KPMG India Associate Software Developer Interview Questions and Answers

Topics to prepare for Capgemini Associate Consultant interview:

• Java 8
• Spring Boot
• MySQL
• spring core
• Spring

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Easy interview on your technology but selection of project interviews for clients is very tough if u want to work on best account client like jpmorgan other accounts intervew also moderate mode of interview

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - According to my experience I will suggest mention only those skills that you know in your resume & be confident.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The case I got was about an International brokerage firm trying to enter India. It had three options to do so, acquiring an Indian firm, JV, and entering alone. Case involved a lot of data. I took a good 2-3 minutes initially to come up with a good MECE(mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) structure to work with, which was appreciated by the interviewer. Finally, he asked me to value a firm based on some data that he had given me, as I was going along the acquisition route.
Tips: It is essential to go about getting the structure right. think aloud, ask the interviewer at every point as to whether you are going on the right path, look for subtle hints from the interviewer.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A lot of questions related to my CV were asked from positions of responsibility to my social work initiatives. He also clarified a lot of my doubts about the PMP practise at McKinsey, which I intended to work for.
The case was about a tractor firm, which was the market leader till about six months back, but has lost market steadily since then. I used the Porter's value chain framework, which he was very impressed with, He straightaway told me to skip quite a few analyses areas and I quickly came with problem as the company was offering less margin to its non-exclusive retailers, as compared to the competition. I triangulated my conclusion by asking as to what were the margins offered before the firm started losing market share and the interviewer was very happy about this.
Tips: Thinking aloud is something I cannot stress upon enough. Use MECE approach to make your framework waterproof. Try triangulating the conclusions drawn if any.

General Tips: Ask for clarification if you get stuck in-between.
Maintain your calm.
Skills:
Duration: 2 months
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Interview
Experience: The interviewer was Rohit Vohra, Partner and Director.

Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study was a ‘Market Entry’ problem. An office-furniture company wanted to enter into home-furniture business. I had to evaluate whether it should do so or not. I asked for some time to structure my answer. He was very helpful during the entire case study and guided me whenever I went in a direction where I wasn’t supposed to go. I also asked a lot of questions. The entire interview lasted for about 40-45 minutes. The interviewer was very pleasant in his manner and the interview went off quite well. After about 10-15 minutes, I was sent for my second interview.

Round: Interview
Experience: This interview was taken by Shweta Bajpai, Project Leader who was also the Recruitment Head. She was an IIT K alumnus. This interview took around 35-40 minutes.

Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study was a ‘Growth Strategy’ question.
A metal casing manufacturer wants to double her revenues over the next 5 years. What should she do? I began by asking a few pertinent questions about the company’s product and customers. I then listed out a few growth strategies. She pointed out that she wanted more possible approaches. I pointed out a few but the general nature of our exchange was that the moment I would sum up a strategy, she would drop a hint for another. I would latch on to it and this process went on for about 2 or 3 times. She then asked me that in light of the initial question, which strategy would be best-suited for our client. I answered the same. I came out of the room thinking that I had messed up really badly because she had practically solved the entire case herself. I had a very strong inkling that that interview was my last with BCG. By this time, BCG people had started asking some of us to go if we had interviews with any other company which was a kind way of saying that you are not selected in BCG. I politely inquired one of the consultants whether I was supposed to stay or go. He checked with his colleagues and replied with a very warm smile that I was supposed to stay on.

