Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Your seniors at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai were your true well-wishers, they shared their placement interview questions for you. 🙏
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Filter interviews byIndian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai Placement Interview Questions
Updated
4 Dec 2024
1.2k interviews found
5 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: The test was for around an hour. It consisted of quant and verbal sections. The questions were fairly simple, just the basic math and verbal understanding would suffice.
Tips: Just the basic math and verbal understanding would suffice.
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: All the students shortlisted from the exam were divided ito 3 sets and 3 GDs were conducted. Each GD had 8 students. It lasted for 30 minutes I guess. My GD topic was way too vague. It was “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics”. One thing that will help in a GD especially when you are not sure about the topic (like my case) is to listen patiently to others so that you get an idea as to what the topic is exactly about.
Tips: A strict NO to cutting on someone when he/she is making a point and shouting in a loud tone. Both these indicate that you are not fit to be in a team and you are slightly dominating types respectively.
Round: Interview
Experience: One was completely based on puzzles and case studies.
Round: Interview
Experience: The other had a guesstimate and some HR questions. My guesstimate was to come up with number of vehicles on the Chennai roads between 5 to 6 in the evening. I was asked this because my resume had some decent points about my work and interest in transportation engineering. You need to have some decent knowledge on basic figures like the population of Chennai or India etc.,
I was asked some basic questions on Inventory model as I had mentioned that my minor was IE.
Tips: To be able to do these guesstimates well. Obviously speed in basic calculations will help.
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Initially the exam was planned to be conducted for everyone but due to some tech issues and time constraints they came up with CG based shortlisting for the exam at the last minute. After that, shortlisting in every other round was performance-based.
General Tips: 1st years- Explore everything in insti and try to know what you real interests are but never ignore ACADS.
2nd years- Try to decide on what you want to do after graduating. Depending on it start doing things, like putting fight for relevant PoRs or taking up projects if interested in or atleast considering apping.
3rd years- Start preparing for CAT, GRE, ToEFL Whatever it is, be placements, go for an MBA in IIMs, app; CGPA matters. So never ignore acads.
Skill Tips: They were not really looking for any specific electives or courses but OR fundaes would help. Most importantly, you must be in a position to explain everything that you put in your resume perfectly especially your final year project.
Skills: Good Resume , Quantitative Skills, Analytical skills, Communication Skills, Current Affairs, verbal skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: The test was for around an hour. It consisted of quant and verbal sections. The questions were fairly simple, just the basic math and verbal understanding would suffice.
Tips: Just the basic math and verbal understanding would suffice.
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: All the students shortlisted from the exam were divided ito 3 sets and 3 GDs were conducted. Each GD had 8 students. It lasted for 30 minutes I guess. My GD topic was way too vague. It was “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics”. One thing that will help in a GD especially when you are not sure about the topic (like my case) is to listen patiently to others so that you get an idea as to what the topic is exactly about.
Tips: A strict NO to cutting on someone when he/she is making a point and shouting in a loud tone. Both these indicate that you are not fit to be in a team and you are slightly dominating types respectively.
Round: Interview
Experience: One was completely based on puzzles and case studies.
Round: Interview
Experience: The other had a guesstimate and some HR questions. My guesstimate was to come up with number of vehicles on the Chennai roads between 5 to 6 in the evening. I was asked this because my resume had some decent points about my work and interest in transportation engineering. You need to have some decent knowledge on basic figures like the population of Chennai or India etc.,
I was asked some basic questions on Inventory model as I had mentioned that my minor was IE.
Tips: To be able to do these guesstimates well. Obviously speed in basic calculations will help.
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Initially the exam was planned to be conducted for everyone but due to some tech issues and time constraints they came up with CG based shortlisting for the exam at the last minute. After that, shortlisting in every other round was performance-based.
General Tips: 1st years- Explore everything in insti and try to know what you real interests are but never ignore ACADS.
2nd years- Try to decide on what you want to do after graduating. Depending on it start doing things, like putting fight for relevant PoRs or taking up projects if interested in or atleast considering apping.
3rd years- Start preparing for CAT, GRE, ToEFL Whatever it is, be placements, go for an MBA in IIMs, app; CGPA matters. So never ignore acads.
Skill Tips: They were not really looking for any specific electives or courses but OR fundaes would help. Most importantly, you must be in a position to explain everything that you put in your resume perfectly especially your final year project.
Skills: Good Resume , Quantitative Skills, Analytical skills, Communication Skills, Current Affairs, verbal skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: 15 minutes. Everyone was given time to conclude. Strength was 10. No specific skills were tested, Common GD skills like communication skills, listening to others viewpoint etc.
Round: Interview
Experience: 1st interview was with the panelists who visited here and the other was a telephonic interview with the Head of the Division from Delhi.As office is in Gurgaon, Hindi speaking ability helps. HR related question were there mostly. Asked about General Secretary post(POR). Asked about family background. As a lot of travel is involved they see your attachment with family. Interview was mostly based on PORs and resume.
No specific fundas required.
Tips: Before going for the interview please be aware of the recent affairs in the sector. Please read the day’s newspaper as I was asked a question about Malaysian infrastructure which featured on that day’s newspaper. I couldn’t answer and that was the reason I wasn’t selected in Deloitt Infrastructure
General Tips: Please go through the current affairs of the particular sector you are applying for( finance, Infrastructure). Before coming to the interview read the day’s newspaper.
Skill Tips: Focus on your Study.. Revise the subject that you have studied at the time of Interview
Skills: Technical Skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: 15 minutes. Everyone was given time to conclude. Strength was 10. No specific skills were tested, Common GD skills like communication skills, listening to others viewpoint etc.
Round: Interview
Experience: 1st interview was with the panelists who visited here and the other was a telephonic interview with the Head of the Division from Delhi.As office is in Gurgaon, Hindi speaking ability helps. HR related question were there mostly. Asked about General Secretary post(POR). Asked about family background. As a lot of travel is involved they see your attachment with family. Interview was mostly based on PORs and resume.
No specific fundas required.
Tips: Before going for the interview please be aware of the recent affairs in the sector. Please read the day’s newspaper as I was asked a question about Malaysian infrastructure which featured on that day’s newspaper. I couldn’t answer and that was the reason I wasn’t selected in Deloitt Infrastructure
General Tips: Please go through the current affairs of the particular sector you are applying for( finance, Infrastructure). Before coming to the interview read the day’s newspaper.
Skill Tips: Focus on your Study.. Revise the subject that you have studied at the time of Interview
Skills: Technical Skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
7 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: This is the most important part of the placement procedure. All your shortlists are based on how well you can portray what you’ve done in insti and before. Start writing your resume as soon as possible, the first deadline is typically somewhere in October and a resume generally needs 8-10 revisions.
Tips: 1. Start every line with an action verb.
2. Keep the no. of words to a minimum.
3. Remove all the unnecessary words you can. Nobody likes reading stories.
4. Each point should show impact. More than what you’ve done, you should tell them how differently you’ve done it and how it made a difference to the organization and team you worked for. (Common misconception is that impact is only in terms of numbers, this is not the case). I agree this can get very difficult but this is what differentiates and ordinary resume from an extra-ordinary one. So think!
5. Finally, keep the technical part as simple and coherent as possible. Remember an HR is going to be reading your resume.
6. Exaggeration is fine. Say you increased the number of events from 3 to 6. It is okay to write that you brought about a 100% increase in the number of events. But at the same time NEVER write anything in your resume which you cannot explain or substantiate with examples. This gives a very bad impression to the company.
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: This is a normal round with a given topic.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: This is a must round in every company.
Tips: An excellent way of preparing this is writing everything down as experiences. Begin from your school days and think about any activity you’ve been part of or anything you’ve mentioned in your resume. Write down three points about what you did as part of the team or project and three points about what you learnt from it. This really helps. Especially the writing down part, since you can’t remember everything you thought about. This becomes a ready reference just a day or two before your interviews. Do not make the mistake of not preparing enough for HR.
This is as important as any other preparation you have to do for placements. And WRITE stuff down!"
Round: Other Interview
Experience: This was a phone interview. Two people on a conference with me. One guy was asking me only core questions randomly from all subjects ranging from IC engines to fluid mechanics. The other guy was asking me about my previous internship and about how my work affected the factory. They also asked me to give examples from personal life, where I exhibited leadership skills etc. This interview went on for about 45 minutes.
College Name: IIT Madras
Experience: This is the most important part of the placement procedure. All your shortlists are based on how well you can portray what you’ve done in insti and before. Start writing your resume as soon as possible, the first deadline is typically somewhere in October and a resume generally needs 8-10 revisions.
Tips: 1. Start every line with an action verb.
2. Keep the no. of words to a minimum.
3. Remove all the unnecessary words you can. Nobody likes reading stories.
4. Each point should show impact. More than what you’ve done, you should tell them how differently you’ve done it and how it made a difference to the organization and team you worked for. (Common misconception is that impact is only in terms of numbers, this is not the case). I agree this can get very difficult but this is what differentiates and ordinary resume from an extra-ordinary one. So think!
5. Finally, keep the technical part as simple and coherent as possible. Remember an HR is going to be reading your resume.
