placement feedback guide

SPO IIT KANPUR

A collection of personal experiences and
company details from Placement Session
2007-08



OVERVIEW OF PLACEMENT SESSION
2007-08



Program Average Salary (lacs) Percentage Placement
B.Tech. 6.74 96
B.Tech.-M.Tech. (Dual) 9.49 98
M.Tech. 5.94 94
M.Sc. (5 year) 6.59 71
M.Sc. (2 year) 5.04 54
OVERALL 6.57 90










NOTE: There was a very high deviation in the compensation offered by the companies. While the
highest package offered was 24 lacs per annum by Schlumberger, the IT companies offered packages
round the corner of 3 lacs per annum. The average package also varied from department to
department.

foreword ...
I am pleased to write this foreword on a wonderful idea from our student
volunteers at Student Placement Office (SPO). Those who work at SPO have
ample opportunity to interact with the placement officers from various
organizations. Through these close interactions we learn about the requirements
of companieswhat they look for in a prospective employee and what are the
offers that they bring along. Also, we learn that where in general the students of
IIT Kanpur excel or fail. We believe the students of IIT Kanpur have potential to
attract the best companies with attractive profiles. However, in reality it is not
always true! We have witnessed the wrong decisions of students while
balancing their aspirations and abilities.
To be successful in placement, we in SPO believe that we need to prepare
ourselves better for facing the companies while at the same time we should know
our strengths, weaknesses, liking and disliking. However, this is where the
maximum confusion lies among students--what to prepare, which company to
target, what should be the most important parameter to decide for a job, etc. The
end result of this is delay in getting a job or getting a job which one dislikes,
which leads to anxiety. Realizing this, the SPO and especially the student
volunteers at SPO have been running a dedicated campaign for educating the
student body on right decision making and better preparation.
The Placement Feedback Guide is also an effort in this direction. Being in the
form of a book it will be a permanent companion to a student. We believe and
hope that this guide will be effective in helping the students.
I congratulate the student volunteers and SPO staff for working for this guide. I
would like to thank our Director, DOSA and DRPG for providing the necessary
funds for transforming the raw idea into the present book. Also, I look forward
to an updated edition of this guide next year where the input from present batch
will become immensely useful.
Wishing you all the best in your search for The First Job

-Bharat Lohani
(Chairman, SPC)
thanks ...
... for providing us with the minutest details...
... for patiently addressing all our queries...
... for taking out time to pen down your valuable experiences...
... for sharing with us, your journey into the corporate world...
The Class of 2008
We owe this to you.
contents ...
I. The Key to Success Ankit Jain 1
How to go about securing your dream job

II. Meri Kahani
Experiences of selected individuals during the Placement Session 2007-08
and their suggestions
a. Sheeraz Ahmed 7
b. Nikhil Suri 10
c. Mayur Dixit 12
d. Siddharth Sodhani 15
e. Niranjan Srinivas 17
f. Rahul Pitty 21
g. Cherian V. Mathew 26
h. Ankur Aggarwal 33
i. Nishant Singh 35
j. Krishna Khandelwal 38
k. Garima Joshi 40

III. Company-pdia 43
Placement procedures of selected companies
SECTION III
though no one can go back and make a brand new start,
anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending
the key to success ...
When you are up against your first placements, the most important things are:
1. Identify yourself - who you are and what suits you the best.
2. Weigh all the options that are available in front of you in terms of pros and
cons.
3. Prepare well according to your own interests and go ahead with confidence in
your interviews. :)

I. Self Evaluation
This is the first step towards landing a good job. One needs to identify oneself
before setting his/her goals and priorities. To meet this end, ask the following
questions to yourself-
1. What are my skill sets? What are my strengths?
2. What kind of a work profile will suit me? Remember it is your first step into
the corporate world and you do not want to end up in the wrong job.
3. What are my long-term goals? If you are able to identify them, try connecting
the dots backward. Ask yourself, which route takes you there in the best
possible way.

What will help you?
1. Talk to alumni working in various sectors. Get a realistic picture of the work
profiles. Are they happy with their job? Ask them how they found out what
they wanted.
2. Use the PAS feedback database to get easily available feedback.
3. Do not keep any pre-conceived notion on any of the options right at the outset.
Get to know as much as possible and then only weigh your options.

Hard Fact: Keep in mind your academic performances and your qualities while
analyzing yourself.

II. Analysis of the available options
Having determined your own goals, strengths and weaknesses, you should
evaluate the available options on the following parameters:

1. Profile offered by the company:
a. Kind of company and the work that it has offers. Often many companies do
not elaborate the profile correctly in the PPTs. Quiz the company officials
thoroughly to get the real picture.
1
b. Try to identify what value would you add to yourself while working in the company and at the same
time, what value would you add to the company. It is very important to know your responsibility in
the company.

2. Growth in the company. While the initial salary packages can be very high in many of the companies;
the growth might not be that good. On the other hand, there might be companies which offer low initial
packages but the growth opportunities might be tremendous.

3. Compensation Package: How it scales up over the years.

4. There is also a trade off between joining a start-up versus a brand name. While in a start-up, your
word will count more; in a big brand name you would be working in projects worth a lot of bucks.

III. Placement Preparation
Once you have narrowed down on the options that suit you and your target companies, get on the
ground level and start preparing. The sets of preparation vary from sector to sector and company to
company. Some of the following points will surely help you:

1. Prepare basic interview questions well. List of such questions is easily available on LAN.
2. Read the websites thoroughly before going for interviews.
3. Compare your skill set to the skills that the companies require and start filling in for the gaps.
4. Make groups in your departments/wings and prepare together. It helps as you yourself might not
know what your mistakes are. Fellow batchmates observing you will point out your faults.
5. There has been a very strong feedback by many companies complaining about communication skills
lacking in the students. Make constant effort to present your thoughts in an organized and effective
way by discussing a lot in groups.

Here is a basic set of DOs and DONTs to be followed by you during the course of the next semester:

DOs:
During the placement semester:
1. Attend PPTs and ask questions. Be decently dressed in the PPTs and adhere to punctuality. Make notes
during the PPTs; the companies nearly divulge the exact set of qualities that they are looking for.
2. The first step to start placement preparation is to make your CV. Do not delay the first version of your
CV beyond September starting. Get your CV reviewed by alumni in the company that you are applying
to, by your close friends and from someone who does not know you to get a gauge of whether you are
able to reflect yourself properly on paper or not.
3. There would be a lot of sessions and workshops that would be organized by the Students Placement
Office. Attend them sincerely.
2
4. Adhere to the deadlines set by the SPO very strictly. They have been set keeping in mind your own
good.

During the placement season:
1. Be punctual. Arrive 10 minutes before the interview at the interview venue.
2. Be very sure before applying to a company.
3. Be confident about yourself. You might falter in an interview. Learn from your mistakes and move
ahead.

DONTs:
During the placement semester:
1. Do not leave everything for the last moment. Prepare well in advance. Do not wait for the semester to
end and the placement season to start. Utilize your placement semester well.
2. Avoid walking off in between the PPTs. It creates a very bad impression in front of the companies and
reflects indirectly in the final recruitment.
3. Do not be complacent even if you have a very good CV. There have been instances that even ten
pointers have not been placed till the 10th day.

During the main placement phase:
1. Do not panic and start applying to every company in the order set by the office. Do not be misled by
the herd. Do what suits you the best.
2. Do not set your expectations very high. Be realistic.

-Ankit Jain
Overall Placement Coordinator (2007-08)
3
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."
- H.W. Longfellow
4
sheeraz ahmed... itc

Now I can do this in at least two ways. I can either go about preaching the ideal
path, the way it should be, which most likely would be etched into your minds by
the time you read it or else I can narrate the way I did it, which was far from
being ideal or perfect. I prefer it the latter way as then the accounts sound much
more credible in my opinion.
So, till halfway through my 3
rd
year I knew little about placements, to put it
euphemistically. I first started seriously thinking about placements when the
seniors who got selected in Mckinsey came to talk to us. I felt like consulting was
something that should keep me interested long enough. But as placements were
almost a year away I thought it was safe to postpone further consideration and I
did for almost seven months until the start of my 7
th
semester. Thats when you
better become serious unless you are in the mood of some real experimentation.
As soon as the semester started I was greeted by an incessant chain of PPTs. Now
just because the way I put it doesnt diminish their importance. The only
suggestion regarding PPTs is: never leave one if you think theres even a remote
chance that you might interview for the company. You can be selective though
based on what are you looking for, like in my case I did not go to the PPTs of
those companies which offered IT profile because coding is not where my
strength lies. Next important step is resume making. God bless Mckinsey for
motivating a characteristically lazy piscean as myself to make a good two page
resume. On a serious note, its better to have your resume ready well before the
SPO deadline because you generally dont make a sterling resume in one shot.
Bug your friends and seniors for feedback and incorporate if you judge them
correct. Remember its your resume and you should gladly burden the
responsibility of making it stand out. That by no means hint to faking
achievements, for instance it might come as a surprise to few but people who
shortlist resumes actually know that institute team of any sport has only one
captain.
So, finally I had attended enough PPTs, completed my resume and made some
changes to fit different profiles and had a notion of what kind of company I
wanted to join. What I chose to neglect was preparation in the domain of written
tests. Now, you might be very good at mathematics and data interpretation
might sound like a trivial exercise but when it comes down to solving some 30
odd questions believe me its practice that counts and not just knowing the stuff. To
sum it up, if you are not already preparing for CAT as was the case with me, it
never hurts to solve a few of the papers, revise a few formulas and visit a few
tricks.
shezzy153@gmail.com
Interviewed by: McKinsey, Lehman Brothers, NVidia, ITC
7
sheeraz ahmed
Comes in my first company: Mckinsey. As a part of preparation I devoted time in thinking about the HR
questions, clarifying each and every point in my resume and doing case studies. My first interview
started on the age old note of, tell me something about yourself. It proceeded through a few more
questions to a case study of estimating the number of marriages in India per year. I fell for THE
FRAMEWORK which is not the best thing to happen during a case study but thanks to the interviewer
that I recovered and did a satisfactory job. In my second interview it was again some HR questions
followed by the case about increasing the viewership of channel V. It being one of the very few channels I
ever watched I did good justice to this case. The results came and I made it to the next round. My next
interviewer jumped directly to a case which involved the cutting down of time spent in a medical
procedure. Here, some of my Robin Cook novels and the series Lost came to help and I was able to think
in a medical fashion providing suggestions which the interviewer regarded to be good. But well, looks
like I was destined to go for more interviews. So, a halfhearted goodbye Mckinsey.
The end semester exams got over and placement fever engulfed us all. Well as I already talked about my
mistake of not preparing for tests it should not come as any shock when I tell you that I did not make it to
the shortlists of DB and Capone. So, I have a good CPI and extracurricular and I can do this and that yada
yada but it all comes down to the simple fact of doing well in those tests. Not pursuing it any further lets
talk about the one I did qualify for and that was Lehman. First interview started with tell me something
about yourself (no points for guessing that) and then the interviewers, a panel of three with a lady from
HR, started to roll. Questions after questions of long forgotten courses on mathematics and electronics
most of which I was able to answer fortunately enough. Then I added that I liked psychology and the guy
quipped, Well do you know about Maslow? That was unexpected, I thought. I mean it was PSY151, the
course I did in 1
st
semester but as that is one of the few subjects I loved, I happened to remember enough
about Maslow. Guess that was not all as the lady said, So, what do you think about Vrooms model?
That was the point at which I chose to lower my weapons. It was far beyond PSY151. So, I get shortlisted
for the next phase and am told that I might be a good candidate for quantitative work which is what I
wanted to do. Now in my next interview, a one on one, the interviewer doesnt care about HR much
except for perhaps that I won Mridaksh. With that little digression he is all probability and matrices and
permutations and risk and so on. I got almost all of them right. So why didnt they select me then? Well,
as it happens to be the case there was another round of interview for two people with quantitative
aptitude, I being one of them. This was the one which made the difference. One of the interviewer was
standing right over me asking why I had lower percentage in *ahem* class 10. Then he couldnt seem to
believe that I wanted to take up a job after a good academic record. I tried and explained but nothing
seemed to convince him. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was when I was tested on market awareness
and that happens to be the field I cant boast about as I always thought such encyclopedic knowledge
would not be used to test a candidate. Guess I was wrong! I hadnt lost my hope thinking I did pretty
well in the other two interviews but my optimism was not rewarded. They left with the feedback that I
was the kind of student who would surely go for a scholarship. Well, goodbye to you too Lehman.

8
sheeraz ahmed
As I lay in my bed, my mind was invaded by a flux of thoughts. What was wrong that I did not make it
the first day? I mean my friends always told me that I will and I felt confident too. I was disappointed
beyond words could contain and I did not sleep too well, introspecting and thinking and suspecting
myself. It was very difficult for me but I resolved to prepare for the next day and perhaps for the one of
the few companies left that actually interested me. I read almost all I could find on the website about ITC;
that was the best I could do then.
The day began and I was able to maintain a demeanor that revealed very little of the chaos inside of me. It
was a few hours before my first round would come so I decided to appear for Nvidia test with literally no
hopes of making through as I knew the questions were going to be based on digital circuit design,
something I hadnt visited in quite some time. It was a subjective test and I gave it an honest try, leaving
some of the most obvious ones but tackling some others which didnt require much of factual knowledge.
Coming back to ITC, the first round was a group discussion wherein we were supposed to rank some
objects on the basis of their perceived utility for the survivors of a plane crash in a rainforest. The key was
to pick up the right spot to put your point and the authenticity of the point. I didnt do much talking but
instead made a few good points. I was shortlisted for the next phase! Back in the hostel, I was easing
myself with a light discussion over lunch when I came to know that I was shortlisted for Nvidia. My first
reaction was that it cant possibly be true, but then it was. I dont know if I can convey the confusion and
indecision I faced at that time with two interviews scheduled at the same time with entirely different
nature of work. I had no time to visit any of my courses on digital circuits and so the interview with
Nvidia was more like a candid discussion. The interviewer told me that he liked me as a person and that
he was impressed but opined that I wouldnt be a fit for the company. Actually that was more of a
mutual conclusion we reached at after 30 minutes of chatting (cant exactly call that an interview). Now
we are nearing the climax here. I went back to ITC for the interview but after a few starters I was told that
they had nothing else to ask. Now that was a first timer, was it some new technique of stress
interviewing. But apparently it wasnt! I was asked to take 15 minutes to take a walk and then tell them if
I would like to join the company. So, I walked and after talking to a few seniors at ITC I told them that I
wanted to. The last interviewer was a big shot in the company and was very interactive. We talked for
sometime and here was a person who actually believed that I was not going for higher education. And so
I got the offer
My main motive to narrate my exact experience was to point out some obvious mistakes, some play of
luck and some general preparedness. How you prepare yourself for the placement season is your
prerogative. There are footprints but the best way is to just use them as heuristics and prepare the way
that complements you the best. I could just hope that what I said was beneficial to you guys. If you still
have some details to discuss or any other thing that you think I might be able to help with, you know
where to drop in an email.