Round: Interview
Experience: This interview was taken by Saurabh Tripathi, Partner and Director. He was also an IIT K alumnus, the President Gold Medalist of his batch. He was the one who had given us the PPT at Taj. Moreover, I also had the opportunity of having a long conversation with him because we were seated at the same table during dinner. He began the interview by pointing out the same. He then asked some very tricky and pointed PI questions:

Round: Interview
Experience: The Case Study that followed was again one of its kind, to say the least. It involved a hypothetical bank that had just 6 products: 3 kinds of fixed deposits (maturity period of 1 year, 2 years and 3 years) and 3 kinds of loans (again 1, 2 and 3 year maturity period). The rates of interests on the fixed deposits were 3, 4 and 5 % p.a. respectively and on loans were 5, 6 and 7 % p.a. respectively. The owner wanted to increase the bank’s profitability. What should she do?
I would be paltering with the truth if I don’t admit that I was a little taken aback by the question. I took some time and then asked him some questions to which he gave a very brief (though not curt at all) ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as an answer. In fact, during the entire case, he was busy on his Blackberry paying no attention to what I was doing. One of the first things that I asked was whether the objective was to increase ‘profits’ or ‘profitability’ because the technical definition of the two was different. He smiled (I think in appreciation) and replied that he wanted me to focus on ‘profits’. After that, I gave a few recommendations. He complicated the case further by saying that the principal amount of 1-year products was same. This constraint was applicable for 2-year and 3-year products as well. That is, the principal amount of fixed deposit and loan of 1-year was same, and so on.

Again, I gave a few recommendations. After a while, he said that he was in a bit of a hurry and that that was all as far as the interview was concerned. I felt as if nothing concrete had come out as the solution to the case. I asked him how I had done in the case. As was his wont, he answered with a very brief - ‘‘Given the time available, you did fine’’.
I was a little confused after this interview. I had no idea about the last case study. However, I knew that the PI part went off well. After about 10 minutes, I was asked to go and meet Saurabh Tripathi again. I went into his interview room and he gave me a job offer!

General Tips: Between July 2007 (when I joined the institute) and May 2011, I had considered and pursued IAS, MBA and research as potential career options at various points of time. But in May ‘11, I decided that the safer thing to do would be to take up a job and think about the various existential questions later. As far as my personal preferences go, I liked what I read about consulting. But being from a department where core companies are non-existent for all practical purposes; I was aiming for most of the non-core companies. I
was conscious of one thing though, viz. I did not want to work for a company that was catering to overseas
clients or to its own overseas office. The idea was that I did not want to join a company which was employing me just because I was cheaper than the Westerners. So, although after BCG, the second best choice for me in the first slot was Opera, I was not excited about it at all.
My entire preparation, especially the part related to resume and interview was done under the guidance of
Ashwini Dikshit (career counsellor, IITK). I think what worked for me was that I was quite organized in my
preparation. At no stage was I hurried into mistakes. By September, I had prepared the final draft of my 1-page resume. If you think you have a good profile and you can get a shortlist, then you should devote a lot of time to your resume. I would suggest that resume preparation should be started in summers itself. It is also very important to take help and guidance because there is a certain way to make a resume which does not come naturally to most of us. I prepared for aptitude tests by solving the CAT previous years’ question papers. If you are preparing for non core companies, one of the things which you should do is preparing for CAT. Most companies other than consulting firms and core companies, take an aptitude test (including the analytics-consulting firms) and contrary to the common notion, most of them ask English questions as well. Moreover, a good score in CAT will only open up options. I did not prepare for GD because out of all the companies that I was aiming for, very few had GD as a part of their process.
For case study preparation, I was a part of the Case Study Club of SPO which met around thrice in September October period. Apart from that, I practised with my friends. Some good casebooks in decreasing order of their usefulness are Case in Point, Indian School of Business’s casebook and Kellogg’s casebook. It is highly advisable to get hold of various IIMs’ casebooks if you can. While practising a case, the emphasis should be on what new you learn from that particular case. So, more than the mock case study sessions themselves, the analysis that you do afterwards is important.
For the Personal Interview preparation, I had prepared the answers for most of the commonly asked questions and more importantly had given around 5 mock interviews before December. One should sit and right down the answers of the various commonly-asked questions and go through these answers again and again to hone them. If possible, get these answers checked by someone experienced in interview preparation. The idea is not to memorize the answers, but to have a fairly good idea about what points you are going to cover. As a thumb rule, all companies are looking for ‘high energy’ and ‘low maintenance’ guys. Make sure, you sound like one!
Apart from the above mentioned preparation, I read ‘The Indian Express’ and ‘Economic Times’ regularly
(wasn't able to do it daily though) to get a feel of current and business affairs. One final pointer as far as placement preparation is concerned, DO NOT WORRY and do not indulge in useless placement-related gossips. They only eat away your time and energy.
I think what worked well for me in all the interviews was that I was listening very attentively to what theinterviewers were saying or asking. That meant that I was always answering the right questions and was also responding to the hints and clues which the interviewers were giving. In all the interviews, I had a good discussion with the interviewer. A lot of people say that a good interview is the one which is more of adiscussion rather than a question-answer session. By that definition, my interviews went off well. As I hadmentioned earlier, some people claim that the case study workshop which was held on November 16th wasevaluative. If it was so, then I would have got some extra points since I was able to do well in the case that I was asked.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Firstly they did resume-based shortlisting and I was selected.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was little nervous and didn’t solve the case well. I even missed the workshop due to academic reasons which again proved a negative point in my case. Buddy interaction was good. My suggestions are show enthusiasm with your buddy (mentor) and take interest in everything. Their assessment starts right from the time they take you out for the dinner till your final interview.
Tips: 1. Show enthusiasm from the start.
2. Have good interaction with your buddy or even with seniors in BCG.
3. Show lots of interest.
4. Prepare well for the case studies.
5. They mainly ask strategy cases which are given in elaborate manner in "case in point". The best thing is to prepare in group 3-4ppl or in your wings on a regular basis.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Answer 1) No numbers were expected, no knowledge of broadband technology was expected either. The key here was not just an increase in users, but also an increase in the number of uses. None of the established frameworks really helped. The interviewer was very helpful and gave me cues when I was not making progress.