6. Exaggeration is fine. Say you increased the number of events from 3 to 6. It is okay to write that you brought about a 100% increase in the number of events. But at the same time NEVER write anything in your resume which you cannot explain or substantiate with examples. This gives a very bad impression to the company.
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: This is a normal round with a given topic.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: This is a must round in every company.
Tips: An excellent way of preparing this is writing everything down as experiences. Begin from your school days and think about any activity you’ve been part of or anything you’ve mentioned in your resume. Write down three points about what you did as part of the team or project and three points about what you learnt from it. This really helps. Especially the writing down part, since you can’t remember everything you thought about. This becomes a ready reference just a day or two before your interviews. Do not make the mistake of not preparing enough for HR.
This is as important as any other preparation you have to do for placements. And WRITE stuff down!"
Round: Other Interview
Experience: This was a phone interview. Two people on a conference with me. One guy was asking me only core questions randomly from all subjects ranging from IC engines to fluid mechanics. The other guy was asking me about my previous internship and about how my work affected the factory. They also asked me to give examples from personal life, where I exhibited leadership skills etc. This interview went on for about 45 minutes.
College Name: IIT Madras
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Interview
Experience: General HR questions were asked.
Tips: Prepare for the basic HR questions in advance.
Round: Interview
Experience: Few technical questions were asked.
Tips: I will strongly advise you to revise your concepts.
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: You need to apply for the position and wait for the resume to be shortlisted.
Tips: Keep your resume as simple as possible to read.
Skills: Basic Coding Skills
College Name: IIT Madras
Experience: General HR questions were asked.
Tips: Prepare for the basic HR questions in advance.
Round: Interview
Experience: Few technical questions were asked.
Tips: I will strongly advise you to revise your concepts.
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: You need to apply for the position and wait for the resume to be shortlisted.
Tips: Keep your resume as simple as possible to read.
Skills: Basic Coding Skills
College Name: IIT Madras
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: aptitude was as usual.
Technical was tough. lots of concepts were revisited. Digital systems, analog circuits, Computer Oraganization etc.
Tips: For aptitude general prep for placements is enough.
If you want to get seriously placed for Qualcomm then you must be thorough with all the courses i mentioned.
Only Mtechs have cleared the test. Even in the extended shortlist there were no Btechs. Everyone may not be lucky as myself in getting a Walk-in interview.
Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Basic questions on Digital Systems. Some aptitude questions.
General questions about interests and future goals.
Tips: Questions were easy if u have prepared even a little bit.
Get shortlisted for interview and then it must be easy to crack.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Maybe i was already hired, as no questions were asked. She actually gave me an idea of how the work is going to be in Qualcomm Chennai.
Tips: Just clear the test and tech interview and you most likely will get the job.
General Tips: Prepare well and be cool during the interviews.
Skills: Digital Systems
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Its core and a well established MNC with lots of future possibilities.
Experience: aptitude was as usual.
Technical was tough. lots of concepts were revisited. Digital systems, analog circuits, Computer Oraganization etc.
Tips: For aptitude general prep for placements is enough.
If you want to get seriously placed for Qualcomm then you must be thorough with all the courses i mentioned.
Only Mtechs have cleared the test. Even in the extended shortlist there were no Btechs. Everyone may not be lucky as myself in getting a Walk-in interview.
Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Basic questions on Digital Systems. Some aptitude questions.
General questions about interests and future goals.
Tips: Questions were easy if u have prepared even a little bit.
Get shortlisted for interview and then it must be easy to crack.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Maybe i was already hired, as no questions were asked. She actually gave me an idea of how the work is going to be in Qualcomm Chennai.
Tips: Just clear the test and tech interview and you most likely will get the job.
General Tips: Prepare well and be cool during the interviews.
Skills: Digital Systems
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Its core and a well established MNC with lots of future possibilities.
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: I did well in speed matth part but i felt I could have done better in analytical aptitude. They have questions like od man out in picture format which i didn't expect.
Tips: Practice speed math 1 day before. You can get some tests online (just google). There are cutoffs for each section, so dont neglect any section.
Ideal time - Speed math 5-7 min
aptitude 20-25 min
Duration: 30 minutes
Total Questions: 50
Round: Trade moghul usly(online simulation of trading)
Experience: We were asked to take part in trade moghul, Company's trading competition for one week on a crude oil. I have started playing it as it is part of selection process but later i have enjoyed it and took part for almost 6-7 hrs a day.
Tips: Just enjoy making profit or loss. The values will be real time but money is not. So play for fun. They take it seriously. They dont mind if you make profit or loss. They jus want to check your patience.
