ITC AUT - Assistant Under Training Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Form-BASED
Experience: Initially they sent a form which contained 4-6 HR questions like: Short term and long term goals, One instance where you put mind over matter?

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Second topic was: There is a group of ministers which are rating the solutions of power source like wind power etc. You have to give your rating and then discuss it. 8 people were present.
Tips: 1. No shouting.

2. Come up with a proper point.

3. They prefer quality of your solutions.

4. There is no right or wrong answer in GD.

5. Main point is that how you are supporting your points.

6. If you are able to put useful data or statistics to prove your point in GD then it is highly recommended.

7. During GD of ITC, we did not need to match our rating with group rating which was a misunderstanding. We need to defend our points.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: Interview
Experience: It was of 30 minute duration and had a panel of 3 persons.
Tips: Some students were asked to design gates? For such gates design questions, books like MANOKIND of digital logic is useful.

Round: Interview
Experience: There were also tricky HR questions were which did not have any right or wrong answer. You just need to remain positive while defending your point . It lasted 45 minutes and had a panel of two people.

General Tips: 1. Write answers in their form very seriously because they grill more on your answers.
2. They remain concern about technical knowledge. So, prepare your core courses very well.
Skill Tips: Questions were generally asked about machines.
Skills: Knowledge of gates., ,
College Name: IIT- Kanpur

Round: HR Interview
Experience: "They started with asking about myself, family back ground etc. and then I directed the interview towards my comfort zone, highlighting both success and failure stories, connecting dots. Most of the questions during this time were based on what I had already told them about myself.A couple of questions at the end were why ITC? and What do you think your work will be? etc."
Tips: Did resume based prep.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: "It was like a rapid fire of questions on me. A lot about Energy Tech..wind turbine, solar water heating, solar PV, R&AC and what not! And in between there were also questions on Gears, Differential (Very Imp!), Working of Lathe, Difference between lathe and milling machines etc.They were checking both fundamental and fact's knowledge. Apart from this, there were tech qs on interns & projects."

General Tips: 3 Successful interns in diverse yet core field, a good basic technical knowledge of Mech, ability to bounce back hard from failures, good communication and leadership skills were more or less the reasons for my selection.
"Shortlisting had nothing to do with courses.Interview though had many questions on my specialization (ET) subjects."
Skill Tips: Read all the material posted by BC and focused a little more on my area of expertise.
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: The first round was a group discussion wherein we were supposed to rank some objects on the basis of their perceived utility for the survivors of a plane crash in a rainforest. The key was to pick up the right spot to put your point and the authenticity of the point. I didn't do much talking but instead made a few good points.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: After a few starters I was told that they had nothing else to ask. Now that was a first timer, was it some new technique of stress interviewing. But apparently it wasn’t! I was asked to take 15 minutes to take a walk and then tell them if I would like to join the company. So, I walked and after talking to a few seniors at ITC I told them that I wanted to. The last interviewer was a big shot in the company and was very interactive. We talked for sometime and here was a person who actually believed that I was not going for higher education. And so I got the offer...

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: "One really good thing about ITC is the new system of shortlisting students from GD for interviews. It is not just your performance in the GD that matters but also your resume. Each section in your resume/ITC form (namely Academics, Co-curricular activities, Cultural activities, Sports, Positions of Responsibilities, Projects and Internships are given points. So, fill your ITC form as if it were your final resume itself including all the activities you were involved in.Although the GD carries more weight than each of these sections, a decent performance in GD should take you through if you have been decently active in your Institute life. That said, it doesn't mean you can simply ignore the GDs. This is just like a back-up in case it isn't your best day in the GD.This makes sure that people who have been active throughout their years in the Institute are given a fair chance to get to the Interviews."

Round: Interview
Experience: "There were 5 panels in all. Some panels tested people on basic Mechanical Engineering principles. Some of them include Fluid Mechanics, IC Engines, Heat Transfer, Strength of Materials and Thermodynamics.Some panels chose to test people on the projects they did. I was tested on my Internships and DDP. So, be absolutely clear about all the course projects, Internships and your BTP/DDP that you mention in your form. You'll be told to explain the theory and application of your projects and more importantly your impact on the project. For this, be ready with numbers like improvement in efficiency or reduction in errors etc.Every panel has a HR person also in it. So, you will be asked some HR questions in between technical questions. You can expect questions like ""Why ITC?"", ""What are your strengths/weaknesses?"", ""Are you fine working with a tobacco company?"", ""How can you as a person add value to ITC?"""

