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
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: It was DB. They first took PPT in main Audi. Audi was completely filled with students and I was sitting on the last seats still thinking about my GS test. When they told in PPT that they had taken only 8 students last year, it made me realize that out of about 600 students currently present in Audi (I thought 600 was good estimate for students present in Audi),my chances are 0.01 % approx.. It made me shivered and I stopped thinking about anything even the job and became casual. This casualness worked. So, I suggest you to be normal and don’t panic. Because, nervous is going to make your situation only worse. DB took two tests. First test was normal aptitude testing mainly your speed in which I had solved 22 questions out of 25 when people on an average had solved only 14-15 questions and even lesser. Second test was quant based test which had 6 questions-two from probability, two from linear algebra, one from class 12 ( I don't why they gave this question ) and one from algo. Thanks to MIT OCW and Pratik poddar, I did very well in it and solved all of them. Only question which I did wrongly was of class 12 because of overconfidence. After that test, I regained my confidence and did well in all other written tests. Most of these tests were simple aptitude tests but with lesser time. So, you need to have good speed to solve these questions. Finally on announcement of short listing results, I was shortlisted into both of my dream companies even after screwing In GS test. Moreover, I was one of the two guys in whole IITK , who was shortlisted for DB quant profile. It made my day. I talked to our seniors working at both these companies and started preparing for interview.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: First one was on the phone by a DB guy on HR interviews. He asked me why not higher studies, why DB, if asked by both GS and DB, which one would you prefer and some others. Believe me if you are having a high CPI, you have to prepare for the question “why not higher research” definitely.
Second was on the skype. He asked me puzzles related to algorithms, probabilities for one and half hour. Again,
thanks to Pratik poddar, Baswana sir and some hints from the interviewer, I did well in it. Whenever you have any problem, do ask for hints to interviewer.
On the D-day, I had been shortlisted into 4 companies in which two were DB and GS– my dream. First one was with DB and I had same interviewer from the skype. As, I had already met him, I became casual with him. He took my interviews for almost two and a half hour. Fortunately, it was my day. I solved all the problems with some hints from him. Then, came HR interview at DB. He asked about my family, parents, relatives, my childhood, my dream and some basic finance questions.Thanks to SPO volunteer Saurav at DB (something happened which you need not know), I was called. I went there leaving my 3rd round of GS. Again, DB guys asked me few questions on exchange rate which I answered perfectly. Finally, they offered me the job. To be frank, I wanted DB job more than GS, but seniors suggested me to go to 3rd round of GS too. When I went there for my 3rd round, I don't know why but they asked me to leave. Anyway I was happy as I had gotten job in one of my dream companies .
General Tips: Overall I can say that you must hope for the best and prepare for the worst. So make sure that you are prepared on all counts. You never know what might go wrong (I have taken it from Abhinav Jain) and do try to make every single event of placement favorable to you. Who knows which event is going to make your day. In case, you have any query related to DB or quant profile, you can ask Saurav Yashaswee, Y8 batch of Maths Dept.. He helped me a lot during preparation and undoubtedly, is one of the best persons to ask questions on quant profile and DB, who is going to be present in the campus during your placement session. In any case, you can contact me on facebook.
Skill Tips: Before starting, I want to clarify that this feedback is only an indicator of things which I believe about
placements and have tried to do during placement session. It has helped me but you should choose it only if you feel that it is going to help you too. 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.
1. Making Resume:
Your resume is, if not the most then, definitely one of the most important things to decide your future career. It doesn't only help companies to shortlist you but also help you to decide your future path, inpreparation of HR interviews and knowing you better. If you have made your resume correctly, then itclears most of the doubts related to your carrier like whether you are made for job or research, if job thenfinance, consulting or core and if research, then which field. So, do devote a lot of time in making your resume. Proper way to make a good master resume is sit down alone for few hours, try to recall all the big,good or small (believe me even a small achievement can help you to get a good job or university as it hashappened in my case in getting into Deutsche Bank) achievements of yourself and make a list of all thosethings in good words. Show this resume to your friends, seniors and incorporate their feedbacks. Give thisiteration for at least 3-4 times. If your master resume is made perfectly, then making the resume for company specific is very easy. Oneimportant thing which you should note is if you feel that you resume is overqualified for a company; try tocut a few points from your resume. I have seen that few of my friends have put the same resumes for companies of the first day to last day and even when they were selected for the first day company, theyweren't even shortlisted for the 3rd or 4th day companies as companies felt that they were overqualified.
Please try to avoid this mistake.
2. Attending PPTs:
Attending PPTs and workshops of companies help you make a decision about selecting the companies inwhich you want to go. Do attend PPTs of companies about which you have no idea or the companies you are aiming. As, in my case, attending PPTs helped me to reject few companies which I was aiming. Try to be attentive during PPTs and do take notes of some special characteristics of a particular company (likestructure, compensation, work, seniors present in that company) as it will help you in some HR questionslike why this company, why not others, where do you see yourself in this company after five years and itwill also reflect your interest in the company to interviewer.
3. Selecting sectors or companies:
Your resume, work of a company and your interests help you decide the companies which you dream of and the companies which you feel that you are sure to get into. Try to make two list-first -of your dreamcompanies and second-of companies which you think you have a chance given your profile, your CPI, yourextra-currics, internships etc.. People generally try to prepare for their dream companies and not for otherlist of themselves. So, what happens is that if you are not getting into your dream company (Your dreamcompany in most of the cases is going to be dream of about 80% of batch of IITK), you have also reducedthe chance of getting into a company of your second list as you haven't prepared for that. Also, prepare for the worst. If you aren't getting into any company of both the list (which generally won’t happen ), thenwhat next (CAT, MS/PhD, IES, IAS or opening your band etc.).In my case, it was clear to me that my dream job was getting into DB quant or GS. On rejection, try for IBM,Adobe, Qualcomm, Intel ( as a wireless and signal processing engineer, you don't have much choice even in core), Erricson. On rejection even in these companies, try for MS or PhD in any university.