Round: Interview
Experience: I have had 4 rounds of interview. First one is rapid round. In this they will ask you questions very fast that you cannot settle and make up your mind and then answer. They ask even normal stuff like capitals of countries, Presidents of countries and some speed math which you have to answer instantly
2-4 rounds: These 3 rounds are stress rounds where they say you are useless and will not have a career if you join this company and they say you are not good at this and that and try to put you in pressure. In pressure they test how your mind works and how smart you think. For example they ask you to see around in room then change topic and ask you to close eyes and ask how many switches are there in room. They give you some situation and will test you how you behave in those conditions. We all know that no interviewer ,how bad the interview is ,will not say you are not good and will not say you will be a failure. So for all the words they say I was just saying to myself that they are just trying to make me feel the pressure and I have also started to enjoy with them. I would definitely say that this was my most enjoyed interview.
Tips: Just be yourself. Dont act and keep saying to yourself that they are just saying bad things to make you feel the pressure. Play trade moghul as it reflects your intrest in trading
General Tips: Be cool. They are not here to test your english ability. They need people with good math skill and who works under pressure
Skills: Speed Math
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Individual performance is directly proportional to the bonus you get.
Experience: I did well in speed matth part but i felt I could have done better in analytical aptitude. They have questions like od man out in picture format which i didn't expect.
Tips: Practice speed math 1 day before. You can get some tests online (just google). There are cutoffs for each section, so dont neglect any section.
Ideal time - Speed math 5-7 min
aptitude 20-25 min
Duration: 30 minutes
Total Questions: 50
Round: Trade moghul usly(online simulation of trading)
Experience: We were asked to take part in trade moghul, Company's trading competition for one week on a crude oil. I have started playing it as it is part of selection process but later i have enjoyed it and took part for almost 6-7 hrs a day.
Tips: Just enjoy making profit or loss. The values will be real time but money is not. So play for fun. They take it seriously. They dont mind if you make profit or loss. They jus want to check your patience.
Round: Interview
Experience: I have had 4 rounds of interview. First one is rapid round. In this they will ask you questions very fast that you cannot settle and make up your mind and then answer. They ask even normal stuff like capitals of countries, Presidents of countries and some speed math which you have to answer instantly
2-4 rounds: These 3 rounds are stress rounds where they say you are useless and will not have a career if you join this company and they say you are not good at this and that and try to put you in pressure. In pressure they test how your mind works and how smart you think. For example they ask you to see around in room then change topic and ask you to close eyes and ask how many switches are there in room. They give you some situation and will test you how you behave in those conditions. We all know that no interviewer ,how bad the interview is ,will not say you are not good and will not say you will be a failure. So for all the words they say I was just saying to myself that they are just trying to make me feel the pressure and I have also started to enjoy with them. I would definitely say that this was my most enjoyed interview.
Tips: Just be yourself. Dont act and keep saying to yourself that they are just saying bad things to make you feel the pressure. Play trade moghul as it reflects your intrest in trading
General Tips: Be cool. They are not here to test your english ability. They need people with good math skill and who works under pressure
Skills: Speed Math
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Individual performance is directly proportional to the bonus you get.
Manoj Eega
posted on 26 Jan 2015
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: the test had aptitude and technical sections in equal parts. the aptitude part was very easy, you have to score almost full in this section if you are from IITs. The technical part was also easy, but you have to get your basics right to score well in the test.Once you got through the test round,you have great chances of getting the job.During my placement, they selected people who scored above 90%.
Tips: In the technical round, all the topics will be covered, so you should be clear with your basics in all the topics.I had to put special attention on topics such as pumps since it was not taught for us.
Round: Technical Interview
Experience: If you have an above average CGPA, they try really hard to eliminate you in the technical round, so brace yourself and be ready for it.If you are an average pointer,you will find it relatively easy, you will get through the round provided you don't show your stupidity.
Mine was a stress interview right from the start, they didn't agree upon whatever I said. In fact at one point one of the interviewer turned towards another and just said "yeh kuch bhi boltha hai yaar". At the end I got through. I attribute my success to the tolerance and patience I showed during the interview.Whatever they say try not to give up and try to answer their questions in a crisp manner.
They asked questions about my projects as well as questions on application of chemical engineering in the industry.
Tips: I attribute my success to the tolerance and patience I showed during the interview.Whatever they say try not to give up and try to answer their questions in a crisp manner.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: All the candidates who got through the technical round got the jobs.So as you can understand the HR round is "Naam ke vasthe" atleast during my placement.
General Tips: Especially for this company people need not bother about their communication skills. If you just can communicate your ideas in english that's suffice.
Skill Tips: If you aim for Reliance, preparing for GATE really helps you.
Skills: chemical engineering basics, stress handling ability
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Wanted to do work in core chemical engineering.And in reliance, since it has the largest petroleum refinery in Asia you will have great learning oppurtunity.
Funny Moments: In my first round of interview, they really tried to stress me out. At one point in the interview they looked as if they were not interested in whatever I say and one of the interviewer tried to show that intent by telling the other interviewer "Yeh kuch bhi boltha hai yaar"(He is bullshitting). But since I knew that I was not bullshitting, I didn't yield to the stress and answered all the questions patiently.
In the HR round, since there was a point about chemistry Olympiad, they asked me a question on chemistry. I didn't really know the answer but I tried to answer it. The interviewer was a chemistry graduate and she got visibly angry at my effort of answering. She yelled at me and created an impression I screwed it up.But at the end she suddenly burst into a laugh and told that I got the job.Happy ending atleast :)
Experience: the test had aptitude and technical sections in equal parts. the aptitude part was very easy, you have to score almost full in this section if you are from IITs. The technical part was also easy, but you have to get your basics right to score well in the test.Once you got through the test round,you have great chances of getting the job.During my placement, they selected people who scored above 90%.
Tips: In the technical round, all the topics will be covered, so you should be clear with your basics in all the topics.I had to put special attention on topics such as pumps since it was not taught for us.
Round: Technical Interview
Experience: If you have an above average CGPA, they try really hard to eliminate you in the technical round, so brace yourself and be ready for it.If you are an average pointer,you will find it relatively easy, you will get through the round provided you don't show your stupidity.
Mine was a stress interview right from the start, they didn't agree upon whatever I said. In fact at one point one of the interviewer turned towards another and just said "yeh kuch bhi boltha hai yaar". At the end I got through. I attribute my success to the tolerance and patience I showed during the interview.Whatever they say try not to give up and try to answer their questions in a crisp manner.
They asked questions about my projects as well as questions on application of chemical engineering in the industry.
Tips: I attribute my success to the tolerance and patience I showed during the interview.Whatever they say try not to give up and try to answer their questions in a crisp manner.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: All the candidates who got through the technical round got the jobs.So as you can understand the HR round is "Naam ke vasthe" atleast during my placement.
General Tips: Especially for this company people need not bother about their communication skills. If you just can communicate your ideas in english that's suffice.
Skill Tips: If you aim for Reliance, preparing for GATE really helps you.
Skills: chemical engineering basics, stress handling ability
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Wanted to do work in core chemical engineering.And in reliance, since it has the largest petroleum refinery in Asia you will have great learning oppurtunity.
Funny Moments: In my first round of interview, they really tried to stress me out. At one point in the interview they looked as if they were not interested in whatever I say and one of the interviewer tried to show that intent by telling the other interviewer "Yeh kuch bhi boltha hai yaar"(He is bullshitting). But since I knew that I was not bullshitting, I didn't yield to the stress and answered all the questions patiently.
In the HR round, since there was a point about chemistry Olympiad, they asked me a question on chemistry. I didn't really know the answer but I tried to answer it. The interviewer was a chemistry graduate and she got visibly angry at my effort of answering. She yelled at me and created an impression I screwed it up.But at the end she suddenly burst into a laugh and told that I got the job.Happy ending atleast :)
6 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Talking with respect to Schlumberger, i was confident of making it to the shortlist (but this year’s Schlumberger resume shortlist remains a mystery, many of the expected people didn’t make it)But it is evident that they look for people with a lot of extracurricular activities and PoRs.Inter IIT sports representation plays a great role for the shortlist.In my case, my resume was perfect for Schlumberger and by the time Schlumberger resume upload deadline was up, I can assert that I had a pretty good resume. I did take a lot of feedback from seniors especially for Schlum. You need to rearrange your sessions.My PoRs and extracurricular had to be shifted above the internships or other academic achievements.
Tips: When it comes to resume, its the most important part of the placement process. You have a bad resume; you just don’t invite an interview no matter whatever great things you have done in institute.
As i just mentioned, for Mckinsey and other top consult companies, resume shortlist is the toughest stage to get through, hence it is very important to prepare your resumes from the starting of the August. The first resumes will always be very bad. Its very essential to get it reviewed by at least 10-15 people. Its equally important to go through at least 10 best resumes of your seniors. These are some of the things which I did not do initially until the Mckinsey and BCG shortlists came out. Please note the following for resumes
● Choose the right template for your resume.For example, if you have a lot of PoRs choose a box template
● Words don't matter, numbers and percentages matter
● Do attend the Mckinsey resume workshop if they conduct one
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: I knew well how to crack a GD, this time without even making a single point about ‘innovation’. Each group consisted of 7 members, but in my group 2 people were absent. So we, group of 5 started the discussion about ‘innovation’.