9
nikhil suri... transocean
nikhil.suri.india@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Schlumberger, Transocean
From dawn to dusk my interviews with Transocean

This is a very short story. In the scheme of the stories that make up a life, hardly
worthy of more than a paragraph in hindsight. But in foresight probably worth
much more, but only if done with complete honesty. My sincerity to this aim is
yours to judge.
My introduction to Transocean started with the selection of a close friend for
summer internship in it. Over the summers I got a good second hand view into
the company through his experiences and observations.
Come, the placement season and I was targeting the financial companies as my
first choice. Failed to make it through to the interview shortlist of every single
one of them that came in the first two days for reasons ranging from low test
scores to low CPI. I was dejected a little but I was expecting the same mostly
because of my low CPI, and so it didnt dampen my spirits as much as it did
those of my friends who didnt get selected after the interviews.
Day three was when I first saw my name in a GD shortlist for Transocean.
Apparently I had done well in their written test. And they didnt mind my
resume either. The same day Schlumberger refused to consider me for their GDs.
A weird contradiction considering that eventually Trans found me good enough
to hire but Schlum didnt even think me good enough to give a look in their GD
round. By the end of the placement process, this had happened often enough and
with amazingly competent people to lift my faith from the company short listing
procedures.
For our GD we got the topic, Social networking sites. After a few minutes of
thinking someone started the GD, and I was the third person to speak and went
in favor of them. It so happened that none after me had the good sense to take an
opposing view. Consequently, people coming in later into the GD did not have
many points to speak, and a few probably lost out on the chance to going into the
next stage. Our GD concluded with everyone nodding their heads in unison to
the topic. It was overall a pretty lame affair. I got selected for the interviews. As
per Rishi(one of the interviewers from Trans and an alumni), they selected
everyone who put forward coherent, well-formed thoughts. They were basically
looking out for hints of a logical thought process.
The company announced two rounds of interviews for final selection. The first
round was a very quick(2-5 minute) elimination round in which it was clear that
the recruiters merely wanted to decide on their doubts about a few candidates.
These people were asked to introduce themselves and state the reason for their
interest in transocean, while the rest were let go with questions like 'have you
had your food'(not joking! one person was asked the name of his HOD and
10
nikhil suri
then they thanked him and told him that they'll talk to him in the next round). I belonged to the latter
group and after a half-hearted enquiry into my B.Tech project they thanked me and told me to wait for
the second round.
After the first round was over, they decreased the shortlist to 20 from an intial 30 odd students. Then they
did a very interesting thing. The recruiters spoke to us and told us that they thought it unfair that the first
student who comes in has no idea about the questions hes going to face while the later interviewees get a
chance to gain from his experience. So to overcome his they handed us copies of the evaluation sheet they
were going to use to decide on us. The sheet included topics like personal presentation, strengths,
weakness, risk taking ability, and mostly the usual HR interview topics.
After about four hours of wait for my turn I was called in for the second round. It started
off as a stress interview. They didn't even ask me to introduce myself, instead straightaway started off
with 'Why Transocean'. I had barely spoken a few points when they literally jumped onto me in
hindi,'arre yeh toh BHEL mein bhi hota hai', 'aur yeh interest hai toh ONGC join
karo'. I defended each of my reasons and countered every point they raised,while trying to not get
hassled, to the point of fighting it out with one of the interviewers that the profile for ONGC did not suit
what I was looking for. He finally told me to trust him that similar work was done by ONGC as well.
Apparently they were looking for aggression, so this went in my favour. Later they asked questions like
'how is the flying of an helicopter different from flying of a bird'. Something I reasoned out aloud and
answered. Asked me a few simple questions on probability, all the time trying to hassle me, and rush me.
Then came questions about how do I think I will adjust to the Transocean life, my strengths and my
weakness. Thereafter they gave me a moral dilemma question of where my brother was in peril and I had
a company responsibility worth millions. I was asked to choose between the two. I started off by stating
that incase there was nothing special I could do for him, I would attend to my responsibility. Then they
insisted that none else could help him. To which I bluntly answered that then I would abandon the
company and go to my brother's help. They tried pressurizing me with question of my irresponsibility
towards the company but I refused to budge.
A note of caution: In the rapid fire stress situation, in the middle I was asked the question of whether I
attended the Trans ppt. A 'yes' literally slipped out of my mouth, despite the fact that I had not. They
then asked questions to corroborate the fact, of which I then cooked up answers to as I did not wish to
back down. However after the interview I realized that there was no way that they would not have
realized that I had bluffed. As soon as the next candidate came out, I went back to the room and admitted
my mistake to the panel. I just barely made it. I almost sabotaged what had been a good interview. I went
back to my hostel room, convinced that Id lost my chance that day. I noted down the time for the written
test of the company coming the next day and went off to sleep. At around midnight I was woken up the
continued pounding on my door. My overjoyed friends barely containing their joy informed a half-asleep
me of my selection into the company.
I later found out that had I not gone back in that day to tend the apology, I wouldnt have been writing
this as a success story.
11
mayur dixit... db
chaoticmayur@gmail.com
Interviewed by: McKinsey, DB, LB, CapOne
Placements!!! The single most important but most neglected thing for junta
herewe will get a decent job here as we have done many things at campus or
we cant aim for most wanted jobs as we neither have good academic record nor
we were different in extra-curricular, lets see what happens!

These are the statements passed by many here which by far seems correct if there
would not have been a term defined as Preparation. From my personal
experience and from all those which I have seen or heard, this is the most
powerful factor which can outperform any kind of luck or past experiences.

Starting from identifying our interests, attending PPTs, making resume to the
final interview..each step has its own significance and cant be taken as trivial.
So, lets start..

The first thing I did was to identify some of the companies; I would like to get
into and started collecting points for resume relevant to those firms or sectors.
This is very important as requirements for finance may differ from that of
consulting or Core and so on. So, as per the profile offered by these firms, things
should be highlighted in the resume. Resume making should start ASAP so that
there is much time to get it reviewed by seniors in those firms or by friends as
this is a long iterative process. In my case, every other person pointed out some
or the other statements which can be made better. Also resume making should
start from scratch and not by save as the resume you have got from your friend
or senior with your name. There are lots of resumes shared which can be looked
upon for getting the idea of how to use strong verbs, what to emphasize in 1 or 2
page resume, formatting, etc but at the end, the resume should be yours
completely.

Now, concentrating particular companies, I would start with Mck which
especially requires preparation of Case Studies other than normal HR questions.
Since, first short listing was done on the basis of resumes, so again its very
important to highlight some spike in your career in the best possible way. The
interview had 2 rounds initially after which one shortlist was given. In the first
one, after asking some questions from my resume, like why consulting, about
internship,etc..I was asked a case to estimate the washing machine market of
India..I was asked to think and come up with some answer and take as much
time as I want. I just focused domestic market but was then asked to look for
industries also LI lost some track here and was not able to clearly see what is
the market to washing machines as far as industries are concerned apart from
textilesthen I was asked to list out the factors of buying a new washing
12
mayur dixit
machine, I said the obvious ones and then was asked to come up with a number depicting the number of
machines which will be sold next year..I was not at my best but somehow got some answer which the
interviewer said is ok and the interview ended up in 30 minutes. Later on, for the second interview, a
partner called me in. He asked me about my pre IIT experiences and about my family background. Then
he gave me simple case to calculate the number of cricket bats sold per year in India and then the market
of this commodity. I did the case quickly and told him the steps and final answer which he said that that
looked somewhat on the lower side and then asked me to leave. I asked me some questions and the
interview was over in 15 minutes!!! Lshortlist came and I was not there.

Next, there were I banks..with me in front of them having no idea of finance, job profile and so on. But
attending PPTs and talking to seniors in these firms helped a lot. I got my doubts cleared on how to
prepare for them and what all to show in the resume. Preparing for CAT helped in getting through the
written CAT-type test of DB and was shortlisted on the basis of resume in Lehman. But still what special
to prepare for these banks when you dont know a b c d of finance and havent shown any interest in
them previously? Now here come the friends :D One of my dept mate who got PPO from Lehman gave
me the basics of derivatives and finance and I discussed my doubts with him and then with other junta,
Started reading Economic Times on daily basis and some chapters of Hull. Solved puzzles (available on
LAN) and looked upon some current market news and funde of bonds, shares, stocks, etc. Its not that
they want you to know finance but the point is that priority will always be given to those with some
financial background, so why not prepare?!

Now on the day of interview, I had DB, Capone and Lehman in line. Starting with Capone..1
st
interview,
5-6 minutes duration, total HR types with question like why Capone, why not further studies, about
internship, about one extra curricular activity in IITK and one incident where I worked in a team and got
some results. Short listed for the second round in which I was given a case study, I started good,
understood the problem and suddenly 10+0.5 = 11.5 made the scene bad L..I screwed up later part but
came up with correct conclusion (dont know how, perhaps Mck preparation helped J) but was not
selected for further rounds..Capone chapter over.

Second was DB. 1
st
interview..2 interviewers in the panel..again was asked why not further studies, why
not core job and why finance..be prepared for these questions, if you yourself are convinced about these,
then only you will be able to get them in your ideas, but dont lie!! Then I was asked about my
optimization project and one puzzle (I already knew some modification of that puzzle) and was asked to
write an algo using dynamic programming to solve that puzzle!!! I was asked many questions on algos L
..probably they misunderstood me as CSE guy :P but somehow got answers to most of them after taking
some time..interview lasted some 25-30 minutes and was shortlisted for 2
nd
round. There were 4 people in
the panel, including VP. 1
st
question again why not further studies!! UffI nearly laughed there that I
am not tired of answering that question and completely convinced them about my plans and why I think
13
mayur dixit
about my career in that waythey asked why you dont know much about finance, some basic questions
on derivatives, stocks, bonds (please read about them from investopedia). It lasted for about 20 minutes
and went well. Finally got a call from DB.

Last was Lehman. 1
st
interview..could not have been worse..1
st
question about one of my project and I
was not able to answer some of the questions they asked, 2
nd
question onwards maths and puzzles (revise
MTH 102 and 103matrices, +ve definite, differential equations), was asked to count number of edges in
a 6 dimensional cube, to complete a totally arbit sequence, Hessian matrix, optimization techniques, risks,
hedging, and what not Lfinally they asked me what I will offer to Lehman and I still said Maths J.
Was not expecting to get short listed but again against the expectations, was shortlisted for the second
round. Now there were 4 panelists..one of them started firing questions one by one on me..asked me to
manage resources to build a bridge, about my poor financial background, and now here come..my mobile
started ringing..imagine now..a total stress interview with you not able to even speak what you want to
and your mobile suddenly starts ringing, I somehow managed the situation and at the end, one of them
said that it was a stress interview, so dont feel otherwise Jwent to the 3
rd
round, totally HR..about me,
my family, my education, hobbies, why I banking, how to differentiate between Lehman and other banks,
preferred location, etc.

So, these were my interview experiencescrux is to prepare and prepare, think a lot about yourself,
which profile suits you, consult seniors, ask questions and understand that the deciding factor is your
impression in interview and nothing else. For any further queries, feel free to contact me at
chaoticmayur@gmail.com.

14
Thinking about what to do after graduation here, the first option that came to
mind was CAT. Seniors would advise CAT tou de do, keep an option open.
Agreed on to the suggestion and joined IMS for the same. Intern brought an
entirely different exposure of research. The feeling that you owe a thing and then
came the time to decide between Core job or GRE. CAT took a back seat then for
the obvious reason, it could be given later as well. Talking to seniors got an
impression that a core job in software company is at times not challenging, all
you do is code and thats it. But a 3 months of exposure during intern, I thought
was not sufficient to do research for the coming 5 years. Then I decided, lets give
a shot to job first and if I like the job, I could very well go for Ph.D. and if core job
doesnt excites me, CAT as an option tou hai hi!!! And there it was, a focus to get
a good job at a firm which could give me sufficient exposure for the next 2 years
and henceforth decide Ph.D. or MBA.

The target was set, saw feedback of various seniors on the portal regarding the
interview process etc and how one should prepare for it. One thing I realized
during placements is, be focused. Dont sit in companies just for the sake of it
because once you apply for a company, the drive inside would tell you to study
for the same and then the vicious circle would be set up. You wont be able to put
in good effort in focus area of yours, which obviously would affect you. But let
me tell you, its a tough call to not sit in a good company like DB, Lehmann,
Mckinsey etc. The peer pressure during that phase would be high, but go ahead
with the same. Focus and prepare well. At the end what matters is, which
company you are placed in and not the Day you were placed, work that you
would perform and not the package they would offer, satisfaction at the end of
every day and not just the salary day.

Starting on with preparation of resume, I knew that at no stage during the
placement process, my resume would have to come across a shortlist scheme
wherein the answer would be yes or no at the end of 40 seconds. Applying only
to core companies, I had to keep my project descriptions short and crisp. For a
core company, when you are sure that your resume would be seen only during
the interview, you are not expected to do much beautification. You can very well
highlight stuff using bold/italics and explain during the interview. 2 page
resumes for a core company is expected, as 1 page wont be able to cover your
project details. The way I proceeded to make my resume was, made half page
paragraph for each of my projects explaining myself what I did, and simply
recalling back how did I proceed then. Writing that gave me deeper insight and
was very much clear during the interviews.
siddarth sodhani... adobe
siddharth.sodhani@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Tower Research, Yahoo, Adobe
15
siddarth sodhani
To make these descriptions small, selected important words which should be there and then made 4
points for each of the project. Trust me, this would take a lot of time. Its not easy to write a project
description in 4 lines which should cover each and every aspect of it. Be ready with questions like,
importance of your project, its uses in the real world, the reason you it was done etc.

As I wrote before, once I focused myself for core companies, started preparing for the same. Companies
ask very trivial questions in the interview. At no stage, I felt that I didnt know this or that. What matters
is you should be precise, which cant be the case if you are not prepared. Tech interviews do expect you
to answer with technical jargons. Saying things like, I remember, it used to happen with some handler
which would do something is not at all appreciable. Stop saying words like some, and be precise
and hence prepare well. I regret today that I prepared well for interviews but not for tests. Tests are very
important, as they are the short listing phase in any core company. I didnt prepare much for HR
questions because I thought that most of them are impromptu and ask me about what I am. I was
confident that I could explain what I mean and hence didnt prepare much on HR. For core, revise
courses of your second year which are fundamental courses from your department.

Once the schedule was out, I sat and decided in what all companies I would apply and what would be
the priority order, if selected in both. Just as a suggestion, dont just sit in for every company on each day,
until one day that you decide you want to sit in just 2 companies and just crack them. Companies are here
to take you but you need to perform well in the interview.

