A Time That Breaks Before It Builds: PGP Placement Season

Anyone at ISB will tell you placement is called a season for a reason. It does not start with a bang. It quietly slips in around August, while you are still finding your footing in Term 2. 

Before you know it, September arrives and the CV must be finalised. October comes, and you are convinced you are already behind in preparation. Blink once and it is November. Each journey is different, but the tension in the air is familiar to all.

Through The Looking Glass

If you step back, placement season resembles a wave with more lows than highs. Some days are full of clarity, others are clouded with self-doubt. Deadlines do not pause. CVs need to be polished, the Knowledge Management Portal navigated, terms and assignments completed, clubs managed. Everything demands attention at once, and perhaps that is the point.

This is the time that tests your resilience and your priorities. At ISB, it becomes clear that placements are not about one day or even one month. They are part of a much longer journey. Careers are marathons, not sprints. The real value is not in how quickly you land a role, but in how steadily you hold yourself through the chaos. 

Some mornings you feel ready to take on the world, others you wonder if everyone else is far ahead. It is easy to forget that moving at your own pace is acceptable.

Change The Lens

Perspective does not appear on its own. I found it by talking to alumni who had been through the same uncertainty. Their calm, reflective view reminded me that this moment is only a moment. They shared roles they did not get, ones they eventually loved, and paths that only made sense years later. These conversations made it easier to zoom out and trust the journey beyond placements.

My peers became another anchor. Watching everyone navigate the same challenges together was comforting. We did not always solve each other’s problems, but we ensured no one carried the worry alone. Staying connected to the world outside ISB grounded me the most. Family, old friends, people who knew me before ISB and will know me long after, even a five-minute call could reset my day. It reminded me I am more than my CV and the noise of placement season.

I also learned to hold a quiet faith. Effort compounds even when results are not immediate. Outcomes settle in time. Where we begin is rarely where we end up. Delayed results are not failures.

Not An End Game

Placement season humbles and stretches you. It exposes cracks in your confidence while teaching you how to fill them. Rejections are frequent, almost daily in the week before Day 1 in my case. They shake confidence, make you question preparation, choices, and even self-worth.

What placement season quietly teaches, though, is resilience. It forces you to separate effort from outcome, noise from feedback, and self-belief from external validation. When the season ends, the shortlist or rejection is not what stays with you. What stays is the perspective you have earned and the people who walked through the fog alongside you. That, for me, feels like a strong beginning to whatever comes next.

To all aspiring ISB students, my advice is simple. Keep zooming out. The more focused you are on the immediate, the longer the journey will feel. And your old friends and your inner compass are treasures to keep close.

 

Synopsis:

Radhika Kohli captures the emotional and mental journey of the PGP placement season, tracing its slow build, moments of self doubt, and quiet resilience. Through conversations with alumni, peers, and family, she reframes placements as a phase rather than a finish line, highlighting perspective, community, and inner steadiness as the real takeaways.