Shopclues Senior Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: 10 candidates shortlisted through aptitude test (50 ques in 12 min, cut off was 50).
Duration: 12 minutes minutes
Total Questions: 50

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: 1st interview was technical with some general HR questions. I related the work done in internships to the work being done in the snapdeal company. I was asked if I had any other interview to which I replied flipkart. He then asked me why snapdeal and not flipkart. I had studied everything about the 2 companies and was thus able to defend my choice. Next he gave me some puzzles, I did all with little inputs from him. I was asked to wait for 2nd interview and not go to Flipkart GD but I went anyway.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: This interview round was again technical. This time there were 2 panellists and they again gave me 4-5 puzzles, which I did successfully. I was asked to wait for a HR interview.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The HR interview was just a formality, he explained me my responsibilities in the organization and made me a spot offer.

General Tips: 1. Pre placement preparation is very important. Begin early and try to distribute time to all the areas especially your shortcomings.
2. Try to remain calm and confident in the interview.
3. Do not cram up the answers to hr questions or puzzles.
4. There are plenty of companies with handsome compensation. Just give your best in preparations and interviews.

College Name: IIT Kanpur

Eligibility criteriaAbove 7 CGPASnapdeal interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - SQL, Database, Aptitude, Data Structures, Algorithms, OOPSTime required to prepare for the interview - 4 monthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Must do Previously asked Interview as well as Online Test Questions.
Tip 2 : Go through all the previous interview experiences from Codestudio and Leetcode.
Tip 3 : Do at-least 2 good projects and you must know every bit of them.

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Have at-least 2 good projects explained in short with all important points covered.
Tip 2 : Every skill must be mentioned.
Tip 3 : Focus on skills, projects and experiences more.

Final outcome of the interviewRejected

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: It was a bit disappointing to not get shortlisted in a couple of companies I was looking forward to, but I really didn't expect much with my CPI (6 pointer during placements). But my internship helped me loads and gave my resume one 'spike' which became crucial.
Tips: Maintain a good CPI, as you've heard from every senior, but is necessary. Also keep a couple of profiles in your mind, which you want to work in, and then create a resume as such, and take up internships and POR's, all good spikes for which a recruiter, mostly including an IIT alumnus look for.

Round: Test
Experience: A make or break situation for me due to my poor CPI. Fortunately I got shortlisted in almost all companies for which I gave the test, for GD and so on, so it's a very very crucial part of the placement process.
Tips: Be smart during giving your tests. The recruiter judges your decision making skills and speed skills through this. Specially with students with an average CPI, this is the most important step as companies that come for mass recruitment make their decision on this basis.
Duration: 12 minutes
Total Questions: 50

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: For SnapDeal, they had what they called a Group Activity but it was per se a GD. They gave us a problem, a general aptitude question and they gave us hints in order to solve it. I tried to take charge and maintain decorum among 20 people there and it helped.
I was way more silent during my GD for Flipkart and that is the worst thing I could have done.
Tips: Always speak up. Content matters less, being smart and practical matters more. You can twist the points of another person, but keep your stand, whatever side you take. Just keep calm and speak your heart out. Also, give everyone a chance. If someone in the room hasn't spoken a word for some while, take the initiative to stop the discussion then and there and ask that person his/her views. A moderator is not always looking at a person who starts or ends well, he might be looking for a person who is a team player.
Duration: 20 minutes

Round: Problem Statement
Experience: Unfortunately never had the chance to tackle this part of the process.
Tips: Do what you feel is right, even if it's going wrong. An attempt matters, don't leave the space blank.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There were different approaches to tackle this problem, and I mostly took the most complicated and inaccurate one. But I was confident in what I was doing. I estimated the amount of pizzas delivered and purchased on the spot, estimated the number of people served by the outlet area-wise, where I could have used an age distribution method. I guesstimated the cost of one pizza, also dividing into sizes and also included other side orders. The interviewer was happy and got selected in to the next round. This is for a company by Indus Insights, a consulting firm.
Tips: Practice makes perfect. Cover all case interviews and practice hard, specially for a consulting firm obviously. Be confident with the method you use, and constantly interact with the interviewer. Do not underestimate the importance of keeping the interviewer in the loop. Tell him/her what you are thinking, even though it's rubbish, and ask them for clarifications wherever you're stuck. It's not just your problem solving skills, it's a test to how you present the solution to a potential client.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: I started off with my basic introduction i.e. Name, Branch, hometown etc. Then I shifted to my intern as it had been the most recent activity I had done. So on, I continued covering all my internships and POR and then told some of my hobbies. Regarding the why e-commerce question, I mentioned the fact that it's the fastest growing market in the world, and the company is among the top firms in this market.
Tips: Its important to prepare these questions before hand. These are make or break questions as these relate to whether you'll fit the dynamics of the firm. Its important to be energetic and lively. What you show in the interview is exactly what they perceive to be your general status and personality. Always saw the firm excites you and you should be aware of the functioning of the market and the firm. Studying up earlier is a must, regarding recent developments in general as well.
Don't be afraid to cross question regarding the company and other affairs related to the company.
I wasn't asked a behavioural question as such, but try not to get cocky. Keep it simple, and don't get frustrated.

