INTERVIEW SERIES
Anurag Mishra(PL)
Q1) Sir please tell us about yourself and the company you
got placed in?
Ans=> Myself Anurag Mishra, Final B.Tech. Plastic
Technology. I got placed in Reliance Industries Limited in December. The
company came to hire students from branches such as Plastic Technology,
Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
Q2) Sir please enlighten us with the hiring process and
different rounds you had during your placement process in RIL.
Ans=> In the hiring process at first we had the Aptitude
test which had 20-25 questions. After the aptitude test we had Technical Round,
in this round we had 50-60 questions. The Technical test is like you have to
solve the 50 questions in 30 mins whereas in Aptitude you have to solve 30
questions in 30 mins. Then shortlisting is done and after the shortlisting it
depends upon the company how much time and panel they have like if they have
less time then for bifurcation and to filter out more people they will
introduce one more round called the Group Discussion(GD) and I was lucky that
this time there wasn't any GD round this year. Every year there was GD but it
wasn’t there this year. It was a grace for us as the people who all qualified
the technical(aptitude) round had the chance to appear for Personal Interview.
From plastic around 15-16 students were there for interview which were divided
equally in 2 panels. Then we had the interview round which included the
technical as well as the HR round as there were interviewers of the respective
domains and they asked the questions relative to their domain and once your
interview round is cleared then you'll get your result within 1-2 days.
Q3) Sir what were the questions which were asked from you in
your Interview?
Ans=> First of all when I went in, there were two person
one of Technical and one of HR. I greeted them, "Good Morning Sirs"
and they in turn said, "Good Morning,
How are you Anurag?". Generally people reply that I am fine Sir but
I preferred to express myself at that moment. I told them, “Honestly speaking
Sir I'm a bit nervous at the moment but also in a positive way and I'm sure
this Interview will go very smooth for me”. They asked me, "Why, why so
nervous Anurag?" I replied, “Sir I guess me being a bit nervous infront of
such an experienced panel of a gaint organization is obvious as it's a very
huge opportunity for me.”
In RIL we were made to fill up an application form which is
to be filled very sincerely if you're serious about the company. Your CV plus
application form should include your areas of interests, your strengths and
weaknesses all of this must be filled with utmost care as in my case they were
inclined a lot towards my application form. They appreciated my application
form. They asked me, "Anurag you've mentioned assertiveness in your area
of strength so can you just elaborate when you've shown this character of
yours?". I replied them by
narrating an incident that took place a couple of days before my interview
wherein I had to convince my HOD to extend the submission date of the report of
our project for my batchmates. I put down some important valid points and ended
up succeeding in date extension. In the process my HOD even got angry on me but
I stood there and was very assertive on my point. They were really impressed by
this answer. Then they asked, "Anurag you've mentioned constructive
criticism as your weakness, please elaborate". I replied, “Sir let’s talk
about a general span of time through which every engineering student has to go
through and it was facing the criticism of the relatives and people in the
society. All these people they knew I was preparing for the exam and my scores
weren't up to the preparation process I was in. That particular even led me to
depression for a period of time. There was my father who stood up with me as my
support and motivated me to move on because it's life and it'll hit you
sometimes”. I explained them that I used these criticism to grow myself.
Then they asked me that why I wanted to join RIL and I
explained them that as the company is one of the renowned giants of the
petrochemical industry and it will surely give me the exposure to grow myself
personally as well as industrially.
Then they asked me about my hobby i.e., singing. I told them
that, “Singing plays a much vital role for me because it keeps me closer to my
strengths”. Then they asked my preference that whether I'd like to work in
Petrochemical Division or Free Energy Division. I answered them that I can work
in both the departments but as of now I'll choose Petrochemical and they said
yes we'll put you in Petrochemical Division only. Then they asked me about my
internship. Your Internship really plays a vital role if you're aiming for RIL
to be specific and in other companies too in general.
RIL hires students from Plastic Technology in Petrochemical
Division only. Prepare your internship thoroughly while going for your
interview.
Q4) Sir like you have always told us that "You need to
learn how to sell yourself to the company". Sir please elaborate that a
little bit for us.
Ans=> We all know that the company which is coming to
hire looks for a candidate with specific qualities and skill set. You are in
this market it's like you are selling yourself. You just have to show to the
companies how capable are you and why they are investing in you so that you
become a valuable asset for them rather than being a liability. They are
trained people being in that field for multiple years and they know how to
judge an individual. You may have some less qualities and another person has better
qualities then you and if he isn't able to represent himself then it’s all in
vain. It's all about representation, the
better you represent and show yourself the better are your chances to get
hired.
Q5) Sir you decided to sit for other companies as well or
you had RIL as your specific target company?
Ans=> First of all I didn't had any plans for on campus
placement. I remember I was one of the rare students which interacted with
their final year seniors being a first year student and everyone has that
curiosity so had I. I asked them about the good companies which come to hire in
my branch and how we need to prepare for them and I got to know that the best
company is Exxon Mobil and RIL. Call it a coincidence my father is serving as a
Deputy General Manager in RIL as well. So I had that plan that if I'd go for on
campus placements then I'll aim for RIL and if I'd get placed in RIL then my
father will be more happier than me. Being one of the loyal employees of the
company he'd be more happier if I got
placed in RIL than any other company. It's like walking on his footsteps. Being
honest, from the starting of my Final year itself I had plans for going in
consultancy sector for which I had started preparations as well. I prepared
SQL, MS Excel, Python, Tableau and I invested my time in all this and for
department I was just going with the flow and wasn't doing anything new. Some
companies had different criterion for students to sit in their placement
interviews like one had that there must be no education gap and I had an
additional year gap in that so I wasn't eligible for that company. And there
were some companies in which I wasn't interested myself so it happened such
that all of this led me to RIL.
Q6) Sir please tell us about your internship, how you
prepared for it and how beneficial it was in preparing you for the industry?
Ans=> At first for applying, if you can get the
internship from the department it's well and good but if not then your
networking comes into play. I applied for internship through my networks as I
wasn't much dependent on my department as I wasn't a bright student from the
starting in terms of academics and I never strived too for being bright.
Through my alumni contact I was able land myself in Krishna Maruti Limited as
an intern because I heard that Hero Motocorp and MSIL come for hiring so if
you're doing internship from automobile you'll eventually have the idea that
how OEM plastic parts are actually made and you'll definitely have an edge over
other students. Always try to stand out from the crowd of your batch, develop
yourself in a manner whether it be in terms of skills or industrial exposure.
If you need something even the small things will matter. When I went there for
internship I saw that how things work there, how are losses covered and how
these losses can be prevented, how is the discipline there and how to deal with
people. I talked to the operators over there and learned things from them from
the grass root level. According to me grass-root approach is always beneficial
for an individual. I used to go up to the operators over there and used to ask
them how the things work over there just because I wanted to learn. I was like
if not for these people no one will be there to tell me things I myself have to
reach up to them to learn. I learned about injection moulding machine by which
automotive interior and exterior parts are made.
So I learned many things in my internship and it was a very
fruitful experience for me.
Q7) Sir whether it be networking or experience you only have
to strive first for it.
Ans=> Yes , networking is one of the most important
element of your life throughout. As it is said your network is your net-worth.
It's like you're too much skilled and have no networking then there is no point
in it. Always try to gather how much experience you're able to have, it always
benefits you in your personal growth. Experiences I personally gathered and had
in these four year are of utter importance to me. Today if someone comes up to
me and asks that what you'll like to change in these four years of your college
life without any hesitation I'd reply there was nothing I would like to change
in-fact if I had the chance I'd like to relive those four years again and
repeat all the mistakes again because I learned from them. For networking try
to surround yourself with people who do not hamper or bound you to network and
grow. It's like a tree the more go up the more branched it is!
Q8) Sir what are the things or mistakes one should avoid
when going in for placements?
Ans=> Firstly, never underestimate yourself. You should
be The One from your Point of View. No matter what anyone says you have to
believe in yourself. The moment you back off on yourself you're nothing for
real. Then if anyone would even try to motivate you then too you'll not be able
to look in your eyes only. Whenever you are going for interview never think
that the other person is doing any favour on you, do not show the needy
attitude and show desperation. We sometime show some qualities and not the
required one and in turn they hire a student which is not better than you but
he showed the required qualities at that particular moment. You didn't knew
what you had to show in the interview. One of the mistakes in an interview is
that if you don't know an answer to a thing straight forward admit that you
don't know about that thing and you'll
research about it unless you have a confident answer. Make sure you
don't speak wrong because wrong answers leave negative impression on the
interviewer. You only try to manipulate them when you're good at it and you
know it when you're good at it.
Q9) Sir how much part your CGPA plays in placements and
according to you what is a good CGPA?
Ans=> It depends on what is your aim in college, if you
are aiming for higher studies then you have to maintain your CGPA likewise
because it matters a lot there and it'll impact your overall selection.
Else you just have to maintain a certain criteria for
eligible to sit in your placements and once you're eligible it depends all upon
your capabilities to represent yourself and deliver what the interviewer
searches for in you.
A good CGPA is that for which you don't have to compromise
your other co-curricular activities which result in your personal growth
whether it be 7 or 7.5.
In the process of scoring 8 CGPA if you are compromising
with your extra-curricular activities and POR then according to me it's not
worth it because ultimately these things contribute majorly towards your
personal growth.
Q10) Sir was your department helpful for you in your
placement process and before?
Ans=> Yes my department was always helpful for me whether
it was during my placements or prior to it. Dr. Indira Nigam ma'am supported us
a lot and she always used to motivate us to study and she used to scold us on
little things and when the placement time came then we realized how her little
scoldings forged us to be better and better throughout. Dr. Deepak Srivastava
sir was a supportive person throughout my 4 years of B.Tech. I used take advice
from him and he was ready to help us on any placement related things. Dr. Reena
Singhal ma'am made sure that we never faced any problem throughout our
academics. Once she was the Placement
Coordinator and used to tell us that the company will ask this and it really
used to help us a lot.
Q11) Sir please tell us about how we can frame our CV
perfectly for the interviews?
Ans=> For your CV, it needs to be short, crisp and
complete. It should contain all the important things you've done throughout
your 4 years of B.Tech. You need to represent yourself though your CV in a
single page which includes your skills, PORs, Internships, projects, etc. Make
sure to prepare atleast 10 lines on each and everything you are putting down in
your CV because the interview will check you from his end. For example if you
are mentioning you POR then make sure you're ready to tackle any question based
on your mentioned POR.
"Fake it till you make it" if you've mentioned
anything extra in your CV then prepare yourself in a manner that your lie is
represented in a manner that the other person get convinced that you’re selling
the truth. Prepare everything and every possible question which can be framed
from every particular thing mentioned in your CV. Show that you're interested
for the company. Remember one more thing that for anything you put in your CV
do have relatable stories and experiences for each of the things because
“people remember stories rather than faces”. For example you said that you have
good leadership skills or have an assertive nature then do prepare stories and
incidents related to them.
Don't bore the interviewer in the process, try keeping them
interested and intrigued in You and your representation of yourself.
Q12) Sir some advice you want to give to your juniors.
Ans=> It's our illusion that your interview is controlled
by the interviewer, it is totally controlled by you. The interviewer will catch
the keywords in your answers and will cross question you on those keywords so
be prepared for that. In HR round the weightage of the question is not equally
divided for example I prepared and modified my "Tell me about
yourself" answer for about 6 months. Only those 2 to 2.5 minutes of
introduction needs to be framed in a manner that you should put all of your
important things in that including your background, qualities,
experience, internships, hobbies.
It will be like keeping all of yourself in span of those few minutes. Practice
it again and again so that when you answer this question it goes smoothly
without any stammering as it will leave your negative impression on the
interviewer. This answer decides your confidence throughout the interview.
Whenever a company visits your college always make sure to
research about the motives, turnover, businesses, vision, product, work
environment and the especially the Job Description of the position for which
you are appearing for in the interview.
When you'll research about these things and will frame your
answers accordingly with the appropriate keywords then it'll totally represent
you as the candidate they're seeking ultimately benefiting you.
Thank You!