ITC AUT - Assistant Under Training Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round: Form
Experience: It included questions regarding campus activities, and some HR questions, like- Semester SPI details, GRE/CAT/GMAT scores if applicable, projects, summer internships, short-term and long-term objectives, Why ITC?, Most significant achievement, Whether we have engaged with the community through developmental actives addressing social or environmental concern, 'give an instance where you out your mind over matter',

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: We had 5 minute to study the case and 15 minutes to discuss it in a group of 8 people.
Tips: It is a good idea to learn the possible GD questions beforehand . The cases repeat every year across different campuses.
Do not engage in any kind of shouting in the GD.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: There were two interviews, a mix of technical and HR, but mostly on the technical side. Duration: 25-30 minutes
Tips: You should be clear with your summer internships and the projects that you have done. You can expect technical cross-questioning on the same. The technical problems basically focus on applying the knowledge from the courses you study.
Technical topics important for ITC branch wise are as follows:

Chemical: Basic fluid mechanics, Pumps, Fans, Cmpressors and their characteristic curves, Heat engines and Refrigeration cycles, Working of coolers and ACs, Psychrometry, Heat and Mass transfer basics.

Mechanical: Four bar linkages, Cams, Gears, Basic mechanics of solids, PID control mechanism, Energy systems, Plus above mentioned topics.

Electrical: Motors, PID control mechanisms, 3 phase distribution systems, Characteristic curves of machines, transformer, Basic electronic circuits.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The panel in the second round consisted of another factory manager/head and the Vice HR Head, ITC.

General Tips: Try to attend as many sessions as possible which are organized by SPO.
Do not waste time in placement politics or discussing about it. This will only derail you from your dream company.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Motivation: ITC is one of the most admired and rapidly growing Indian company with a diversified presence in FMCG, paperboard and packaging, Agriculture and IT sector which offers great business exposure.
It has a very good base and brand value if your want to do your MBA after a few years of work experience.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Yes.

Round: Group Activity
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: HR Interview
Experience: 1. "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?""
2. What I could make out of the 2 rounds is that they majorly want to ensure 3 things:
3. 1) You are willing to work in a factory environment on the shop floor. (and if required also in a tobacco plant)
4. 2) You are willing to work in teams and will be comfortable in doing so without much hassle.
5. 3) You are reasonably good in your core subjects. And that you are not having any major/obvious thoughts of going for higher studies.
6. 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."location preference
7. plan of higher studies
Tips: 1) Revised basics of all core subjects over November.
2) Prepared answers to important HR questions. (You can refer to 64 HR questions in LAN)
3) 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.

Round: Technical 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?"""

General Tips: "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 so 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."

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)

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 practise 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: All the core subjects that were taught till 3rd year:
Thermodynamics, Strength of Materials, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Materials & Design, Manufacturing Technology, Design of Machine Elements, IC Engines, Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Thermal Power Plant Engineering
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."
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Depending on the resume.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Yes. There was a group discussion.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Yes. The duration was 45 minutes. Get to know basis questions were asked.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Yes, The duration was 45 minutes.

General Tips: I think i was selected due to my command over speech.
Skill Tips: Read newspapers and Gate text book.
Skills: Strength of materials
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: It can get pretty chaotic before you know it.
Tips: If you no idea about the topic being discussed, wait for people to talk its always necessary to start a discussion. try summarizing what others are saying or coordinating if possible. Its important to speak but its also very important to listen.
Duration: 20 minutes

Skill Tips: ""
College Name: IIT Guwahati

Round: technical + Hr interview
Experience: Candidates are grilled with technical and HR questions. The technical questions are picked from your CV based on the work done during internships / projects / BTP / MTP etc. Other than that the panel might ask questions from your area of expertise like Thermodynamics, Pumps, Compressors, Design etc. After the technical grilling,some HR questions are also asked based on your extra-academics. Mostly HR questions, but some interviews can get technical too. During the technical round, it might happen that you are not be able to answer all the questions. They generally ask technical questions based on the internships/academic work done in your CV.
Tips: Just try to be inquisitive and work out the problem at hand. Leaves a very good impression on the interview panel.

Round: Interview
Experience: Only candidates who clear round I give this final interview. Interview is generally taken by the head of a division .Since the candidate has cleared round I, round II is a much simpler round.
Tips: Just be confident about your answers.

Skill Tips: ITC generally looks at the balance between academics and extra-academics. If the CGPA is in the lower range of 7.5 - 8.5, there should be sufficient extra-academics and extra-curricular efforts in the CV ( Core Team / Inter-IIT / Inter-halls/ Start-ups/ Papers or any other position of responsibility ) . Internships in companies will definitely help. Especially some experience of working in a factory / leading a team in a project would be good. Especially some experience of working in a factory / leading a team in a project would be good. Other than that, any impactful intern ( FT too ) will surely add value. It always helps in the interview if the candidate has done a lot of research on the company. Normally people do not research much and stumble when questions like “ Why ITC specifically “ are asked. Do research about ITC. ITC’s CSR initiatives, products, divisions etc.
College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: ITC's shortlisting is highly objective .They look for five main criteria; Academics, Projects/internships, PoRs, Co- curricular activities and sports.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience:  Mostly based on real case scenarios or case studies.
 They mainly look for how you lead the group towards conclusion and your stand on ethical issues.
 They look at the overall personality of every candidate. Communication skills, leadership and behavior in a team etc. are analyzed.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Basic knowledge of the core and ability to mix up with the company's work culture is sought

General Tips: ITC has a fixed structure for shortlisting students from the GD round 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.
Skill Tips: 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.
 Concentrate on selling your intern experience
 A bit of company specific knowledge will help a lot in impressing them and to get an idea what they expect from you
Skills: Mechanical Engineering Basics
College Name: IIT MADRAS