6 December 07:
Started the day with another bright morning, the test got delayed and was shifted to 2 in the afternoon.
After giving the test, I generally used to go to room and slept for sometime until the results for short
listed candidates are out. Got selected for interviews and had the first interview at 11:00 in the nightL.
The interviewer was pretty cool and helpful, after a 10 mins discussion on intern project, we went ahead
with some coding exercise to convert a number into hexadecimal and print it. He figured out bugs in the
code and made me correct them. Talked about various operating systems concept like Memory
Management and some algorithmic questions on Binary Search Tree. He asked a simple trivial puzzle as
well. The interview went on for 40 mins and next was scheduled at 12:30 am..!! The lady who took the
interview asked a well known puzzle on clock and then she asked me about my GRE score. Then was the
time that I converted the Tech interview into HR interview. Gave her fundaes about why core job now
and she was impressed. JDuring that time, students who couldnt clear for the next round were sent to
room and I was asked to wait. That gave a hint that either it would be another interview or I am selected.
Waited and the last interview was scheduled at 2:45 am in the night. Got pretty tired by that time and
couldnt even solve a simple coding problem. The interviewer laughed saying probably its late night
issue. Then we just had a talk on BTP and some stuff on Hashing algorithms and we were done. The
results were announced and I got placed. The day was mine or better to say the night was mine: P Talk to
yourself during the entire interview, let your mind speak and do have the attitude that every job is
mutual relation. Its not that you need a company, company also needs you.
16
niranjan srinivas... lehman brothers
niranjan.srinivas@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Tower Research, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers
I. Tower Research Capital

I had my first interview with Tower Research. The interview lasted one hour, and
the interviewer started with my resume. He asked me to explain my MSc. Project,
which I did. I think I managed to convey the central idea of the project, and he
seemed happy with it. I had practiced this earlier and that helped.

Next, he went over the written test that we had taken the previous day. He asked
me whether I had tried any of the questions after the test. I was honest and told
him that I did not expect to get short listed for Tower, since I had not done the
C/C++ intensive Computer Science questions in the test and had done only the
language-neutral / algorithm-based questions, and because I had two other
interviews today, I had spent my time preparing for those. He was happy with
that answer and asked me to try some questions in the interview.

I came up with an answer to one question, to which he gave me two hints to
improve. I managed to use them in making the algorithm more efficient. Then he
asked me some reasonably easy puzzles which I answered without difficulty.
Lastly, he asked me to solve another question using an algorithm and a similar
sequence of hint-giving and algorithm-improving followed.

By the end of this interview, I was very confident and totally tension-free. This
was because I had performed my very best in the Tower interview, and I couldnt
imagine how I could have done better, given my background (limited CS) and
preparation. In that sense, this interview made me lose all my interview-anxiety,
and was crucial to my placement day J

II Deutsche Bank

a)First Interview: There were two people in my panel, one guy seemed senior, and
the other, maybe an Analyst with a year or two of experience. He started with
Why are you quitting Math for Finance? and I explained that I knew that
Finance today was largely mathematical and quantitative, and that I hope to
leverage my Math-Stat skills in the industry.

After that, he asked me some questions on one of my projects in Mathematical
Finance. He followed that up with some very easy questions, including pricing
forwards etc, and then some general questions on Mathematical Finance,
including Martingales, Stochastic Calculus, etc. This part was quite mathematical
and non-trivial, and since I had prepared very well I answered all the questions,
and he was impressed.
17
niranjan srinivas
Then there were some general questions - why DB and whether I had given GRE and what my score
was. I knew Im not good at lying, specially under-pressure, so I told them my true score (however, this
meant that I had to spend a few minutes convincing them that I am not applying this year.)
After that, I was asked whether I had any questions, and I asked some about the various roles inDB etc.

b)Second Interview: In this interview there were four members on the panel, including one from HR. They
said they were tired and that I had to drive the interview, which I was happy to do. I started introducing
myself and then they wanted to know a bit about my projects etc, and then asked me some easy questions
on them.

One of them asked me some questions on derivatives (I had done a course on them) but they were rather
easy as well. Then they asked me whether I had any questions on DB or if I knew enough about them. I
said confidently that I had done my research on them and that I knew DB well. (I said this because I
expected questions on DB from them, which I was confident I could answer.) However, they were happy
with that and ended the interview there. This was one of the shorter interviews, and after the interview I
was wondering if I should have asked a few questions instead of what I said, but thankfully it turned out
well. I think it is best to be aggressive in any I-Banking interview.

III Lehman Brothers

a)First Interview: I had taken my resume and documents in a Counseling Service folder, hoping that an
interviewer would look at that and ask me about my role there. That happened in this interview, and I
got to tell them about my role and responsibilities as a Student Guide in my second year right in the
beginning of the interview.

Then, they looked at my resume and began some general chit-chat on world cricket (my resume has a lot
of cricket in it.), the Australian team, the Indian team, differences between the two etc. This was very easy
talk and I made some points about the Aussie Cricket infrastructure etc. Then, I was asked a couple of
puzzles which I answered.

The next question was to give an instance where I worked in a team. I had a well-prepared answer here
relating to the cricket team and was midway through it when the interviewer interrupted me and asked
another puzzle (!). I think my answer must have bored him too much JSo probably its good to keep
your answers on the shorter side JThis puzzle was alright, and I got very close but did not quite solve it.
The interviewers stopped me and said I had gotten close enough and that I can stop attacking the puzzle
(I think they mustve been impressed with me already, or they just got bored with the puzzle / my
attempts at it.)
Then, I was asked whether I had any questions, and I asked them some questions on the various roles at
Lehman, and a few others. That ended the interview.

18
niranjan srinivas
The next question was to give an instance where I worked in a team. I had a well-prepared answer here
relating to the cricket team and was midway through it when the interviewer interrupted me and asked
another puzzle (!). I think my answer must have bored him too much JSo probably its good to keep
your answers on the shorter side JThis puzzle was alright, and I got very close but did not quite solve it.
The interviewers stopped me and said I had gotten close enough and that I can stop attacking the puzzle
(I think they mustve been impressed with me already, or they just got bored with the puzzle / my
attempts at it.)

Then, I was asked whether I had any questions, and I asked them some questions on the various roles at
Lehman, and a few others. That ended the interview.

b)Second Interview(HR): This was the trickiest interview of the day! When I went in, I was very confident,
probably a bit over-confident. I assumed that the HR interview would be a cake-walk! (Which it wasnt.)

The questions were hard right from the start: How do you rate (on a scale of 1-10) your performance in
the previous interview ? Why ? How do you expect to perform (on a scale of 1- 10) in this interview ?
Why ? Based on each of my answers, there were supplementary questions. By this time all alarm bells
were ringing and I was focusing majorly on the interview !

Then, I had to answer Why Finance? Why Lehman? etc and my answer to the latter led to a
discussion on ethics (which I did not anticipate!) Should one always do the good thing to do or the right
thing to do? I tried to avoid giving a straight answer but was then asked to give a Yes/No answer to a
situation. Thankfully, after some thought I managed to give the answer she wanted J

Then there were some questions on myself, what my friends would say about me, whether Ive received
criticism from others, and the like (for the latter, I rehashed my prepared answer on my weaknesses.)
Finally (!) the interview ended with some questions on my family.

Lessons: Although by the end of the interview she was very pleased with my answers, there were lots of
tricky moments in between. Take the HR interview very seriously, and do not assume it would be a cake-
walk ! Always say the most politically-correct things (regardless of what your real opinion is !) and
research the company thoroughly. I had done my homework on Lehman and that really helped me.

c) Third Interview: The third interview started with the classic Tell me about yourself. I was mid- way into
my prepared answer when one of the two interviewers interrupted me and asked me which IIT-coaching
class I had gone to in Chennai. Apparently we were both from the same coaching class there (!) This was
a surprise during the interview.
19
niranjan srinivas
Then, the other interviewer took over and asked me some basic questions on my MSc. Project (which is
on Risk Management.) I could see that he was not a math-person so I explained my project to him in
simple terms (practicing this helps !)Then, I was asked Why finance and more specifically Why
finance in industry as opposed to working as an applied math person in Mathematical Finance in a
University? This was another question I had prepared for.

Then I was asked who all I was interviewing with, and since by then I knew that I did not make it to
the second interview in Tower, I mentioned that I had interviewed with Deutsche. After this I was
asked some questions on my interests in various groups in Lehman, then my opinion on the finance
industry in general, and then, finally, whether I had any questions.

I said I had no questions, which seemed to surprise both interviewers. I clarified, saying that I had
asked all my questions in the previous Lehman interviews, and that I was happy with the answers I
received, and so I did not want to ask questions just for the sake of asking questions. This was the truth,
I did not want to repeat questions, and further I was wary that before the final results the interviewers
might discuss with each other, and I did not want them to think that I had asked the same questions in
two interviews (!) JIn any case, they seemed happy with that answer and that ended the interview.

This had been my sixth interview of the day! Be prepared for a long, hectic day during the placement
process. However, focusing on the interviews will not really be a problem; your adrenaline will take
care of that! All the very best!!!
20
rahul.pitty@gmail.com
Interviewed by: DB, JP Morgan Chase, KPMG Consulting, Futures First
rahul pitty... futures first
I would tell you how I started with the preparations and what all things I
focused on. It will look like these things may be achieved in a months time but I
would suggest you to start at least 3 months before placements because I did that
and then also felt the shortage of time.
Before going further would like to say, feel free to contact me any time for all the
gyaan related to interviews or any thing. I used to constantly take feedbacks
from my seniors and believe me that was the best source of learning.
Pre Placement Season
At the beginning of the 7
th
sem I had made up my mind that I dont want to do
MS or Phd but I was still confused between MBA and job. So I decided to
prepare for both, which later on I realized that there was a lot common in the
preparation of the two. After deciding this, the next question that came to my
mind was what kind of job I want? To answer this question I needed to develop
basic market knowledge about the various sectors and the companies in those
sectors which I did by regularly updating myself through newspapers, internet,
business magazines etc. At least a month before the placements I was sure that I
would apply only for consulting and finance profiles, since there were more than
5 companies on a single day so having a preference helped me focus better and
do well in the interviews.

Resumes: It is the very first test of your creativity by any company and is equally
important like any interview. I tried to add some spikes in my resume which is
required for both consultancies as well as finance. I started making my resume in
September and after hundreds of changes and feedbacks from the seniors (which
is most important) and it took me more than a month, so start with resume as
early as possible
PPTs: The most important thing that you learn in ppts is the details of the work
profile which you wont find any where else. It is the best place to get an answer
to all the questions in your mind. So I would suggest you to try and attend as
many ppts as possible not because of the compulsion in attendance but for its
benefits. In any ppt make sure that the company tells you the breakup of the
compensation package as there are many hidden expenses included in the
package.

21
rahul pitty
Preparation: This is the most important input in getting a good job. This basically includes 3 things,

Group Discussions: We used to make a group of 8-10 within our department and sometimes in my
wing and discussed on any topic for 15-20 minutes. It would be just like a bulla session but in English
and an element of formality involved in it. After the GDs the participants gave the feedback to each
other which was most important. For GDs try to keep yourself updated with the current affairs coz
most of the times the topics are related to recent happenings. And one more thing dont feel shy or
left out, say whatever you want to say even if you think that the discussion is chaotic.

Case Studies: Make a group of 3-4 people one would be the interviewer, an interviewee and the rest
to just watch and would give the feedback at the end. Take up any case from the numerous case
books available on the LAN and conduct such sessions. How ever tough or easy the case may be you
always learn how to structure the problems and the basic knowledge which is applicable in most of
the cases. Do solve lot of puzzles, this will further add to your logical thinking. This can be best done
while you go to the canteen every night because a discussion can add a lot dimensions to it.

Personal Interviews: The basic mantra for a PI is to show a positive body language, be cheerful and
speak confidently. This basically involves the HR questions and questions related to the stuffs
written in your resume. This round is conducted by every company irrespective of whether it is a
core or a non core company. I prepared myself for general questions and also participated in various
one on one interviews with my friends, initially I thought that such interviews with friends wont be
a formal one but I was wrong, it helped me a lot later on.

Workshops: There would be numerous workshops conducted by the companies and the SPO. Dont miss
out on any of them as it is the most easy and effective way to learn.
Deutsche Bank (Written Test + 2 rounds of interviews)
Written Test: Contains 2 sections, 1st of math and data interpretation and the other related to market
awareness and finance. The former was the most important and it can be easily done in the given time. In
my case I also answered the market awareness questions because of which lot of finance questions were
asked in the interview.

22
rahul pitty
Interview (1
st
round): It was a combined technical and HR interview. Why DB? or Why finance? this
question was asked to each and every candidate. Since I was the last in the panel the interviewer was
bored of the same kind of answers again and again so he literally started laughing when I was answering.
But this is where I tried to keep my composure and continued with the answer and at the end he was
convinced. Since I had done well in the market awareness section in the written test, they made me solve
the remaining questions also. During the interview it all depends on you where you want to direct your
interview. If you claim that you know finance then be ready to face some never heard questions, it
doesnt matter whether you answer it correctly or not but be confident in what ever you say. They asked
me an easy puzzle; make sure that you talk to them while solving telling them what your thought process
is. All this done took me to the next round.

Interview (2
nd
round): The interviewers were the senior officials of the company and it was an HR round.
Very much similar to the 1
st
round if you remove the puzzles part. I had to convince them that I am really
interested in the company.

Questions: Tell me something about yourself; tell me one thing not mentioned in your resume, why we
should take you? etc.
Some general tips regarding the company, dont worry if you have a low CPI, you just have to prove your
mettle in the test and the interviews and you will be through, girls can feel better as they are given some
preference. Before the test and the interviews make sure you know how the market was recently (Sensex,
Nifty etc) oil prices etc. Spend some time on the website of the company.
JP Morgan Chase (GD + Interview)
Group Discussion: Family run business can never become a successful MNC. Group of 16 people, the
discussion was a bit chaotic so I had to look out for a chance to speak and capitalize on it. Speaking too
much wont help rather speak sensible, there were people who just spoke once and were shortlisted.
Having knowledge about various companies helped me lot in putting good examples.
Interview: Again a combined technical and HR interview. Questions related to general terms of market
and finance world like What is P/E ratio?, Infy has a P/E ratio 45, what does that mean?, How do
you decide the credit rating of any company?, name any 5 stocks which are doing extremely good. I
did not know answers to most of the questions but they wanted to check my thought process, how
logically I can answer the question. They wanted those candidates who would go for an MBA after
working for 3-4 years with them, some questions on my family background. At the end again how
confident you are with your answers is all what matters.

