Some placement stories are about brilliance. Shruti Srivastava’s is about something more useful to most students: preparation, initiative, and strong fundamentals. An MBA student at Parul Institute of Management and Research (PIMR), Parul University, pursuing Chartered Accountancy at the same time, she secured a placement at KMK Ventures, an Ahmedabad-based firm specialising in US taxation and accounting, despite arriving with no background in US tax and, by her own account, no exposure to corporate software at all. How she got there is a lesson any student can learn from.
A Commerce Student with Two Goals at Once
After completing her Bachelor of Commerce, Shruti enrolled in the MBA programme at Parul University while simultaneously preparing for her Chartered Accountancy examinations, a demanding dual commitment. That balancing act shaped her choice of institute. She wanted a programme with a strong reputation and a flexible, quick admission process that would not consume the time she needed for her CA studies, and Parul University, reinforced by recommendations from friends already enrolled, fit. Managing an MBA and CA together is not easy, and it says something about her appetite for hard, purposeful work.
Impact Training, and the Choice to Coordinate
Shruti’s placement preparation centred on Parul University’s Impact Training, a structured one-month programme built to turn students with little corporate exposure into placement-ready candidates. But her defining move was not simply attending it. She was invited to become a coordinator, and she took it, across both the first and second batches.
That decision changed her experience. Instead of passively receiving instruction, she helped run the programme, seeing how trainers plan sessions, how assignments are designed and distributed, and how a batch is kept on track. She describes the effect plainly.
Being a coordinator improved me a lot. – Shruti Srivastava
It sharpened her management sense, strengthened her communication, and built her confidence in speaking and group discussions- the very composure she would later lean on in her interview. Notably, she chose this role partly because, as a student who commutes and cannot stay late on campus, coordinating was a way to stay meaningfully involved. Rather than let a practical constraint sideline her, she found a way to contribute, and grew because of it. That proactive instinct runs right through her story.
Learning New Skills from Scratch
Shruti is refreshingly honest that she started with none of the technical skills employers now expect. Coming from a commerce background, tools like Excel, Power BI, SQL, and Python were entirely new, to her and to many of her batchmates. Impact Training taught them from the basics, alongside the interview-facing skills that matter on the placement circuit: group discussion, aptitude and reasoning, personal-interview technique, and professional resume-building. She credits supportive mentors with making unfamiliar material approachable rather than intimidating, and with teaching not just tools but how to carry oneself professionally. Together, she says, this combination “developed me a lot” for the interview ahead.
The KMK Ventures Interview
Because KMK Ventures’ work centres on US taxation, the company shared a substantial preparation document before the interview, covering US tax basics, Indian GST, journal entries, accounting concepts, financial ratios, and financial management. Having only studied Indian taxation, Shruti treated it as a challenge to master quickly, and her method was disciplined:
I thoroughly go through all that question and answer and I practiced too, so that makes me feel more confident when the actual interview is held. – Shruti Srivastava
The selection was a personal interview, and, tellingly, the questions leaned on journal entries and core accounting fundamentals rather than advanced US-tax knowledge, testing the strength of her base and her ability to learn quickly. It is a pattern worth understanding for any fresher, and one we unpack in a companion piece on why strong fundamentals beat specialization. Only five students were selected; Shruti was one of them.
What Set Her Apart
Shruti has a clear view of why she made the cut, and it was not specialised expertise she could not have been expected to have. It was her foundation.
No matter what skills I have, accounts is my base, and my base is strong. – Shruti Srivastava
Accounting is a subject she has always been drawn to and performed well in, going back to her school results. That deep, reliable foundation, combined with her preparation and composure, is what carried her through, a route into a field she details further in our guide to Careers in US Taxation and Accounting.
The Moment of Selection
Her selection came with a small, human twist. The email listing the five chosen candidates gave the others’ surnames, but hers appeared only as “Shruti.” Uncertain whether it referred to her or another student with the same first name, she held back before celebrating.
I thought there can be multiple Shruti other than Shruti Srivastava. – Shruti Srivastava
Only the next day, after checking with a faculty member and seeing the official list, did she get her confirmation and allow herself to tell her parents. It is a small moment, but a relatable one, a reminder that even a hard-won achievement can arrive quietly and take a beat to sink in.
Her Advice to Juniors
Asked what she would tell students following behind her, Shruti does not talk about marks. She talks about visibility and communication. Be proactive and make yourself known to faculty and coordinators rather than staying in the background, she says, and remember what actually decides an interview.
No one is gonna ask how much percentage you scored. What matters is how you communicate. – Shruti Srivastava
She encourages juniors to build communication and group-discussion skills, and to engage with the wider opportunities campus life offers, activities, competitions, and responsibilities, all of which build both skills and visibility. It is advice she lived, and it is explored further in our piece on why communication and visibility beat marks.
A Journey Worth Following
Shruti Srivastava’s story is not built on a dramatic turning point but on steady, deliberate choices: taking on responsibility as a coordinator, learning unfamiliar tools from scratch, preparing thoroughly for an interview in a subject she had never studied, and trusting a foundation she had spent years building. She did all of this while pursuing an MBA and CA at once. As she begins her professional journey at KMK Ventures, she carries exactly the qualities Parul University aims to build in its students: not just the skills to be hired, but the initiative and confidence to keep growing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Shruti Srivastava get placed?
Shruti Srivastava, an MBA student at Parul Institute of Management and Research (PIMR), Parul University, was placed at KMK Ventures, an Ahmedabad-based firm specialising in US taxation and accounting outsourcing, while still completing her degree and pursuing Chartered Accountancy alongside it.
How did she get placed without a US-taxation background?
Through preparation and strong fundamentals. She worked thoroughly through the company’s preparation material, and her interview tested core accounting fundamentals and her ability to learn quickly rather than advanced US-tax knowledge. A solid accounting foundation, built over years, is what set her apart.
What helped her most during her MBA at Parul University?
She credits Parul University’s Impact Training programme, both attending it and later coordinating it, for building her technical skills (Excel, Power BI, SQL) and her communication, confidence, and group-discussion ability, along with supportive faculty mentorship. Her proactive choice to take on responsibility was central to her growth.
