Cadbury Interview Questions, Process, and Tips for Freshers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Overall good experience

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: It wasn't a group discussion as such, more like a group activity.

The participants are the members of the quality team of a company. A group of second-year chemical engineering students are coming for a field visit. As the quality team of the company prepare a presentation for the students from one of the following topics:

1. Root cause analysis
2. Implementation of a quality assurance program
3. Employee involvement in quality improvement

Any two members from the group should present it in 5 mins (as if to the students) at the end of the
activity.
Tips: Obviously communication skills and clear thinking ability are the must; and you have to be articulate.I don't think they weren't really looking for people who were dominating the GD, but who can give sensible inputs into the discussion. (I don't think I spoke for 5 mins in all out of the 45 mins). Good presentation skills, involving other people in the discussion etc are good. (But never force someone who is quiet to speak, and put them in the spotlight)
Pointing out flaws in others arguments, if needed, has to be done very diplomatically. Avoid speaking about things that you have no or very little idea about. Keeping track of time was considered a plus.

Round: Interview
Experience: The interview wasn't completely technical. It was a bit of technical, HR and behavioral.
Tips: They were more interested in finding out what we learned in our five years, and how we think it was important, and the practical applications of it. I think a knowledge of Operations Research and Operations management is considered a plus, but not sure.

Round: Interview
Experience: There was no separate HR round. The HR questions in the interview included the typical questions like what do you look for in a job, why IIT, what would have happened if you hadn't cleared JEE, situations where you have gone against the general notion to convince a group to implement your ideas, etc It was more like a stress interview. They would make you uncomfortable with questions that are not easy to answer. For example, I was told that they don't think I am fit for the job because I am very soft spoken. Another important question was that why have you applied for the job when you have no idea of what the profile is ( as they had not told us what the role would be until we got selected).
Tips: The idea is to keep your cool and find a sensible answer to all questions like this. Keep smiling (and act) as if its not affecting you. :)

General Tips: I started very very late, and so I was never really confident during the course of placements. You must start early, of course. Figure out all popular HR questions as early as possible, and try to know yourselves better. CAT preparation can help in aptitude tests. Practice GDs if possible. As far as core courses are concerned, be thorough with the basics. And read about your company before going for the interview.
Skill Tips: Read about the company. Find answers to typical HR questions. Be clear about whatever you say; take a few moments to think if you need to. Admit if you don't know something, never pretend. Finally, be yourself, keep your cool and always wear a smile. Get the interviewers to like you, in the end its all about that. (But don't over-do it).


I think being from a manufacturing background and the OR and OM courses on my resume would have suited for a supply chain management role that they were looking for. Communication skills, thinking aloud, admitting mistakes etc helped. Apart from that, I was very calm during the interview, inspite of a few very uncomfortable questions, and they liked it.
College Name: IIT Madras