Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Your seniors at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur were your true well-wishers, they shared their placement interview questions for you. 🙏
Filter interviews byIndian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur Placement Interview Questions
Updated
27 Dec 2024
411 interviews found
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Resume-based questions
- Q2. Intern-based questions
- Q3. General questions on courses and my interest in finance
- Q4. Why are gold prices increasing and why are US treasury bonds still valuable?
- Q5. Discussion about Euro crisis
- Q6. Advanced level questions on C++
- Q7. If you are asked to play a game where you toss a fair coin again and again until you get consecutive heads and win Re. 1 or you get consecutive tails and lose a...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: 1. It was 3 hours test with three 'subjective' sections of one hour each.
2. The first section was mathematics, comprising of Probability Statistics and Linear Algebra. Apparently, one of the sum was from one of the previous IMO papers. All the sums were more or less pretty theoretical and high level.
3. The second section was algorithms, which is where I performed best, since I was taking the Data Structures and Algorithms course that semester.
4. The third section was on computer networks which was mainly targeted at the CSE junta and not meant for us.
Duration: 180 minutes
Total Questions: 60+60+60
Round: Interview
Experience: 1. It lasted for 20-30 minutes.
2. This was my first interview of the day. It started off with a discussion of my resume, especially of my work at DB, and the interviewer even told me about how they do something quite similar in their team.
3. He asked me about my courses and my interest in finance.
4. The discussion then moved towards finance and we discussed questions like why are gold prices increasing and why are US treasury bonds still valuable and also about the Euro crisis.
5. I call it a discussion because although it would start off with a question the interviewer would pose for me, very soon it would end up being an interesting discussion with each of us putting in our opinion and views and new facts. It was a very jovial interview.
Round: Interview
Experience: 1. This was supposed to be a more technical interview to test my coding and mathematical skills.
2. The interviewer asked me if I knew C++. I told him that I had done it back in my high school days, so might be a little rusty but will definitely try.
3. He started off with an easy question on derived classes and their objects. Soon the code became more and more complicated, involving abstract classes, virtual functions, copy constructors etc.
4. However, thankfully I was able to answer at every step, sometimes of course with a little nudge from him.
5. Later in second question, he modified the question by making it an unfair coin. He taught me how to draw a state diagram, and using that I was easily able to reach the answer.
6. After this I had left for the BCG ordeal so had been unable to come back for my third interview that they kept calling me for. I finally came back to meet them after giving my 1st round interview at Credit Suisse. I was asked about my job preferences and if I was really interested in joining GS.
7. After I assured them that GS is indeed my dream company they let me know that all of them were pretty impressed with me and in other ways subtly hinted at the good news. When I came out of that room, my prior two interviewers came over to chat with me. We moved into another room and had a long chat about their plans for the India office of GS, the new teams they were planning to build etc. One of them gave me his business card, asking me to give him a call if I had any more questions.
General Tips: 1. I really wanted to get into Goldman Sachs so I started reading the Financial Express on the side, and practicing probability problems from “50 challenging problems in probability”, a book suggested by one of the alums in investment banking.
2. The preparation for CAT had taken care of my aptitude test preparation so I did not have to worry much about that any longer.
3. I didn't have to worry about Group Discussions because not too many companies open for BSBE conducted GD’s.
4. I had left the last week after my endsems ended and before placements began for the main preparation for HR although I did make a list of questions and jotted down some points for the answers of each of them beforehand.
5. Initially, I would practice around 3 case studies a week, with my batchmates in GH, in a group of 4. We would meet at night whenever possible and each one would solve one case study each while another person posed as the interviewer, usually from the book “Case in Point” but sometimes also from other sources like the IIMA Case Book, the Wharton Business School Case book and the cases that had come in previous years’ problems which we found in SPO’s Case book.
6. In later days, especially during endsems, we took to meeting in mixed random groups among the BCG shortlisted people for similar case practice sessions, and I ended up having done around 20 case studies before placements started.
7. Once the shortlist for Goldman Sachs came out, which was 2 days before the placements, I also read up a little on dynamic programming which I knew nothing about.
8. In the last week before placements I structured my HR answers and learnt by heart the main points so that I don’t miss any when answering, but not the language because I believed spontaneity is a must to excel in HR interviews.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: 1. It was 3 hours test with three 'subjective' sections of one hour each.
2. The first section was mathematics, comprising of Probability Statistics and Linear Algebra. Apparently, one of the sum was from one of the previous IMO papers. All the sums were more or less pretty theoretical and high level.