Answer 2) Again, no numbers, no data. I thought I really screwed up this one. I asked the interviewer if I had missed out some aspect, and he told me where I had gone wrong. Then we discussed this aspect for about a minute or so.

Answer 3) Always try to pick something with practical/industrial applications

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Answer 1) The interviewer told me exactly what he expected…he told me the four departments he wanted me to look at. I was to check for ‘synergies’ or the potential benefits of the acquisition for these departments. This case was a lot of fun. (Thanks to the interviewer mainly). Luckily for me, he was highly impressed and he told me that a third interview would not be necessary. 

Answer 2) He also pointed out that I seemed to have dabbled in a lot of things, and discussed this for a long time. It was a two-way discussion, and was a very comfortable conversation. By the middle of this interview, I knew I had to join this company.

General Tips: Sleep well, wear comfortable footwear (Girls, please stash away those high heels for post-job treats and NOT interviews, they almost killed me), don’t starve yourself. If you have back-to-back interviews, sit down for a minute between interviews and take deep breaths, it really helps. Now let’s cut the chase and get to preparation

PPT : Attend PPTs of all the companies that you are interested in. It will give you a good idea of the kind of people you’ll work with, apart from the work itself. Stick around after the PPT and talk to your seniors who are working with the company. Wait for the pizza, there’s always enough for everyone.

Resume : Don’t try and squeeze in too much into your resume. Going by the experiences of my batch, I think companies looked for well-rounded individuals and not necessarily DR1’s or managers and CGs. Needless to say, do not lie or exaggerate. It is disgusting, and in most cases, it will be obvious too.

