the more preparation one puts in, the lesser challenges he faces during the GD-PI.

As far as I remember from my GD-PI experience, there really wasn’t any such moment I would like to change since both the rounds went quite well for me.

About the Author:

Abhishek Desai is currently pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) in e-Business from Welingkar Institute of Management. He has done his Summer Internship in the field of Market Research with 'TimesofMoney'. He's also served as 'Secretary of the Green Committee' at Welingkar.