3. The second section was algorithms, which is where I performed best, since I was taking the Data Structures and Algorithms course that semester.
4. The third section was on computer networks which was mainly targeted at the CSE junta and not meant for us.
Duration: 180 minutes
Total Questions: 60+60+60
Round: Interview
Experience: 1. It lasted for 20-30 minutes.
2. This was my first interview of the day. It started off with a discussion of my resume, especially of my work at DB, and the interviewer even told me about how they do something quite similar in their team.
3. He asked me about my courses and my interest in finance.
4. The discussion then moved towards finance and we discussed questions like why are gold prices increasing and why are US treasury bonds still valuable and also about the Euro crisis.
5. I call it a discussion because although it would start off with a question the interviewer would pose for me, very soon it would end up being an interesting discussion with each of us putting in our opinion and views and new facts. It was a very jovial interview.
Round: Interview
Experience: 1. This was supposed to be a more technical interview to test my coding and mathematical skills.
2. The interviewer asked me if I knew C++. I told him that I had done it back in my high school days, so might be a little rusty but will definitely try.
3. He started off with an easy question on derived classes and their objects. Soon the code became more and more complicated, involving abstract classes, virtual functions, copy constructors etc.
4. However, thankfully I was able to answer at every step, sometimes of course with a little nudge from him.
5. Later in second question, he modified the question by making it an unfair coin. He taught me how to draw a state diagram, and using that I was easily able to reach the answer.
6. After this I had left for the BCG ordeal so had been unable to come back for my third interview that they kept calling me for. I finally came back to meet them after giving my 1st round interview at Credit Suisse. I was asked about my job preferences and if I was really interested in joining GS.
7. After I assured them that GS is indeed my dream company they let me know that all of them were pretty impressed with me and in other ways subtly hinted at the good news. When I came out of that room, my prior two interviewers came over to chat with me. We moved into another room and had a long chat about their plans for the India office of GS, the new teams they were planning to build etc. One of them gave me his business card, asking me to give him a call if I had any more questions.
General Tips: 1. I really wanted to get into Goldman Sachs so I started reading the Financial Express on the side, and practicing probability problems from “50 challenging problems in probability”, a book suggested by one of the alums in investment banking.
2. The preparation for CAT had taken care of my aptitude test preparation so I did not have to worry much about that any longer.
3. I didn't have to worry about Group Discussions because not too many companies open for BSBE conducted GD’s.
4. I had left the last week after my endsems ended and before placements began for the main preparation for HR although I did make a list of questions and jotted down some points for the answers of each of them beforehand.
5. Initially, I would practice around 3 case studies a week, with my batchmates in GH, in a group of 4. We would meet at night whenever possible and each one would solve one case study each while another person posed as the interviewer, usually from the book “Case in Point” but sometimes also from other sources like the IIMA Case Book, the Wharton Business School Case book and the cases that had come in previous years’ problems which we found in SPO’s Case book.
6. In later days, especially during endsems, we took to meeting in mixed random groups among the BCG shortlisted people for similar case practice sessions, and I ended up having done around 20 case studies before placements started.
7. Once the shortlist for Goldman Sachs came out, which was 2 days before the placements, I also read up a little on dynamic programming which I knew nothing about.
8. In the last week before placements I structured my HR answers and learnt by heart the main points so that I don’t miss any when answering, but not the language because I believed spontaneity is a must to excel in HR interviews.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: I got shortlisted for Capital One but could not make through the interview comprising mainly of number crunching questions. Later, I interviewed with Flipkart and got selected.
General Tips: 1. I was inclined in clearing CAT from my second year onwards.
2. I did a summer project in the second year and simultaneously joined Career Launcher.
3. I didn’t prepared much for the placements and was only focussed on CAT preparations during the seventh semester.
4. I did not give as much time in resume building as given by mates since I knew that I have nothing to mention about except my CPI.
5. CAT preparations helped me strengthen my aptitude and quant skills.
6. I was able to clear the tests of various companies just with my CAT knowledge.
7. I practised maths for entire month and was pretty confident in English and a week before the main exam, I did one or two mock papers daily.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I got shortlisted for Capital One but could not make through the interview comprising mainly of number crunching questions. Later, I interviewed with Flipkart and got selected.
General Tips: 1. I was inclined in clearing CAT from my second year onwards.
