Colgate Palmolive Associate Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - good

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: ITC usually does case GDs. The cases are fun and pretty interesting. You would be in a group of 8-10 people and you would be given a case on which your group has to come to a conclusion in 30 mins. In our case the GD centred around a village. Where the village was facing a lot many challenges with industries shutting down, people deserting the village etc. And most of them had the root cause to the lack of power. And so the group had to come to a conclusion as to which source of energy would be the best feasible for the village based on certain things that were mentioned there in the case,
Tips: GD there are three tips: - Either start the discussion if you know the topic well. - Or play the role of a moderator and quip in with some important points- Or succinctly summarise all the points everyone mentioned and conclude them in a beautiful way explaining the direction in which the group inclines if you do not have much information on the topic. It is pretty important that the group reaches to a consensus.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: Interview
Experience: ITC conducts interviews way early on Dec 1. Typically around 6:30 am the interviews start. So I was pretty exhausted by being on a stretch of 3 night outs with MTP report submission, MTP presentation, and then all tests and GDs for companies. On Nov 30th as well the interviews and Gds started and it was going on till Dec 1 5 am for me. Then ITC interview was at 7 am in the morning. Interviewers were 5-7 years experienced people. Questions were related to my internship and some core courses. I answered internship related questions well. Screwed up once on a technical question. Usually they would start with one concept and then grill you in depth to understand your expertise in that.
Tips: - Brush up your core concepts- You should be thorough with your internship stuff

Round: Interview
Experience: The HR interviewers were 25 years experienced. Pretty chill people. Asked me questions around why ITC and why not a startup ? etc.Pretty usual set of questions.
Tips: Be calm. Read 64 interview questions pdf. Usually available on institute LAN

College Name: IIT Kharagpur

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Since I got a Pre placement offer through Internship so my experiences will be in accordance to Internship
procedure. Placement procedure is almost the same. They look for decent
pointers. In addition to this they would consider if you have some good
technical background. They look for committed people who have an experience of
working in teams.For this they float a from of their own which has some questions answers of which more of less lies in the resume. There are some HR questions too like Long term goal , Short term goal, SOP, mind over matter (the most catchy one). If you get selected for interview round your interview will be around this form .

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: It was my first GD. There were around 120 people selected for the GD. We were
divided in the groups of 10. As expected my group was very tough as there were
better speakers. We were given a paper containing the situation and options. We
were given a total of 20 minutes which included the time for reading and
understanding the situation. Someone started speaking after around 5-6 minutes
followed by an another guy. Next , I had to dive in as if I would have delayed
I would have ran out of ideas which would have been taken by the others. I
started confidently and as time passed by I was successfully able to convince
the people towards my option or I must say there were no arguments towards my
option. Out of expectation, I cleared this round. Next round was the interview round.
Tips: - GD is all about convincing the junta towards your option.- Never speak when some one else is speaking.- Don't be negative , always give positive statements- Never take name of any person sitting in the room in the GD even if you know him/her- Never point fingers- Sometime GD can become a fish market. Stay out of it and wait
for the right time to speak.

- Don't shout

- Don't be an orator if you are not a good speaker

- Read the paper carefully and jot down the pros and cons of
every option so that you have many points to speak to

- It does not really matter how much did you speak but what you
speak matters, don't panic if you have spoken less during GD. Sometimes giving
1-2 logical statements gets you through.
Duration: 20 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Around 35 people were selected for this round. We were told there will be 2 rounds of interviews. I got a call for my Technical interview soon. It was a large room with only 3 of us - myself and the 2 interviewers. They started by greeting themselves and asked me to tell something about me. I started confidently and told them about myself, my birth place, interests, college life, IIT B Racing etc. Then the interview shifted to specific questions. I covered every important point in the resume and explained it in a line or two as the questions went. They seemed impressed as I had Cummins on my resume as I was the only one in my batch who did intern over there. Also, having IIT B Racing played a major role in getting me through. They asked some questions around that and I was able to answer them successfully. I could not answer initial questions completely but was confident in whatever I said. This confidence helped me to answer later questions in a better way and they were quite impressed. Frankly , I did not have any hopes till now that I will get into ITC, so I felt stress free during the interview though it was my first interview. After answering every answer confidently they asked me some questions regarding my hobbies - Cricket mostly. Since I have been a die hard fan of cricket and love to play it, my energy level went to a higher level during this discussion. Finally , they asked do you have any questions for us ? I asked what will be my work profile if I get in. They explained me the profile and I liked it. I requested them to work on some project which will create impact on the company rather than doing some research or paper reading work. They smiled and assured me of that. So, finally this interview ended after around 25 -30 minutes. I was expecting the call for second interview. (People who cleared 1st round only got a chance for second HR interview) but not that soon. It was hardly a minute after my interview got over , a person from behind calls out my name and says "You have a second interview in a minute. Are you Ready for it ?" . I was happy but exhausted. I had no other option and said politely "Yes"
Tips: - Be confident
- Don't give arbit answers if you don't know. They are very knowledgeable people and will easily catch you if you are giving vague answers.
- Don't panic if you are unable to answer some questions. Its perfectly fine . Just say politely you don't know/remember.
- Maintain a positive body language
- Show them that you are willing to work for them for a long period of time. Don't give the slightest intention of leaving the company for any reason.
- You should be able to justify every point in your resume or whatever you write.
- Revise the form before interview , the one ITC asked you to fill in the initial process of selection
- Wear good formals. During my time some people gave interview in Jeans. This does not give a professional look. Also carry a pen.

College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: 1.Case study is based on multiple problem- multiple solution. First decide what will be order of problems to be solved based on there severity since solving one problem might counter affect other problem increasing other problem.  And than give there corresponding solutions. Try to convince whole group about the order of problems. 
2. survival problem based case study is also asked. Try to remember that order of importance of things is based on Water-food-shelter-safety-signal device-any thing promoting movement of survivals (last).
Tips: 1. Try to give logical reasons behind any conclusion. 
2. Try to take group together.
Duration: 25 minutes

Skill Tips: " If from electrical branch make machine a strong point."
Skills: Technical Knowledge
College Name: IIT Roorkee
Motivation: It provides non coding work. it gives you a techno managerial work.

General Tips: No schedule time for interview. They ask to came at 10 am,but interview taken at 5:45pm. Very poor scheduled. No travelling allowance given even u came after spending 2500 RS. Also take 2-3 round on different days. And finally salary not disided.
Skills: Body Language, Leadership, Decision Making Skills
Duration: 1-4 weeks