Which type of work experience is actually considered for shortlisting students for IIM's and what is meant by managerial work experience?

Indian B-schools (IIM's and even others in top 20) unlike B-schools outside India take in a lot of freshers (35%-55% sometimes even as high as 80%). And they have a rigorous selection process that starts with the CAT score and then a GD and a PI.

The top 20 b-schools maybe producing about 6000 MBA's every year (considering each b-school takes about 300 people every year which is a very high estimate).

And there are about 2.5-2.7 lac people who give the CAT. So the conversion is just 2.4% for top 20 b-schools. So essentially they select 5 people out of 200 that sit for CAT. Do you see how competitive it is.

Imagine youself to be a part of the selection committee to select 5 people out of 200. It's a tough decision and which will affect the lives of people whom you select and don't select.

There's also another aspect of selecting people with good academic record because it would make a good CV during placements.

Now imagine a situation where there is just 1 seat left to be alloted and  there are 2 people with similar CAT and academic scores. But one has some (2-4 yrs) of work exp and the other doesn't. Automatically the one with the work exp is going to be selected. And that's the diff work ex makes to a profile. It enhances the application.

You can work in an established  company , a MNC, a startup or even in your own company. Everything is welcome. Just don't try to fake anything. The admission committee will shred you into a thousand pieces.

Managerial Experience can be defined in two ways:

Where you are actually managing people or projects. For example, you have team members reporting to you. Or, you are directly/indirectly managing certain initiatives. For example, MANAGING your firm’s social media initiatives, or MANAGING pricing strategy etc.

Where you can COMMUNICATE your experience as MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE. For example, let’s say you neither manage people or projects, but, in your essays/resume, you use words such as “responsible” or “took initiative” to do XYZ, then this can be perceived as MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE.

Therefore, if your normal work experience is (or can be brought) under any of the above two domains, then it would be constituted as Managerial Experience!