Bagging a Day-1 Internship

Hey, its Shuvam here. This is a continuation of my previous post.

Day 1 intern at IIT Kharagpur is quite the stress-shredder of the pre-final year. I didn't have the idea until I experienced it for myself.

The Saturday

So let us continue from where I left. I was standing outside the GD room with my group at 00:10.

We were soon called inside NC231. On the podium were 7 chairs, 2 of which were different from the rest. As I stated earlier, I didn't know the "rules" of a GD, but I knew you have to stand out from the rest, somehow. The only source of confidence was that I liked public speaking.

(A few Google searches on 'Group Discussions' had got me an interesting result. Once, during the GD, some company had arranged a 'corporate' table like the one shown below:

Source: archiexpo.com

It was noticed that no one sat on the "leader's" chair. The candidates by default, didn't have a 'leadership' instinct. Why is this important? With leadership comes responsibility. So people with such instincts are naturally responsible.)

With this in mind, I went and sat on one of those 2 chairs. You can never say what matters and what doesn't. I also noticed everyone was clean shaven, but I was not. I hoped it wouldn't matter.

The GD

After we were seated in a circle, we introduced ourselves. Then we were given a sheet of paper with a problem statement written on it. The problem was somewhere along these lines:

"You, along with six other friends are travelling in an aircraft. Due to some drastic technical fault, the aircraft crashes in the middle of a forest at around 4 in the evening. Luckily, no one is hurt. You find a lot of stuff scattered around you and your friends. Here is a list of everything you can see:

[A list of 20 items follows e.g gun, axe, candle etc.]

First, make your own list of the items in descending order of priority, as to what you think will be most important for the survival of you and your friends until help arrives. Write these down in the first column.
Second, discuss with your group and arrive at a conclusion as to the collective priority list. Write these down in the second column.

You have 20 minutes for this exercise"

So I wrote down my list, as did everybody. After a while, a guy initiated the discussion (he was sitting on the 'second' chair. Spoiler Alert: he also qualified the GD with me). Everybody gave their own opinions as to what they thought should be the priority list. I listened to everybody's argument. I didn't speak till the very last.

During the last 5 minutes, once I had everyone's attention, I explained and convinced why my priority list is more accurate. I gave a logical explanation to whatever I thought. For example everybody wanted safety to be the first priority, so they were suggesting guns, axes etc. But I argued that in a forest, where there is no source of light, and it is about to be night, if we can't see around in the first place, how could we protect ourselves. So light sources should be the first priority.

By the time we reached the fifth item, the ITC official declared that our 20 minutes were over. By this time, on my paper, the first 4 items were matching in both the columns. We submitted the sheets and the next group came in.
When we were about to exit the room, one of the officials came up to me and said: "I didn't catch your name". That instant, I had a vibe I would qualify. Why else would he bother asking me my name again?

It was 01:00 and I rushed for the Microsoft exam in the room above. The second round was still going on (it was a 2 hour exam). It had started from midnight; I was late by an hour. There were 2 questions on the board. We had to write down the solutions on paper. I solved one of them, by the time it was 02:00. I asked the invigilator if I could get some extra time. She gave me only 15 minutes extra. That was all. So I didn't have time to solve the second one completely. At the end, she declared that the shortlist would be on the CDC notice board by 03:00 and the interviews would begin from 06:00.

Sleep? What does that mean?

I came back to my room by 03:00. I kept checking the CDC notice board for the shortlist. I couldn't sleep before that. Finally, they issued the notice at around 03:30, and yes I was on that list. There were around 16 names, which meant that from every group either 1 or 2 people were selected. (There could have been a group from where no-one was selected, and similarly a group from where 3 were selected.)

We were asked to gather at NC131 by 06:00 for the interviews.

The immediate question in my mind: Should I sleep or not?

I saw Nitish shaving his beard at 03:30, which reminded me that even I had to do the same. He said he wouldn't sleep, so I asked him to wake me up at 5:15. I went to sleep at around 04:00.

Nitish forgot! I woke up hastily at 5:30, shaved and bathed. Then I rushed to NC131. It was filled with people. HUL, ITC, Bajaj etc. All companies had their interviews. It was Day 1 after all.

I waited patiently for my turn to come. I had my laptop, so I was researching a little about ITC: its history, its products, its offices etc. Abhimanyu was doing the same.

All nervousness escaped when my name was not called till 8. Then I just wished for it to get over ASAP so that I get to sleep. By the time it was 09:00, I began playing CS:GO to keep myself awake.

Finally I was asked to go to NR221. Even there was a queue of people waiting for their turns. Again, I waited patiently. 

Source:thejobnetwork

Somewhere around 09:45 I was called in for the 1st round interview. It was a technical one. There were 2 interviewers, one HR and the other was an AUT (ex Kgpian who just joined ITC)

They asked me to explain about my projects as mentioned in my CV. Then he was asking supplementary questions and follow up questions. Basically domain knowledge was checked and everything that I mentioned on my CV was touched. The HR guy didn't ask much. This round lasted for about 30-35 minutes.

After that, I was asked to wait for my second round interview. (The PlaceComm would be very clear about your situation and would convey directly whatever the company thinks about you.)

Next, I was called inside an AC lounge where a senior ITC officer was present for my second round interview. He had a copy of my KITES Application form, the one where I had to write some long answers. He asked me directly from that form, my projects, my hobbies etc. When I said that I liked astrophysics, he asked me who my favourite astrophysicist was. I said Professor Michio Kaku. Then he asked me to explain some of his work. As a result, in the next few minutes, I tried to explain String Theory to him (as much as I had understood myself).

