When the HR of Mahindra Finance called Afreen Alim to inform her about the final selection, Afreen’s joy knew no bounds. “It was that very moment I realized the power of 3Ps- Preparation, Practice and Patience,” says Afreen of Class 2018, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow. While students often focus on brushing their domain knowledge, they forget the importance of familiarizing themselves with the industry knowledge as well. Afreen worked smart there! She researched well about the company, its functions, market competition, etc, to excel in her selection rounds. When the final test arrived, she was on the top!

“The best thing that happened to me during my PGDM is the kind of faculty I got to learn from,” says Afreen. “They have literally transformed my personality and perspective towards a lot of things.” When Afreen has first arrived at the Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow campus she was a shy and hesitant girl, trying to find her place in the world. Her PGDM helped her “to be assertive and more open to taking constructive risks,” mentions the girl who is all set to join Mahindra Finance in a matter of few months as a Management Trainee.

Afreen after her first year of PGDM, used her summer to intern with Amul. She was working from the Ranchi office of Amul on a very interesting project- B2B marketing and promotion of diced cheese; a new product of the company. Within the 75 days of her internship, she was getting to relate a lot of classroom theories to practice. The SIP helped her understand branding, analysis, strategies, market trends, customer relationship and of course team dynamics. Therefore when Mahindra Finance arrived at campus with their vacancy, Afreen knew this was the job for her.

She had to ace three rigorous rounds before the final Psychometric test. The first round was an Aptitude test followed by a Group discussion. Then, came the third round- the final interview which went for almost 50 minutes straight, non-stop. On clearing that, Afreen was left to excel in the Psychometric test. “Sometimes rejections work in favor! The only company I sat before Mahindra Finance was Amazon and I was rejected by them. I took the fire from that rejection and stayed focused, very focused. I saw that fire helping me in my selection with Mahindra Finance,” says a determined Afreen.

Now that her PGDM is about to come to a successful wrap, what is Afreen meaning to do with her first salary of life? She smiles and remarks- “I am going to buy presents as a token of gratitude for my family, friends and faculty. Without them, my journey so far would have been half complete!”