2. I did a summer project in the second year and simultaneously joined Career Launcher.
3. I didn’t prepared much for the placements and was only focussed on CAT preparations during the seventh semester.
4. I did not give as much time in resume building as given by mates since I knew that I have nothing to mention about except my CPI.
5. CAT preparations helped me strengthen my aptitude and quant skills.
6. I was able to clear the tests of various companies just with my CAT knowledge.
7. I practised maths for entire month and was pretty confident in English and a week before the main exam, I did one or two mock papers daily.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Questions on probability, puzzles, statistics and coding
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Flipkart had three profiles operations, analytics and coding. After the first shortlisting, they organized GD in the groups of ten. Moderator asked the candidates to speak one at a time. Finally 36 candidates were shortlisted for the interview.
Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The interviews were held based on the profile we chose and we were asked questions accordingly.
General Tips: 1. I was inclined in clearing CAT from my second year onwards.
2. I did a summer project in the second year and simultaneously joined Career Launcher.
3. I didn’t prepared much for the placements and was only focussed on CAT preparations during the seventh semester.
4. I did not give as much time in resume building as given by mates since I knew that I have nothing to mention about except my CPI.
5. CAT preparations helped me strengthen my aptitude and quant skills.
6. I was able to clear the tests of various companies just with my CAT knowledge.
7. I practised maths for entire month and was pretty confident in English and a week before the main exam, I did one or two mock papers daily.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: Flipkart had three profiles operations, analytics and coding. After the first shortlisting, they organized GD in the groups of ten. Moderator asked the candidates to speak one at a time. Finally 36 candidates were shortlisted for the interview.
Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The interviews were held based on the profile we chose and we were asked questions accordingly.
General Tips: 1. I was inclined in clearing CAT from my second year onwards.
2. I did a summer project in the second year and simultaneously joined Career Launcher.
3. I didn’t prepared much for the placements and was only focussed on CAT preparations during the seventh semester.
4. I did not give as much time in resume building as given by mates since I knew that I have nothing to mention about except my CPI.
5. CAT preparations helped me strengthen my aptitude and quant skills.
6. I was able to clear the tests of various companies just with my CAT knowledge.
7. I practised maths for entire month and was pretty confident in English and a week before the main exam, I did one or two mock papers daily.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: I was also shortlisted for Schlumberger but could not make it through the interviews. But, was finally placed in Coca-Cola.
Tips: If you are preparing for a core job then make sure you revise your core courses either in the summers or before because you might not get sufficient time during the semester and do it thoroughly as they would be highly beneficial for the technical interview.
General Tips: From the beginning itself I was involved a lot in extracurricular activities:
1. I was involved in Roboclub,
2. Coordinated Robogames in Techkriti,
3. Was a part of Boeing Abhyast Phase 2 and 3,
4. Did 2 summer projects under roboclub, also organized robotics workshop in schools as a representative of a startup in robotics.
I did an internship in Nokia Research Centre, University of California Berkeley.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I was also shortlisted for Schlumberger but could not make it through the interviews. But, was finally placed in Coca-Cola.
Tips: If you are preparing for a core job then make sure you revise your core courses either in the summers or before because you might not get sufficient time during the semester and do it thoroughly as they would be highly beneficial for the technical interview.
General Tips: From the beginning itself I was involved a lot in extracurricular activities:
1. I was involved in Roboclub,
2. Coordinated Robogames in Techkriti,
3. Was a part of Boeing Abhyast Phase 2 and 3,
4. Did 2 summer projects under roboclub, also organized robotics workshop in schools as a representative of a startup in robotics.
I did an internship in Nokia Research Centre, University of California Berkeley.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Anonymous
posted on 18 Jan 2015
5 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Judge your three and half year at IITK?
- Q2. Explain the processes used in making TA201 project?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Coca Cola first asked us to submit resumes on the portal. Then shortlisted 40 based on resume.
Tips: Resume should be of a page or two depending on the company you are applying for with everything properly specified. Make sure you have something to elaborate about the points mentioned in your resume. There are 10 resumes to be uploaded on the SPO website before a certain deadline. Get the resume reviewed by seniors and it would be highly beneficial if you are applying for a certain company, then get the resume verified by the senior placed in that company as he could give you the best possible advice.
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: The GD was organized in the groups of 10 and 8 was shortlisted for the final interview.