23
rahul pitty
KPMG Consulting (GD + 2 rounds of interview)
Group Discussion: Based on a case In the parliament there is a debate on whether they should cut the
subsidy for the IITs because the students take up non core jobs or move out of India without serving the
nation, we were supposed to come up with a solution whether this subsidy cut should take place or not.
Initially every one was given 1 minute to speak, 12 people in the group and I was the 10
th
to speak, this
gave me sufficient time to think but on the same hand I had to make sure that I say something which the
9 people before me havent spoken, so it was a bit tricky. After that the floor was open for discussion for
10 minutes, make it a point that this is not a debate so its not necessary that you take a positions for or
against the topic, I had made points both in the favor of the issue and against it and it was appreciated by
the moderators.
Interview (1
st
round): I had to tell something about myself in not more than 45 seconds, so I focused more
on my extra curricular activities and the volunteering work instead of academic achievements which I felt
most of the other candidates too had a decent one.
Case: Delhi airport has a terminal which is being utilized only upto 60% of its potential, still the
authorities are planning to make a new terminal, what could be the reason behind it. There can be
numerous reasons to this, I gave a few good reasons and I was through. Like, the international flights are
concentrated on a particular time of the day like at the night or early in the morning so during that time
only one terminal might not be sufficient. Having more terminals would reduce the transit time and that
will result in an efficient use of the runway and would smoothen the air traffic. I gave only these two
reasons and tried to explain it in detail.

Puzzle: It was only me to whom a puzzle was asked and the interviewer assured me that he wont
evaluate me on this. The puzzle was there are 10 lions and a sheep on a lonely green island, sheep can
eat grass and survive, lions can also survive on grass but that is they would like to do the least. Lions can
eat the sheep but the catch is that which ever lion eats the sheep would turn into a sheep, now I am one of
the lions so will I eat the sheep? Assume that all the lions are equally intelligent. Although I had no clue
how to solve this but I went ahead with the problem logically and the interviewer helped me, at the end I
answered the question. There could be some tricky answers also to such questions which one should
definitely say if you can think of any, like I said that in the minds of all the lions there would be an
element of fear for eating the sheep so I would think a step ahead and eat the sheep and the other lions
wont eat me due to this fear in their minds.
Interview (2
nd
round): As soon as I entered the interviewer said I remember you, this was because we
had some exchange of views during the ppt. In this round they made all the nine candidates solve the
same case. It was about the truck industry in US, I was shown some data and graphs related to various
business sectors in the industry and was asked to interpret things like why the profit margins are
different in any two sectors, what would be the effect if a Japanese player comes in etc. To answer this
having a basic knowledge of the terminologies would help a lot.
24
rahul pitty
Futures First (2 written tests + 2 rounds of interviews)
Written Tests: 1st test had only mathematical calculations, since it was only 6 minute test so I did not
wasted my time in selecting the questions, I went on and solved the first 25 out of 40.
2
nd
test had math and DI questions for 30 minutes; I tried to do selected questions this time. Preparations
for CAT helped me lot in doing this test. The company had an absolute cutoff in both the tests.
Interview (1
st
round): Why trading and not aerospace? the very first question fired on me, I gave a
positive answer stating why I find finance more interesting instead of saying anything negative about
aerospace. What is 77^3, 141^2 etc some of the verbal calculative questions asked in between, although
these are very uncomfortable questions I tried to kept my composure and gave an approximate answer
to these questions which was acceptable. Some simple puzzles were asked. After some time the
interviewer started pitching for me and telling me stuffs about the company, this is where I was almost
sure of an offer. There was no 2
nd
of interview for me.
25
1 Tower Research
Final Result : Offer.
1.1 Written test - 45 min
The written test was quite lengthy for the given time - in general most students
didnt do well, at least I didnt do that well because of the time.
1. Given a huge file of words, write a program to print all distinct words in it, in
ascending order (huge means wont fully fit into memory).
2. Given 2 strings, return the pointer to the first character from the end in string 1
that does not appear in string 2 in better then O(mn) (means O(mn) is not
efficient enough).
3. There are 2 arrays A[] and B[] where B[i] is the frequency A[i] in the array A[].
Given the array A[] and the fact that all elements of B[] except 1 are divisible by
15, find the value in A[] whose frequency count isnt divisible by 15 (solution
involves finding the sums of each column of bits).
4. What does the keyword static mean in various contexts in C? What is the
difference between char[] and char*?
5. Write a class such that only one object of that class can be created. (Google for
Singleton and design pattern).
6. Given n points (xi, yi) find m and c for the best straight line approximator
yexpected = mx + c such that _(y ? yexpected)2 is minimum. When minimum
what is the value of _(y ? yexpected)? (only 1 guy attempted this question and
got it correct, mostly because this was the last question and there wasnt time)
1.2 Interviews
Three interviews of 1 hour each :
1.2.1 Interview 1 : Taranbir Singh BT CSE 2006 : 1 hr
Started with About you
Went through written test, asked me to attempt all questions I didnt attempt
Went through Resume, talked about internship projects
Asked a bit about my finance project, asked a few questions like Which
exchange would you find commodity futures traded on. I knew some of the
answers, didnt know others - I guess I was asked these questions only because I
said I did a finance project.
Would you prefer to develop mathematical models or to develop the trading
infrastructure?
1.2.2 Interview 2 : Saurav Jindal BT CSE 2001 : 1 hr
Started with About you
Questions from resume.
Puzzles
cherianv@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Tower Research, Goldman Sachs ,LB, DB, McKinsey
cherian v. mathew... lehman brothers
26
cherian v. mathew
There are 25 horses, and you can have races where 5 horses can race at a time. Find 3 fastest horses in
minimum number of races (7 races).
Given a bar, if you cut it at 2 points, what is the probability that you can form a triangle?
Given k sorted arrays of size n, merge them into a sorted array in O(nk log (k)) time (use minheap to
extract the minimum of k elements).
There a lot of coins placed in a line some heads, some tails. You know total coins, number of heads, are
blindfolded, cant see or feel a head or tail. Divide into two piles such that both have equal number of
heads.
Questions you have? I asked about how he decided to join Tower after his BTech. Asked about JEE
Automation that he did and drew parallels with Placement Automation.
1.2.3 Interview 3 : Utsav Maitra MTI CSE 2007 1 hr
Puzzles
There were 7 guests at a party + a host. 1st guest shook hands with 1 guy, 2nd guest with 2 guys .... kth
guest with k guys. How many people did the host shake hands with? k was either 6 or 7, probably 7 I
dont remember exactly.
The Red-Blue Hat Prisoners puzzle: if prisoner guesses colour of his hat he lives else dies. Idea is to save
as many prisoners as possible. Actual solution saves n-1 prisoners but I hadnt heard this puzzle before so
somehow got a solution that saved n - log(n) prisoners. He was happy with this answer since he hadnt
heard this solution before.
Given a round table and a lot of round disks, develop a strategy where you win always given that you
and opponent have to alternately place disks and the last guy to place a disk wins.
Puzzle where you have a square spiral path. In one move you can move forward as many times as you
want if you go straight or if you are at a corner, move inward to the next corner. The person to reach the
centre of the spiral wins. You have to develop a strategy to win.
He asked me the 8 ball weighing question but I told him I had heard it.
Questions you have? I asked about his plans for the next few years.

2 Goldman Sachs
2.1 Written Test - 2 hrs
I kind of knew how to do all the questions but made a calculation mistake in two qs. Apparently, they
shortlisted only those who scored above a certain cutoff (which was high).
1. Given a pointer to the head of a linked list, insert a new node at the end of the list in constant time.
2. Print permutations of a set of integers
3. Standard deviation of length of a chord from a point on a circle in a random direction.
4. Find derivative of f?1(x) at x = 0 given f(x) = Rx
3 (t4 + t3 + t2 + t)dt (use the fact that f?1(f(x)) = x and differentiate both sides)
5. What is the probability that 7m + 7n is divisible by 5 if probability of m being odd is twice as ms
probability of being even and similarly n is thrice as likely to be even than odd. (find the probabilities of
m,n being even and odd, then takes each case and find the probability that in each case 7m + 7n ends with
a 5 or 0 by taking all possible last digits of 7m and 7n)
27
cherian v. mathew
6. Function that returns 1 if input binary tree is a binary search tree without using any assignment
statements, loops, arithmetic operations in the function. (obviously you use recursion. They defined a BST
so you neednt even have remembered what it was)

3 Lehman Brothers
Final Result : Offer
I used almost the same resume as for McKinsey except that I didnt mention anything about my US
patents this time - I had a nagging feeling that McKinsey rejected me in the last round because they
thought that I wouldnt join.
3.1 Interview 1 : 3 interviewers : 30-40 min
I was the last person to have his first round interview with Lehman that day.
Why Lehman?
About you.
Given a round table and a lot of round disks, develop a strategy where you win always given that you
and opponent have to alternately place disks and the last guy to place a disk wins.
Asked about my finance project. I talked about it for 2-3 min. I related it to actual problems which
companies like Air India and Infosys face
3.2 Interview 2 : one on one : 30-40 min
Puzzle: Measure 15 minutes using wicks that take 60 min to burn out. I solved it and gave a way to
measure m _ 60/2n
How many edges are there in a 4D cube.
The rest of this interview was seriously bad
I was asked if I had taken any extra math courses (I said no).
I was asked for my grades in the basic MTH courses (all Bs, though I gave a semivalid reason for it).
In the middle, was asked for my GRE score.
I was asked to write Taylors series for 2 variables (I didnt even remember it for 1 variable but anyhow
ended up deriving and writing something which turned out to be the MacLaurin series for 2 variables
which he pointed out and I corrected to make it the Taylors series).
He asked me to prove that sum of 1/n diverges.
He asked me if given that I knew a stock price would go up or down by at most 10% would it be a good
idea to buy or sell it?
I answered all of the questions based on MTH101 but I had totally lost touch so was not at all sure if the
answers were correct. Maybe he knew I would be out of touch and wanted to see how I handled the
situation?
3.3 Interview 3 : HR - one on one : 20-30 min
Why Lehman? What expectations do you have?
Will you choose DB or Lehman?
How will you handle a situation where you are doing well in your job but are not getting promoted
due to some business reasons?
What are your non negotiables in your job.
28
cherian v. mathew
How do you value one job over another?
At one point she said that Lehman is open to people who are trying to experiment by taking an
IBanking job (I feel she slightly went on the defensive here).
I asked her quite a few questions :
If I asked a Lehman analyst what the biggest plus and minus of Lehman was, what would he say?
Are you able to distinguish between candidates who are really interested in finance vs candidates who
do it for the money?
How do you ensure that people work well in teams given that promotions are for individuals.
I had audited a course on HR (MBA616 I think) - I asked her a few questions on how Lehman handled
certain organizational issues I learnt about in the course. The course was pretty useful because I felt I
knew what was on her mind during most of the interview (and I think she knew this too).
3.4 Interview 4 : HR - 3 interviewers : 40-50 min
I dont think any of the others had a 4th interview - even last year I think everyone had 3 interviews with
Lehman, so dont expect a 4th interview - I think I had a 4th interview because they somehow knew I had
an offer from Tower and wanted to see whether I was serious about Lehman.
Why Lehman?
Career plans? Why not a software job. Why not an MS/PhD? Why not an MBA now (replied that I was
able to appreciate and enjoy my Btech in CSE more than some others since I had prior exposure to
computers and programming and I wanted to first work before pursuing an MBA so that I could
appreciate it more)?
Was again asked for GRE scores. The interviewer who earlier asked me my GRE score earlier was also
on this interview panel. I gave the same answer.
Programming was my strength so I kept pushing it saying it would help me do better than others in a
non coding job also. The seniormost interviewer mentioned that several CSE students he interviewed
gave the impression that coding was mundane and boring and had no use which he felt was not at all
true.
I said that I would like to use what I had learnt in 4 years at CSE - IITK in someway that would help me
finish work faster/in a smarter way in comparision to others. I gave an example of the way I approached a
course project to substantiate.
Given a job where you learn a lot but get paid a little less vs a job where you learn less but get paid
double, which would you choose? (I chose the first option, they said an investment banker would opt for
the 2nd. In these questions, make sure you have a reason for your choice - I realized only later that this
might have been an indirect way of asking Tower or Lehman)
Given that the 2nd interview wasnt so great, I think this interview is what made the difference - the
fact that I did not attempt to hide my strength and instead decided to project it in a positive way.

