Sneha Agarwal(CHE) - Exxon Mobil

 

 

Placement Interview

Sneha Agarwal (Final B.Tech. CHE)

Question-Answers :

Q1) Ma'am please give us a brief about yourself.

-> Hi, I’m Sneha Agarwal, Final year undergrad pursuing Chemical Engineering from Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur. I’m placed at ExxonMobil in their Product Solution Team, an American MNC, headquarter in Bangalore, India. I got a Pre-Placement Offer from them after doing internship in their Gurugram office last June & July. I also worked as a Research Intern in BPCL Corporate Research & Development Centre (BCRDC) after my second year.

 

Q2) Ma'am give us some insights regarding your Placement Journey.

-> My internship & placement journey had been really short as I got placed in the same company, I interned in. Back in September’22, Exxon came in our campus for hiring interns & FTE. It was the first company for our batch and luckily, I cracked it!

Talking about the procedure: There were three rounds- Aptitude, Group Discussion and Personal Interview. Aptitude was mainly about reasoning, English Comprehension and some simple mathematical questions. As far as I can remember it was an hour long and was just a test of patience and quick calculations. Some 30 people got shortlisted in it from three branches-

Mechanical, Chemical and Plastic Technology. It was 27th September, when the drive was conducted in the Guest House for GD & PI . There was a Pre- GD talk by Campus Representative followed by GD where there were three groups of 10 people each. My group’s topic was ‘Philanthropist Vs Charity’. It was a general topic and test your speaking skills and also, how emphatic listener you are! It was a 10 minute long GD where each one of have to conclude at the end. On the second half of the same day, 7 students were selected for PI rounds.

During PI, there were two people from Exxon who were heading our interview and questions were completely hooked from the CV. They were asking ins and outs of it. A little advice – be true with your CV and reflect only what you are, it will help. The result was declared the same day-

I was in!

Fast Forward to June’23, I joined in their Gurugram office where I was allotted a brand new Project – I have to start everything of it from scratch and involves alot of research, engagements, client meetings and visits. Strong interpersonal skills and a good command on Excel & PowerPoint will be cherry on the cake.

There, I had been through two rounds of interview before the declaration of PPO – that was a little tough as compared to what is being done on campus, as panel size and their expertise increases (in my case- there were 30 and 7 people in the panel during first and second!). Luckily, I was one among the 26 (out of 30) people who got the PPO from Exxon that year.

 

Q3) Ma'am what are your views regarding CGPA with respect to the placement criteria?

-> According to me, a CGPA above 7 is a decent one with no active or dead backlog. To be on a safer side, one above 8 is better. ‘CGPA DO PLAY A ROLE’ – if not here then definitely in higher studies and off campus placements, so better be in a safe zone.

 

Q4) Ma'am according to you, does Extra Activities & Clubs play a vital role in college life?

-> ‘All work and no play make Jack a dull boy’ so obviously you have to be engaged in some things outside your textbooks to keep you sane. Talking about me, I had been pretty active in almost every club of college during my initial 1.5 years of college life, be it – AeroClub, AutoRob, ASCPC, Dramatics Club, Poetry Club, Ecell – you just name the club, I was there. 

I even published a book – Love Harbingers in my first year of college. But ultimately, you have to prioritize as you can’t be omnipresent. Taking this in account, I was more involved outside college rather than in college clubs- I continued to be a part of AutoRob though. I had also been a part of various projects in Melange Lab, IIIT Delhi because that was fascinating me at that time.

 I’ve participated in a lot of Hackathons – Winner of Plan2Hack, Finalist in Hackathons by NSUT Delhi and IIT Madras, Smart India Hackathon. I started a community named ‘Darpan’, currently active in Meerut, about Mental Health and Sexual Awareness. I had been pretty active in Hacktoberfest, Google Cloud, Uplift Project too. 

Boiling it down, I have tried to indulge myself in every possible domain while maintaining a CGPA of 9+. It was abit overwhelming sometimes, but ultimately it paid off. And I can confidently say that – all that experiences, lessons, skillsets I have gathered here helped me during my time at Exxon.

 

Q5) Ma'am how should one make an effective CV? And what points should students remember while making a CV?

-> CV is the first impression that you will imprint in the minds of the recruiter and have to be well crafted. Begin with 3-4 lines of short intro about yourself with your career objective. Having a photo of yours is completely a choice – this is diplomatic but in Exxon it was mandatory to have a photo. Mention about your academic qualification, followed by your internships/projects. You can mention 2-3 points in each of them- make sure they are crisp, well- explained and have action words. 

Then, comes your POR section. Again, an advice- Don’t write everything, be choosy with your PORs and make sure to mention the best ones. Then there is Achievement Section- you can mention things from your school as well but please provide sufficient additional info with that. For instance, if I have mentioned that I am Plan2hack winner then recruiter might not know what it is!

 Instead write like this –

‘Adjudged as the National Winner at Plan2Hack by BVPIEEE, New Delhi among 950+ teams pan India’, it will strengthen your point. You can add a language section as well if you know something apart from English and Hindi. I have mentioned it as I know German (A1 Proficiency)- and recruiters have asked question from that as well. So, state the truth only. Adding a skill and Interest section is up to you. Skills must be technical like MS-Excel, Software etc.

 One mistake I have done in my CV – I have added soft skills (like leadership ,teamwork) as well but I have realized during a seminar that you don’t need to write them instead show it by your achievement section & use the space in something else. Bringing it all down – do your research about the company you’re appearing for and then make your CV accordingly. Update it as and when needed.

 

Q6) Ma'am any non academic advice you'd like to give your juniors?

-> There’s a famous quote that I want to share-

श्री कृ ष्ण नेसाफ़ कहा हैकक –

‘बस कर्मतुम्हारा कल होगा

और कर्मर्ेंअगर सच्चाई हैतो,

कर्मकहाां कनष्फल होगा।हर इक सांकट का हल होगा,

वो आज नहीांतो कल होगा।

लोहा कजतना तपता है,

उतनी ही ताक़त भरता है

सोनेको कजतनी आग लगे,

वो उतना प्रखर कनखरता है।‘

Even if something is not making sense right now or your efforts are not being paid off, have patience. Everything will come at place and you will achieve all your dreams, But, till then, do your work. Search for your interest, try things that you want to and open your wings – Sky is all yours. But during this time, make sure to care about your mental & physical health.