It was a journey filled with pitfalls and a string of failures before it resulted in me finally getting a job at Principal Pune. It starts with the fact that my college is a private institute called AISSMS IOIT in Pune. It had fair placement records some years back, but in recent years due to bad management decisions and incompetent placement officers, resulted in a decreasing quantity and quality of placements. Therefore the year I was graduating from college we had a paucity of placements. There were some mass market companies coming for pool campus drives and the competition was enormous as almost 2000 to 3800 students were fighting for limited jobs at each placement drive. I was selected for a few companies in these Pool Campus Drives but these companies were expecting us to sign a bond for 2 to 3 years of undivided work with them.
I wanted a company more appreciative of the talent I was bringing to the table and which gave me an opportunity to grow as a professional. I heard of eLitmus by using Google to search for "The Best Graduate fresher test in India ". By studying the pattern of questions that usually come in eLitmus I was able to get a good score. Mind you! It was the toughest non-technical test that I’ve given till date.
Principal Global Services interview was very selective in its approach. It consisted of 3 rounds, namely:-
- Technical Interview
- Functional Interview
- HR interview
Firstly they asked us to write about our long-term goals on a piece of paper which was attached to our CV. They called us for the interview after that.
In the Technical Interview, the interviewer expected me to explain my final year technical project, my personal projects and he asked a few technical questions and gave simple codes to write. The consistent efforts I put in my final year project really helped me here. My project group-mate and friend Amey Bansod who is an Android Developer and the founder of TechnoClever.com and I looked into all the technical aspects of the project. We even got the best project award in our Computer / IT Department!
If you are curious then you can read about our project here: Virtual Dressing Room For Low-End Devices on TechnoClever.
Getting an edge over other potential candidates is possible by completing MOOCs and projects along with it. I had two Udacity degrees and its associated projects that helped me in this situation.
The interviewer was testing my basic logic and quickwittedness at the same time. The interview was CV specific, therefore it varied for different individuals. The basic idea was to check how well we could articulate technical ideas in simple language so the focus was also on linguistic capability. On sufficient grilling on technical aspects of final year projects, my personal projects and subjects taught in my BE degree, the interviewer asked me to wait for the next round.
In Functional Interview, there was a new interviewer who checked my capability to think on my feet, both logically and ethically. He checked how much of a match I am to the organization. This was not a technical interview as such but the CV specific questions were certainly asked and the conversation had a technical edge to it. Background of the family and questions about future plans are certainly asked.
In HR interview the resume specific questions are asked, general news and general knowledge is checked. There is no bond for this company as it believes in giving the employee the right to choose whether he/she wants to stay with the organization or not. Therefore no discussion of a bond was done, unlike the other interviews I had been to till then. Character verification and tough questions are asked on the basis of the long-term plans I had written before my technical interview.
This interview was conducted on the 30th of June and the result was declared on 2nd June. The date of joining was 5th July.
The first few days were quite eventful. The onboarding is the most extensive that I’ve heard across entire IT organizations in India. They slowly introduce all the main leaders through their lectures that detail their roles in the organization and their expectations for our batch of trainees. The training is both technical and soft skills-oriented, i.e. They holistically train us to be better versions of ourselves to profit both the company and us as an individual. The organization is very flat and one can move about once a level of competency is achieved throughout the organizational roles. The leaders are very approachable and like to be called by their first names instead of “Sir” or “Madam”.
Finally, I would like to state that it was only because of eLitmus that I could get a chance to work with a Fortune 500 company right out of college.
I saved the best part for the last, this office is walking distance from my home. I can walk to my office in 8 minutes. Therefore I will save a lot of money, time and hassle of intra-city travel. Living with my parents while I get the job I always wanted is a great feeling and I consider myself extremely lucky to get the right chance at the right time.
In conclusion, I would say that an eLitmus pH score never goes obsolete. We have to wait for the right opportunities and grab them immediately. I would like to thank eLitmus for providing excellent opportunities and platform for students like us who do not get great opportunities in campus placements to showcase their talent. A big thanks to Aditya and Anuj Sir from eLitmus for their constant inputs to help throughout the process…