4 Deutsche Bank
4.1 Written Test - 40 min
28 questions, 18 quantative + 10 financial awareness, negative marking. I took one pass through the
Quant section, leaving about 5 questions, went on to the financial section, realized I wasnt going to score
29
cherian v. mathew
that well there so went back to Quant eventually attempting all 18, having to guess 1 answer since I ran
out of time. I attempted probably 2-3 in financial. The test matters a lot to get shortlisted - some CSE
students didnt get shortlisted apparently because of a low test score. I would suggest that focus should
be primarily on the quant section rather than the finance section - a friend in CSE who said he did well in
the finance section didnt get shortlisted.
4.1.1 Quant
1. Find next in sequence : 10,1,.......7,7...11,5 - dont remember the rest of the sequence but it looked random
initially it but if you take the difference between alternate terms an obvious pattern emerges .
2. Probablity of two people telling the truth = 0.4,0.6 - what is the chance that they are inconsistent in
what they say ?
3. A 3 digit number is a square less than 500, the reverse of the number is also a square. on repeating last
digit still a square. What is the difference between the initial square, its reverse.
4. In a 1000m race if x gives y a head start of 40 meter, x wins by 10m. how much will x win by if y gives x
a head start of 40m
5. With 16 matches, how many distinct triangles can you make?
6. You row at 7kmph in a calm lake. fisherman drops something 14 km upstream and the river current is
3kmph, how long will it take to reach you (14/7 = 2hrs ).
7. The sum of the multiples of 7 between 200 and 400 is what (trick was instead of calculating, to observe
that the answer is odd and of the 5 options, only one was odd)?
8. Sum of consecutive page numbers in a book starting from 1 to n is 1000 - one page was repeated. which
page was it? (idea was to subtract each choice from 1000 and see if it was n _ (n + 1)/2)
9. Last digit of 508508
10. 6 men + 4 women. Make a committee of 3 from them - Guy X wont be with Guy Y. Guy Y will be only
with Woman Z in committee. How many ways of making the committee?
11. Run in circle of radius r. 1st 30 seconds at r meters/min, then next 1 min at r/2 m per min next 2 min at
r/4 and so on. ratio of times taken in round n, previous round
12. |(x ? 11)/2| < 3 what is the range of x?
13. number of integer solutions to 3x + 6y = 13 (take 3 common on LHS and the answer is clear).
14. 5 students give an objective exam (+1 for correct, 0 for wrong) with 5 questions each with 5 choices.
Their answers were given in a 5x5 matrix. Given they all got different marks, who got the lowest.
15. A,B,C,D stand in a line in increasing order of height. Given that X was shorter than Y but didnt stand
first, and (a few more conditions) , who stood last? (X and Y had been specified as one of A, B, C, D - I
dont remember exactly since I gave the test 10 days back).
5.1.2 Financial
1. Rupee-dollar exchange rate (options were ranges of 1 rupee answer ws 39-40)
2. value of some index (some non-Indian East Asian countrys stock market - I forgot the name)
3. Effect of interest rate cuts on a bond coupon
4. Simple question on call option - which of following is not true about it
5. 1st Indian IT company to be listed on Nasdaq
30
cherian v. mathew
6. Given a pie chart where it showed that for capital, a company relied 80% on equity and a small fraction
on debts, what investment strategy is the company using? Conservative/Aggressive?
4.2 Interview : 3 interviewers : 30 min
I was the last person DB interviewed that day.
Why DB (2 min)
Can some work you did at Microsoft be used in DB (I wasnt at all expecting this but thought and
found that an algo I designed could be applied to a problem in the stock market domain)?
Estimate your quant score. If you add your quant score to the avg finance score would that be highest
overall score?
Asked me to redo the pie chart question. I got it correct I think though I didnt attempt it. They asked
why I didnt attempt finance (Reply : I wanted to do on thing well and time was a constraint).
Puzzle - express JEE rank as xy + yx (put y=1, x = rank - 1)
Didnt Microsoft give you a PPO (I said no, which was technically true)? Why not Microsoft(note that
they asked this though Microsoft was scheduled on Day 2) (2 min)?
Why not Tower Research (5 min)?
Towards the end, the interviewer said I am sure you are going to join Tower Research and not DB.
They also seemed to have decided before I came in to the interview that I would get an offer with some
other company and would not choose DB - kept attacking the answers I gave to Why not
Microsoft/Tower. In hindsight maybe I shouldnt have listed all the 4 tech companies I had interned
with.
5 McKinsey
5.1 Interview 1 : Palash, Partner : 30 - 35 min
One of 24 partners. 12 years at McK. IIT Kharagpur 1993, IIMA 1995.
Case : Current demand for (artificial) knee implants in India.
Asked questions to see if age, economic status was an issue. Key issue : Person had to have knee
problems (age based segmentation) and had to be able to afford a surgery (income based segmentation).
Split by age : 0-15, 15-35, 35-60, 60+ : 30%,30%,30%,10%. Estimated % in each category with knee
problems.
Split by economic status : Low, Low and Upper Middle and Upper Class : 30-40-20-10.
Upper - almost certainly go for replacement - 90% of the 10%
Upper middle - can afford it but significant cost so 50% of the 20%.
Ignore lower middle, lower.
Distribution of the 9 million people : Rural Urban I suggested 70-30, he said take 50-50, forgot why.
Asked what factors will determine acceptability of product?
A : Marketing, safety, proof that operation was worth it.
Gender : women tend to have arthritis more than men.
Asked me to give a recap of what I did in the case till then.
What questions do you have?
A: How do EMs decide between Position in Corporation vs Partner - relative advantages? What kind of
person would prefer a partner role and what kind of person would prefer a position in a corporation?
31
cherian v. mathew
Asked about high points in career, fraction of engagements McKinsey was able to make a definite impact
in.
5.2 Interview 2 : Rajat, Partner : 15-20 min
About you. (interrupted me when I mentioned the Best Senator Award)
About Students Senate.
Who decides the best senator award?
Why do you think you got the award? (talked of an initiative)
Situation where you led a group of students on an initiative or project? What did you learn? (talked
about Placement Automation)
What would the Automation Coordinators would say about me?
What are your career plans? What if not McKinsey?
Opinion/view on the nuclear deal that is in the papers?
Growth of cars vs growth of motorbikes - which would grow faster in % terms?
A: Economic factor the main reason to go for bikes. Shift from lower middle to upper middle, increasing
growth rate for cars more than for bikes.
Questions you have?
5.3 Interview 3 : Jatin Pant, Engagement Manager : 35-40 min
Asked about background (schooling).
After JEE, why IITK?
Are you applying (I said that Id given GRE, indicated that whether or not I would app would depend
on how my McK interview went. Just for the record I eventually applied only to MIT and Stanford)?
Asked about cases in previous rounds.
Estimate the number of people who watched the India-Australia 20-20 semifinal in South Africa (on
TV/stadium).
Divided into Indians, Australians, Rest of theWorld. Divided rest of the world into cricketing and non
cricketing nations. Divided cricketing nations into the nations whose teams were there in the other
semifinal and other cricketing nations. Divided Indians into rural, urban and NRIs.
Ended up focusing on Residential Indians - rural vs urban. Assume DD is broadcasting.
Two drivers : have access to a TV showing the match and also have free time.
Urban : people wouldnt watch if they arent free.
Rural : people wouldnt watch if there was no electricity. Assume 50% electrification.
Age factor : Very old and very young (< 5) wouldnt watch.
Women wouldnt be as enthusiastic. 90% men and 50% women.
Was asked to stop, look back and formalize everything done and summarize what was done.
I related TV advertising rates to a online revenue for ads model I developed in my internship on which
a worldwide patent was filed.
Any questions? Asked about how an EM chooses whether to become a partner vs becoming a
CEO/senior manager at a corporation. Asked if McKinsey had a standard way of solving business
problems in engagements and if so how one retained ones creativity.

32
ankur aggarwal... pwc
agankur21@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
Goldman Sachs (Quant profile)
Written Test: It was a test checking your logical reasoning with three
subjective questions on Probability and three on general algorithm of
programming. They were checking our quantitative ability and
programming skills as well.

Interview(1
st
round):It was a technical interview in which they started with
asking some basic questions on probability such as Moment-generating
function of Normal distribution, one algorithm problem and one problem
from signal processing. I could not do the last one but rest all went fine.

Interview (2
nd
round): It was an HR interview. They enquired about my
programming skills, career interests and future plans.

Mistakes I did: I took it for granted that being from a non-CSE dept they
wont be ask me questions from OOP and related concepts (like
Polymorphism and Virtual functions). However, they expected the candidate
to be well aware of all that.

Lehman Brothers
Interview (1
st
round): It was a stress interview and I was asked a variety of
questions and the interviewer was trying to prove me wrong at each and
every time. There were questions like: What is the probability that the fan
would fall in the next 10 minutes?, What would you do if you had to
spend Rs.100 and bring back Rs.30 in doing a list of things which cost more
than Rs.100? I lost my temper as I was not giving a satisfactory answer.
Then he asked some puzzles which I could solve but then again, he started
asking questions from Economics as I had done a course on it. I was not in a
situation to give any satisfactory answer.

Mistakes I did: I got stressed out when I should have had the confidence.
Therefore, I could not give answers properly.
33
ankur aggarwal
ITC
Group Discussion: They divided us in groups of 10-15 people and gave us a case study to discuss.
They were looking for candidates with the ability to come up with new points, rather than the
speaking a lot.

Interview (1
st
round): General discussion on my resume and very casual in terms of HR such as
justify your CPI of 8.3 in EE (and do you think it is good) and some technical questions (how does an
AC work?, how does a vibrator work?). I was not able to answer them.

Mistakes I did: I could not understand why I was not selected for the company and asked them to
give me a feedback. They said that the following aspects were reflected in my interview (which led to
me being not selected): lack of sound technical knowledge, good confidence but not a very good
command over spoken English, and that I was not able to justify my lower CPI very effectively.

Deloitte
Written test: General ability test (similar to CAT). People studying for CAT can easily clear it.

Interview (1
st
round): It was very interesting in the sense that the whole discussion went on my
interests such as why liked Ayn Rand and what exactly I liked about her, what did you learn after
leading so many teams, etc. So it was very cool and I went to the next round

Interview (2
nd
Round): It was same as the previous one but this time it was quite informal as the
interviewer was eating and asked me to eat something and chatted with me for sometime. Then he
gave me a case study: to estimate the number of televisions in India. I tried to do so and gave the final
answer I got. Then he asked me a few more HR questions and the interview ended.

Mistakes I did: I did not give proper time to think and replied as soon as I heard the question, and
this depicted my aggression and impatience.

PWC
Written test: General ability test. People studying for CAT can easily clear it.

Interview (1
st
round): Asked some HR stuff such as why I want to join PWC, what according to me is
a leader etc. In technical, they asked me from DSP which was my field of specialization so I did well
in that. So overall it was a cool interview.

34
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
nishant singh... intel
nsinghel@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Tower Research, Google, Intel, Microsoft
To start with the write-up I would like to declare that the information being
provided here should not be considered in any way sufficient to get a job and
any claims of irrelevance may not be redirected to the author :D

Well I may be the most suited guy for writing this cause I have seen it all during
the recruitment process and I would try to take you through the problems one
faces during the process and what I think one should do to not lose pace during
these times. What I would also like to touch upon are the initiatives one should
take way before the recruitment process in order to be well prepared at the D
day rather than crunching at the last hour.

Problems you might face before hand-

Most of these problems are something you will create for yourself and as it is,
you are the only one who can do away with these problems. Well I would list out
all the dilemmas(:O) you might face:-

1. Lots of semester load to deal withwhat to do.how to start: First of all dont
give yourself this crap that you cant find time. This is the most common crap
people come up with. The second point people give is that the professor is
breathing down their neck and they need to meet deadlines etc etc. Well in either
case I would say that if you have started your preparation at the end of august or
mid sept, even with these problems you will easily complete the course I just
mentioned.

2. Well I am super man and I want to do GRE/CAT/ land the best job ever: First
of all if you think that you are a superman and you can actually do this, you are
welcome to do so. But for the unlucky people who are not blessed with
superhuman capabilities, I would like you to follow these pointers. Spread out
your preparation for each. CAT preparations only require you to brush up your
English, rest is a piece of cake. So CAT preparations generally can be carried out
hand in hand with your job preparations, moreover the DI preparation for CAT
might come in handy. Well as for GRE preparations I would suggest get an early
date, way early in Sept and get it over with. Later it will only clutter up your
schedule and generally dates in November tend to screw up the whole schedule
itself.

3. Oh.I have my exams.I have CAT the next day..Placement is about to
start what to do?...
35
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
nishant singh
Well most of these questions wont come if you have covered up your course material. But generally its
the non-ideal reality that hits you hard. You might be just half way through your preparation, CAT might
be already out of the bag and GRE would have somehow made its way to November to screw you up.
Well this is the time to prioritize things. Set your priorities which are best in line with your career goals.
You want a job/higher studies/management. You cant pick out all three; not even two. You only get to
choose one. So, if you want to have your options open prepare early, otherwise, keep yourself satisfied
with one. If you set your priorities, you have lesser to prepare, you can be more thorough at what you
prepare and you have the edge at least on those guys who have not set their priorities.

The D-day:-

Well if you have gone through the previous sections you are more so ready to get grinded. In this section
I would like to underline all the dos and donts during the placement procedure. These hold for all
people whether they are prepared or not with their course material and with their barrage of HR
questions.

Dos-

1. Prepare for interviews and GDs s much as possible. Mock interviews and GD sessions with
wingmates will help. Practice your interview questions before a mirror. Try practicing talking
smoothly rather than vomiting out crammed up answers.
2. Do some research. Concentrate on the company next in line and (re)view their material. Find out the
company and job profile. Find out if you and the job they offer are a perfect fit.
3. Be thorough with your resume. Resume is like a pledge and if you are slack with even a single point
it is treated like cheating.
4. Constantly review the job database.

Donts

1. Dont sulk- Sulking is not going to help your cause. It might push you to the limit.
2. Dont rush through interviews
3. Dont be low on confidence.
4. Dont get frustrated.
5. Dont compare- Many people below you in capacity and capability might have already been placed
and many much better than you might still be in line.
6. Dont freak out- This is my example. I applied for a company in which I didnt intend to go and
ended up getting a spot offer in that. I couldnt sit for the procedure further and my dream company
was yet to come. Just learn from this and try not to get into such a situation.


36
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
nishant singh nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
nishant singh
Well all the above dos and donts are just what I should have done and what I shouldnt have done.
Please refer to other seniors feedbacks to get a picture of a total loser and then try not to be one(:D). I
believe if you are in line with this, you are already sitting with a job.

Got a job, now what?

Well you have a job, it means you did most of the things correct. Now come the unique cases. These cases
might be multiple job offers, spot offers etc etc. I can only describe my experience with my share of
unique cases. These are multiple offers and spot offers. First of all, always keep in mind the following
things-
1. SPO is there to help you but it cant sometimes
2. Rules are there to be followed and will be broken

SPOT OFFER!!!-First of all spot offers are something against the guidelines for the companies. But they
do make spot offers. In this case always first consult your most trusted personnel in the SPO and try to
have things sorted out with his help. If you are happy to join, accept the offer but if not, try to get out of
it. I couldnt, so I dont know the means. You can always find out form the seniors

MULTIPLE OFFER!!!- This I think is something you need to decide yourself. Once you have job offers
from more than one company, always try to take a clear perspective. You have more than a day to sort
this out. Do your further research. This research is how big the company is?/how good the pay package
is?/how good your life is going to be?/how good is the work culture?etc etc. Take these things into
consideration before deciding. Well in my case I had an option between Intel and some other company.
The way I have referred to it makes my choice obvious. My considerations were as follows:-
1. Intel is the biggest semiconductor company
2. Intel is one of the best workplaces voted over time.
3. Intel is a giant and has a long history compared to the other company which was a startup.
4. The pay was initially not clear but turned out to be equal( I dint consider it at tat time though)
Some other factors were also there. Like I would like to pursue an MS later and Intel would surely help
my cause. These are the ways one should think before accepting an offer. Always keep in high regard
your life and your convenience at the job you are selecting. Then the money might play a big role and
your career too but still I would recommend your life and your convenience comes first.

AFTER GOT JOB!!!- Go on a trip of India. Find your inner peace. Do some meditation on the Himalayas.
Do a padayatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Do whatever you want but please pass in all the courses
of the final semester. Also try to cover up the course material relevant to your job before joining. I think it
would help. But first and foremost, give a big treat and have a bash.

37
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
krishna khandelwal... deutsche bank
krishna.khandelwal07@gmail.com
Interviewed by: DB, LB, Capital One, McKinsey
It all started with the question of whether I should go for higher studies or
prepare for CAT or finance or core. I had absolutely no idea about what to do.
After the internship it was clear to me that I wont be going for a core job or for
higher studies. As soon I came back from internship I took a course in finance
and that helped me a lot for my interview preparation. Believe me, you have to
prepare for placements no matter how good you are at speaking or you have
exceptionally good extra-currics. The sooner you realize this, the better it is.

Pre-Placement Season

PPTs: PPTs are very important to get an overall view of the opportunities you
will be having for placements or the kind of profile that a company offers. If you
are interested in a particular company, talk to the seniors who are working in
that company and from there youll get an honest feedback about the company
and whether the profile suits you or not.

Resume: Believe me your resume has to be perfect. In your resume, highlight
your strengths and the skills which the company is looking for. I feel that my
extra-curricular and summer internship was my advantage and therefore I
mentioned it in such a way that on reading my resume anybody will ask me
more about that. Go through you resumes again and again and youll see the
improvements. Take help from your wing mates and your close friends. In fact I
prepared my complete resume along with a friend.

ET: For business awareness ET is the best thing to read, this will help you not
only in tests (for companies like DB) but also for interviews.

Interview Experiences

DB: Had a quick first interview which was mostly HR. No puzzles were asked
from me, as I told them that I am not very much interested in mathematics and
number crunching. Questions like Why finance? Why DB and some applied
questions on Futures, Options and Derivatives. (Read John C. Hull that will help
you). It was more of a chat than interview. As soon as my 1
st
interview was over I
was asked to go for 2
nd
interview. This one was a bit technical as many questions
from finance course, which I did in 7
th
semester, were asked. I did a term paper
also in the course but hadnt prepared for it before interview and the result was
there in the interview.

38
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
krishna khandelwal
They grilled me on that and I was not able to answer many questions (do prepare thoroughly on
whatever you have written in your resume). Besides the technical part some questions on my family
background and my dads business were asked and some situations were given and I was asked how I
will respond to such situation.

One suggestion from my side: DONT get involved in last time discussion on any of the puzzles or finance
questions before interviews.

CapOne- I dont know what they were planning to do in interviews. They called me for interviews, threw
2 questions at me, wrote something on a paper and before I knew interview was over. Between my two
interviews I had a gap of 4-5 hours. I watched 3-4 episodes of Friends and was all charged up after that.

Lehman- When I went for the Lehman interview, I came to know that they have no openings for
Investment banking and they had come for exotics. (Do enquire about the profile that the company is
offering). Interview was a big mess for me, they kept on asking questions on probability and finance and
my answer was I dont know
As I had expected, there was no 2
nd
round of both Cap One and Lehman for me.
Results came and I wasnt on DBs list. After some time I was informed that I am selected and I was first
on the waiting list. Anyways it ended well for me.

General tips for interviews and its preparation:
Get in touch with seniors who are currently working in the company you are interested in, they will help
you a lot. Resume should be perfect, whatever you have done present it efficiently highlighting your
qualities and that required by the company. Do take help from your close friends and wing mates. Since
the 7
th
semester is very hectic, start preparing for it from the starting of the semester. Read ET if you are
interested in financial job or go through your basic courses if you are interested for core job. Dress well
for interviews, shoes should be comfortable, dont smoke in between the interviews and if you do then
put some deodorant before interview, buy a nice pen and a nice folder for the interviews

I think this is all I want to share with you guys if you feel like asking anything contact me.



39
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
garima joshi... schlumberger
garimaj.iitk@gmail.com
Interviewed by: Capital One, ITC, Schlumberger
7
th
semester is a time when one has to seriously think what one wants from life
and why. While making the career choice it should not be about blindly
following what others have been doing but identifying ones interests and then
preparing accordingly. In my case I was convinced that I wanted to app and that
job was just a backup. Nevertheless it didnt mean that I would take up any job.
It was important to me that the company suits me well and that I suit it well too.

The first 2 months I was busy preparing for GRE and hence didnt have much
time to prepare for placements. But I kept on attending all the PPTs to find about
the kind of work done, the kind of people who work there and the subsequent
growth opportunities. That also helped me in identifying the companies that I
need to target. Next was the resume making. It involved talking to few of the
seniors and then tailoring my resume according to the companys requirements.
Another issue was that looking at my resume the companies shouldnt feel that I
intend to app too and hence I had to very carefully choose the stuff that I wanted
to mention in my resume, even if that meant concealing some of the
achievements because they gave the impression that I would eventually go for
higher studies. Also its important to be completely honest in the resume or else
one can falter in the interview process.

I was shortlisted for Capital One and ITC before getting into Schlumberger RDM.

Capital One
Initially there was a written test comprising of DI type of questions. People
preparing for CAT definitely have an edge over the ones not preparing. I feel
practicing a few questions a week before the test suffices. On the final day there
was initially an interview of about 5 mins in which they asked me to describe a
situation where I worked in a team. Then there was a case study round. It was a
slightly involved case on the credit card industry and involved a lot of
calculations. There were 3 different credit card strategies with different rates of
interest and credit limits and we had to choose the best strategy for the company.
I came up with correct strategy and hence got through the first round. The 2
nd

case was that of Dominos evaluating a new scheme wherein they would offer a
30% discount instead of 100%, in cases where the pizzas could not be delivered
within 30 minutes. Next the discount was changed to 70%. I was asked to
evaluate the on-time delivery that they can risk not to have in order to make the
same profit as they make when they give 100% discount and have 90% on-time
delivery. Then I was asked to plot a graph between on-time delivery and the
discount offered and interpret it. It was there that I lost track and couldnt come
up with the right conclusion. Nevertheless I was selected for the next round.
40
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
garima joshi
It was a behavioral interview wherein I had to describe them 3 situations in detail. During the entire
interview the interviewer kept writing something on the paper. The key to this round was choosing the
right incidents and then describing each and every point in detail. It lasted for about 30 mins. Ideally
there were to be only 2 rounds of case interview and one behavioral interview but I was again called for a
3
rd
case interview round. It was very similar to the 1
st
case except that the credit card company was
replaced by a dish-tv one. This one didnt go very well as I was very much exhausted and hence faltered
at several places. Here I would also like to mention that the case solved in the CapOne site is very useful
and if one solves that, one can easily solve their cases on the interview day. I hadnt practiced any case
before but studying that case helped me immensely on the final day.

ITC
The GD was easy, based on a case study. The first round of interview started with general HR questions
like tell me about yourself, why ITC, why not so good cpi in first year and so on. Somehow the mention
of industrial tour came and from there on, all the questions were based on TATA steel and steel-making
in general (we went to Jamshedpur for our industrial tour). In case of ITC it is very important to know
about the company fully. Hence reading the companys website before the interview helps. I was asked
its motto and when I answered it correctly the entire panel was very impressed. The 2
nd
round was a one-
on-one interview. What went wrong here was that I knew about my major projects (like btp, summer
intern) very well but didnt remember the exact details of the TA project that I had done during my 3
rd

semester. The interviewer somehow found that project quite interesting and kept on asking me questions
about it and I couldnt answer many. Later, he jumped onto the term paper that I had written for one of
the psychology courses and again I stumbled. Hence I feel I didnt know my resume too well at that time
(just focused on the main projects) and perhaps that went against me.

Transocean and Schlumberger
After 2 days of giving interviews, I was totally dejected the third day. Its here that friends help a lot and
they made sure that I remain positive and confident. I was hell bent on cracking Schlumberger RDM. It
was the last of the companies that I had targeted. The group activity of Schlums was again easy and I got
selected for the next round. Since my btp is funded by Schlumberger it wasnt tough for me to convince
them. My interview was mostly based on my btp work and a few questions testing my basics in
manufacturing processes. The general HR questions were like: why Schlumberger, any failures in life,
how I tackled them and so on. The interview didnt last too long. I couldnt attend the informal session as
I had Transocean interview at that time.
Transocean had initially one GD. The first interview round was just for 1 mins. Nothing was asked and I
was called for the 2
nd
round. The 2
nd
round was like a stress interview. A number of hypothetical
situations were thrown at me and I had to tell them how I would respond to them. They were just trying
to check if I was mentally prepared for taking up a job in Transocean. It was very important to be
pragmatic and honest in this round rather than giving ideal answers.
41
nishant singh...
??????
Appeared:Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, ITC, Deloitte, PWC
garima joshi
At the end of the day I got job offers from both Transocean and Schlumberger RDM. Making the choice
wasnt that tough. I was very clear about the kind of job that I would like to do and hence I chose
Schlumberger RDM. I knew that even if I am not able to get a good school this year then a job in a R&D
industry would definitely accentuate my chances of getting one next year.

These were my interview experiences. I feel the most important factor is definitely preparation. I feel I
wasnt prepared that well and hence had to initially face lots of failures. But still one has to remain
aggressive in the coming interviews and try to remain positive. Knowing ones resume is also very
important. Just have faith and you can crack any interview J

42
1
AMAZON
Selection Procedure:
Round 1:
Type: Written Test
Duration:
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Relevant Course material: Data Structure & Algorithms
Special Tips:
Knowledge of Database and Operating System will give an extra edge.
Round 2, 3 & 4(if required):
Type: Personal Interview (Technical/HR)
Duration: Approx. 1 Hour
The interviews were mostly technical, with strong emphasis on Algorithms and DS.
Sample Questions:
One can convert Rupees into Euro and then Euro into Yen and then continuing in this
way can get back to Rupees. In certain cases he/she invests 1 Rupee and gets 2 Rupees in
return. Write an algorithm to figure out such cases and relate to Graph Theory Problem.
Special Tips:
Knowledge of Puzzles and Brain Teasers would be helpful. You can look up such things on
Orkut communities for Puzzles J
Be ready to sit for long hours. Amazon has a rigorous procedure.
CAPITAL ONE
Round 1:
Type : HR/Informal Interview
Duration : 5-10 minutes
Sample questions:

Why Finance?
Describe a situation where you had to work in a team successfully (if not, how did you
convince the team in your favor?)
Give an instance where you had shown some Leadership quality!
44
1
Questions regarding Internships, Projects, and any obvious career possibility as reflected
by the resume (Example: Further studies, Core Jobs) etc.
Why CAP ONE & expectations from Company?


Round 2 & 3:
Type: Case Study Interview
Duration : 30-40 minutes
In each of these rounds, you will be given a case study related to Banking involving simple
Mathematics. There will be certain conditions given and you will be required to reach at some
logical conclusion.
In the case study interview, the interviewer is essentially trying to check how logical you think &
how structured is your problem solving approach.
Round 4:
Type : Behavioral Interview
Duration : 20-25 minutes
In this round, the candidate is required to fill a questionnaire which is meant to judge him/her for
certain competencies required for profile offered by the Company.
Special Tips & Comments:
Visit Companys website thoroughly!
The selection procedure is rigorous and tiring. Be prepared for long interviews!
They might take more Case Study interview, in case they find it necessary.
Cypress Semiconductors
Student Feedback on the Stage II of the Selection Procedure held on December 2, 2007
(Cypress Semiconductors takes test in the Qualifying round. Please refer to Cypress Semiconductors Test Feedback
for the same)
Round 1:
Type: Technical Interview.
Duration : 15-25 minutes
Panel: Either 1 on 1 or telephonic with a senior application engineer in Cypress
Sample questions:
What skill do you have to be a project engineer?
45
1
Why are you suitable for the job? What are your career aspirations?
If you have high CPI (9+) then why job and not higher Studies?
The technical questions will be related to your projects, internship and few from your
course work. How did you approach the problem and hoe did you solve the various
problems etc.
You should be confident of whatever you have done and put on your resume (intern, projects
etc.)
This interview will focus solely on your knowledge of electrical engineering.
Round 2:
Type: HR/Technical Interview
Panel: Telephonic or 1 on 1 with a senior Application Engineer from Cypress.
Duration : 20-40 minutes
This one will have a mix of HR and technical questions.
They try to look in whether you fit in for the role of application engineer. An application engineer
needs to interact with the client and then do the designing of the IC, board etc. as well.
For this they will go through your skill set, discuss at length various facets of the job profile. They
will guide you through this process to find out how you fit in their setup.
But again do not boast or present a false picture. They are smart enough to catch any false claims
you will make.
If you have a high CPI they will discuss your future career paths to know whether you will join
them or not.

Round 3:
Type: Thoroughly Technical Interview
Panel: 2 interviewers.
Duration: 30-40 minutes.
They will brush up your resume in terms of the various projects, internships and course work
you have done.
Then technical questions related to the kind of work you are expected to do in Cypress like
System Design Problems.
You will be asked to solve few design problems on the spot.
Again your approach to your projects is discussed and they try to explore how serious you were
about the same. eg. How can you improve the end results of your projects etc.
46
1
For this interview you require strong technical knowledge and thoroughness with your profile.

Round 4:
Type: Thoroughly Technical Interview
Panel: Telephonic Interview
Duration: 20-40 minutes.
A more heated one than the previous one but on the same lines.
You should have a good knowledge of fields other than your areas of interest. Suppose you are
interested in analog but at he same time you should also know about DSP, digital,
microcontrollers etc.
They will ask several questions to check how broad is your knowledge base? The questions touch
upon the fundamentals of the various courses you have done towards your degree.
What they are looking at is how much attention you have paid in your courses.

Round 5 (additional):
Type: HR/Technical Interview
Panel: Telephonic Interview
Duration: 10-20 minutes.
In this interview they try to find out whether you will e able to adjust in the work environment of
Cypress.
Sample Questions:
Why Cypress and not higher studies?
Have you been to Southern India?
Will you have problems with food in Chennai/Bangalore?

Special Tips & Comments:
Cypress will ask for three references of people (professors/ mentors in internship) with whom
you have worked. So arrange three references before hand only.
Cypress evaluates a candidate on the following parameters: Motivation for the job, retention
factor, and technical knowledge and how you fit in the role.
Visit Companys website to see what is the kind of work they do and how you can fit into that
role.
47
1
Answering technical questions on the telephone is not easy. So dont panic and giv it your best
shot.
Do your courses seriously. Pay attention to the courses on digital, analog.
DELOITTE
Student Feedback on the Selection Procedure held on December 7, 2007
Round 1:
Type : HR/Technical Interview
Duration : 35-40 minutes
Sample questions:
Why Consulting?
Questions regarding Internships and projects, like: the aim of doing the project, how did
you contribute to the result and what was the benefit?
Do you have any experience with programming? Work done in programming was done
by the whole class or exclusively by you?
Tell us about the extra curricular activities that you have been involved in!
Why DELLOITE & expectations from Company?

Case Study: Case studies in Deloitte are generally estimation cases not business cases.
Estimate the amount of ice-creams sold on IITK campus in a month. The emphasis was
less on the final result. What they emphasized on was the approach that one adopts to
solve the problem. For example you can approach the problem from buyers perspective
etc.
Round 2:
Type: Stress Interview
Duration : 25-30 minutes
Sample Questions:
o Why should we take you?
o They might ask you about your future plans and see how they fit into the companys
need. eg: Where do you see yourself, 10 years from now?

