The Mentorship Program of IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), into its second successive year now, was launched by the Students' Council of IIM-K on 12th January 2009. A runaway success with 1200 plus registrations, this initiative by the students of IIM-K is recognized across B-Schools as one of its kind. The program provides much-needed information to the GD / PI call-getters about the second round process and guidance on how to approach the same. The call-getters get their queries answered through various mediums such as online forums, telephone calls, e-mails and online-chat sessions.

The program works through motivated groups of four mentors (current students) each, with each group having 25-30 mentees. The mentees can benefit from the mentors advice on any personal or individual queries. The reach this year has grown manifold with more than 1200 GD / PI call-getters registering for the program. There are 120 mentors from diverse backgrounds including engineering, medicine, life sciences, commerce, economics and humanities, who provide the candidates with a very thorough analysis of their queries on diverse issues.

The mentors have also come forward to conduct telephonic and online mock interviews for the mentees; thus, giving the call-getters a feel of the D-Day before it actually happens. Expressing happiness over the program, a mentee says, "The insights given to us by our mentors have been absolutely terrific. In fact the mock interview conducted by my mentor was an eye-opener. It helped me identify exactly where I was going wrong and gave me a lot of confidence going into the actual GD / PI."

A portal, http://mentor.iimklive.com, has been set-up for the mentorship program. It has an active forum with specific threads which provide information on topics like academics, the GD / PI experiences of the previous batches, and various other discussions topics. The candidates also get a fair idea about the life and various other activities on campus. "It's great to be able to make a difference to the aspirants. We don't have the perfect answers, but having been there and done that, it is easier for us to give them an insight into the kind of situations they could face. I feel proud to be part of such an initiative where we can reach out and help aspiring managers." said Ms. Smrithi, an IIM-K student of Class 2010.

The response to the program has been tremendous; the second round of the process to the coveted IIMs is a black-box no more. The candidates can raise queries and get them answered at the earliest. Also, the candidates appreciate the fact that they can know the pros and cons of what the institute offers and, thus, make an informed final decision.