As a large chunk of students are already placed in various leading IT and allied industries, its almost dusk over the placements for the 2008 passouts, its dawn for the 2009 (passouts) placement season. Let me give you a brief write up of how to tackle campus interviews from the little experience I had during this fruitful season.
Let us start with the procedure of how various companies have their recruitment procedure -
The first step is the Aptitude Test – This includes all kinds of elementary maths and simple logical reasoning. The next phase which is generally augmented with the test is the Technical Test. Software companies (and even purely Electronics based companies like L & T) have a C test. Its mostly of the kind “what would be the output of..” or “ find the error”. Wipro Technologies had a paper which contained a few general things also (questions generally found in technical quiz e.g expand MIME). There is a considerable amount of screening in the first phase.
The short listed candidates are let through either Group Discussion followed by Interview sessions or directly the Interviews. ( Most companies have GDs - exceptions include Wipro Technologies, CTS, Elxsi etc.) The Interview is again of two kinds. First, the Technical Interview wherein our technical abilty is tested and in the second stage, known as the Personal Interview or more generally the HR interview, is mostly a stress interview. Things in your resume are validated in this round and the amount of confidence and communication ability is taken into concern. Once you clear this – “You are Placed” .
Now that the procedure of placement is clear, Lets optimise our preperation so that we really donot need to struggle through the various phases.
Basic Ground Work to be done includes – having a general idea about various companies & the kind of work they do. I wouldn’t always suggest that we should choose our First Job, all that it matters is a relevant job for our BTech. But in a situation that you are looking at your second (alternate) job, I would say, be very choosy.
Getting equipped for Aptitude and Technical Rounds - If I begin listing the names of books required for the aptitude, that would be very long. Generally its basic maths (maths upto X class level) that is tested and being an engineering student, it shouldnt be a problem for us. But speed is all that matters. Most companies have a high cut off for their test and also take into regard the negative marks. So be careful. The only way of improving speed is by practice. I had prepared my aptitude from IMS books for CAT, that was much more than enough. The other favorite books include Shakuntala Devi, RS Agarwal etc. With improved aptitude , the next look out matter is English. It is an uphill task for normal guys to crack this section, but yet again paractice will help. GRE English by Barrons is the most preferred book.
There is also a certain style that each company follows, they do not easily drift from that. Solving previous papers of the compnies (availble in plenty in net – chetanajobs. com, freshersworld. com etc ) is a very good thing to do. Even in the english section, it is not easy to memorize the 5000 odd words in Barrons, this is where old papers help. (This is to be done at the begining of the placement season, doing it way ahead might not be useful).
The next section is C, Yashwant Kanitkar’s Let us C is a good book to learn from the ground level. It is to be understood that the C we learn in our academics is absolutely not sufficient. Structures, Pointers and File operations are important. For the “debugging and output” section, Exploring C by Yashwant Kanitkar is the best book. Most companies have their C part from this book.
Beginning with the preperation for Interviews - We basically need to tell them which subjects are we strong in. Please give only relevant subjects. For a computer student OS, Data Structures, DBMS and Software Engineering are the most expected ones. When you say it is your favorite subject, they expect us to be proficient enough in these subjects. So study these papers conceptually with a “practical orientation – real life situations “ in mind. Although we dont mention these subjects, questions will be asked from them. Mini Project is the next important thing in this round. We are expected to make them understand what our project is in 4-5 sentences. The next obvious question is “what is your role in this project” or “explain your project according to s/w life cycle”. So be prepared. A good project certainly leaves a good impression in the interviers mind- so choose good projects ( with good application and industrial flavour ).
Finally we have the HR interview - Stress questions are asked and we are made to commit mistakes. All it matters is how confident and cool we are. General questions include “describe yourself” , “ hobbies / interests” , “strenghts / weaknesses” , ‘ what do you know about our company / why do you want to join us”, “short term / long term plans”, “do you have any questions to ask us”. Prepare good answers for all these questions and make sure that your answers are brief enough and well structured. Keep in mind that they are ultimately testing your communication skills and attitude through these questions.
Academics – 75 % + with no back logs will qualfy you for almost every test everywhere. Remember good academics is an added advantage.
Resume- your resume reflects your personality. So try being unique while preparin your resume. Also please mention thing which are very much true. If you mention that you like reading, most probably the immediate questions are – which is the last book you have read/ what is the story/ who is the hero in that, there is every chance that the person sitting over there has also read that book – so no bluffing.
Dress Code – Be neatly dressed preferably in uniform. Full hands shirt gives a better look. It is good if we have a new pair of uniform for these interview(s) to be attended. Be Clean and Tidy- no long nails ,hair well combed and a fresh look on your face.
Make it a point to browse the company web site and learn a few things about it. It can be used to answer a few questions in the HR round also it implicates that we are serious about that company and have put some amount of ground work for this interview.
Keep your mind cool and stay calm. Do not hurry with your answers and decisions. Keep a positive attitude. Being different or eccentric will never help you. Think as both a team leader and a team player. All that it matters is how we present ourselves – so make sure that you are at your best. Take suggestions from seniors and others in the industry, it helps a lot. Having GDs, simulating Interviews, taking mock tests etc are the other improvisation techniques to be adopted.
There is a very important factor that also plays a considerable role – FATE although its next only to hardwork and determination.
ALL THE BEST !!
GOD BLESS YOU.
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