Sample case study


48
1
Estimate the total number of bricks that have been used in construction in Kanpur city.
Once again the emphasis was on the approach rather than on the final answer. The cases
studies test how structured your approach is
Special Tips & Comments:
Visit Companys website thoroughly.
Structure the case study before trying to find a solution.
Keep on talking about your thoughts during solving the case study so that the interviewer knows
about your approach in detail.
Spend decent time on the resume as only this will let you through to the interview.
Numbers in the resume are important; rather than saying that you did an analysis which helped
a company reduce some expense, it would be better if you can provide a number like, it helped
the company save 10%.
Give examples to prove everything you say.
Deutsche Bank
Student Feedback on the Stage II of the Selection Procedure held on December 1, 2007
(Deutsche Bank takes test in the Qualifying round. Please refer to Deutsche Bank Test Feedback for the same)
Round 1:
Type : HR/Technical Interview
The want to see how motivated you are towards pursuing finance and whether you have the
required quantitative skills or not.
Duration : 10-20 minutes
Panel: 2 interviewers (HR and Senior from the same desk)
Sample questions:

Tell us about yourself or Walk me through your resume. You should be through with all
the projects and internships (especially if it was in a field related to finance) you have put
in your resume.
If in the test you have answered the questions on finance they might ask you to justify
particular answers.
Explain any latest financial happening. eg. Sub prime Crisis in US.
Puzzles. (You may refer to How to ace interviews? an e-book available on LAN)
Probability based questions. They may also ask you questions related to other maths
courses you have put in your resume.
49
1
Sample Question:
How can you place two points on a scale of length L such that it will form a triangle?
There are n coins and on of them is heavier or lighter than the rest. What is the min no of
steps you will take to identify it using a pan?
If you have high CPI (9+) then why I Bank and not Higher Studies?*
Why I banking and not a core job? Why DB and why not Lehman?
If you are an financially illiterate, they might ask you about things from your own course
work also to check how hardworking and sincere you are.
Round 2:
Type: HR/Technical Interview
Panel: 4 interviewers
Duration : 20-40 minutes
It is based on the feedback that they get from your first interview and only few move on to the
second round.
If you want to join an I bank you should know what an I bank does
They try to look in whether you will be able to work long hours or not.
In second round somebody who knows finance is expected to be thorough with it. If you
mentioned a course, internship or project on finance, they will surely grill you on that. But dont
mention anything you are not sure of. (Note: Financial literacy is always a plus point)
An applicant had done IME 611: Financial Engineering course. Most of his interview was
centered on that only with questions on a combination of call and put option, in-the-money
options etc.
Otherwise also you are expected to be aware about general financial and business fundas
especially derivatives.
They will discuss your future career plans etc. *
Sample Question:
How does a cheque operates?
What is a balance sheet?
Do you follow the markets?
Special Tips & Comments:
Always prepare this question: Tell me about yourself but dont cram up an answer or else you
will fumble there.
Visit Companys website thoroughly.
50
1
Keep your mobile phone switched off.
Do a good amount of reading finance. It will be a plus point if you are aware of the recent
financial news and basics of finance. If you are interested in finance it should show that you have
worked towards the same.
Do not give run off the mill answers.
* - You should be able to convince them on this as retention factor is very important for any firm.
FUTURE FIRST INFO SERVICES

ROUND 1:
Type: Aptitude Tests

TEST 1: It is quantitative test having 30-40 questions to be attempted in a very short span of time
say only 6 minutes. The questions test the basic mathematical operation but the crucial thing is
speed and accuracy.
Sample questions:
Calculate 22/31 up to four decimals places.
What is value of 24*36?
What is the difference of roots of a given quadratic equation?
The key to selection in this round is to attempt as many questions as possible.

TEST 2: The selected candidates from the previous rounds have to give another aptitude test
which has questions of higher level mathematics than the previous one. The questions also
include a lot of puzzles. There are say 30 questions to be attempted in 30 min in contrast to first
test.
The strategy is to select the most appropriate one and try to attempt as many as possible. Try to
start with the easiest as attempting all of them may not be possible due to their difficulty
level.

ROUND 2:
Type: Technical Interview
Panel: 1-2
The interviewer would test your basic mathematical skills and your aptitude for the profile.
Hence it is important to o through the work profile and its requirements.
51
1
They may ask you puzzle to check the computational skills.
Since it is a financial company expect some questions on probability and statistics.
Other questions include:
Have you done any courses in the Finance earlier? If yes they may ask questions pertaining to
those courses.
Why do you want to join our company?
Would you not be going for an MBA?
What are the management exams you have given and if any, would you leave us to join their
MBA?
Retention is very important to them. The company basically is looking for a candidate who is not
going to leave them to join some management institute after completion of BTech/MTech and if
he joins would stay with company for some time.
TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS:
Try to be frank about the knowledge of finance. Do not just bluff since it is a derivative company.
They want people who are interested since they have an induction program for the new recruits
to give them the required knowledge.
A little diplomacy may help in tricky questions with regard to MBA. Like i would be pursuing
my MBA after having some experience etc.
Any standard books on management exams for quantitative section preparation will be helpful
for aptitude test.
There may be a second round of interview as well.
Goldman Sachs (Strategy)
Student Feedback on the Selection Procedure held on November 30, 2007
Round 1:
Type : HR Interview
Duration : 15-20 minutes
Brush through the resume. Discuss project, interns.
Reservation about relocation.
What do you know about GS and have you seen our website? This and more such questions may
be asked to see how well prepared you are.
Why GS and not higher studies?
Expectation about the work, salary expected and why GS? (PPT and website!!)
Sample Question:
52
1
You have done your internship at MSR Redmond. So why not go back to MSR?
Why did you give IITJEE?
If you have a good extra curricular record as well, they might ask you few questions on that as
well.
Round 2:
Type: Technical Interview
Duration : 15-20 minutes
Resume may determine the path of resume. Be thorough with your projects and internship. They
would like to explore what was the problem and how did you to approach it.
Why GS and this particular profile? (You should be thorough with the PPT and their website)
Then to test your technical acumen they might begin with the questions in the test itself. May ask
you to solve 1-2 questions again to discuss your approach.
Sample Questions on mathematics asked to a student of EE: MGF of normalized random
variable, fourier transform of a function, few basic questions on algorithms, what is virtual
function, inheritance algos etc. So even if you are from elec you should have good idea about
coding and algos.

Round 3:
Type : Technical Interview
Duration : 20-30 minutes
This round is to check how thorough and well versed you are with coding and algorithms. They
might ask you to solve few questions verbally.
Then they also check how strong you are at maths. The questions will emphasize on the
fundamentals you have learnt in the course work at IIT, but may go a little in depth of the
mathematics involved.

Special Tips & Comments:
Visit Companys website thoroughly.
The selection procedure is rigorous. Be prepared for long interviews.
You should have strong background in coding.
It is very helpful if you know the requirements of the profile.
Makes sure you have all the important details on the first page of your resume.
Revise DS if you have done the course.
53
Lehman Brother
Student Feedback on the Selection Procedure held on December 1, 2007
Round 1:
Type : Technical Interview/ Stress/ HR

The interview started with a little bit of Typical HR and then shifted to Probability & statistics
and finance (if you have written any course in resume). If you have no idea of finance and you
havent done any course on probability or finance, then they asked some basic probability or basic
questions from mathematics courses you have done. Be thorough with your BTP, intern and other
projects they can ask anything from them. They want to check the sincerity and hard work you
have put in any project or activity. You should attend the Lehman Brothers workshop as there
were questions on that too. Prepare your resume very well; do not write false information
regarding finance, economics or any mathematics course, they would ask questions from them.
They were particular about the HSS course, like economics and psychology. The key of the
interview was the approach to the problem. Some situation based questions were asked to check the
same. Dont get stressed out, as most of the time they will try to contradict you, so be firm on your
points.

Duration : 15-30 minutes
Panel: HR and Senior from the same desk
Sample questions:

Basic HR questions like, Tell us about yourself, why finance or Walk me through your
resume. You should be through with all the projects and internships (especially if it was
in a field related to finance) you have put in your resume.
Basic mathematical questions (number of trailing zeroes in 10!). They may ask questions
from other mathematics courses which you have done.
Probability questions (JEE level). Level may be higher if you have done any probability
course, and major part of your interview will be based on that.
Basic finance questions, like difference between forward contract and future contract.
Mostly they will be based on the workshop.
SWOT analysis of the firm in which you had done Intern.
1
54
1
Question on basic economics (If you have done any course) like what is marginal utility,
law of diminishing marginal utility.
Some situation based questions like if I give you 10 million dollar, what will you do?
Then they will contradict you on each point i.e. a small stress interview.
Analysis of a problem like land price are growing up, so the farmers are more keen to sell
there land which is creating a food crisis, so what will you do to cope up with the
problem. (They will contradict every point).
If you dont have any financial or probability background, they will ask you questions on
your Internship, BTP project or any project you have written on your resume just to
check how intelligent and hardworking you are.
You were in technical line for past four years, so WHY FINANCE. (Prepare it thoroughly
with some solid reason for this especially if you have a good CPI).
Round 2:
Type: Stress/HR Interview
Panel: 3 interviewers
Duration : 15-20 minutes

It was a typical Stress Interview, where one of the panelists was asking questions and other two were
observing. They asked anything and just shot you with questions and contradictions. Just keep yourself
calm and composed. The stress interview was followed by HR interview.
Sample Question:
Are you organized? If yes than what is the order of certificate in folder?
You have 100 Rs at the starting of the day and you have to save 30 Rs such that you were
happy throughout the day, so how will you spend?
Do you value time? If yes than have you been to every class on time?
What are your skills?
What can you give to Lehman Brothers?
What do Lehman Brothers do?
Why Lehman Brothers and not Deutsche bank?
Special Tips & Comments:
Always prepare this question: Tell me about yourself and why finance why not core job. Do not
cram up an answer or else you will fumble there.
Visit Companys website thoroughly.
55
1
If you have done any finance, economics or probability course, then revise it thoroughly as they
will surely ask questions from them.
Keep your mobile phone switched off.
Do a good amount of reading finance. It will be a plus point if you are aware of the recent
financial news and basics of finance. If you are interested in finance it should show that you have
worked towards the same.
Do not give run off the mill answers.
marketRx

marketRx combines analytics, market research and technology to provide solutions that enable their
customers at global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to improve the effectiveness of their
sales and marketing initiatives.
Their business delivery model combines extensive industry knowledge with global online market
research and analytical expertise to deliver actionable solutions in sales force strategy, sales management
tactical planning, targeting, brand management, quick-turnaround market research, segmentation,
forecasting, sales and marketing metrics, and brand tracking.
Selection Procedure:
Round 1:
Type: Written Test
Duration: 60 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
There were 3 sections in the test:
i. Quantitative Aptitude
ii. Mathematics
iii. Essay Writing
Round 2:
Type: Personal Interview(HR/Technical)
Duration: Approximately 15 minutes
Sample Questions:
Why marketRx?
Which are the other companies you are aspiring for? What do you look for in a company
while making your choice?
What do you know about Operation Research?
Some classical Puzzles (e.g. Boat Problem)
56
1
Special Tips:
Know the company well(History, Market Capitalisation, Services they provide)
Knowledge of Operations Research will be helpful.
Practice basic puzzles and solve a few CAT papers.
Dual Degree Students are preferred over B.Tech Students.
NVIDIA Bangalore
Students Feedback on the Selection Procedure held on December 2, 2007

Round 1:
Type : Written Test (Software or Hardware)
Duration of Test : 60 minutes
All the questions were subjective in nature.
The company had offered two job profiles. Based on the profile there were two tests, one for the
Hardware & the other for the Software. The candidates were free to choose any one of the above
tests.
Hardware Test:
Number of Questions: Approximately 10
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Relevant Course(s): EE370
Basic Programming questions were also given. (ESC101 Level)
Some knowledge of Data Structures and Probability might be handy.
Software Test:
Number of Questions: 8
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
For this test, the candidate should be proficient in C++ coding.
Round 2:
Type: Personal Interview
Duration of Interview: 30-40 minutes
The interviews were more or less technical.
Hardware Section:

In this interview, the candidate was asked to solve the question(s) which he/she either
skipped or did it wrong in the Test.
57
1
Additional data were provided in case the candidate desired for the same.
Questions based on Summer Internships & Projects
Why NVIDIA?
What do you know about the products and business of NVIDIA?

Software Section:

Questions regarding Summer Internships & Projects.
Questions regarding any other relevant courses or work experiences (if any).
PANGEA3

Pangea3 provides legal process outsourcing services, utilizing client dedicated teams of lawyers and
engineers in India and the United States to deliver best-of-breed patent analytics and patent drafting,
contract drafting and contract management, legal research, competitive intelligence, electronic discovery,
and document review services.
Selection Procedure:
Round 1:
Type: Written Test
Duration: 60 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easier than CAT
Format: CAT Based
Round 2:
Type: Group Activity
Duration: Varies from 50 minutes to 2 hours.
Format:
The candidates were called and were asked to describe their B.Tech projects to the group one by
one. The description was to be done in a Layman term so that everybody can follow them. The
group was supposed to ask questions. The moderator took an active role in the discussion and
finally the group was enlightened about what Pangea3 is all about. The discussion was more an
informal one.
Round 3:
This was not meant for all the candidates. However, in a few cases officials might go for this
round as well.
58
1
Type: Personal Interview(HR)
Duration: Approximately 10 minutes
Very Informal.

Special Tips:

Study the basics of Intellectual Property Rights, Patents etc.
Visit the Companys website.
Brush up the fundamentals of your B. Tech Project.
Be ready to sit for long hours in the Group Activity.
RENAULT NISSAN
Round 1:
Type: Group Discussion
Duration: Approx. 10-12 minutes
Number of Persons: 12
The Format of the GD was usual. The topics given were relevant to Automobile Industry in India.
In the end, all the candidates were asked to suggest some innovative steps that might lead to
betterment of Automobile Industry in our country.
Special Tips:
One should have a good knowledge of Indian Automobile Industry for performing well in this
GD.
Round 2:
Type: Personal Interview(HR)
Duration: Approx. 10 minutes
Sample Questions:
Usual HR questions like Tell about yourself? Where do you see yourself 10 years from
now? Why do you want to join Automobile Industry?
Questions on Relevant Project work (if any).
Special Tips:
Project work related to Automobile industry will come in handy!
59
SCHLUMBERGER

Round 1:
Type: Group Discussion (Case Study)
Duration: Approximately 45 minutes
Format:
There were 2 groups in this round, consisting of 5 members each. Both the groups were given a case
where they were stuck in some deserted place and they had to rate 15 things in an order depending on
their importance for survival of the group. The groups were given 10 minutes to think and rate the things
individually. Then both the groups had a discussion for 15 minutes regarding the order. Finally, there
was one member called from each of the group and was asked to conclude the discussion in 5 minutes.

Schlumberger was offering 2 job profiles, Field & Research, Development & Manufacturing
(RDM).

Field Job:
Round 2 & 3:
Type: Personal Interview(HR)
Duration: Approximately 15 mins.
Sample Questions:
Why Schlumberger?
Describe some instance where you had shown some team work. What was your specific
role in it?
Question related to Summer Internships.
Special Tips:
Visit the Companys website properly.
Study a little History of Oil Exploration in India.
RDM Job:
Round 2:
Type: Personal Interview(Technical/HR)
Duration: Approximately 20 minutes
The interview was more on the technical side.
Sample Questions:
Why Manufacturing?
Questions related to your technical skills.
Question related to BTP (Detailed)
1
60
1
Special Tips:
Revise your manufacturing courses.
Be thorough with your B. Tech Project & Internship Project.
Knowledge of Autocad and other such software would be of great help.
SHELL TECHNOLOGY INDIA

Round 1:
Type: HR+Technical Interview
Duration: 40 mins
Panel: The interview panel consists of both the HR and Technical people. This time there were 3
persons on panel: an HR manager, one engineer (varying with departments) and one line
manager.

The resume asks you beforehand to mention two of the recent done projects with a brief description in 150
words. The interview starts with brief 5-10 min description of one of your project.

The HR questions that follow are:-
What were the conflicts that came during the project if it was a group project?
How did you manage them?
How did you manage the time required for it?
How the task distribution was done if project was a group one?
What was the outcome of the project?
The Technical questions will pertain to the basics required to complete the project.
The main stress of the interview is to check the problem solving approach of the candidate and
what the he actually did when a problem was posed to him/her.
The interview tests the candidate on 4 parameters called CART Capacity, Achievement and
Relationship all covered in HR and fourth is Technical.

Round 2:
Type: Case Interview
Duration: 80+ 40 mins
The background for this is already given one day before in the Shell Recruitment Day (SRT) one day before the final
day. One case study is given with sufficient reading material and time which is followed by an interview.
61
1
Sample Case Study (given this year): There is a fictional country in which the company SHELL
operates and you are the manager of the branch of company that operates in this country and is
reeling under some crisis. The reading material for the case study is 20-25 pages containing the e-
mails of the locals, the newspaper cuttings and reports from the local population. Each was
given 80 minutes to go through the material.
The interview asked you to identify the issues involved in that situation and then the key issues
even among these. This was followed by a brief presentation of 2-3 mins in which one was
supposed to tell which among them were short term issues, which long term and which one the
medium term.
This was an open ended case study in which a candidate was supposed to give a stand and
justify himself.

Round 3:
Type: Group Discussion
Duration: 60 mins
The background of the GD may be the case study itself as it was this year.
Topic (given this year):
Shell wants to do some social investment in the same country referred in the case study earlier.
The 5 people selected for this round were divided in 2 groups of 3 and 2 members respectively.
The group of 3 members was given 4 issues on which company should invest and decide upon 2
of them. The same was done for group of 2 members with another set of 4 issues. The groups in
the end were combined and of 4 issues (2 from each) decided by them, they were supposed to
decide on 2 of them.
In the end when they had decided on 2 of them, the group was told that there occurred a natural
calamity in that country. In this changed scenario how should the company proceed with sharing
the investments?
After this the 5 candidates were taken to a room where they were made to sit on a panel and the
Shell recruiting team then starting bombarding question posing themselves as reporters. They
were posed with all kind of questions:
Why choose that issue and not another one?
How the particular investment as decided by the group will lead to more increase in the goodwill
of SHELL?
The main aspect is to put to test the techno-managerial skills of the candidates.
62
1
TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS:
Do not take any project report, diagrams of the projects done by you. Just tell them orally during
interview to avoid stressing questions from the technical interviewer!!!
Speak only in the GD if you can do some value-additions.
Be prepared for quite a lengthy process till you get selected. It takes almost one whole day
during the entire process of selection!!!
UBS(IT)
Student Feedback on the Stage II of the Selection Procedure held on December 2, 2007
Not necessarily in the same order and may be in one go. (So you have to be at your best for one and
half hour)
Round 1:
Type: HR/Technical Interview.
Duration : 30-40 minutes.
Panel: Video Con
They will test your fundamental skills in OS.
Your quantitative abilities will also be put to test.
Sample questions:
What is multithreading?
What is synchronization construct?
You should be confident of whatever you have learnt in your curriculum for this round.
This interview will focus solely on your knowledge of electrical engineering.
Round 2:
Type: Technical Interview
Panel: Video Con.
Duration : 30-40 minutes
This one will focus on your language skills. This year one candidate was asked a lot of questions
on C.
They will test your quantitative skills. By asking some questions on mathematics here as well.
Then they may test your managerial abilities as in how good are your Comm. Skills, leadership
abilities and how well can you cope in a tight situation.
A lot of non-conventional technical questions will be required which require out of the box
thinking. They want to see how you approach a particular problem.
63
1
Special Tips & Comments:
Keep your mind open and think in different dimensions, while answering non-conventional
question.
You should have a good background in software engineering and management.
Visit Companys website to see what is the kind of work they do and how you can fit into that
role. You should be aware about the profile details as in various locations offered etc.
Answering technical questions on the video con is not usual. So dont panic and give it your best
shot.
Do your courses seriously.
VIA
Round 1:
Type : Written Test
It is to test your basic programming and Data Strcuture Knowledge.
Duration : 10-20 minutes
Consisted of three subjective questions
The questions were required basic C programming and knowledge of basic data structures .
The first two question involved implementation of Stacks and Graphs .
The third question was a testing question in which the applicant was required to debug a
program. The questions were highly logical and were of a high standard.
Round 2:
Type: Technical Interview
Panel: 2-3
Duration: 60-90 minutes.
Questions were asked on the basis of the written exam.
The candidates understanding of the questions was tested thoroughly. If you coldnt answer any
of the questions they might ask you about your approach towards that question and help you
reach a solution. So if you are not able to solve any question in the exam, come back and think
and discuss the same.
Further questions were asked based on Data structures and programming.
The interviews were very interactive.
Awareness about the companys operations and work profile will give you an advantage in the
interviews.

64
1
Round 3:
Type: Technical Interview
Panel: 2-3
Duration: 45 minutes
This is a thoroughly technical round where the emphasis is on testing your programming and DS
knowledge.
Special Tips & Comments:
Prepare the regular HR Questions as well, they might ask you in the first round.
Visit Companys website thoroughly.
Keep your mobile phone switched off.
YAHOO!
Student Feedback on the Selection Procedure
Round 1:
Type : Written Test
Duration : 60 minutes
The interview tests your basic knowledge of
- Algorithms
- Networking
- -Unix and O.S.
- Database Management
You are expected to be thorough with these areas so it is advised that you brush up the basic
concepts.
They may ask you about the courses and projects you have done. Hence, brush up!!

Round 2:
Type: Technical Interview
Duration : 40 minutes
Questions were asked from random topics such as Orthographic Projections in TA101 or
Diagonalization of a matrix. So make sure you revise whatever you are putting on your resume.
General understanding of computer science related topics was tested and questions were also
targeted towards the departmental courses you have done.
Sample question: A code involving link lists and pointers was asked. It was required to be robust
and free of errors and exceptions.
65
Round 3:
Type : Programming Round ( Held in CC- Linux lab)
In this round, the candidates were given a question with hints/steps to attack the problem. They
were required to code it in Java/C++ and run the program.
Sample question: Suppose you have a large number of files and you have a list of words. Now
you need to find those files which contain all these words. The code should have a small
runtime. Hints were given such as search for a particular word in all the files using some data
structure and then repeat the process for all words. Then take intersection of these files to arrive
at the answer.
Round 4:
Type : HR interview
It was a general kind of interview.
Candidate was asked about his family background, why he wants to join Yahoo!, why not go for
higher studies etc.
Special Tips & Comments:
Possess some knowledge about various topics under computer science.
The selection procedure is rigorous and tiring, it might extend to late hours.
HR Interview is equally crucial so prepare the expected questions in advance.
It will also help you if you are able to identify the needs of the company in temrs of the kind of
candidate they are looking for. So contact seniors working in Yahoo! J
TRANSOCEAN
Round 1:
Type: Group Discussion
Duration: 15 minutes
Format:
Time to think 1 minute
Discussion 10 minutes
Conclusion 4 minutes
The observer in the GD took care of these time limits.
Sample Topics:
Is ICL good for cricket in India?
66
1
Academic System at IIT K
Child Labour
Special Tips:
Make sure you reach a conclusion.
Do not try to speak at the cost of cutting down chances of your group members.

Round 2:
Type: Personal Interview(HR/Stress)
Duration: Approximately 30 minutes
Sample Questions:
Why Transocean?
Moral Dilemma Questions
Resume Based Questions
Weird Questions , such as:
i. What is the difference between the flying of a Helicopter and a bird?
ii. How many stairs are there in Lecture Hall Complex?
Special Tips:
Stay Calm & Confident.
Be Honest and DO NOT LIE.
Visit the Companys website thoroughly.
Feedback of Students on the Test held on November 29, 2007
Duration of Test 60 Minutes
Number of Questions Approximately 125
All the questions were Multiple Choice Type.
There were 6 sections in the Question Paper:
Section Number of Questions Level of Difficulty
English Grammar 20-25 Easy
Maths 20-25 Very Easy
Pattern Matching 15-20 Easy
English Logical Reasoning 8-10 Not so difficult
Data Interpretation 6 Easy
Eye Sight Test 15-20 Easy
67
1
English Grammar :
Correct the sentences.
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word.
Comprehension Passage
Maths :
Trigonometric Relations
Permutation & Combination
Quadratic Equations
Coordinate Geometry
Logarithms
All the questions involved Class XII level mathematics.
Pattern Matching :
Some pattern was given with blanks left at few places. Students were asked to fill them
with the most appropriate choice

English Logical Reasoning:
Few Statements were given. On the basis of the given statements students were asked to
derive a logical conclusion.


Data Interpretation :
Graphs were given and simple question were asked on their basis.

Eye Sight Test :
Find the difference between two similar looking sentences. The difference could be a
spelling mistake, a grammatical error or a punctuation mark difference.

Special Comments:
Question Paper was lengthy.
Speed is crucial factor.
Students preparing for CAT or other such examination may have an extra edge
Revise the trigonometric relations and values.
68
BOSTON ANALYTICS

Round 1:
Type: Written Test
Duration:
The test had mostly aptitude and logical reasoning questions.
The test pattern was very similar to that of CAT. So going through some sample papers and
preparation material for CAT will help.

Round 2:
Type: Group Activity
Duration:
The participants were given Lego blocks and were asked to construct structures.
Instructions were given for the same. Adherence to instructions was emphasized upon. Playing
along with the groups was also given importance to. T
hrough this they were testing candidates team skills, leadership skills and how will you can
execute an instructed task in a team.

Round 3:
Type: HR Interview
Duration:
This round will focus on your general personality and your CV.
CV based questions were asked. Extensive cross questioning was done. So prepare and brush up
all the projects you have done.
Some simple mathematical/puzzle problems were also given which required presence of mind
Read about the company, its work areas, newer operations etc. Specific questions about the
company were encouraged .
Retention is another area crucial for the firm as they just set up a new floor in Pune.
Tips :
Be prepared for questions on the basis of your answers.
Have a good idea about the companys activities and pay attention to the ppt. Go through their
site carefully. Ask specific and not general questions.
Cite examples wherever you can.
1
69
1
HSBC
Round 1:
Type: Written Test
Duration : 1 hour
Type : Quantitative, Passage Reading, Flow chart fill up (based on algorithm)
Preparation for the CAT will help you in this exam as well. You may go through the preparation
material for CAT to prepare for this test.
Round 2:
Type : Technical
Duration : 25 mins
Sample questions:
They asked about 60 percent of the courses done during the BTech/MSc/Dual/MTech
programme.
Questions were mostly technical.
If you have done courses on Probability and Statistics that will give you an edge but be
thorough with all the concepts.
Questions were simple based on fundamental concepts related to that particular branch.
e.g. to a Mathematics & Scientific Computing student some of the questions asked were
- What is Cauchy convergence?
- Define Widening Numbers.
- What is Poissons concept?
Round 3 :
Type: HR
Duration : 25 minutes
Sample questions:
Tell me about yourself whatever you have not written in the C.V.
Why did you take drop of two years after passing 12
th
?
Your academics will not be of any use during your job, is it okay for you?
What is your Departmental Rank?
A simple puzzle was asked regarding advertising.
Puzzle: I want to advertise my products in a newspaper or using pamphlets as which one
will be a better medium to advertise my product. I had to answer that question based on
some facts given in the question. The puzzle involved simple mathematical reasoning.
What are your future plans?
What is your family background
70
Special Tips & Comments:
Be confident during the interview.
One should behave like a person who can be trusted upon.
You should be yourself.
Retention is very crucial for the firm.
RIO TINTO
Student Feedback on the Selection Procedure
Online form
All the applicants had to fill up an online form which was very important. One must take his time to fill
up the form. The online form plays an important role in recruitment.
Contents of the form- personal details, questions whose answers are often written in resume (as they dont ask for
separate resume), have you ever lived in remote areas , work experience & internship experience etc.
One telephonic interview was also taken, but they told that this was of no use and they might not take
it from next year onwards.
Round 1:
Type: Written Test (Psychometric Test)
Duration : 25 mins to 30 mins for each section
Questions were from: Quant, Pattern Match, Verbal Analysis.
Here also CAT material will help.
Round 2:
Type : General HR
Duration : 40 mins
Questions were based mainly on the online form.
They explore you as individual testing your leadership and team skills and how well you can gel
in their company.
Sample questions:
What did u do in internship?
Give an example where you showed leadership skills.
One of the questions they asked me was-
Suppose you had fight with printer operator. Now you have to print a page of paper, what
will you do so that you are able to print that page of paper.
What are your favourite courses?
What do you like about the academics of your institute?

71
Round 3:
Type: General
Duration : 20 minutes
Sample questions:
As the work location is in Australia, so they asked what will you miss mostly about India if
any?
Will my parents allow me to join this job?
They were telling about their company itself for most of the time during round 2.
What are your future plans?
What is your family background?



Special Tips & Comments:
Communication skills matter a lot.
If you have an internship in Australia then you have better chances of getting selected.
One has higher chances of getting selected if he has work experience in remote areas.
Student should have good academic qualification (preferably CPI >7).
After all these procedures a medical test is also taken to test whether the boy/girl is physically fit
or not? (student is checked for TB, HIV etc)
72
memories ...
Overall Placement Coordinators (2008-09):
Rahul Sharma Kaipa Karthik P. Ravi Kumar
rahuls@ kkarthik@ pravik@
+91-94503-43191 +91-98385-09836 +91-99563-25354
The Students Placement Office
Address: 109, Outreach Building, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur - 208016
Phone: 0512-259 4433/ 4434
Website: http://www.iitk.ac.in/spo