Total Pageviews

Sunday 18 August 2013

Preparing for Campus ...

The most important thing in a campus interview is to be yourself.  It is easier said than done as in all probability it is your first job interview and you are in cloths, which you generally do not wear, additionally there is a tie hanging awkwardly.  To top it, the procedure has started from morning, so it is quite exhausting mentally and physically.  So best thing is be prepared ,  I will give you simple dos and don’ts from the experience that I have during my years in Cognizant and various student interactions in Calcutta University and Institute of Engineering and Management ( The views are completely personal)

Ø    Read each and every word of your resume , don’t keep anything if you are not comfortable
Ø    Introduce yourself is a sure question , don’t fumble on this , set it up here , tell about your subject interest , hobbies ,  if you are a student partner , a class representative , some uncanny hobbies, part of your college computer society .  If you have done something academically very good don’t forget to mention that.
Ø    Strength and weakness is optional and if you say something, please be prepared to back it up. So if you say you have analytic mind or you are hard working, you should be able to give few examples
Ø    You need not be too forthcoming on your weaknesses, and please do not mention like I am too emotional or I am loose tempered.
Ø    Have a professional looking email id ,  not something like itwasnoteasy  , walkthetalk , or futufutejyosthna . Don’t laugh , I have faced it
Ø    I will say write it down and practice, record and listen to if required.
Ø    Don’t over commit on your subjects , two theoretical subjects , one/two programming language , one database should be sufficient
Ø    Prepare well on your final year / Internship project ,  architecture , business sense / unique proposition should come out very clearly
Ø    People have told their hobby is reading, when I have asked what book they last read, they are drawing a blank.
Ø    Be prepared for questions like, “Why do you want to join TCS”, “Why should we hire you”.  I would have been honest with these questions like “I have heard very positive things from my seniors, and Tata name has a huge brand value. The training programs are excellent ……..”. Not something like this is my dream company and I have always thought of joining this company and all that.
Ø    If you have a year lag or considerable % drop please prepare for the same question.
Ø    On technical part , please understand people who are coming will be 10 + years experience and mostly they might not ask you definitions ,  I will ask you to focus from interview perspective , not an examination purpose ,  know the examples , understand the concepts , discuss with friends to gain confidence.

Ø   Pseudo code will suffice most of the cases , so do not spend lot of time on syntax

For few technical questions on DBMS , you may visit DBMS Questions

Wish you All the very best.