4. Talking to your seniors:
It is one of the sections in which IIT Kanpur lacks from other IITs. Try to contact seniors of the companies of your lists. Show them your resume, ask them how to prepare for the company, ask whether you are suitable for the job. They have experience of the company as you and also as an insider in the company and in some cases, they may recommend you for the job.
5. Written test:
Believe me even if you don't have good extra currics or a good CPI, even if you have done well in writtentests of companies, you will be in the race of your dream company. This is one of the areas in which IITKanpur always lacks. I have seen few of my batch mates having higher CPI, good internships, good extra currics but couldn't make into even shortlist because of written tests. Do prepare for it seriously. Even if you aren’t preparing for the CAT exams, try to practice time or CL’s study materials, most importantly of Probability, Permutations and DI section. Some companies put direct questions from previous CAT exams. Remember one thing that most of the times, it isn’t test of knowledge but of speed. Speed will come only on practice, not by only knowing things. Also, some consulting companies ask questions related to English Grammar, Vocabulary, so take a look at this section too from CAT study materials, if you feel that your English is weak.
6. Quant and Core Preparation:
If you are looking for quant companies, then you also need to revise your basic maths (like linear algebra,probability, some common distributions like uniform, normal, binomial), basic data structures and algorithms from DS and some puzzles from different websites and books (like of Pratik poddar, 40 puzzlesin probability, CMU toad). If you aren’t finding good study materials for maths or algorithms, use MIT OCW(it has helped me a lot). Make sure that you understand the basic concepts behind these things because they may ask any type of questions related to these topics and you will be answer only if you know theconcepts. For core companies, you need to revise some of basic core courses. For EE guys, if you are looking for VLSI, brush up EE 370 (most imp.) and EE 210. If you are looking for signal processing/communication profile, brush up basic DSP and communication concepts. Some questions were also asked from Kalman filter and wavelet transforms which I had no clue. So,be prepared for surprises. Also brush up C coding and basic data structures as it is generally asked in most of the EE core companies. Do note that you need to prepare seriously for your core companies too as after the interviews of first and second day’s companies and their rejection, you don’t have both time and mind to prepare for them. Finally note that these tests are not tough. These are the students who make it tough. So, never panic in the tests and try to give your 100%.
7. HR interview:
After being shortlisted into a company, Do not take HR questions lightly. You should prepare for somequestions like tell me about yourself, why this, three strengths and weaknesses. Practice these questionswith your wing mates and try to make proper eye contact while answering these questions.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: It was DB. They first took PPT in main Audi. Audi was completely filled with students and I was sitting on the last seats still thinking about my GS test. When they told in PPT that they had taken only 8 students last year, it made me realize that out of about 600 students currently present in Audi (I thought 600 was good estimate for students present in Audi),my chances are 0.01 % approx.. It made me shivered and I stopped thinking about anything even the job and became casual. This casualness worked. So, I suggest you to be normal and don’t panic. Because, nervous is going to make your situation only worse. DB took two tests. First test was normal aptitude testing mainly your speed in which I had solved 22 questions out of 25 when people on an average had solved only 14-15 questions and even lesser. Second test was quant based test which had 6 questions-two from probability, two from linear algebra, one from class 12 ( I don't why they gave this question ) and one from algo. Thanks to MIT OCW and Pratik poddar, I did very well in it and solved all of them. Only question which I did wrongly was of class 12 because of overconfidence. After that test, I regained my confidence and did well in all other written tests. Most of these tests were simple aptitude tests but with lesser time. So, you need to have good speed to solve these questions. Finally on announcement of short listing results, I was shortlisted into both of my dream companies even after screwing In GS test. Moreover, I was one of the two guys in whole IITK , who was shortlisted for DB quant profile. It made my day. I talked to our seniors working at both these companies and started preparing for interview.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: First one was on the phone by a DB guy on HR interviews. He asked me why not higher studies, why DB, if asked by both GS and DB, which one would you prefer and some others. Believe me if you are having a high CPI, you have to prepare for the question “why not higher research” definitely.
Second was on the skype. He asked me puzzles related to algorithms, probabilities for one and half hour. Again,
thanks to Pratik poddar, Baswana sir and some hints from the interviewer, I did well in it. Whenever you have any problem, do ask for hints to interviewer.
On the D-day, I had been shortlisted into 4 companies in which two were DB and GS– my dream. First one was with DB and I had same interviewer from the skype. As, I had already met him, I became casual with him. He took my interviews for almost two and a half hour. Fortunately, it was my day. I solved all the problems with some hints from him. Then, came HR interview at DB. He asked about my family, parents, relatives, my childhood, my dream and some basic finance questions.Thanks to SPO volunteer Saurav at DB (something happened which you need not know), I was called. I went there leaving my 3rd round of GS. Again, DB guys asked me few questions on exchange rate which I answered perfectly. Finally, they offered me the job. To be frank, I wanted DB job more than GS, but seniors suggested me to go to 3rd round of GS too. When I went there for my 3rd round, I don't know why but they asked me to leave. Anyway I was happy as I had gotten job in one of my dream companies .
