MY OPJEMS INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE 2011

In the online test, opjems asked many decision making questions (mcq) and two essay type
questions. The online test was of one hour. Some of the questions were:

1) When faced with a crisis like situation what do you do?

a) Find the culprit and blame him

b) Ponder over what caused this problem

c) Come up with a quick solution to the problem

2) What kind of company would you like to join?

a) Well renowned mnc with attractive package and benefits

B) A medium company with stable package and no benefits

c) A start up company

3) Which one of the following companies would you join?

A) Apple

B) Dell

c) Infosys

4) Suppose you have a project due next week, and one of your employees who is working on that
asks for leave. What would you do?

a) Grant him leave and assign his task to some other team member

b) Grant him leave and finish off the work myself

c) Don’t grant him leave and explain the project’s importance to him

The two essay type questions were as follows:

1) What value will this scholarship bring to you?

2) Explain one technological piece of work which can improve the Social-Economical background of
the country?

Interview
I had read about the interview experience on a blog. The panel would be friendly and they would ask
you questions which would make you think. Here is an account of my interview went

p-panel m-me

p: Good afternoon Sachin. I like your glasses

m: [smile]thank you sir I like yours too.(his glasses were big and simple but he had a long black and
gray beard which looked cool, I should’ve complimented the beard but in nervousness that’s what I
said)

How has been your day so far?

m: Good afternoon sir. It has been good sir. Thank you.

P: I am so and so, from Jindal group (I forgot the names of the panel members) and with me I have
the Mr.X, founder of Career launcher and Mr. Y (a high position officer from some company).

M: Good afternoon sir

P: tell us how you are feeling right now?

M: I’m excited about the interview and I’m looking forward to it

P: so no nervousness?

M: I’m little nervous

P: tell us one incident where you had a heated argument with some one?

M: it was last year when I and my friends had to make a project. We had five days holidays but we
didn’t work. On the last day one of my friends came to me to start the work to which I got angry and
said why we wasted so much time.

P: are you’ll friends now? Do you’ll talk?

M: yes sir. We are very much friends and we still do talk.

Tell us your happiest moment from last year?

It was when I got a branch change from mining to civil

Weren’t you happy in mining? How did you get a branch change?

I got a branch change because I had applied for it

Which other branches did you apply for?

Civil mech and comp

Civil is short for corruption is vital in life. So how are you happy in it?

[laughs]I love this branch and I will always try keeping a clean hand in my work
Tell us about the saddest moment in your life

It was when I failed jee.The day of jee results was a sad day for me. I had worked hard for two years
and …

[cutting me off in between] what did you learn from it?

I learnt that I shouldn’t be scared of anything. I used to be scared earlier, always thinking always
analysing. I realised that I should work more and think less.

Do you have a driver’s license?

No sir

Do you and your friends ride your bike in full speed at night?

No sir

Don’t lie I know you do

[big smile] I would love to do that but unfortunately haven’t done it yet sir

Suppose I give you a question for one lakh and tell you that you’ll get the money even if you answer
it wrong or I give you another question for two lakhs and say you’ll get nothing if ypou answer it
wrong. Which would you go for?

I would go for the two lakh question

So you like taking risks

Yes sir

But one lakh is very big amount why are you letting go of it?

Yes sir it is a big amount but the money belongs to you only if you answer it correctly and to answer
it correctly you have to play

That’s true

Suppose I say that kbc will ask you this two lakh question on 31st Sept would you play?

Yes sir I would

Ok that’s good but Sachin there is no 31st September

Oh….I didn’t realize that! (my biggest mistake in the interview, I wasn’t alert)

Its okay

Your name is Sachin and you are from mumbai right?

Yes sir,

Tell us five similarities between you and Sachin tendulkar

Ok,

I am a hard worker like him

I don’t indulge in sledging like him

I like to answer my critics with my work like him

And….[I couldn’t think of any other] that’s all

That’s all?

yeah

Tell us a situation where you got less than what you deserve

[thinking] can’t think of anything sir

C’mon there must be some instance, take ten fifteen secs more to think

Tried to remember something but couldn’t get anything

Okay, tell us about some time when you’ve had to confront a large crowd

Sir, when I was in school I had joined this cadet training programme called Sea Cadet Corps and I
was enrolled there for many years, there we were trained to be incharges of divisions consisting of
around 30 cadets of ten- eleven year olds.

We were made to train so hard, exercise so much that that the next day’s our whole body would
ache and we wouldn’t be able to get out of bed

So you hated it?

No sir, I loved it. I t was a lot of fun

Okay. Behind you there is a whit board right?

Yes sir

Tell us three things that you can do with it other than writing on it?

(I was prepared for this kind of a surprise question because I had read an earlier interview in which
they asked the candidate,’why he wasn’t a potato?’)

You can use it as a barrier or a shield

If someone comes to hit you okay and…

You can change clothes behind it

[laughs] okay and...

It has wheels attached to it so you can take a ride on it

Won’t that be dangerous?

Yes sir but it will also be fun

[laughs] okay

Tell us a way of measuring the area of it to maximum precision without using scale or ruler

I have a4 size paper lying next to me. Seeing the number of times it fits on the black board…

[interrupting] whiteboard

Ok whiteboard and multiplying it with the area of the a4 sheet I can get the area

What are the dimensions of an a4 sheet of paper?

[sheepishly] I don’t know sir

Ok if the whiteboard is made up of 19 a4 sheets and area of a4 sheet is x the area of blackboard is
19x but you don’t know x

A4 size is a standard size, I can just find out the size by opening ms word

Any other method

I can say that the breadth is about one and a half meter and the length is …….

That’s a very approximate method. You are in civil no? give us a better method

By taking a picture of the whiteboard on my comp screen and measuring the distance between the
comp and the board I can scale out the dimensions of the whiteboard and find the area

Ok

What are the chances of you winning the scholarship?

A hundred percent sir

Don’t you think you are being over confident?

No sir

I’m not saying that I’m the best student you have interviewed today or that I’m better than the
hundreds of students that you interview all over the country all I’m saying is that I have faith in
myself. I trust myself

Ok
In your résumé you have mentioned a lot of extracurricular activity that you did when you were in
school but not much in the one year in college? Any reason for that? Was studies too much to
handle?

No sir, I love my studies and I am participating in many other club actives that I haven’t mentioned in
the resume

Such as?

Such as there is a group in college called SOLVE (Students online Learning Virtual Experience). We
make simulations of actual experiments and upload them on the net for the benefit of students in
colleges where lab facilities are not available

And?

And I’m also working in the Civil events committee and Socially Conscious Engineering Committee
for our tech fest. (I had applied for sce committee but later got to know that I wasn’t selected for it)

Ok

If you were made the prime minister of India for a day what changes would you make?

I would pass the lokpal bill and strive to remove corruption from the administration system

What would you do?

I would remove all corrupt public servants. I would make a gov where the people look up to and had
faith in their system

Thank you Sachin. Are there any questions that you would like to ask us?

Yes sir, why is this scholarship limited to only the branch toppers

Suggest us a new method for selecting better ppl

[I got angry on hearing this] sirs the better people are already selected

[Laughing]

I meant my friend asked me this question and I had no reply for it

The topper criteria are only for short listing candidates.

How would you feel if you got this scholarship and how would you feel if you didn’t?

If I got his scholarship it would help me put a small smile on my father’s face, he has been working
very hard for me….

[interrupting]And if you don’t get the scholarship?

If I don’t get it then no issue sir, no big deal it s okay.

Thank you Sachin. Send the next guy in after two mins
Thank you sir

This was my interview. It was disastrous according to me I had screwed up many times but it’s the
best I could’ve done. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I thought of many fitting replies to their
questions after I came out but things don’t click easily when you are in there. The panel consist of
many heavyweight people who are just trying to get to know you and how you think. They have to
finish many interviews in a single day; they sit from morning till evening continuously. So they
become tired that’s why it is important to smile, show your interest, crack a joke just to lighten the
atmosphere, and make it worth their time.

All the best guys have fun! ;)