Round: Interview
Experience: For me, this round was more like a chat. Some of the questions were ""Are you against smoking or manufacturing of cigarettes?"", ""Family background?"", ""Where do you see yourself in 5 years? How will ITC help you reach there?""
What I could make out of the 2 rounds is that they majorly want to ensure 3 things:
1) You are willing to work in a factory environment on the shop floor (and if required also in a tobacco plant)
2) You are willing to work in teams and will be comfortable in doing so without much hassle.
3) You are reasonably good in your core subjects. And that you are not having any major/obvious thoughts of going for higher studies.
Tips: If you are genuinely interested in joining the company, a good knowledge about content in your resume, clarity in basic mechanical engineering topics and confidence should get you through.

General Tips: "I think the following things helped me:
1) All my Interns were in core field. So, they were convinced that I wanted a job in Mechanical engineering field itself.
2) My PoRs, Extra- Curricular activities helped in convincing them that I'm an active person in life in general and that I'm experienced in working in different kinds of teams.
3) My specialization being Product Design, I spoke about the whole procedure involved in designing a product starting from the most basic of stages (like taking consumer survey, finalizing mission statement etc.) to final stages like launching and marketing it. As some of the divisions of ITC launch products on a regular basis, my profile seemed relevant to them.
4) I was told that I was almost through when my technical round went well. The HR round was just to ensure a few minor things. So, the first round is very crucial in getting one in."Being an FMCG company, they don't really look for any specific core electives. It is said that OR can help but you have to be really good at it if you want to project yourself as a person who can fit in for the Supply Chain Management profile.
"The first and one of the most important things was to make the resume. I must say that when my seniors tried to explain me the importance of resume, I could never completely appreciate the suggestion. But, it is during the resume submission that I realized that it is the only thing that represents you to the company HR before they physically come to campus for recruitment. They won't understand the efforts that you might have put in throughout your campus life unless you present all of it to them in a exhaustive yet concise manner. So, start making your resumes by July at least. Send them to seniors and take inputs. It will take a lot of iterations before your resume is ready for submission. Don't be complacent and feel at any point of time before October that your resume is ready. There is always a lot of scope for improvement and keep doing so till the date of submission.I spent the first 2 months (August&September) preparing for CAT (to be strong in Quant and Verbal) and had started revising some basic core subjects. This core part wasn't in a full fledged way. Probably revised a subject or two in each week to slowly enter into placement mode. Somewhere in the beginning of October, I also started looking into some HR questions. Answers to these questions don't come so easily. It takes some thinking (sometimes even days) before the final answer takes shape. So, just feed in some important HR questions in your mind and think about them whenever free and jot down anything that seems relevant.I spent November preparing for Core and Consulting companies. With answers ready to some of the HR questions, I guess 1 month of dedicated preparation was pretty good."
"I prepared for Consulting companies. Preparation mainly involves reading and getting used to the format of case studies. For case studies, you can refer to books like ""Ace your case"", ""Case in point"" or any of the casebooks of Business schools. (Like Kellogg, Columbia business school, Wharton etc.). You can find many of them in LAN. Once, you get used to the format, you can form groups of 3 and practice cases in the form of mock interviews. (where each person plays the role of interviewer, interviewee and an observer to give feedback to both and exchange roles)HR questions too are very important in Consult interviews. Follow the book 64 HR questions. It should cover almost all the standard interview questions."
Skill Tips: Revised basics of all core subjects over November.Prepared answers to important HR questions. (You can refer to 64 HR questions in LAN). Wrote a write up about each of the Projects/Internships and PoRs mentioned in the resume. Having a write-up which can last 5 minutes in speech about each of the points in resume helps a lot.
In a way, I started core preparation in August itself. The method of revising each subject per week turned out to be very good. This way, the final revision in November became an easy task. It's better to start in August and do it slowly than rush it all in November. This way, if you have any other companies like Analytics, Finance or Consulting, you can take out time in November specifically for them. (without getting highly loaded with core subjects)
Additionally I revised some of the courses that were a part of my 4th year dual degree curriculum. Some of them included Finite Element Analysis, Principles of Product Design/Design Synthesis.I followed Incropera for Heat Transfer. Used slides given by Dr.Amitava Ghosh and notes from juniors for revising ManTech.
Used notes for IC engines, Thermal power plant engineering and slides given by Dr. Parag Ravindran for
Materials & Design. For the others, I followed material provided by the placement team which was actually very helpful."
Skills: Air conditioning, Refrigeration, Strength of Materials , Thermal Power Plant Engineering, Manufacturing Technology , Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery , IC Engines , Fluid Mechanics , Heat Transfer, Materials & Design , Design of Machine Elements, Thermodynamics
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: The application procedure of ITC requires you to submit the resume and fill their form. The form contains various question on your projects, attitude, extra-curricular activities etc. Fill the form honestly because this form will be the base of your interview

Making resume is very important step for placement preparation and hence take it very seriously. In summers I started building my resume. I used all the resources available on the student placement office IITK website along with help from seniors and my wing mates, to prepare a one page resume to fit for ITC profile. It took almost one month for me to get the final version of resume through which I can apply for the company.Form : It includes few question related to your grades, projects/internship, Position of responsibilities(POR), extracurricular activities and 2 or 3 HR based questions, Details are as follow:
Few personal details specifically Semester wise SPI, GRE score etc.
Details of internship/projects, extracurricular activities, PORs etc.
Your short terms and long term objectives
Why do u want to work with ITC
What do you think is your most significant achievement
Give an instance where you put Mind Over Matter
Your social engagement
Tips: Be honest and creative while making resume

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: ITC GD is based on a given case where you have to prioritize the given set of things. One GD group consist of 8 students and approximately 25 min time duration. There are 3 person to judge a single GD and hence its almost a fare GD.
Tips: Please follow all the general rules of GD that is : Don’t shout, don’t be aggressive etc.

Round: Interview
Experience: Before the interview I was very nervous and It was a sleepless night. And it was my first professional interview and it went very smooth. During internship I was failed to clear GD rounds for ITC and HUL and then I decided not to apply in any other companies .Hence this interview was very first interview for me.ITC interview was scheduled on 1st December from 6 am to 11 am . My interview started with a question “Tell me something about yourself” I started with my school life and then gradually moved towards IITK life and here I described about My most significant achievement of IITK i.e. “TEAM ABUS-DCS” with the help of designs I carried in my file and there after the rest of the interview was based on TEAM ABUS-DCS projects. No extra technical question were asked to me. Some of my friends who were selected for ITC interview told me that they were grilled over Technical question based on pumps, Thermodynamics cycles etc.

Topics generally asked in the ITC interview: - Pumps, cooling towers, Thermodynamics(TD) cycles, TD laws, desert coolers, Refrigeration cycle, Valves, Mixers, Process control scheme, ,Distillation columns, VLE, Derivation of Navier stokes equation, Bernoulli equation etc.  I used my notes and Wikipedia to revise all these topics.
Tips: Do’s and Don’ts:

Do’s :

Make your priority very clear
Make a general time timeline for your placement preparation to keep track of your time
Prepare for the placement with a positive hope but at the same time you have to be realistic
Make a group in wing or outside wing, it will help you to make your placement preparation easy and interesting
Take healthy food and keep yourself healthy

Don’t’s :
Don’t underestimate your self
Don’t prepare alone otherwise soon you will be bored/tired of preparation

Round: Interview
Experience: My HR interview too was started with a question “Tell me something about yourself” and there were few questions about my family, school life, hobbies, and major portion of interview was focused on TEAM ABUS-DCS  
Here question were based on both types i.e. HR and technical. I answered few of the HR questions in Hindi and this is the point where I become friendly with the interviewer and then a general conversation started about my projects and family. I was lucky to have such a smooth experience , The day was not at all hectic for me.  The only time between my interview and declaration of final results was the most tensed time for me.
Tips: Be honest and cool

Skill Tips: These skills can not be developed in just a day, Be sincere throughout your academic duration and do your assignments regularly to improve technical skills. Try to get involved in some management activities as well.
Follow the books which your professor recommends you while doing a course work, For final revision follow your class notes. Along with my notes I also used wikipedia for the revision.
If any of your topic is too weak, Then follow the corresponding NPTEL lectures on youtube
Skills: Technical skills, Communications skills, Management skills, Frankness
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Motivation: ITC is one of the leading Indian company in FMCG sector which constantly endeavours to benchmark its products, services and processes to global standards and thus best suitable for the job
ITC's Core Values are aimed at developing a customer-focused, high-performance organization, which creates value for all its stakeholders.
Wide business insight. ITC being a conglomerate, gives an exposure of diverse functions like supply chain, marketing etc.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: The GD was easy, based on a case study.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The first round of interview started with general HR questions like tell me about yourself, why ITC, why not so good cpi in first year and so on. Somehow the mention of industrial tour came and from there on, all the questions were based on TATA steel and steel-making in general (we went to Jamshedpur for our industrial tour). In case of ITC it is very important to know about the company fully. Hence reading the company’s website before the interview helps. I was asked its motto and when I answered it correctly the entire panel was very impressed.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The 2nd round was a one-on-one interview. What went wrong here was that I knew about my major projects (like btp, summer intern) very well but didn't remember the exact details of the TA project that I had done during my 3rd
semester. The interviewer somehow found that project quite interesting and kept on asking me questions about it and I couldn't answer many. Later, he jumped onto the term paper that I had written for one of the psychology courses and again I stumbled. Hence I feel I didn’t know my resume too well at that time (just focused on the main projects) and perhaps that went against me.

College Name: IIT KANPUR