Tips: I joined Career launcher for the preparation of Aptitude tests and went to some GDs organized by the department. I prepared for Rio Tinto which helped me during the placement season.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Interview was of about half an hour comprising of mainly HR questions. I wrote TA201 as a part of projects in my resume.
Tips: Thus there could be questions on any point on the resume and you should be able to explain those.
General Tips: If targeting Day 1 or Day 2 companies, prepare very well and have a good knowledge about the company you are applying for. As the days pass one gets demoralized but don’t lose hope as there were some good companies that turned up on Day 4 and 5 and for example, a reputed consulting firm PriceWaterhouse Coopers came on Day 11.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: Coca Cola first asked us to submit resumes on the portal. Then shortlisted 40 based on resume.
Tips: Resume should be of a page or two depending on the company you are applying for with everything properly specified. Make sure you have something to elaborate about the points mentioned in your resume. There are 10 resumes to be uploaded on the SPO website before a certain deadline. Get the resume reviewed by seniors and it would be highly beneficial if you are applying for a certain company, then get the resume verified by the senior placed in that company as he could give you the best possible advice.
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: The GD was organized in the groups of 10 and 8 was shortlisted for the final interview.
Tips: I joined Career launcher for the preparation of Aptitude tests and went to some GDs organized by the department. I prepared for Rio Tinto which helped me during the placement season.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Interview was of about half an hour comprising of mainly HR questions. I wrote TA201 as a part of projects in my resume.
Tips: Thus there could be questions on any point on the resume and you should be able to explain those.
General Tips: If targeting Day 1 or Day 2 companies, prepare very well and have a good knowledge about the company you are applying for. As the days pass one gets demoralized but don’t lose hope as there were some good companies that turned up on Day 4 and 5 and for example, a reputed consulting firm PriceWaterhouse Coopers came on Day 11.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: I had a target of gettng placed in Qualcomm from second year itself. It came on Day 2 and I got a call from Qualcomm in the middle of the interview of Coca Cola so I could not take their call. Immediately after this I went for the Qualcomm interview but they were not happy and asked me to leave without much interrogation. The results of Day 2 came and I got placed in Coca Cola.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I had a target of gettng placed in Qualcomm from second year itself. It came on Day 2 and I got a call from Qualcomm in the middle of the interview of Coca Cola so I could not take their call. Immediately after this I went for the Qualcomm interview but they were not happy and asked me to leave without much interrogation. The results of Day 2 came and I got placed in Coca Cola.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I started my placement journey by getting shortlisted in Capital One on Day 1. They shortlisted 125 candidates on the basis of resume.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Then, they took a case study interview and reduced the number to 30.
Round: Test
Experience: Then, they again took an aptitude test and selected none of them. But, on the day 2, I sat for the GDs and interviews of Coca Cola and got selected.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I started my placement journey by getting shortlisted in Capital One on Day 1. They shortlisted 125 candidates on the basis of resume.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Then, they took a case study interview and reduced the number to 30.
Round: Test
Experience: Then, they again took an aptitude test and selected none of them. But, on the day 2, I sat for the GDs and interviews of Coca Cola and got selected.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Explain a situation in which you depicted your leadership skills?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: There were groups of ten each.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interview lasted about 30 minutes. The interview mainly focused on the commitment to work with them and asked whether I did any activity depicting leadership skills
Tips: Coca Cola shortlisted candidates with medium profile like moderate CPI with few extra-curricular activities.
General Tips: 1, When it came to resume building, I mentioned my internship (which was in Samsung), projects I did and the co-curricular activities.
2. I was confident about my aptitude and was focusing mainly core and analytic.
Skills: Extra-curricular activities
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: There were groups of ten each.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interview lasted about 30 minutes. The interview mainly focused on the commitment to work with them and asked whether I did any activity depicting leadership skills
Tips: Coca Cola shortlisted candidates with medium profile like moderate CPI with few extra-curricular activities.
General Tips: 1, When it came to resume building, I mentioned my internship (which was in Samsung), projects I did and the co-curricular activities.
2. I was confident about my aptitude and was focusing mainly core and analytic.
Skills: Extra-curricular activities
College Name: IIT KANPUR
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. At what time did you wake up? What did you do after that?
- Q2. Roughly how many students in IIT K end up working in non-core sectors? Do you think it is a problem for the society that a lot of students don’t contribute to t...read more
- Q3. Did you want to be a consultant from the very beginning?
- Q4. Tell me something about your life in IITK
- Q5. Tell me something about yourself
- Q6. Of the various positions of responsibility that you held, which one did you enjoy the most and which one the least?