As I knew it is a plus point to start off the GD, I went on to break the silence. I was speaking more like a moderator involving everyone in the discussion, as I believed that was the key to get through the GD. I started off, gave space for people to speak, to make their point. I interrupted in the middle couple of times, only to gather all the points together and drive the GD in a particular direction or give it a sense with respect to the Schlumberger. In ourgroup, all got through except one and till the interviews.
Tips: Topics can be as random as ‘beer and milk’, ‘spinach’, ‘charlie24’.
Finally what they look for are people who can communicate well in a group, those who can give direction to the discussion, those who can start, conclude or give it a different dimension etc.
If you don't have any points to make, take the role of a moderator.
Out of all GDs, a total of 24 students were selected to GA
Duration: 5-10 minutes
Round: Group Activity
Experience: They will give us a mechanics box with all nuts, bolts and dismantled pieces which could be built to a car/rig etc. This time it was a rig.
So they gave us the mechanic’s box. We were given roughly one minute to discuss within the group how are we going to do it and then 5 minutes to build the rig.
I and one of my friends took a lead in explaining the entire procedure to group to coordinate in a better way. We divided the process of making the rig as base and topside.
Out of 8 people in our group, 4 people were working on the base and 4 people on building the top. I was coordinating both the activities and keeping track of time.
Once the structure is ready (it surely will look weird, as rarely people build some structure which looks sensible), we need to sell our product to some other group. Each of the group members have to speak about a special feature of the structure.
Later, once everyone is done with the features, the opposite team members can ask questions to chosen members of some other group. From GA comes the final shortlist for interview.
There were 12 people who made it to personal interviews
Tips: Again as the name suggests, it’s all about how you behave in a group, how much you can contribute to the progress of the group activity, how much you involve the group members.
Round: Interview
Experience: Schlumberger interviews are purely HR. In short I could say they want people who are team players, who loves challenges, who are mentally tough, who loves to travel, who can adapt to different environments etc..
I had prepared well for the HR interview mainly questions like tell me about yourself, give instances from your life where you showed team player skills, why Schlumberger etc..
The interview panel consisted of 4 officials.
I was sixth in the list for interview calls.
The first question to me was ‘what is Mithun?’
I was slightly confused by the questions thinking whether he is asking for the meaning of the word Mithun or something else? But it was very important that I answer promptly. So i replied ‘ Mithun is my name sir’ in a baffled way with a smile expecting him to clarify the question.
Immediately he rephrased it as ‘ What encompasses Mithun?’
Now it was clear, it was another way of asking ‘tell me about yourself’. As this was a familiar question, I went onto speak some 3-4 minutes continuously about me, touching all the important qualities of interest for Schlumberger which I possess and they were listening quite well.
After my long reply for their question, I voluntarily paused to enquire whether they have any question for me. Then they wanted to ask more about instances from life where I displayed those qualities. Sports can play a major role as it speak a lot about a person (passion, team player skills, challenge loving).As I mentioned before, they wanted
people who are team players and who love challenges, I quoted examples of my sports achievements as an athlete and sports secretary where I displayed those.
I had a cultural exchange to Japan for 10 days which I could talk about to explain my
adaptability which added another dimension to my experience.
Further there were questions like ‘Which one do you love more, teams sports or individual sports?’
for that my answer was first team sports and then individual sports.
Being part of both team sports and individual sports, I justified my point explaining, the joy of sharing happiness with team mates is much more than the joy of winning a medal for yourself. I added that, team sports is like working for a bigger cause/goal.
Later there were questions like ‘why Schlumberger?’ ‘If not Schlumberger, then what?’
I was able to tackle those questions as well. Towards the end, I could feel that the panel was positive about my interview. The panel asked if there were any questions from my side.
I asked questions like ‘How do you keep yourself motivated even after 8-10 years in the company?’ and ‘What is the kind of work which you do being completed 10 years in the industry?’
Tips: I was very confident after my interview, but was a little speculative too as we heard they were taking less number of people this year. And as expected they took only 2 from B.Tech and 1 from petroleum engineering.
But the key points here are, first thing to ensure you fit the Schlumberger profile well (means you should be a team player, hand on jobs, challenges, tough etc..) and rest is to go well prepared for all three stages.
General Tips: First thing to ensure you fit the Schlumberger profile well (means you should be a team player, hand on jobs, challenges, tough etc..) and rest is to go well prepared for all three stages.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: Talking with respect to Schlumberger, i was confident of making it to the shortlist (but this year’s Schlumberger resume shortlist remains a mystery, many of the expected people didn’t make it)But it is evident that they look for people with a lot of extracurricular activities and PoRs.Inter IIT sports representation plays a great role for the shortlist.In my case, my resume was perfect for Schlumberger and by the time Schlumberger resume upload deadline was up, I can assert that I had a pretty good resume. I did take a lot of feedback from seniors especially for Schlum. You need to rearrange your sessions.My PoRs and extracurricular had to be shifted above the internships or other academic achievements.
Tips: When it comes to resume, its the most important part of the placement process. You have a bad resume; you just don’t invite an interview no matter whatever great things you have done in institute.
As i just mentioned, for Mckinsey and other top consult companies, resume shortlist is the toughest stage to get through, hence it is very important to prepare your resumes from the starting of the August. The first resumes will always be very bad. Its very essential to get it reviewed by at least 10-15 people. Its equally important to go through at least 10 best resumes of your seniors. These are some of the things which I did not do initially until the Mckinsey and BCG shortlists came out. Please note the following for resumes
● Choose the right template for your resume.For example, if you have a lot of PoRs choose a box template
● Words don't matter, numbers and percentages matter
● Do attend the Mckinsey resume workshop if they conduct one
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: I knew well how to crack a GD, this time without even making a single point about ‘innovation’. Each group consisted of 7 members, but in my group 2 people were absent. So we, group of 5 started the discussion about ‘innovation’.
As I knew it is a plus point to start off the GD, I went on to break the silence. I was speaking more like a moderator involving everyone in the discussion, as I believed that was the key to get through the GD. I started off, gave space for people to speak, to make their point. I interrupted in the middle couple of times, only to gather all the points together and drive the GD in a particular direction or give it a sense with respect to the Schlumberger. In ourgroup, all got through except one and till the interviews.
Tips: Topics can be as random as ‘beer and milk’, ‘spinach’, ‘charlie24’.
Finally what they look for are people who can communicate well in a group, those who can give direction to the discussion, those who can start, conclude or give it a different dimension etc.
If you don't have any points to make, take the role of a moderator.
Out of all GDs, a total of 24 students were selected to GA
Duration: 5-10 minutes
Round: Group Activity
Experience: They will give us a mechanics box with all nuts, bolts and dismantled pieces which could be built to a car/rig etc. This time it was a rig.
So they gave us the mechanic’s box. We were given roughly one minute to discuss within the group how are we going to do it and then 5 minutes to build the rig.
I and one of my friends took a lead in explaining the entire procedure to group to coordinate in a better way. We divided the process of making the rig as base and topside.
Out of 8 people in our group, 4 people were working on the base and 4 people on building the top. I was coordinating both the activities and keeping track of time.
Once the structure is ready (it surely will look weird, as rarely people build some structure which looks sensible), we need to sell our product to some other group. Each of the group members have to speak about a special feature of the structure.
Later, once everyone is done with the features, the opposite team members can ask questions to chosen members of some other group. From GA comes the final shortlist for interview.
There were 12 people who made it to personal interviews
Tips: Again as the name suggests, it’s all about how you behave in a group, how much you can contribute to the progress of the group activity, how much you involve the group members.
Round: Interview
Experience: Schlumberger interviews are purely HR. In short I could say they want people who are team players, who loves challenges, who are mentally tough, who loves to travel, who can adapt to different environments etc..
I had prepared well for the HR interview mainly questions like tell me about yourself, give instances from your life where you showed team player skills, why Schlumberger etc..
The interview panel consisted of 4 officials.
I was sixth in the list for interview calls.
The first question to me was ‘what is Mithun?’
I was slightly confused by the questions thinking whether he is asking for the meaning of the word Mithun or something else? But it was very important that I answer promptly. So i replied ‘ Mithun is my name sir’ in a baffled way with a smile expecting him to clarify the question.
Immediately he rephrased it as ‘ What encompasses Mithun?’
Now it was clear, it was another way of asking ‘tell me about yourself’. As this was a familiar question, I went onto speak some 3-4 minutes continuously about me, touching all the important qualities of interest for Schlumberger which I possess and they were listening quite well.
After my long reply for their question, I voluntarily paused to enquire whether they have any question for me. Then they wanted to ask more about instances from life where I displayed those qualities. Sports can play a major role as it speak a lot about a person (passion, team player skills, challenge loving).As I mentioned before, they wanted
people who are team players and who love challenges, I quoted examples of my sports achievements as an athlete and sports secretary where I displayed those.
I had a cultural exchange to Japan for 10 days which I could talk about to explain my
adaptability which added another dimension to my experience.
Further there were questions like ‘Which one do you love more, teams sports or individual sports?’
for that my answer was first team sports and then individual sports.
Being part of both team sports and individual sports, I justified my point explaining, the joy of sharing happiness with team mates is much more than the joy of winning a medal for yourself. I added that, team sports is like working for a bigger cause/goal.
Later there were questions like ‘why Schlumberger?’ ‘If not Schlumberger, then what?’
I was able to tackle those questions as well. Towards the end, I could feel that the panel was positive about my interview. The panel asked if there were any questions from my side.
I asked questions like ‘How do you keep yourself motivated even after 8-10 years in the company?’ and ‘What is the kind of work which you do being completed 10 years in the industry?’
Tips: I was very confident after my interview, but was a little speculative too as we heard they were taking less number of people this year. And as expected they took only 2 from B.Tech and 1 from petroleum engineering.
But the key points here are, first thing to ensure you fit the Schlumberger profile well (means you should be a team player, hand on jobs, challenges, tough etc..) and rest is to go well prepared for all three stages.
General Tips: First thing to ensure you fit the Schlumberger profile well (means you should be a team player, hand on jobs, challenges, tough etc..) and rest is to go well prepared for all three stages.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Build the best resume, for getting shortlisted.
Tips: Your resume is the first impression you make for yourself on the company or the interviewing panel. Most companies have a resume shortlist for their interviews where they reduce the field from roughly 600 applicants to 20-30. So, your resume is of utmost importance.
Different companies look for different things in the resumes of their applicants.
For example, the consulting firms look for people who are all-rounders and have spikes or achievements across the board. Other firms like people who are strong in the Positions of Responsibility department specially.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Mckinsey & Company had 3 rounds of interviews in total.
Each interview consisted of a small case followed by a personal interview section.
The cases that were asked were across the board.
They varied from pricing new products to helping automobile companies improve their bottom line.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The personal interview section in Mckinsey I felt was quite important.
They really wanted to know what my long term and short term plans in life were and how Mckinsey figured in them.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: Build the best resume, for getting shortlisted.
Tips: Your resume is the first impression you make for yourself on the company or the interviewing panel. Most companies have a resume shortlist for their interviews where they reduce the field from roughly 600 applicants to 20-30. So, your resume is of utmost importance.
Different companies look for different things in the resumes of their applicants.
For example, the consulting firms look for people who are all-rounders and have spikes or achievements across the board. Other firms like people who are strong in the Positions of Responsibility department specially.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Mckinsey & Company had 3 rounds of interviews in total.
Each interview consisted of a small case followed by a personal interview section.
The cases that were asked were across the board.
They varied from pricing new products to helping automobile companies improve their bottom line.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The personal interview section in Mckinsey I felt was quite important.
They really wanted to know what my long term and short term plans in life were and how Mckinsey figured in them.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: With the help of my good resume, i was being shortlisted.
Tips: Your resume is the first impression you make for yourself on the company or the interviewing panel. Most companies have a resume shortlist for their interviews where they reduce the field from roughly 600 applicants to 20-30. So, your resume is of utmost importance.
Different companies look for different things in the resumes of their applicants. For example, the consulting firms look for people who are all-rounders and have spikes or achievements across the board. Other firms like people who are strong in the Positions of Responsibility department specially.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I had four interviews with the Boston Consulting Group.
Each interviewer made me solve a small case.
There wasn’t any personal interview.
Cases that I solved here were also largely similar.
Some examples include how to price a new cab service, how to improve market share for companies like flipkart etc.
General Tips: Build your resume stronger as much as you can, and solve case studies.
The main format of interviewing for consult companies is the case interview format. Here they give you a small business problem in the form of a case and ask you to solve it on the spot. There are a lot of prep books for this on the internet. The one I found most useful was Case in Point. I formed a case group of 2-3 people and practiced cases from this book. Mock interviews with people from the consulting companies also helps a lot.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: With the help of my good resume, i was being shortlisted.
Tips: Your resume is the first impression you make for yourself on the company or the interviewing panel. Most companies have a resume shortlist for their interviews where they reduce the field from roughly 600 applicants to 20-30. So, your resume is of utmost importance.
Different companies look for different things in the resumes of their applicants. For example, the consulting firms look for people who are all-rounders and have spikes or achievements across the board. Other firms like people who are strong in the Positions of Responsibility department specially.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I had four interviews with the Boston Consulting Group.
Each interviewer made me solve a small case.
There wasn’t any personal interview.
Cases that I solved here were also largely similar.
Some examples include how to price a new cab service, how to improve market share for companies like flipkart etc.
General Tips: Build your resume stronger as much as you can, and solve case studies.
The main format of interviewing for consult companies is the case interview format. Here they give you a small business problem in the form of a case and ask you to solve it on the spot. There are a lot of prep books for this on the internet. The one I found most useful was Case in Point. I formed a case group of 2-3 people and practiced cases from this book. Mock interviews with people from the consulting companies also helps a lot.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
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