General Tips: Overall I can say that you must hope for the best and prepare for the worst. So make sure that you are prepared on all counts. You never know what might go wrong (I have taken it from Abhinav Jain) and do try to make every single event of placement favorable to you. Who knows which event is going to make your day. In case, you have any query related to DB or quant profile, you can ask Saurav Yashaswee, Y8 batch of Maths Dept.. He helped me a lot during preparation and undoubtedly, is one of the best persons to ask questions on quant profile and DB, who is going to be present in the campus during your placement session. In any case, you can contact me on facebook.
Skill Tips: Before starting, I want to clarify that this feedback is only an indicator of things which I believe about
placements and have tried to do during placement session. It has helped me but you should choose it only if you feel that it is going to help you too. 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.
1. Making Resume:
Your resume is, if not the most then, definitely one of the most important things to decide your future career. It doesn't only help companies to shortlist you but also help you to decide your future path, inpreparation of HR interviews and knowing you better. If you have made your resume correctly, then itclears most of the doubts related to your carrier like whether you are made for job or research, if job thenfinance, consulting or core and if research, then which field. So, do devote a lot of time in making your resume. Proper way to make a good master resume is sit down alone for few hours, try to recall all the big,good or small (believe me even a small achievement can help you to get a good job or university as it hashappened in my case in getting into Deutsche Bank) achievements of yourself and make a list of all thosethings in good words. Show this resume to your friends, seniors and incorporate their feedbacks. Give thisiteration for at least 3-4 times. If your master resume is made perfectly, then making the resume for company specific is very easy. Oneimportant thing which you should note is if you feel that you resume is overqualified for a company; try tocut a few points from your resume. I have seen that few of my friends have put the same resumes for companies of the first day to last day and even when they were selected for the first day company, theyweren't even shortlisted for the 3rd or 4th day companies as companies felt that they were overqualified.
Please try to avoid this mistake.
2. Attending PPTs:
Attending PPTs and workshops of companies help you make a decision about selecting the companies inwhich you want to go. Do attend PPTs of companies about which you have no idea or the companies you are aiming. As, in my case, attending PPTs helped me to reject few companies which I was aiming. Try to be attentive during PPTs and do take notes of some special characteristics of a particular company (likestructure, compensation, work, seniors present in that company) as it will help you in some HR questionslike why this company, why not others, where do you see yourself in this company after five years and itwill also reflect your interest in the company to interviewer.
3. Selecting sectors or companies:
Your resume, work of a company and your interests help you decide the companies which you dream of and the companies which you feel that you are sure to get into. Try to make two list-first -of your dreamcompanies and second-of companies which you think you have a chance given your profile, your CPI, yourextra-currics, internships etc.. People generally try to prepare for their dream companies and not for otherlist of themselves. So, what happens is that if you are not getting into your dream company (Your dreamcompany in most of the cases is going to be dream of about 80% of batch of IITK), you have also reducedthe chance of getting into a company of your second list as you haven't prepared for that. Also, prepare for the worst. If you aren't getting into any company of both the list (which generally won’t happen ), thenwhat next (CAT, MS/PhD, IES, IAS or opening your band etc.).In my case, it was clear to me that my dream job was getting into DB quant or GS. On rejection, try for IBM,Adobe, Qualcomm, Intel ( as a wireless and signal processing engineer, you don't have much choice even in core), Erricson. On rejection even in these companies, try for MS or PhD in any university.
4. Talking to your seniors:
It is one of the sections in which IIT Kanpur lacks from other IITs. Try to contact seniors of the companies of your lists. Show them your resume, ask them how to prepare for the company, ask whether you are suitable for the job. They have experience of the company as you and also as an insider in the company and in some cases, they may recommend you for the job.
5. Written test:
Believe me even if you don't have good extra currics or a good CPI, even if you have done well in writtentests of companies, you will be in the race of your dream company. This is one of the areas in which IITKanpur always lacks. I have seen few of my batch mates having higher CPI, good internships, good extra currics but couldn't make into even shortlist because of written tests. Do prepare for it seriously. Even if you aren’t preparing for the CAT exams, try to practice time or CL’s study materials, most importantly of Probability, Permutations and DI section. Some companies put direct questions from previous CAT exams. Remember one thing that most of the times, it isn’t test of knowledge but of speed. Speed will come only on practice, not by only knowing things. Also, some consulting companies ask questions related to English Grammar, Vocabulary, so take a look at this section too from CAT study materials, if you feel that your English is weak.
6. Quant and Core Preparation:
If you are looking for quant companies, then you also need to revise your basic maths (like linear algebra,probability, some common distributions like uniform, normal, binomial), basic data structures and algorithms from DS and some puzzles from different websites and books (like of Pratik poddar, 40 puzzlesin probability, CMU toad). If you aren’t finding good study materials for maths or algorithms, use MIT OCW(it has helped me a lot). Make sure that you understand the basic concepts behind these things because they may ask any type of questions related to these topics and you will be answer only if you know theconcepts. For core companies, you need to revise some of basic core courses. For EE guys, if you are looking for VLSI, brush up EE 370 (most imp.) and EE 210. If you are looking for signal processing/communication profile, brush up basic DSP and communication concepts. Some questions were also asked from Kalman filter and wavelet transforms which I had no clue. So,be prepared for surprises. Also brush up C coding and basic data structures as it is generally asked in most of the EE core companies. Do note that you need to prepare seriously for your core companies too as after the interviews of first and second day’s companies and their rejection, you don’t have both time and mind to prepare for them. Finally note that these tests are not tough. These are the students who make it tough. So, never panic in the tests and try to give your 100%.
7. HR interview:
After being shortlisted into a company, Do not take HR questions lightly. You should prepare for somequestions like tell me about yourself, why this, three strengths and weaknesses. Practice these questionswith your wing mates and try to make proper eye contact while answering these questions.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Interview
Experience: The interviewer was was a B.Tech., CSE, IIT Delhi and had been in Diamond for quite long. Unlike the rest of the interviewers, he was a puzzle freak.
First, he asked me about the work done in my internship. After explaining everything to him about the internship in a concise but fine enough way, I think he was ticked off about the fact that I hadn't mentioned my BTP, no projects in my resume.Rather than the puzzles, he started asking me various data structure and database questions. I told him well beforehand that I hadn't taken any particular interest in my department at all, still he asked me asked the same kind of questions.
He was pissed off a little. He asked me - What do you do in your free time? What do you want to do in 3-4 years. Then he asked me – What, if not consulting? I answered that I would definitely like to go for Sales/Marketing position in some company. He remarked that HUL was the company then. I told him that it wasn't open for CSE guys. Then there was some healthy discussion on the issue that why do companies don’t open such positions for CSE department. After some discussion he made one positive comment – ‘I would definitely ask the HUL guys to open a marketing position for you’ and waved me off. Only the HR questions went well. The last comment did make me stick around for quite a while. Ultimately I was told about my disqualification.I think luck played a huge role. My interviewer was from the same department and therefore had some sort of affinity to ask me the questions related to my courses.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: The interviewer was was a B.Tech., CSE, IIT Delhi and had been in Diamond for quite long. Unlike the rest of the interviewers, he was a puzzle freak.
First, he asked me about the work done in my internship. After explaining everything to him about the internship in a concise but fine enough way, I think he was ticked off about the fact that I hadn't mentioned my BTP, no projects in my resume.Rather than the puzzles, he started asking me various data structure and database questions. I told him well beforehand that I hadn't taken any particular interest in my department at all, still he asked me asked the same kind of questions.
He was pissed off a little. He asked me - What do you do in your free time? What do you want to do in 3-4 years. Then he asked me – What, if not consulting? I answered that I would definitely like to go for Sales/Marketing position in some company. He remarked that HUL was the company then. I told him that it wasn't open for CSE guys. Then there was some healthy discussion on the issue that why do companies don’t open such positions for CSE department. After some discussion he made one positive comment – ‘I would definitely ask the HUL guys to open a marketing position for you’ and waved me off. Only the HR questions went well. The last comment did make me stick around for quite a while. Ultimately I was told about my disqualification.I think luck played a huge role. My interviewer was from the same department and therefore had some sort of affinity to ask me the questions related to my courses.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. 1. How was it participating in EXL Excellence Quotient 2011?
- Q2. 2. Tell me something about yourself
- Q3. 3. Tell me about your interest in guitars
- Q4. 4. Anything else you would like to ask me?
- Q5. 1. No. of zeroes in 100!
- Q6. 2. There are 2 cubes. You have to put digits on both the cubes so that one can form all the numbers from 1 to 31
- Q7. Guesstimate case – Estimate the daily revenue of Delhi Metro Service
- Q8. 1. There was some discussion about CSE Department in his days at IIT
- Q9. 2. There are so many CSE companies with great compensation package. Why aren't you going for them?
- Q10. 3. Why did you choose him as your partner for EXL Excellence Quotient’11?
- Q11. 4. Give me 3 reasons why I should prefer you over your partner
- Q12. 5. Would you like to tell me anything that’s not in your resume?
- Q13. 6. Anything else you would like to ask me?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: HR Interview
Experience: My HR questions went pretty well. She seemed fairly impressed due to my enthusiasm about the competition and my passion about my PORs. My HR questions went pretty well. She seemed fairly impressed due to my enthusiasm about the competition and my passion about my PORs. I was able to solve the puzzles. I think I was able to structure the guesstimate well although my final answer was way inaccurate :D .I paused for sometime during my puzzles, but she encouraged me a lot. I don’t think anything else went wrong
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interviewer was an IIT Kanpur alumnus. I was told afterwards that he was the senior most guy present in the interview panel. One of my friends didn't have a good experience with him in round 1, so I was pretty attentive and a little scared too.
He was fairly pleased with my case-solving in guesstimate. I didn't get a chance to play with numbers. I juststructured the whole thing and he told me to stop me there and then. As far as the second case is concerned I told him about all the competitors and what their revenue model is. I discussed at length about their pricing model. I then compared the USP of NERD magazine and was able to come up with a pricing strategy. I also added that rather than just the magazine I would like to organize some competitions which would be better source of revenue. Again, he told me to stop there and then.Again, my HR questions went pretty well. This person seemed a little hard to impress. But he always said ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ after the questions. That gave me a lot of encouragement (I kept on remembering the bad experience of my friend with this interviewer and that gave me the boost that I was doing pretty well). He asked me some questions like ‘What you are saying is contradicting your previous statement’ but Iremained cool and composed and clarified everything. After the cases, he waved me off. His smile told me that I had nailed the interview. I don't think anything went wrong at all. The interview went great. I didn't have to go for 3rd round
General Tips: Know your resume head to toe. If you are passionate about your PORs, you shouldn't have any problemwith cracking cases based on your resume. Never underestimate the power of HR questions. It was my enthusiasm, hand gestures and passion that she really appreciated. Solving the puzzles and guesstimate was icing on the cake. Pray well before God that you get an interviewer with some common sense :P
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: My HR questions went pretty well. She seemed fairly impressed due to my enthusiasm about the competition and my passion about my PORs. My HR questions went pretty well. She seemed fairly impressed due to my enthusiasm about the competition and my passion about my PORs. I was able to solve the puzzles. I think I was able to structure the guesstimate well although my final answer was way inaccurate :D .I paused for sometime during my puzzles, but she encouraged me a lot. I don’t think anything else went wrong
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interviewer was an IIT Kanpur alumnus. I was told afterwards that he was the senior most guy present in the interview panel. One of my friends didn't have a good experience with him in round 1, so I was pretty attentive and a little scared too.
He was fairly pleased with my case-solving in guesstimate. I didn't get a chance to play with numbers. I juststructured the whole thing and he told me to stop me there and then. As far as the second case is concerned I told him about all the competitors and what their revenue model is. I discussed at length about their pricing model. I then compared the USP of NERD magazine and was able to come up with a pricing strategy. I also added that rather than just the magazine I would like to organize some competitions which would be better source of revenue. Again, he told me to stop there and then.Again, my HR questions went pretty well. This person seemed a little hard to impress. But he always said ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ after the questions. That gave me a lot of encouragement (I kept on remembering the bad experience of my friend with this interviewer and that gave me the boost that I was doing pretty well). He asked me some questions like ‘What you are saying is contradicting your previous statement’ but Iremained cool and composed and clarified everything. After the cases, he waved me off. His smile told me that I had nailed the interview. I don't think anything went wrong at all. The interview went great. I didn't have to go for 3rd round
General Tips: Know your resume head to toe. If you are passionate about your PORs, you shouldn't have any problemwith cracking cases based on your resume. Never underestimate the power of HR questions. It was my enthusiasm, hand gestures and passion that she really appreciated. Solving the puzzles and guesstimate was icing on the cake. Pray well before God that you get an interviewer with some common sense :P
College Name: IIT KANPUR
1 Interview Round
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was not placed in this company but I would Like to share my experience with you..
Started with the regular question like tell me something about yourself. Mention something you have not written in your resume. What are your favorite pastimes besides the extra-curricular you have mentioned.
CASE STUDY: Estimate the total no. of people in air at a particular moment of time in say for example India. I started by mentioning my approach to which he approved but the real problem came when I was supposed to make calculations. I asked for some nos. to which he asked me to make reasonable assumptions. I took a back seat now and became nervous thinking what if my assumptions are too skewed. Then I made a couple of errors and became less confident. I was not firm on my answer and changed it whenever he said “are you sure?”
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I was not placed in this company but I would Like to share my experience with you..
Started with the regular question like tell me something about yourself. Mention something you have not written in your resume. What are your favorite pastimes besides the extra-curricular you have mentioned.
CASE STUDY: Estimate the total no. of people in air at a particular moment of time in say for example India. I started by mentioning my approach to which he approved but the real problem came when I was supposed to make calculations. I asked for some nos. to which he asked me to make reasonable assumptions. I took a back seat now and became nervous thinking what if my assumptions are too skewed. Then I made a couple of errors and became less confident. I was not firm on my answer and changed it whenever he said “are you sure?”
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Interview
Experience: I was not placed in this company but I would like to share my experience with you...!!!!
Asked resume based questions. I was a bit nervous as the interview began since this was the first one for the day, but the interviewer talked very casually and made me feel at ease.
CASE STUDY : An office furniture company, suffering from decrement in revenues. I was supposed to analyze the reasons behind it and suggest methods for improvement. I started with the regular profits = revenues-cost equation and analyzed all the aspects in the revenues side. After a while, I realized that I had forgotten about costs totally even though I had mentioned it earlier at the beginning of the case. So came back to cost analysis. The interviewer was helpful and provided all the needed information. The case went well and in the end on asking about the actual case he told me that my recommendation was close to what they had mentioned to the client.
HR QUESTIONS: Why not higher studies? Are you interested in doing an MBA?
Round: Interview
Experience: No details about the interviewer since the interview began as a stress interview but in the end did not turn out that way. Asked two resume based questions.
CASE STUDY: A wine company is experiencing decline in profitability for the past one year even though revenues have increased. They have hired you to provide ways to improve their profits. After analyzing this, the interviewer mentioned that she would want me to analyze the distribution channels. I started, but due to lack of knowledge I was not able to answer this part satisfactorily even though I enlisted different possibilities. In the she gave a couple of hints, but I was not able to grasp them. But I answered whatever I could understand of the situation. Then due to lack of time she asked me to wrap it up quickly and provide recommendations.
Round: Interview
Experience: CASE STUDY: An Indian manufacturer of heavy metal castings for turbines is looking to expand by doubling its production in one to two years. They hire you to suggest them a plan to carry out this expansion. The case went well. She agreed to most of my suggestions but there was a particular area she wanted me to analyze. So she kept asking me what else do you think can be done. At one point when I was stuck, I asked her that in what direction she wants me to think. When she told me, I took a minute to think about it and came up with the answer she was looking for to which she added more by herself. Then she told me to summarize and highlight my recommendations. Then she asked me why am I interested to join BCG in particular. Also during my campus stay what is the one thing I like the best and what I did not like so much and why? I was prepared for these questions so answered them comfortably.
Round: Interview
Experience: HR QUESTIONS: What do I want to do with my life eventually. Which activity on campus has allowed me to do it very closely. What is my most significant achievement till date and why.Asked about my family background. I was not prepared to answer this so I was speaking very randomly anything which was coming in my mind.
CASE STUDY: A small and simple bank has three products on the savings side, 1 year deposit, 2 year deposit and 5 year deposit with given x, y, z interest rates. Three products on the loan side similarly with different interest rates. Each product has 30 lakhs worth of circulation. The bank has to increase its profitability. How should it go about achieving higher profit?
During my preparations I realized that I am not good at finance and telecom sectors as compared to other sectors. So when this case of a bank came I became a little skeptical at the wrong point of time, still I started but whatever factors I mentioned the interviewer rejected them all at once. Then I took some more time to think but again
whatever factors I came up with he said no to them as well. Then he gave me a hint but I did not take time out to think on that. Instead came out with whatever was coming to me instantly. Then in my final recommendation, I suggested quite an impractical approach. I think this went against me significantly. But at that point, I did not realize what blunder I had made.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I was not placed in this company but I would like to share my experience with you...!!!!
Asked resume based questions. I was a bit nervous as the interview began since this was the first one for the day, but the interviewer talked very casually and made me feel at ease.
CASE STUDY : An office furniture company, suffering from decrement in revenues. I was supposed to analyze the reasons behind it and suggest methods for improvement. I started with the regular profits = revenues-cost equation and analyzed all the aspects in the revenues side. After a while, I realized that I had forgotten about costs totally even though I had mentioned it earlier at the beginning of the case. So came back to cost analysis. The interviewer was helpful and provided all the needed information. The case went well and in the end on asking about the actual case he told me that my recommendation was close to what they had mentioned to the client.
HR QUESTIONS: Why not higher studies? Are you interested in doing an MBA?
Round: Interview
Experience: No details about the interviewer since the interview began as a stress interview but in the end did not turn out that way. Asked two resume based questions.
CASE STUDY: A wine company is experiencing decline in profitability for the past one year even though revenues have increased. They have hired you to provide ways to improve their profits. After analyzing this, the interviewer mentioned that she would want me to analyze the distribution channels. I started, but due to lack of knowledge I was not able to answer this part satisfactorily even though I enlisted different possibilities. In the she gave a couple of hints, but I was not able to grasp them. But I answered whatever I could understand of the situation. Then due to lack of time she asked me to wrap it up quickly and provide recommendations.
Round: Interview
Experience: CASE STUDY: An Indian manufacturer of heavy metal castings for turbines is looking to expand by doubling its production in one to two years. They hire you to suggest them a plan to carry out this expansion. The case went well. She agreed to most of my suggestions but there was a particular area she wanted me to analyze. So she kept asking me what else do you think can be done. At one point when I was stuck, I asked her that in what direction she wants me to think. When she told me, I took a minute to think about it and came up with the answer she was looking for to which she added more by herself. Then she told me to summarize and highlight my recommendations. Then she asked me why am I interested to join BCG in particular. Also during my campus stay what is the one thing I like the best and what I did not like so much and why? I was prepared for these questions so answered them comfortably.
Round: Interview
Experience: HR QUESTIONS: What do I want to do with my life eventually. Which activity on campus has allowed me to do it very closely. What is my most significant achievement till date and why.Asked about my family background. I was not prepared to answer this so I was speaking very randomly anything which was coming in my mind.
CASE STUDY: A small and simple bank has three products on the savings side, 1 year deposit, 2 year deposit and 5 year deposit with given x, y, z interest rates. Three products on the loan side similarly with different interest rates. Each product has 30 lakhs worth of circulation. The bank has to increase its profitability. How should it go about achieving higher profit?
During my preparations I realized that I am not good at finance and telecom sectors as compared to other sectors. So when this case of a bank came I became a little skeptical at the wrong point of time, still I started but whatever factors I mentioned the interviewer rejected them all at once. Then I took some more time to think but again
whatever factors I came up with he said no to them as well. Then he gave me a hint but I did not take time out to think on that. Instead came out with whatever was coming to me instantly. Then in my final recommendation, I suggested quite an impractical approach. I think this went against me significantly. But at that point, I did not realize what blunder I had made.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: I chipped in 3-4 times. My points were accepted by the group in general. Also I expressed my support and extended a point mentioned by another person in the group. It was a decent discussion with very little arguments or chaos.
Tips: Be patient. Listen to what others have to say. Make sure that whatever you say is relevant and adds value to the
discussion, no matter how fewer words you speak.
Round: Group Activity
Experience: A group of 7 students were given 3 minutes to choose a design for a toy car. 7 minutes to implement it from memory and another 5 minutes to sell it to the invigilators.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: It started with tell me something about yourself. In my answer I mentioned that I want to do a field job from where the next series of questions came. Why a field job? Why not an office job? Why not higher studies? Why not MBA? How long do you plan to stay in the field? How do you think you will be able to do it after say 3 years when you plan to settle down? What has been your involvement in campus? Tell in brief 3 initiatives you took as the president of the hostel. Are you afraid of water? Do you swim? Do you have any relatives in the oil field? What companies did you interview with? I answered the questions honestly. After 2-3 rounds of cross questioning, every time I was able to give them a reason for a particular choice I made.
General Tips: I was sure that I do not want to go for higher studies just after IIT, but still gave GRE thinking that after 2 years I may apply. Because of the same reason, I ruled out the option for CAT and GMAT and chose to do a job. Now looking at the list I have mentioned in the companies I interviewed with, it becomes apparent that I did not decide which sector to go for. But it was not like that. I realized that it was not possible for me to try my hand at every option I had. So, I decided to prepare for core and consulting. Consulting because what I learnt from seniors I thought I would enjoy it and core because it was one area I thought I had a good grip on and was easier to prepare. For core, you can revise some of the basics of courses like EE 370, EE 610, C/C++, VHDL/Verilog (try to do it a little bit early as during the placement semester a lot of other things will take up your time). Also you should be thorough with your internship and thesis. You can easily impress the interviewer in these areas if you have a good hold on them. To prepare for consulting, I read a few cases by myself (a whole bunch of consulting guides are available on the SPO placement portal). Then attended the mock sessions organized by the consulting club. Also formed groups of three to practice more case studies. Because of inadequate reading I think I lacked a basic practical approach as compared to my peers. I was bad at guess estimates in particular and prayed till the last day that I may not face one. Resume is also a very important aspect in your preparation. Prepare it well in advance, take feedback from a couple of seniors working in that particular sector and do incorporate those changes which you think will help improve its impact on the recruiter. Practice is the only way out to crack GD’s and tests. Don’t do too much of it either. First and foremost try to find out what kind of a job you would want to do by gathering information by reading about it yourself, talking to people working in that industry, matching it with your priorities and your long term goals. It sounds difficult but trust me it’s better to do some thinking now then to regret later.
Prepare your resume well. Even if it is a small point in your resume be prepared to speak at least 2-3
meaningful sentences about it.
No matter however trivial it seems, please do not rush with whatever you are saying. First think and develop a strong argument to support your statement. Also please try to avoid any preconceived notions you might have formed during preparation time to interfere with your attitude on the final day. Stay focused to answer the question asked to you then.
No matter what do not speak until you are sure, but once you are don't change your answer until and unless the interviewer points out the flaw in your assumption.
Be genuine and sound convincing. Once you take a stand, be firm on it no matter whatever extreme situations the interviewer throws on you. Start reading about whatever sector interests you. It’s never too early to start. Prior knowledge will count a lot not only in your preparations but will also help you in making better decisions about what you want. As it will happen, some interviews will go good some bad, don't get disheartened because no good will come out of it. Moreover, you will spoil the next interviews. Go with a smile in every interview and be yourself. Just think about doing well in this interview and nothing else. Hope you make the most out of the time and resources you have and enjoy as well.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I chipped in 3-4 times. My points were accepted by the group in general. Also I expressed my support and extended a point mentioned by another person in the group. It was a decent discussion with very little arguments or chaos.
Tips: Be patient. Listen to what others have to say. Make sure that whatever you say is relevant and adds value to the
discussion, no matter how fewer words you speak.
Round: Group Activity
Experience: A group of 7 students were given 3 minutes to choose a design for a toy car. 7 minutes to implement it from memory and another 5 minutes to sell it to the invigilators.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: It started with tell me something about yourself. In my answer I mentioned that I want to do a field job from where the next series of questions came. Why a field job? Why not an office job? Why not higher studies? Why not MBA? How long do you plan to stay in the field? How do you think you will be able to do it after say 3 years when you plan to settle down? What has been your involvement in campus? Tell in brief 3 initiatives you took as the president of the hostel. Are you afraid of water? Do you swim? Do you have any relatives in the oil field? What companies did you interview with? I answered the questions honestly. After 2-3 rounds of cross questioning, every time I was able to give them a reason for a particular choice I made.
General Tips: I was sure that I do not want to go for higher studies just after IIT, but still gave GRE thinking that after 2 years I may apply. Because of the same reason, I ruled out the option for CAT and GMAT and chose to do a job. Now looking at the list I have mentioned in the companies I interviewed with, it becomes apparent that I did not decide which sector to go for. But it was not like that. I realized that it was not possible for me to try my hand at every option I had. So, I decided to prepare for core and consulting. Consulting because what I learnt from seniors I thought I would enjoy it and core because it was one area I thought I had a good grip on and was easier to prepare. For core, you can revise some of the basics of courses like EE 370, EE 610, C/C++, VHDL/Verilog (try to do it a little bit early as during the placement semester a lot of other things will take up your time). Also you should be thorough with your internship and thesis. You can easily impress the interviewer in these areas if you have a good hold on them. To prepare for consulting, I read a few cases by myself (a whole bunch of consulting guides are available on the SPO placement portal). Then attended the mock sessions organized by the consulting club. Also formed groups of three to practice more case studies. Because of inadequate reading I think I lacked a basic practical approach as compared to my peers. I was bad at guess estimates in particular and prayed till the last day that I may not face one. Resume is also a very important aspect in your preparation. Prepare it well in advance, take feedback from a couple of seniors working in that particular sector and do incorporate those changes which you think will help improve its impact on the recruiter. Practice is the only way out to crack GD’s and tests. Don’t do too much of it either. First and foremost try to find out what kind of a job you would want to do by gathering information by reading about it yourself, talking to people working in that industry, matching it with your priorities and your long term goals. It sounds difficult but trust me it’s better to do some thinking now then to regret later.
Prepare your resume well. Even if it is a small point in your resume be prepared to speak at least 2-3
meaningful sentences about it.
No matter however trivial it seems, please do not rush with whatever you are saying. First think and develop a strong argument to support your statement. Also please try to avoid any preconceived notions you might have formed during preparation time to interfere with your attitude on the final day. Stay focused to answer the question asked to you then.
No matter what do not speak until you are sure, but once you are don't change your answer until and unless the interviewer points out the flaw in your assumption.
Be genuine and sound convincing. Once you take a stand, be firm on it no matter whatever extreme situations the interviewer throws on you. Start reading about whatever sector interests you. It’s never too early to start. Prior knowledge will count a lot not only in your preparations but will also help you in making better decisions about what you want. As it will happen, some interviews will go good some bad, don't get disheartened because no good will come out of it. Moreover, you will spoil the next interviews. Go with a smile in every interview and be yourself. Just think about doing well in this interview and nothing else. Hope you make the most out of the time and resources you have and enjoy as well.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I first created a master resume and got it reviewed by others.
Tips: Spend enough time in preparing your master resume. Have a resume ready for all the sectors you are targeting. Start as early as possible and get your one page resume ready well in time before the deadline.
Round: Test
Tips: Practice a lot. Prefer practicing in a group and attempt timed tests. Also try out puzzles.
Round: Interview
Experience: There were two rounds, each with a single member panel.
They asked a few HR questions initially followed by a case study. The HR questions were diverse, like how would you handle different scenarios in work and about books I read. I was grilled with these questions.
The case was easy but I presented it in an unstructured manner, but I was able to give a decent solution in the end.
Round: Interview
Experience: The second round started off with a case in which I performed relatively better. The interviewer then asked me if I had any questions for him, and that's when I started talking about the analytics industry. This went on for 15 minutes, and I think this sealed the deal for me.
General Tips: Identify the companies you want to target. Be pragmatic in your choice and prepare accordingly. n
Prepare in a group.
Remember that Resume is one important aspect.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: I first created a master resume and got it reviewed by others.
Tips: Spend enough time in preparing your master resume. Have a resume ready for all the sectors you are targeting. Start as early as possible and get your one page resume ready well in time before the deadline.
Round: Test
Tips: Practice a lot. Prefer practicing in a group and attempt timed tests. Also try out puzzles.
Round: Interview
Experience: There were two rounds, each with a single member panel.
They asked a few HR questions initially followed by a case study. The HR questions were diverse, like how would you handle different scenarios in work and about books I read. I was grilled with these questions.
The case was easy but I presented it in an unstructured manner, but I was able to give a decent solution in the end.
Round: Interview
Experience: The second round started off with a case in which I performed relatively better. The interviewer then asked me if I had any questions for him, and that's when I started talking about the analytics industry. This went on for 15 minutes, and I think this sealed the deal for me.
General Tips: Identify the companies you want to target. Be pragmatic in your choice and prepare accordingly. n
Prepare in a group.
Remember that Resume is one important aspect.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: This profile was basically open for only MBA but I they were keen on hiring some of the non MBA guys also. Selection was based on our resume and first round of interviews were resume based as well. This gave me a chance to defend my resume for the first time. Before this I felt like I would never get to an interview . But the next round was tough, they asked me a case about estimation and did not give me any supporting data. Then they started asking me puzzles and I started thinking that my case study would not have been proper that is why they are asking me these tough puzzles just to scare me away. But eventually I made it to the next round which was just HR round and the lady kept on asking why do you want to join us and I kept on telling the same thing I had prepared about how consulting is a way of life and how their firm would benefit me and all that. Eventually I was their waitlist 1 and I never got through.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: This profile was basically open for only MBA but I they were keen on hiring some of the non MBA guys also. Selection was based on our resume and first round of interviews were resume based as well. This gave me a chance to defend my resume for the first time. Before this I felt like I would never get to an interview . But the next round was tough, they asked me a case about estimation and did not give me any supporting data. Then they started asking me puzzles and I started thinking that my case study would not have been proper that is why they are asking me these tough puzzles just to scare me away. But eventually I made it to the next round which was just HR round and the lady kept on asking why do you want to join us and I kept on telling the same thing I had prepared about how consulting is a way of life and how their firm would benefit me and all that. Eventually I was their waitlist 1 and I never got through.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Test
Experience: There was test which was purely data analysis and calculator was allowed. So the procedure that they follow is that first they shortlist 50 people and a small case interview is followed. The case I was asked was to calculate the change in the cost of a grocery store if it has changed its model from cash on delivery with a physical store to an online portal which has cash on delivery option. As I had practiced it already I took some time to give structure and then gave 3-4 reasons for change in cost and then he gave me some numbers based on which I had to calculate the break even time period or amount . But I think he expected a little bit different approach or was searching for a different solution as I wasn't selected for the final interview sessions. I think 22 people were selected for the final interview session out of which 2 people were finally selected in Cap One.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: There was test which was purely data analysis and calculator was allowed. So the procedure that they follow is that first they shortlist 50 people and a small case interview is followed. The case I was asked was to calculate the change in the cost of a grocery store if it has changed its model from cash on delivery with a physical store to an online portal which has cash on delivery option. As I had practiced it already I took some time to give structure and then gave 3-4 reasons for change in cost and then he gave me some numbers based on which I had to calculate the break even time period or amount . But I think he expected a little bit different approach or was searching for a different solution as I wasn't selected for the final interview sessions. I think 22 people were selected for the final interview session out of which 2 people were finally selected in Cap One.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Group Discussion
Experience: First cat like test then GD (topics were “corruption in india and anna hazare” and “zero” I am not sure about second one but it was something like this) and then interviews.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: In HSBC they asked me a case in which I had to first guess the no of petrol pumps in Kanpur and then to device a criteria for finalizing a location for a petrol pump for my client.
General Tips: It was always finance for me as I had always felt that I had the entrepreneur genes in me and to be good at that one is required to have a good knowledge of finance. To prepare for it I used to read the basic books like liars poker, rich dad poor dad, The Quants and Life of a quant by Hermann hesse. Before 3 months from placement I also read John C Hull which deals with financial instruments. But what I encountered finally was totally different from what I expected. Getting a good finance job was mostly CPI and test driven (and all sorts of other things)and not on your interest in finance or your knowledge of finance. So in the end I prepared for tests and cracked the test for HSBC in which I would be joining soon.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Experience: First cat like test then GD (topics were “corruption in india and anna hazare” and “zero” I am not sure about second one but it was something like this) and then interviews.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: In HSBC they asked me a case in which I had to first guess the no of petrol pumps in Kanpur and then to device a criteria for finalizing a location for a petrol pump for my client.
General Tips: It was always finance for me as I had always felt that I had the entrepreneur genes in me and to be good at that one is required to have a good knowledge of finance. To prepare for it I used to read the basic books like liars poker, rich dad poor dad, The Quants and Life of a quant by Hermann hesse. Before 3 months from placement I also read John C Hull which deals with financial instruments. But what I encountered finally was totally different from what I expected. Getting a good finance job was mostly CPI and test driven (and all sorts of other things)and not on your interest in finance or your knowledge of finance. So in the end I prepared for tests and cracked the test for HSBC in which I would be joining soon.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
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