Millennium Hotels and Resorts Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Confidance very must for us and good skill have to good employee

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: This year we had a resume based shortlisting across all IITs. There were around 35 students who were shortlisted form IITK. But, most probably DB would be continuing with its aptitude test based shortlisting, like the previous years (they ask around 25 aptitude questions, and 1 essay on some current topic).
Tips: DB resorts to resume based shortlisting again, they give a tremendous weight age to your CPI , any background in finance (intern in financial firms or on some related topic, so you see a lot of ECO and Maths Students being shortlisted.) Also, they look at the overall profile as well, but the above 2 factors were the most important this year. A comprehensive study of any of the CAT Maths material of CL or Time will suffice your preparations : focus more on how fast you can solve a problem.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: 1.This was a mixed interview of both HR and Technical.
2. It lasted for 30 minutes. I entered the room and was greeted by 3 people, shook my hands with all of them.
3. They asked me if I was hungry or not, I told them that I was thirsty rather and they offered me a Tropicana. (The reason I am citing this is, after my selection, in the night Mr. Nishant told me that this had set up the tone in the room, because the earlier 4 candidates whom they interviewed were too shy and refused to have anything, they judged it as my confidence rather, though it was never an intended one).
4. I was asked about how many companies I was interviewing in slot 1, and they seemed to be impressed on hearing the number 7.
5. They asked me what my preference order was, and I told them the truth that I would definitely interview with DB, Credit Suisse and Worldquant, and if time permits maybe with BCG or Opera.
6. Then they asked me to give a brief introduction, and asked me to stop when I was talking about my intern at Morgan Stanley and the paper I published over there. Mr. Nishant asked me if I was offered a PPO by them, and I told them the truth about my mentor not finding any position for me. He gave a sarcastic remark at MS, that going by the markets, its evident that they are not in a good shape now, and all I did was smile.
7. I was asked that if I got an offer from Morgan in my 8th sem, would I go. I told them, that if I got into DB/WQ/Credit Suisse/BCG , then definitely no, o/w yes. The reason I cited was that, inspite of all the money, I had to go through the entire placement procedure which in itself was a big pain, then an offer after that doesn’t help, they could have given it earlier. All three of them laughed and I seemed to have convinced them. I was asked to explain my work there, which I did pretty well.
8. I was also asked if I sat for DB during the intern procedure and I again told them the truth, as I have written earlier.
Tips: They weren’t judging me on finance or quant, because of my CPI and previous background as an intern. A lot of people were grilled on these though, if they said they were interested in these and all. They were trying to have a conversation with me, and testing my confidence, and when I came out of the room, I knew I had done well.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: 1. It was the second technical interview and the panel was of Mr. Vikram Khanderia (Business Head) and a senior person from algo- trading. It lasted for 20 minutes.
2. I entered the room, greeted them and was asked to describe myself in one minute.
3. I did that pretty well as I thought. Mr. Vikram asked me to explain my paper in Morgan Stanley to the two of them, I took a pen and paper and tried explaining them the whole of it. I actually did pretty bad (I had explained this to others quite well earlier, maybe I became a bit nervous.) They didn’t get the full essence of the work, though understood that it was very valuable to the firm.
4. Then I was asked a very trivial question as to rank the Bonds, CDS and Loans in order of the interest rates they offered, and give an explanation on the same. (I had worked on these instruments during my intern, so was asked this). I knew the order and told them that, but struggled for around 5 minutes with the answer. Then they told me the reason for it, and I was just repenting the way my interview was proceeding.
5. Then Mr. Vikram asked me to tell three important things that were currently happening in the world of Business. (I never used to read ET, but read it the previous day). Told them, that Cinemax had just acquired PVR , and as soon as I told it, he just stood up and lashed at me that how could a small Indian company acquisition affect Wall Street. I then understand what a mockery I had made (and was mentally prepared for the Credit Suisse interview after this, because I was sure to be kicked out from here.)
6. Continuing, he wrote three things on paper : Fiscal Cliff, Euro-Debt Crisis and the Palestine war and asked to me explain all of them. I knew the 1st two very well, and started. Though I wasn’t very convincing because I had become a bit tensed, but still I told all that I knew about them in any order though not very confidently. I was asked some counter questions, which I answered and a small discussion followed as to how could the war affect the oil prices in India and gave some logical explanation.
7. Then, the other person took a piece of paper and told that If he folded it 100 times , what would be its total width, if the width of one side is 1 unit.
8. I found it out and told the answer was 2100 . He asked me to calculate it, and I still can’t believe I told them it was 1024 (210 ) * 1024, and then he asked me re calculate it. I immediately realized what a fool I was making of myself, and told it was 1024* multiplied 10 times ~ 1030. (which was right :P). I was asked to leave.
9. I came out and told the volunteers that I had messed it up and there was no chance I would get selected. So I was going for the CS interview. I was asked to wait for a minute and then the volunteers entered the room and after a minute asked me to go and meet Mr. Vikram.
10. He asked me what my concern was, I told him that I was sorry to have messed his round after such an awesome round 1 and that I won’t get selected. He gave me a smile and said that they had really liked me. I asked them if I would get an offer, because it would be my dream come true so early in the morning, He told me that there were SPO clauses that he couldn’t tell me, but ‘You are intelligent enough to understand. If I were you, I would put my suit off and go out for a drink :P’ ). I was overwhelmed, had a firm handshake with the both of them , and there it was at 9.50 AM. in the morning.

General Tips: I have watched this year’s placement process very closely and would like to point out a few things to the readers, which are very important.
1. Be Realistic : This is perhaps one of the most important factors in the placements. I have seen so many people expect so much from them and when they don’t get shortlisted somewhere, it’s the end of the world for them. You must understand that there are certain limitations on you because of your CV till date (however intellectual or Bakait you might me). The key to this is be realistic, like Being a person from MME or BSBE, its actually difficult for you to crack a quant firm like Goldman/Morgan because of your curriculum here (however good you might be at Algos or Maths), the good thing is to accept it. Not having tremendous peaks in your resume will in not place you among the 20 shortlisted in BCG for instance. So, on a very serious note, everyone knows inside out what he/she is capable of, so please be realistic in your ambitions and try to excel in the options you have. Believe me, the goals may not be sky-high, but definitely are achievable.
2. Resume : Over the years, all the firms tell us that IITB/D resumes are well made than IITK ones. Get some of the resumes from your friends over there, ask some of your IITK seniors for their resume, SPO is always there to help you out. But Please denote at least 2 weeks in preparing your master resume and sub-resumes for every company.
3. PPTs : Try and attend the PPTs of the companies. You can actually get to know a lot about the work culture there and what is expected of you in your initial years. It will help you decide if this is actually the thing for you or not.
4. Don’t Speculate : During October-Nov. , most of the students actually waste a lot of efforts in just speculating ‘Yaar yeh company toh ise le hi legi’. Believe me , it happens a lot, confuses you and wastes a lot of your time (especially if you are a 4 Year student.)
5. DPC : Please form a good DPC at least for your own sake. Yes maybe the post might not be of value, but a hard working student can make a lot of difference to his department placements. You cannot expect the OPCs to call in every company of your department.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: My resume had a couple of projects and a paper publication added to it, which was a part of my second year intern at TCS Innovation Labs.

Tips: I believe that the resume shortlist to appear for the test is just a formality and not a big deal to get through. Most of the students are allowed to appear for the test which is where, the main shortlisting occurs.
Although, the company does cut off people from certain departments. For example, none of the Agriculture and food engineering students were shortlisted for appearing for the test.
Also, from what I have heard, the company runs resumes through a program to take out the shortlist. Hence, certain key words such as "Scholar" or "Conference" may get you a good chance to get through the shortlisting.

Round: Test
Experience: The test is mainly quant based and how fast you can think and rationalize. They expect excellent speed; they ask you 20 questions to be answered in 30 minutes.
Tips: Normally, if a student is asked to appear for this right after his JEE examination, he would be able to get through it easily. But since our analytical thinking goes way down once we actually get in, it has to be worked upon again. I'd suggest you to solve all the quant questions of any CAT preparatory book for the American Express test. The test questions are quite similar to those that the CAT students prepare for.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: In general, the American Express interviews are considered to be pretty peaceful compared to the interviews of other companies. I was just asked about my work at TCS Innovation Labs and the paper I would be publishing based on that work and the courses I have done in Data Analytics and what all do I know in it. They do not test the knowledge you say you possess.
Tips: While I was preparing for my interview, I was told to read about Amex and its products. Secondly, and most importantly, I was aksed to read a lot about credit card frauds and suggest ways of preventing that. Even during my time, a lot of people were asked about this and judged severely on that. This is a must must if you would be appearing for its interview.

Also, you would do well if you are able to connect with the interviewer. For instance, if both of you have been a part of the same inter IIT or have the same tastes, etc.

Also, the interviews are that peaceful that you are able to direct the interview in your favour. There are certain parts of your CV that you can easily talk about and certain parts that you would want to avoid. If you are able to think on your feet, it is easy to re direct the interview in your favour and the things that you would like to talk about; in my case, it was my work at TCS.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: The main decision whether you have to be taken in or not is decided in your first round of interview after which, the puzzle interview is just a formality and to find out whether you are able to think on your feet or not. Not a big deal, pretty easy.
Tips: Nothing to be worried about, the puzzles asked are pretty easy and most probably, you would have already heard them if you have a nag of solving puzzles.

General Tips: Do not worry or stress yourself much. The interview is pretty easy if you have an edge in the skills that the company wants. I had started studying Data Analytics in my second year summer vacations, just 1 hour a day for hardly about a month. Which gave me enough of an edge. The main hurdle lies in getting through the test round where about 300 people are simply cut off.
Skill Tips: You should be able to code efficiently. Knowledge in Python and SQL is a big plus.
Also, I had done a course on Coursera called "Machine Learning" of Stanford University. Today, the company does not expect a lot of knowledge in Data Analytics from students which is why this course gave me the edge I needed to get through the interview. It's a pretty easy course and not very demanding. I would recommend this if you want to find out even whether you'd be interested in Data Analytics or not.
I was asked about the things I know and whether I have ever implemented them.
Skills: Analytics And Coding
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Kharagpur
Motivation: American Express is known to have a good working culture and is currently the third best company to work for in India. The internship stipend is largest compared to any other company in India along with accommodation and travel. The company has a well structured internship program and also has good challenging work to offer.
Funny Moments: After the test, I was not shortlisted for the interview round.. Which broke my heart.
Just after the presentation, I walked up to the person presenting and handed him a hard copy of my resume asking him to at least give me a shot at the interview if they think my profile is good enough.
I believe that this was a turning point of this entire experience. I believe, at that moment itself, I gained their favour to take me in. Which is probably why my interview was peaceful, which is probably why I could get through even though my interview was the last among a bunch of 25 students..

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Since it is a Finance profile, it would help if you have any finance /economics/ MBA projects to write about. DB looks for a good CPI and decent projects or extra curriculars and interest in the finance sector. It also wouldn?t hurt to mention your technical skills here.


Round: Test
Experience: And since most of the finance work in India is back office (with all due respect to all those who have been placed in this sector) you have to be comfortable with numbers and calculations. The test is a typical CAT type paper mostly concentrating on quantitative analysis and data interpretation. There is also a bonus finance section for those who have knowledge on the subject. Again practice cat type papers well and sit with a knowledgeable friend of yours to discuss topics in finance.

Tips: Realize when you are in a recession period. No job comes easy. Most of us who are not insanely intelligent like that one dude in your wing need to practice hard for the test to get through. In a recession/slack scenario core companies save the day. Don?t neglect your core courses.
Duration: 45 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Started with an informal chit chat. I grabbed my opportunity. In my first line I told them that
I had done my internship with Lehman Brothers. (Remember I wanted to drive my
interview). No wonder the next 5-6 questions were on my internship. There were followed
by a couple of questions on swaps, spreads etc which I had mentioned in my resume (Note
questions were not out of the blue