Interviews: Please don’t prepare answers to the last word, but think about some common questions: strengths/weaknesses (a little introspection never does any harm) and of course, “Why consulting?” (or analytics, etc). Go through your resume and think about what you have learnt from each experience.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY
Motivation: A must for consultancies. Most seniors will have material on this. Don’t over-do this bit, but from personal experience, I can say that 3 days of case studies will do just fine. Do this in groups of 2 or 3. Don’t use any technical jargon/names of frameworks.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I went through the resumes of some seniors, searched through the net for general tips on resume writing , looked upsites of companies in which I was interested and then posted my resume to seniors for proof reading. I attended the Pre-Placement talks of the companies I was interested in. They served the purpose of telling me more about the Companies Work Profile. But I thought they took too much time and also the main source of information about the company on our campus was and will be seniors in jobs. PPTs cant match up to that!
Tips: Read the case studies. That helps.

Round: Interview
Experience: BCG had two rounds of interviews, followed by a short-list and then another two rounds of interviews after which the final offers were made. Five people were made final offers out of an initial list of about 30. I was asked about what distinguished me as a person, some major achievements of mine and the main hurdles I had faced in my four years at IIT. I was also asked to elaborate on my primary failure here. They asked me about what made me different and what attracted me to Consulting. There were also a few light questions on my passions in life, my favourite music band etc..! Other than that were the case studies I was given to solve. In my first round I was asked about a case involving a bank selling housing lone, striking a deal with a contractor and determining the percentage to be paid to that contractor. I thought I messed this one up and the fact that I was really impressed by my interviewee&s profile didn't help ! :P
Tips: I got together with another friend of mine who had made it through BCGs short-list and we solved a few cases together from the Case Study Files sent by our seniors. These included Kellogs and Whartons Guides. I read up on what Case Studies typically are and how to tackle them from similar Case Books. In all I solved 5-6 cases on my own. As for HR questions I asked a few seniors about typical questions, went through Be Prepared and looked up the net a little for sample questions. I didn't prepare any ideal answers, just marked out for myself the points in my resume that I wanted to highlight. I prepared in a group of two people. I think Case Studies should typically be solved in groups of 2 or 3.

Round: Interview
Experience: Then I decided I had to cover up on the first interview and geared up for the next! The following round involved the study of a Cement company and a re hauling of its distribution chains. After much NBD and some slices of Pizza the shortish was out and I had made it to the next round! My third interview was very non bookish wherein they asked me about how a Consulting Firm would advertise itself. Frankly, I was quite stunned and blurted out whatever struck me. With some prompting and imagination I came up with decent answers finally!

Round: Interview
Experience: Then the last hurdle, I was asked a question apparently asked to Ghoda the year before (so you might actually get one of our questions for your interview :P!). It was about a Company manufacturing coffee cups wanting to increase its market share. After which I got my offer! :)

General Tips: I realized that a LOT amongst these interviews depends on the day you give them. So you need to be cool, confident and come across as a pleasant person. Do not over count on your preparation. I did not have any stress interviews,enjoyed all four of my interview rounds and probably that is what clicked. Also do not try and second guess the interviewee, you can never make out how well/badly its going. I still do not know why my company took me! In the HR rounds, be genuine and don't fabricate every answer, it shows. I don't think I made some major mistake, I just enjoyed myself throughout the case solving, was true in projecting before them the person that I am, told them that I had aped and was confused in life and they hired me ?
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Started working on it pretty early. Completed a first draft and sent it across to 5-6 seniors. Tried to get an opinion from
seniors of various profiles like consulting, finance and FMCG. Met them personally and took feedback. Reworked the same around 3 times. Made sure I only have things on my resume which I could talk on comfortably. Made sure the formatting was proper and concentrated on what value addition I did at various places rather than just describing the work. Did prepare my BTP and seminar well and studied up 1 course as the favourite course (did not need it though :D)
Tips: Yes attended all the PPTs (had to :P). It helps you a lot to look at the PPT as it gives a lot of idea on what a company is looking forward to and how exactly to prepare for it. Further it does give clarity to a great extent on the type of job being offered. Talking to seniors from companies you serious about helps a lot and PPTs are the best place to get to meet them. First of all the previous Be Prepared documents. Did not do any Puzzles/Technical/GDs. HR questions the usual ones available on the net. However had a couple of sessions with people who were good at this to get feedback. Cases practised in groups, did not read up any theory/cases. Just practised in the group. Used the Kellogg and Wharton case guides.

Round: Interview
Experience: BCG had 4 rounds of interviews and the initial short lists were 28, short list after second interview was 8, and final offers were 5. Cases and HR: In a group of 4 people. Ideal size should be 3-4 people. One person used to get a case and administer to all the other 3. This way we could check on what one is doing correctly and incorrectly. Constructive feedback is really important. While administering cases we made sure that we did couple it with a bit of HR so as to get an exact feel of interviews. Did somewhere around 6-7 cases exhaustively. Read a couple as example initially. Did not do any test preparations as had done some CAT preparation (which does help a lot) HR: Did some amount with group. But primarily analysis like future plans, why the company, strengths weaknesses etc with people who knew me well enough and could actually help me realize these.

Round: Interview
Experience: BCG1: Started off with question on Bridge. Then we did a case of an Air Conditioner Manufacturing company which was losing money. The case revolved around the way dealers were placing the product. Solved the case pretty quick and thus had another 10 odd minutes of HR on things like your biggest achievement till date and why a consulting career. BCG2: This was probably the most difficult interview I had all day (at least that is what I felt). We directly started off with a case. It involved a Tractor manufacturer who had below par sales in a certain region. I started off well but lost track somewhere in between. However I finally got to the conclusion of difference in kind of soil and thus the requirement of higher horsepower. Important point: I asked the interviewer to give me 2 minutes to analyse when I had lost track, took the 2 minutes and then instantly hit the point. Make sure that if you get stuck, you take your own time to understand rather than get hasty. This followed a small round of HR on one of my intern ships. I then had a 10 minute session in which I put forward my own set of questions on why I should go in for a consulting career.

Round: Interview
Experience: BCG3: Because of the session, the round started with whether I actually was keen on consulting. We then moved on to a case involving a cement company which had high transportation costs. The reasons that I found out were under loading on certain trips, high charges being levied by transporters. I even gave a suggestion on moving to trucks with larger capacity. Another small round of HR revolving about my work as Institute Placement Nominee and research paper.
BCG4: We started off with a case involving parameters to be accounted to give an award for best salesperson of a cement company. Numerical data like sales figures, growth rate etc. were given when asked for. Was asked to compare 4 different sales persons. Left the case in 10 minutes. Next 20 minutes we just had a talk where primarily I was asking on how my interviewer (a CA) had ended up in a consulting firm and the kind of work that we could expect.

General Tips: Ideally one should prepare Case Studies and a bit of HR. It doesn't make any sense to study any standard frameworks. Rather it is advisable to keep away from them. You need to try and get structure into the way you approach cases. The number of cases should be the amount till you get comfortable with them. Doing excess of it might even hamper your chances as your thinking starts getting directional and you kind of stop thinking as much as is required. As a matter of fact some of the people who did real well were the ones with the least amount of practice (not that this is suggested)
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: She had already marked points in my resume to ask questions on.
I asked couple of questions at the end.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: He didn't allow me to use the paper pad. I was a litte unnerved as I hadn't heard of the case before. He kept asking questions continuously and didn't seem to be too satisfied with the answers that I gave. Told me that the real life cases are much involved etc.
Asked me if I had any questions. I asked a few.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: We discussed numerous issues and he kept digressing to different topics. We stopped after 7 smaller sub cases.
I asked if this was the first case where the point in discussion changed along the case and does it happens normal in industry.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The final solution was to redesign the cup so that more can be stacked in the same height. I asked a few questions .
Was made an offer. Final offers to 4 people.

General Tips: RESUME: Start working on this early and keep making improvements by taking inputs from seniors/friends.
PREPARATION HELP:
1.Prepare typical HR questions.
2.Prepare your resume well.
3.Prepare cases. Brush up DI.
4.Do your groundwork on the firms interested in.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY