Sarvagya Shukla(CHE) - Exxon Mobil

Placement Interview

 Sarvagya Shukla(Final B.Tech. CHE)

 

Questions-Answers:

Q1. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us about the journey throughout your final year in college, including any internships or projects you have worked on?

-> I am Sarvagya Shukla, final year undergraduate pursuing BTech in Chemical Engineering and currently placed at Exxon Mobil, an American MNC. During my time in college life, I did two internships- a summer research internship from IIT-Kanpur (Analysis of chemical reactors for saponification reaction) in the second year followed by mandatory industrial training from IFFCO Aonla that I got with the help of our department in the third year. Number of internships or projects doesn’t matter if you don’t have the practical knowledge or what was your contribution in it because during the interviews, they cross question a lot on the internships you’ve mentioned in your CV and with their interviewing experience, they easily figure out your internship knowledge. Still, two internships/ projects/ industrial trainings are a good number that makes your CV look technically good enough.

 

Q2. Could you share your experience with us regarding your placement journey? How did you prepare for it, and what strategies did you use to secure interviews and offers?

 -> To be honest and with God’s grace my placement journey was really short as I got placed in the very first company! I was nervous initially, because Exxon Mobil is a dream company for all chemical engineers, not only in HBTU but throughout the world and given that it was the first company to conduct the placement drive in our college and being my first interview, it felt like playing the first match of ‘World Cup Final’ magnitude! It was practically the first job interview I gave in my life and fortunately cracked it.

Talking about the drive, after shortlisting the candidates from three branches- Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Plastic Technology on the basis of eligibility criteria of 7+ CG and no active backlogs, Exxon Mobil’s placement drive consisted of three rounds- Technical & Aptitude Test conducted in online mode, followed by On-Campus Group Discussion and Personal Interview. In the online test approximately 160-170 students appeared out of which 25 students were shortlisted for GD & PI round.

The GD & PI round was conducted in offline mode on 12th September for both FTE’s and third year interns in the guest house conference room and lounge. During group discussion, we were divided into three groups and topic of my group was “Is Artificial Intelligence a revolution or disruption?” You need to be well versed with the current general topics, fluent English speaking, group discussion etiquettes to crack the GD round and should be a ‘good listener’ too as all these points adds up to your score.

After the GD round, only 6 candidates were shortlisted for the last Personal Interview round that consisted of both technical and HR questions. Interviews averaged for about 25-30 minutes for everyone and they basically asked the questions around the CV of the candidate only. You need to really own the resume you’ve prepared and mention those things only which you’ve done and feel confident about answering in the interview. From preparing basic HR questions, having good communication and interpersonal skills to being well versed with the subjects of your course are the key essentials for getting selected in the interview. 

My interview questions ranged from My Introduction, ‘Humans Of HBTU’, my hobbies, my views on teamwork and leadership abilities, experience and learnings of playing sports (basketball), achievements mentioned in my CV and my internships.

 

 Q3.   What are the key skills you believe are essential for success in your field, and how have you developed and honed these skills throughout your academic career?

-> There are multiple opportunities that college and various clubs and sub councils provide within the university for a student to hone and excel various interpersonal skills- leadership abilities, teamwork, disciplined attitude, etc. I am fortunate enough to be the part of almost all the clubs and sub councils in one or the other way to serve various position of responsibilities throughout my college life. I firmly believe that besides academics, these extracurricular activities play a very vital role in shaping our personalities and helps us to learn and practice various skills. Being the compering lead at various functions helped me boost my confidence and public speaking skills that ultimately benefitted me in the group discussion and interview rounds. The leadership and teamwork skills, I acquired while working notably in E-Cell, Literary Sub Council and various other clubs helped me frame my CV, answers and personality in a better way for the placement rounds.
Hence, for being successful there must be a culmination of academics, technical and these interpersonal skills as well!

 

Q4.  Can you discuss your approach to crafting your CV? What advice or techniques would you recommend to other students for creating a standout CV?

-> While preparing my CV, I kept my career objective at first followed by educational credentials at the top, then a brief description of my internships/trainings. Try including short 2-3 points of what you learned or contributed in that internship which makes the CV self-explanatory! Then I mentioned my Position of Responsibilities. Despite of mentioning a lot of POR’s, just mention the best ones (maximum 3-4) and then with the help of figures and numbers try to elaborate the POR you’ve mentioned. This way of explaining out the things makes your CV very detailed and helps the panellists to self-analyse the CV of candidates without bothering them at every point. Then I had crafted an ‘Initiatives’ section on the advice of few of my seniors who’d helped me a lot during my placement process. Under this section, I briefed about “Humans Of HBTU” and things we did under the HOH Banner- ‘Podcast series, Merchandise business, NAAC campus tour video, alumni stories, etc.’ If you’ve initiated anything special or made any efforts during your college years, then you can surely incorporate this in it.
Thereafter I’d mentioned the Certificates & Achievements section followed by skills and interests. Preparing CV is the first step in the process of grabbing a decent placement and you must give proper time & efforts in preparing it.

 

Q5.  Please share more about Humans Of HBTU? How did you come across the thought of creating this venture?

 -> "Humans Of HBTU" is a platform where the journey and life stories of Harcourtians is featured for everyone to inspire from. In this glorious span of more than 100 years of its existence, many Harcourtians have made their institute proud by excelling in various fields of profession, service, bureaucracy, entrepreneurship and business!
Team HOH (Myself and Shobhan Srivastava, students of Final BTech Chemical Engineering) had initiated this community to feature some of those inspiring stories through this platform. Success doesn’t always make stories, it’s the hardships and struggles that count and make it memorable. And as the venture believes- ‘Every Harcourtian is a Moving Story!’
It has been more than 24 months since we started Humans of HBTU back in 2022, and it just feels like it was yesterday when I’d proposed the idea to Shobhan in the canteen and we readily agreed upon it’s working.
Since then, from bringing inspiring stories of Harcourtians to shooting the podcast interview series-‘Off The Records’ to releasing our own merchandise- T-shirts & hoodies; to getting brand collaborations; to finally shooting the campus tour video for getting ‘A+’ NAAC accreditation for our university, we came a really long way!
Shobhan has been the best friend, partner and driving force behind this venture’s working and I’ll really cherish whatever we could achieve through this initiative throughout our lives.

Q6. How have you actively pursued personal interests and hobbies while balancing your academic and professional commitments? Additionally, how have you taken on leadership roles or responsibilities within your college community?

 -> There’s always free time to take out of your daily routine for doing hobbies and things you love or are passionate about. I had always been passionate about extra-curricular and sports activities right since my school days. Life often becomes monotonous in the college if you aren’t involved in any other activities besides studies. I explored in almost all the clubs and sub councils that are there in our college in one or the other way along with my group of friends. I did compering for almost all the events that took place during second year along with the literary activities. It was this time only when we’d started Humans Of HBTU. So, a major chunk of time used to go in these activities, clubs’ working, fests’ preparation, etc.
These all opportunities inculcated a lot of confidence in me, helped me to better shape my personality and to enhance my leadership and teamwork skills. Whether it was being Events Associate with E-Cell, to Creative Associate in Technika’22, to being Compering Lead for plenty of events, to being Student Coordinator in Literary Sub Council, to co-founding Humans Of HBTU! College life gave so many opportunities to me and I’m really grateful to all the members, my seniors and faculty members for lending their unconditional support to making me whatever I’m today! 
At last, kudos to the all the team members of ASCPC behind ‘Pedestals’ interview series! I, myself read the interviews that were published of my seniors last year and it helped me a lot in giving an idea of how the placements go and being on the other side of it, I know how much time and efforts it takes to consistently deliver these things. Keep doing great things like these, it really helps individuals!
Regards.