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: I started off by asking the time frame. Nothing was cleared by the interviewer so I started asking the basic questions, regarding city, etc. I broke down the costs i.e. Personal and related to maintenance. Asked a ton of questions in order to keep the interviewer involved.
Tips: A guesstimate is quite similar to a case interview, but this tests more general knowledge wherein a case questions your intellect on the case itself. Similar tips as to tackling a case, but you make loads of assumptions yourself. Read some population and area data of major Indian cities before hand, and keep asking whether the assumptions you're making sound reasonable or not. Don't worry if the answer is too random, it's more about the process rather than the figure.
Also, if you have read up before on how to solve guesstimates, you'll face something called as Sanity check. In the interview, you aren't asked to do one, try and avoid unless you are really confident.

General Tips: Don't lose hope. Placements are a tiring process. People with brilliant resumes don't get placed and haven't gotten placed yet. So keep on fighting, you will get placed in a good company with a good package soon. Also don't reject a company if the package is okay, it's your first job. You are being awarded money based on one interview, they don't know your work yet. So choose a job where you like the profile instead of the money.
Skill Tips: Speed is crucial in the tests. Half of the people usually complain on missing out on questions.
Skills: Speed, Aptitude
College Name: IIT BOMBAY
Motivation: It is a fast growing company in the fastest growing market. A company where growth is fast and leaning experience is endless. They have also taken up social projects towards which I have some inclinations so that helped.
Funny Moments: One of my friend got placed a day before me in Olacabs, and had a higher CPI than me. The day I got placed he was with me, and I could not help laughing the fact that I had a higher package.

Round: Test
Experience: It was a speed Test. Question including all the aptitude areas English, Calculations, Mental Ability etc.
Tips: Be a human calculator, you shouldn't do calculations manually. Everything should be done in your mind.
Duration: 20 minutes
Total Questions: 50

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: It was GD of 20 students at a time so you can guess there was no time for everybody to speak their mind. But still in the end everyone was a given chance so that they can speak. I was given the chance to speak in the end and I utilized every bit of it. I used snapdeal (the company in which I was appearing) in the illustrations and some good management keywords which make my impression very good in-front of the Invigilator.
Tips: You don't need to be mind blowing in English, all you need is the content. Don't speak in layman language, try you use some big words and always say all the good things for that company in illustrations. Try to avoid using competitor of the company.
Duration: 10min. minutes

General Tips: 1. Dont take written test lightly. Prepare as much as you can.
2. Join any CAT preparation websites or coaching.
3. Prepare for GDs with groups other than yours regularly.
Skills: Aptitude, Puzzle solving, SQL, R language
College Name: Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Motivation: Big Package
Good profile, the one I was looking to enter into.
Had a great internship their, so kind of PPO
Funny Moments: How I was almost out of the process??  First they announced a cut off 41 out of 50 in their written test. About 259 students were shortlisted. Just before the GDs were to be held in the evening of Day 2, a notice appears that cut off has been revised and new cut off is 47. Only 58 students were there in the new shortlist. Imagine other 200 students, all suited with preparations done, were asked to leave the scene !! I was very serious about working in an e-commerce company. Guess what, I had 42 marks in the test.We were walking back to the hostel, clicked some pics thinking at-least wore the suit for first time and abusing the company blah blah blah.But then came the news just half an hour after that and Luckily some guys convinced the Snapdeal's Placement coordinator and yes we were back in the race, actually won the race :D

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms.

I prepared resume keeping in mind the areas of interest that would suit the company’s requirements. The companies that recruit students from all departments usually tend to recruit students seeking interests in subjects related to management. I knew about this and while applying to non-core companies I specified my areas of interest as these subjects.

Round: Test
Experience: The first round was the written test. The paper was composed of general aptitude and basic programming questions. For programming questions we were told that in case we did not know the desired syntaxes we could write the algorithm for the problems. Since I was not a proficient coder I preferred writing only the algorithm for the coding questions. There were also some logical reasoning questions (mainly puzzle types). For example in one of the questions we were given a multi coloured cube with each side having a different colour. Initially the cube was kept with the blue colour appearing on the top surface; then the cube was rotated along various axes, we had to specify which colour would appear on the top surface. I qualified the first round.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The second round was an aptitude interview round. In this interview I was asked about the preference with respect to the profiles ordered (programming or analytics). I replied that I would like to join the company as an analyst, however if given an option I would be open to learning programming as well. The interviewers were delighted to know about my interests in learning newer things.

The interview further asked me puzzle based logical reasoning questions like ‘How to find the odd coin out of 8 coins of which 7 are similar in all senses in two weighing steps by use of a balance?’ He asked me few more of these types; I successfully managed to answer all these questions.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The final round was again a personal interview. This was actually supposed to be a profile specific interview; however since I had earlier said that I was open to getting recruited in both the profiles they asked me questions from programming as well as analytical questions. I informed them again that I was interested in learning programming but did not have much clue about it at that time. They did not pay any heed whatsoever to my plea and kept asking me questions related to programming. They asked me some questions and told me to suggest some algorithm for those questions since I did not know coding. I framed some algorithms but they did not seem very convinced with my answers. Eventually I was not recruited.
Tips: As per my experience I would say that knowledge about C++ is necessary to get into the software section of Snapdeal. They want people who are well versed with puzzle solving questions and who can solve analytical questions easily.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: I got to know about the company and the profile through the pre-placement talk by the company. The company is one of the leading e-commerce website today and is quite famous among the youth. Hence I had knowledge about its existence and field of work beforehand.

Round: Test
Experience: Simple questions. Accuracy and speed were determining factors.
Tips: Practice Quant/Give online Quant & LR tests.
Duration: 12 minutes
Total Questions: 50

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: CV Should carry proper format, action verbs . Impacts created (preferably numerical ) should be exclusively mentioned for each project under internships.
Tips: An E-Commerce internship background are an add-on. SQL , Google analytics , R Software knowledge are an advantage.

Round: Group Activity
Experience: Topic for GD : Impact of Coal-Gate scam on Indian economy.
Tips: Be updated about current affairs. Subscribe economic times or business standard. Don't create a fish market in the GD. put your points clearly and conclude what the entire group has agreed with

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: Was able to do them. Prior consulting internships helped.
Tips: Practice Case in point. Have a well structured and calculative approach.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Normal HR type questions. They see your attitude towards life and your work style.
Tips: Prepare well for them. These questions are not new or different for any interview,

College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Test
Experience: There was a multiple choice test with 11 questions based on quantitative and analytical ability. Attempt all the questions as the cutoff was as high as 9 out of 11.
Tips: You should have a good command over +2 mathematics and logical and analytical problems. You should have an explanation of whatever is present in your resume with documents to back it up.
Total Questions: 11

Round: Interview
Experience: It was completely a profile based interview and questions were asked directly from the resume.
Tips: Don’t write false information in your resume as it is scanned thoroughly.

Round: Interview
Tips: Good puzzle solving skills and presence of mind are required.

Skill Tips: 1) CGPA doesn’t matter
2) Good analytical skills and logical reasoning are all they look for (qualifying competitive exams like NTSE gives you an edge) 
3) Internships play a vital role 
4) Knowledge of Business Process Improvement methods is an add-on but not a necessity. 
They don’t exactly look for any extra academic involvement but if a person has done some work it will be beneficial to show managerial skills. They tested quantitative ability in written test . In the interview for the profile of Product Analyst all they looked for was your logical reasoning ability and presence of mind. Internships are crucial and your HR interview revolves a lot around them. If you like to solve puzzles, the interview will be a piece of cake. If you are not in habit of solving puzzles, do read books like “Heard on Wall Street” and solve problems on websites like www.techinterview.org. These will not only help you in this interview but will be very useful in all the puzzles you face in such interviews.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I consulted my seniors for preparation of my resume. I believe that seniors provide the best provide you with the best possible insights in this regards.

Round: Test
Experience: The first round was the written test. There were 8 theoretical questions asked in the paper. The questions were either in the form of puzzles or probability based questions. The first three questions in the paper were compulsory questions and needed to be answered correctly for the rest of your paper to be evaluated; if a particular candidate answered any one of these questions incorrectly then he was rejected then and there. Apart from these 3 questions solving 2 more questions would have assured a candidate’s chance of getting selected for the next round. The duration of the test was of around 40 minutes.
For the written test nearly 300 people appeared out of which 30-40 were shortlisted for the interviews.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: In the interview I was asked few puzzles and few coding problems.

Some puzzles asked were:

1) There are 3 couples (each couple consists of a man and a woman: husband and wife pair) who want to cross a particular river with only one boat available for the voyage. At a time the boat can carry a maximum of 2 people and a woman cannot stay in presence of other male in absence of her husband. All three couples want to cross the river, what are the ways in which this could be done?
2) There are 2 ropes which burn in 60 minutes. How to measure 45 minutes without cutting any of the ropes?

In the coding questions the interviewers did not ask me to write down the complete codes of the problems, they only asked me to suggest some suitable algorithms. In one of the questions they gave me a binary number and asked me to write down the algorithm to calculate the number of one’s in the binary number.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: In second round of interview I was asked some hardcore programming questions on data structures since I wrote it as my area of interest. Some of the questions asked were:
If you have an array of ‘n+m’ elements and have these ‘n’ elements separately and you have to transfer these n elements in the n+m element slot which already contains the m elements. The transfer has to be done in such a way that all the m+n elements are sorted.
I was asked some puzzles as well. For instance in one of the puzzles, I was given a square consisting of 9 dots on its periphery. I was asked to join those 9 dots using 4 lines without lifting the pencil.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE