Arup Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I specified about my extra-curricular activities in an organized manner. I had loads of techno-managerial activities. Whatever extra-curricular activities that I was involved in, I had been pursuing them since my first year, hence I found it necessary to group them in an appropriate manner in the resume. Also I had participated in an event called Robocon, I had done a project and had 2 different internships, I highlighted all these specifically in my resume.
Tips: I referred a site of Princeton University to prepare the resume. It’s a very good website and hugely referred by students for preparing their resume. I also got some valuable insights from my seniors in accordance to building my resume. I intended to join a technical company hence I had framed a technical resume.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This was a direct personal interview round. They started asking H.R. questions initially and then floated over to the technical questions. In total 8 students were short-listed for this round, 2 from mechanical, 2 from electrical and 2 from civil and each and every student was practically asked the same set of the HR questions.

My interview was taken by 2 people, one Indian and the other was a foreigner. Right at the start of the interview they explained me how the interview would proceed. They even told me that the interview would be conducted only for 20 minutes. They started asking questions like ‘Tell me about yourself.’ and the likes. While I was answering the foreign interviewer seemed to be noting down some points. He also asked me whether I had any knowledge whatsoever regarding the company. I gave him an apt reply based on the knowledge of the company that I possessed.

Further he went into the technical questions. He asked me to state the role of a mechanical engineer in a company like Arup which mainly dealt with engineering design and construction. I said that mechanical engineers look after the refrigeration and the piping system. They also asked me to name the building that fascinated me the most and that was built by Arup. I said I liked the building built by Arup in Hong-Kong which consisted of the overhanging beam. I was not aware of the name of the building. They enlightened me further about that building for themselves.

They asked me about which monument did I like the most. I gave a very honest reply to this. I told them that earlier when I was in an internship at Mumbai I had seen the sky-scrappers for the first time. I told them as to how intriguing I found those huge structures and how different I found the world from the top of these sky-scrappers. They were pretty impressed with my honest reply. They moved on to asking me questions on the sky-scrappers. I started talking on vibrations, but they corrected me stating that this is looked after by the civil engineers. They started dropping some hints. I thought for a moment and finally figured out that the mechanical engineers carried out the works related to energy and sustainable development, refrigeration and ventilation and also the piping systems. I also gave some suitable examples for each of them.

He asked whether I had any experiences of working in a team. I gave them a brief account of the Robocon event that we participated in and how under my leadership we gave the best performance compared to the past three years that IIT- Roorkee participated in the event. The Indian interviewer further inquired about my family background. I told them about my father’s business and convinced them that I would never do business and that I would remain loyal to the company.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: I heard about the company for the first time during the recruitment process. I did not even attend the pre-placement talk held by the company; consequently I was not much aware either about the company or the profile on offer.

Round: Test
Experience: Structural design
2 hrs , designing columns , beams etc.
Duration: 120 minutes

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Interview based on test and resume.

General Tips: I started preparing for placements 1 month before.Civil companies are taking btech’s in only project management not in structural design.
Skill Tips: Did projects and courses in "Structure".They were looking for the concrete and steel design.
Skills: Software skills, Management skills, Designing skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: Start preparing earlier it helps.