‘Didn’t expect IIM-level question’: Job applicant baffled by complex puzzle in ₹5 LPA job interview | Trending

A job applicant took to Reddit to share his experience interviewing for a digital marketing executive role at a real estate company, and the post has sparked conversations online for all the right reasons.

The user initially declined the opportunity when the company disclosed a ₹5 LPA salary, which matched his current pay. However, after the company promised a better package, he agreed to proceed with the interview.

What followed, though, caught them completely off guard. “The interviewer asked me some questions that I answered well. But then he threw in an IIM-level question, which honestly felt out of place for a ₹5 LPA job,” the user wrote.

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The question: “Let’s say the real estate company has ₹100 crore in inventory, which is 74 flats, and the population of Nagpur is 4,00,000. What would the CPL (Cost Per Lead) be?” — left the candidate baffled.

Tired and without a calculator, the user attempted a mental calculation and replied with an estimated CPL of ₹200-300. In hindsight, he reflected, “What I should’ve done was assume a 1% conversion rate from the population — so, 1% of 4,00,000 = 4,000 potential leads. If a marketing budget had been provided, I could have divided that by 4,000 to estimate CPL.”

Take a look at the post:

Many took to the comments section to share their thoughts, with some calling the question excessive for the role’s budget and others debating the best way to tackle such curveballs in interviews.

A user wrote, “I was in a similar position where I was expected to operate at the level of a Senior Manager and revamp a brand that had been inactive for two years. Several VPs had been hired before me to get it operational, but they weren’t successful. I was expected to handle all of this, with a salary of just 41K.”

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Another added, “Small indian companies are out of touch to reality. Let them live in a delusion and cry”