- Q7. Why did you give up debating after 2007? (Probably the most intelligent question that could have been asked from my resume)
- Q8. Why didn't you go for a company or university internship? Didn't you feel that this would reflect badly on your profile?
- Q9. Since you have done a lot of modelling in one of your projects, don’t you think you are more suited for a career in finance?
- Q10. What are your long-term career plans?
- Q11. How long are you prepared to work for BCG?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Interview
Experience: The interviewer was Rohit Vohra, Partner and Director.
Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study was a ‘Market Entry’ problem. An office-furniture company wanted to enter into home-furniture business. I had to evaluate whether it should do so or not. I asked for some time to structure my answer. He was very helpful during the entire case study and guided me whenever I went in a direction where I wasn’t supposed to go. I also asked a lot of questions. The entire interview lasted for about 40-45 minutes. The interviewer was very pleasant in his manner and the interview went off quite well. After about 10-15 minutes, I was sent for my second interview.
Round: Interview
Experience: This interview was taken by Shweta Bajpai, Project Leader who was also the Recruitment Head. She was an IIT K alumnus. This interview took around 35-40 minutes.
Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study was a ‘Growth Strategy’ question.
A metal casing manufacturer wants to double her revenues over the next 5 years. What should she do? I began by asking a few pertinent questions about the company’s product and customers. I then listed out a few growth strategies. She pointed out that she wanted more possible approaches. I pointed out a few but the general nature of our exchange was that the moment I would sum up a strategy, she would drop a hint for another. I would latch on to it and this process went on for about 2 or 3 times. She then asked me that in light of the initial question, which strategy would be best-suited for our client. I answered the same. I came out of the room thinking that I had messed up really badly because she had practically solved the entire case herself. I had a very strong inkling that that interview was my last with BCG. By this time, BCG people had started asking some of us to go if we had interviews with any other company which was a kind way of saying that you are not selected in BCG. I politely inquired one of the consultants whether I was supposed to stay or go. He checked with his colleagues and replied with a very warm smile that I was supposed to stay on.
Round: Interview
Experience: This interview was taken by Saurabh Tripathi, Partner and Director. He was also an IIT K alumnus, the President Gold Medalist of his batch. He was the one who had given us the PPT at Taj. Moreover, I also had the opportunity of having a long conversation with him because we were seated at the same table during dinner. He began the interview by pointing out the same. He then asked some very tricky and pointed PI questions:
Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study that followed was again one of its kind, to say the least. It involved a hypothetical bank that had just 6 products: 3 kinds of fixed deposits (maturity period of 1 year, 2 years and 3 years) and 3 kinds of loans (again 1, 2 and 3 year maturity period). The rates of interests on the fixed deposits were 3, 4 and 5 % p.a. respectively and on loans were 5, 6 and 7 % p.a. respectively. The owner wanted to increase the bank’s profitability. What should she do?
I would be paltering with the truth if I don’t admit that I was a little taken aback by the question. I took some time and then asked him some questions to which he gave a very brief (though not curt at all) ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as an answer. In fact, during the entire case, he was busy on his Blackberry paying no attention to what I was doing. One of the first things that I asked was whether the objective was to increase ‘profits’ or ‘profitability’ because the technical definition of the two was different. He smiled (I think in appreciation) and replied that he wanted me to focus on ‘profits’. After that, I gave a few recommendations. He complicated the case further by saying that the principal amount of 1-year products was same. This constraint was applicable for 2-year and 3-year products as well. That is, the principal amount of fixed deposit and loan of 1-year was same, and so on.
Again, I gave a few recommendations. After a while, he said that he was in a bit of a hurry and that that was all as far as the interview was concerned. I felt as if nothing concrete had come out as the solution to the case. I asked him how I had done in the case. As was his wont, he answered with a very brief - ‘‘Given the time available, you did fine’’.
I was a little confused after this interview. I had no idea about the last case study. However, I knew that the PI part went off well. After about 10 minutes, I was asked to go and meet Saurabh Tripathi again. I went into his interview room and he gave me a job offer!
General Tips: Between July 2007 (when I joined the institute) and May 2011, I had considered and pursued IAS, MBA and research as potential career options at various points of time. But in May ‘11, I decided that the safer thing to do would be to take up a job and think about the various existential questions later. As far as my personal preferences go, I liked what I read about consulting. But being from a department where core companies are non-existent for all practical purposes; I was aiming for most of the non-core companies. I
was conscious of one thing though, viz. I did not want to work for a company that was catering to overseas
clients or to its own overseas office. The idea was that I did not want to join a company which was employing me just because I was cheaper than the Westerners. So, although after BCG, the second best choice for me in the first slot was Opera, I was not excited about it at all.
My entire preparation, especially the part related to resume and interview was done under the guidance of
Ashwini Dikshit (career counsellor, IITK). I think what worked for me was that I was quite organized in my
preparation. At no stage was I hurried into mistakes. By September, I had prepared the final draft of my 1-page resume. If you think you have a good profile and you can get a shortlist, then you should devote a lot of time to your resume. I would suggest that resume preparation should be started in summers itself. It is also very important to take help and guidance because there is a certain way to make a resume which does not come naturally to most of us. I prepared for aptitude tests by solving the CAT previous years’ question papers. If you are preparing for non core companies, one of the things which you should do is preparing for CAT. Most companies other than consulting firms and core companies, take an aptitude test (including the analytics-consulting firms) and contrary to the common notion, most of them ask English questions as well. Moreover, a good score in CAT will only open up options. I did not prepare for GD because out of all the companies that I was aiming for, very few had GD as a part of their process.
For case study preparation, I was a part of the Case Study Club of SPO which met around thrice in September October period. Apart from that, I practised with my friends. Some good casebooks in decreasing order of their usefulness are Case in Point, Indian School of Business’s casebook and Kellogg’s casebook. It is highly advisable to get hold of various IIMs’ casebooks if you can. While practising a case, the emphasis should be on what new you learn from that particular case. So, more than the mock case study sessions themselves, the analysis that you do afterwards is important.
For the Personal Interview preparation, I had prepared the answers for most of the commonly asked questions and more importantly had given around 5 mock interviews before December. One should sit and right down the answers of the various commonly-asked questions and go through these answers again and again to hone them. If possible, get these answers checked by someone experienced in interview preparation. The idea is not to memorize the answers, but to have a fairly good idea about what points you are going to cover. As a thumb rule, all companies are looking for ‘high energy’ and ‘low maintenance’ guys. Make sure, you sound like one!
Apart from the above mentioned preparation, I read ‘The Indian Express’ and ‘Economic Times’ regularly
(wasn't able to do it daily though) to get a feel of current and business affairs. One final pointer as far as placement preparation is concerned, DO NOT WORRY and do not indulge in useless placement-related gossips. They only eat away your time and energy.
I think what worked well for me in all the interviews was that I was listening very attentively to what theinterviewers were saying or asking. That meant that I was always answering the right questions and was also responding to the hints and clues which the interviewers were giving. In all the interviews, I had a good discussion with the interviewer. A lot of people say that a good interview is the one which is more of adiscussion rather than a question-answer session. By that definition, my interviews went off well. As I hadmentioned earlier, some people claim that the case study workshop which was held on November 16th wasevaluative. If it was so, then I would have got some extra points since I was able to do well in the case that I was asked.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: The interviewer was Rohit Vohra, Partner and Director.
Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study was a ‘Market Entry’ problem. An office-furniture company wanted to enter into home-furniture business. I had to evaluate whether it should do so or not. I asked for some time to structure my answer. He was very helpful during the entire case study and guided me whenever I went in a direction where I wasn’t supposed to go. I also asked a lot of questions. The entire interview lasted for about 40-45 minutes. The interviewer was very pleasant in his manner and the interview went off quite well. After about 10-15 minutes, I was sent for my second interview.
Round: Interview
Experience: This interview was taken by Shweta Bajpai, Project Leader who was also the Recruitment Head. She was an IIT K alumnus. This interview took around 35-40 minutes.
Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study was a ‘Growth Strategy’ question.
A metal casing manufacturer wants to double her revenues over the next 5 years. What should she do? I began by asking a few pertinent questions about the company’s product and customers. I then listed out a few growth strategies. She pointed out that she wanted more possible approaches. I pointed out a few but the general nature of our exchange was that the moment I would sum up a strategy, she would drop a hint for another. I would latch on to it and this process went on for about 2 or 3 times. She then asked me that in light of the initial question, which strategy would be best-suited for our client. I answered the same. I came out of the room thinking that I had messed up really badly because she had practically solved the entire case herself. I had a very strong inkling that that interview was my last with BCG. By this time, BCG people had started asking some of us to go if we had interviews with any other company which was a kind way of saying that you are not selected in BCG. I politely inquired one of the consultants whether I was supposed to stay or go. He checked with his colleagues and replied with a very warm smile that I was supposed to stay on.
Round: Interview
Experience: This interview was taken by Saurabh Tripathi, Partner and Director. He was also an IIT K alumnus, the President Gold Medalist of his batch. He was the one who had given us the PPT at Taj. Moreover, I also had the opportunity of having a long conversation with him because we were seated at the same table during dinner. He began the interview by pointing out the same. He then asked some very tricky and pointed PI questions:
Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study that followed was again one of its kind, to say the least. It involved a hypothetical bank that had just 6 products: 3 kinds of fixed deposits (maturity period of 1 year, 2 years and 3 years) and 3 kinds of loans (again 1, 2 and 3 year maturity period). The rates of interests on the fixed deposits were 3, 4 and 5 % p.a. respectively and on loans were 5, 6 and 7 % p.a. respectively. The owner wanted to increase the bank’s profitability. What should she do?
I would be paltering with the truth if I don’t admit that I was a little taken aback by the question. I took some time and then asked him some questions to which he gave a very brief (though not curt at all) ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as an answer. In fact, during the entire case, he was busy on his Blackberry paying no attention to what I was doing. One of the first things that I asked was whether the objective was to increase ‘profits’ or ‘profitability’ because the technical definition of the two was different. He smiled (I think in appreciation) and replied that he wanted me to focus on ‘profits’. After that, I gave a few recommendations. He complicated the case further by saying that the principal amount of 1-year products was same. This constraint was applicable for 2-year and 3-year products as well. That is, the principal amount of fixed deposit and loan of 1-year was same, and so on.
Again, I gave a few recommendations. After a while, he said that he was in a bit of a hurry and that that was all as far as the interview was concerned. I felt as if nothing concrete had come out as the solution to the case. I asked him how I had done in the case. As was his wont, he answered with a very brief - ‘‘Given the time available, you did fine’’.
I was a little confused after this interview. I had no idea about the last case study. However, I knew that the PI part went off well. After about 10 minutes, I was asked to go and meet Saurabh Tripathi again. I went into his interview room and he gave me a job offer!
General Tips: Between July 2007 (when I joined the institute) and May 2011, I had considered and pursued IAS, MBA and research as potential career options at various points of time. But in May ‘11, I decided that the safer thing to do would be to take up a job and think about the various existential questions later. As far as my personal preferences go, I liked what I read about consulting. But being from a department where core companies are non-existent for all practical purposes; I was aiming for most of the non-core companies. I
was conscious of one thing though, viz. I did not want to work for a company that was catering to overseas
clients or to its own overseas office. The idea was that I did not want to join a company which was employing me just because I was cheaper than the Westerners. So, although after BCG, the second best choice for me in the first slot was Opera, I was not excited about it at all.
My entire preparation, especially the part related to resume and interview was done under the guidance of
Ashwini Dikshit (career counsellor, IITK). I think what worked for me was that I was quite organized in my
preparation. At no stage was I hurried into mistakes. By September, I had prepared the final draft of my 1-page resume. If you think you have a good profile and you can get a shortlist, then you should devote a lot of time to your resume. I would suggest that resume preparation should be started in summers itself. It is also very important to take help and guidance because there is a certain way to make a resume which does not come naturally to most of us. I prepared for aptitude tests by solving the CAT previous years’ question papers. If you are preparing for non core companies, one of the things which you should do is preparing for CAT. Most companies other than consulting firms and core companies, take an aptitude test (including the analytics-consulting firms) and contrary to the common notion, most of them ask English questions as well. Moreover, a good score in CAT will only open up options. I did not prepare for GD because out of all the companies that I was aiming for, very few had GD as a part of their process.
For case study preparation, I was a part of the Case Study Club of SPO which met around thrice in September October period. Apart from that, I practised with my friends. Some good casebooks in decreasing order of their usefulness are Case in Point, Indian School of Business’s casebook and Kellogg’s casebook. It is highly advisable to get hold of various IIMs’ casebooks if you can. While practising a case, the emphasis should be on what new you learn from that particular case. So, more than the mock case study sessions themselves, the analysis that you do afterwards is important.
For the Personal Interview preparation, I had prepared the answers for most of the commonly asked questions and more importantly had given around 5 mock interviews before December. One should sit and right down the answers of the various commonly-asked questions and go through these answers again and again to hone them. If possible, get these answers checked by someone experienced in interview preparation. The idea is not to memorize the answers, but to have a fairly good idea about what points you are going to cover. As a thumb rule, all companies are looking for ‘high energy’ and ‘low maintenance’ guys. Make sure, you sound like one!
Apart from the above mentioned preparation, I read ‘The Indian Express’ and ‘Economic Times’ regularly
(wasn't able to do it daily though) to get a feel of current and business affairs. One final pointer as far as placement preparation is concerned, DO NOT WORRY and do not indulge in useless placement-related gossips. They only eat away your time and energy.
I think what worked well for me in all the interviews was that I was listening very attentively to what theinterviewers were saying or asking. That meant that I was always answering the right questions and was also responding to the hints and clues which the interviewers were giving. In all the interviews, I had a good discussion with the interviewer. A lot of people say that a good interview is the one which is more of adiscussion rather than a question-answer session. By that definition, my interviews went off well. As I hadmentioned earlier, some people claim that the case study workshop which was held on November 16th wasevaluative. If it was so, then I would have got some extra points since I was able to do well in the case that I was asked.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: INterview 1
Experience: They didn't asked much as I already had a decent Research profile. They only asked something about my thesis work. They were very impressed by my profile and my academics. No Technical questions or puzzles were asked, there was no HR interview. The way I explained my Thesis work went really well.They said that one day surely I will become a professor :P. I think the probable reason for my selection was my research Profile and my Academics
General Tips: Please always assess yourself. See your profile and interest, then only target for a particular sector.
Targeting each and every sector is a very bad idea. Not every one can go in a consultancy firm.See your profile then only prepare for it. Preparation is a very very important thing for coming out big in the placement process. So prepare well. Always maintain your cool during you interviews.
Skill Tips: You can include stuff like how did you narrow down to your career plans, the sectors which you were targeting and the rationale behind choosing them, difference between your expectations from the placement process and what you encountered finally, what you did to prepare, what you missed out on, what you think should be done, about the tests and GDs that the companies took, your thoughts before the final placements, about CAT, GRE, GMAT etc. and other fun stuff.
I was first of all preparing for each and every sector including Core, Finance, Analytics, Consulting. But at the last month of preparation i.e. November I realized when I was not getting shortlisted in finance or consulting firms that I didn’t had a profile for consulting, So I left the preparation and starting preparing only for analytics (basically doing some aptitude practice) and core preparation. For gds every alternate days we department mates used to practice Gds in our reading room.This really gave me a good flavor for the GD.
I never expected the placement process to be very tough , But actually it is and maintaining cool throughout the process is quite a difficult job. Everyday there is a new dream company and according to me whichever company takes you is the best company for you . I also was preparing for CAT, so I already had a good flavor of the aptitude exams.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: They didn't asked much as I already had a decent Research profile. They only asked something about my thesis work. They were very impressed by my profile and my academics. No Technical questions or puzzles were asked, there was no HR interview. The way I explained my Thesis work went really well.They said that one day surely I will become a professor :P. I think the probable reason for my selection was my research Profile and my Academics
General Tips: Please always assess yourself. See your profile and interest, then only target for a particular sector.
Targeting each and every sector is a very bad idea. Not every one can go in a consultancy firm.See your profile then only prepare for it. Preparation is a very very important thing for coming out big in the placement process. So prepare well. Always maintain your cool during you interviews.
Skill Tips: You can include stuff like how did you narrow down to your career plans, the sectors which you were targeting and the rationale behind choosing them, difference between your expectations from the placement process and what you encountered finally, what you did to prepare, what you missed out on, what you think should be done, about the tests and GDs that the companies took, your thoughts before the final placements, about CAT, GRE, GMAT etc. and other fun stuff.
I was first of all preparing for each and every sector including Core, Finance, Analytics, Consulting. But at the last month of preparation i.e. November I realized when I was not getting shortlisted in finance or consulting firms that I didn’t had a profile for consulting, So I left the preparation and starting preparing only for analytics (basically doing some aptitude practice) and core preparation. For gds every alternate days we department mates used to practice Gds in our reading room.This really gave me a good flavor for the GD.
I never expected the placement process to be very tough , But actually it is and maintaining cool throughout the process is quite a difficult job. Everyday there is a new dream company and according to me whichever company takes you is the best company for you . I also was preparing for CAT, so I already had a good flavor of the aptitude exams.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
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