He asked me why I had chosen ITC (of course, everyone asks this question, but no one knows the answer to this). I said something in the lines of "a very well established company for over 100 years", "variety of businesses", "good corporate exposure" etc.

Finally we shook hands and bid farewell after about 40 minutes of conversation. He seemed to be in a good mood.

I came to my room by 11:45 and fell asleep straight away. When I woke up at 19:00 in the evening, messenger was blaring with notifications of "Congratulations".

That was all! In another hour I was at Domino's with my friends.

Next day on 5th August, I had to submit my "acceptance". Basically just sign on a paper.

With this, the summer of 2019 was sorted.

Hope you got some useful insights. Don't hesitate to ask doubts in the comments section.
And stay tuned for the upcoming post on the unique KITES program experience!

The Vacillating Phase

Hey! Its Shuvam here. Hope you are doing well. This is a write-up about my KITES internship experience at ITC in the summer of 2019. Hope it will be a good read.

Beginning of pre-final year

This is definitely a very indecisive phase for most undergraduates. As soon as college started for my 5th semester (16 July 2018), I too, was confused as to what to do for my upcoming internship.

The entire summer of 2018, most of my peers had been practicing competitive coding, but I never really liked coding as a full-time job. Most of my previous work and projects had been on areas of core Electrical Engineering (Power Electronics to be specific); hence I couldn't decide whether to apply for an FT (Foreign Training), which was relatively easy to get for my field or to apply in CDC (Career Development Center) internships (since most of my peers were doing so).

My 3rd year had just started and I had to make a decision about my 2019 internship one year in advance. It meant two things:

• If I opted for a CDC internship in a company, there could be a prospect of a PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) and hence I should apply in a company where I would actually like to work in the future.
• On the contrary, if I opted for an FT, that would be a plus point if I wanted to go for higher studies in my core field (which I actually wanted).

I had never thought so seriously about this issue until the last day of CDC applications, when I registered myself for the CDC internship process.

What I finally decided

I decided to apply only for "good" companies, i.e those that are well known and have a good enough pay. I knew that even for the FT applications, I had to wait till September. So, in the meantime I might as well apply for some of these companies. I wouldn't really be at a "loss" irrespective of whether I get selected for that company or not. In case I didn't get selected, I would have the option to apply for several FT schemes like Mitacs, DAAD etc. Also, let's face it: peer pressure does play a role.

Hence I applied for Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Goldman Sachs, ITC, Blackrock and a couple others. All these companies came in the first week of the internship season.

The First week of August 2018

I had submitted my CV to all those companies, barely knowing how and when the exams were to be held. (Yes, I did not inquire about every detail from seniors) I had subscribed to the MFTP group that directed any CDC Notice to my mail. It was really helpful because I realized notices on the CDC board change by the minute.

With everything set, I started getting all these notices about the date and time of exams, the seating pattern and the venue. Mostly, the exams were held at CIC or Nalanda Complex.

The time of these exams was after 22:00 generally. I remember that the exam for Texas Instruments began from 12 midnight! I had also applied for Microsoft, and was selected for the second round.

During this week, classes were also going on from 8 to 5. I had about 28-29 credits, with 3 labs and so for most part of the week, the entire day was engaged.
Meanwhile PPTs (Pre-Placement Talks) were also going on for some companies in Vikramshila. Attending them was, I felt, essential, because that gave an overview of what kind of a job you were applying for.

The Friday

Friday of that week was particularly tiring but I guess destiny has its way.

• I had classes from 8 in the morning
• I had a lab till 5 in the evening
• There were PPTs of a number of companies that evening from 6.
• after the PPTs, much more exciting stuff was to follow, that would extend until the next day noon

Co-incidentally, the timing of the PPT of ITC was clashing with that of Blackrock. I decided to go for Blackrock, because I wanted to know about the investment management role.

After that there was a PPT of Microsoft that lasted till 8. My mind was still peaceful, until Hemant came up to me and said: "Did you see the shortlist?"

"Shortlist for what?" I asked in surprise.

"For ITC".

"But I didn't give any exam for ITC!"

Then he showed me a pdf file with a list of people who had been shortlisted for some exam. I didn't know what exam, though. He said that the first shortlisting was done by them "internally". So out of the estimated 200+ applicants, around 90 were shortlisted. 

On what basis? Does CGPA play a role? I don't have any clue. But there were people with quite low CG who were also shortlisted, so I guess CV was given more importance.

Anyway, the 'exam' was to be held at Nalanda. I was wearing the usual jeans-tee, and cycled my way to room NC231.

Reaching there I came to know that it was a psychometric test and there would be no eliminations. Also, I saw most of the guys were wearing formals! They informed me that the GD (Group Discussion) would be held just after the test. I was starstruck! I didn't even have formal shoes. I was going to buy them that weekend. What would I do? I called Shyama to get his scooty and come pick me up from Nalanda. I had to rush to my room for a change of clothes after the exam was over.

With that thought in mind, I took that test. It had some 17 questions. All were scenario based MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) and there were no "wrong" choices. It served the purpose of testing the consistency of your answers. So it was expected that one would answer honestly. Now, whether this test had any influence on one's selection, I am not sure. But again, you never know!

As soon as the test was over, I rushed to Patel Hall. Changed to my formals and inquired every room for a black shoe that would fit me. Nobody had one! 

Helpless and about to give up, Hemansh came up to me with his formal shoes. Life saver! I rushed back on the scooty to NC231, only to find no one there!

I paced back and forth, made a few calls and discovered that everyone was shifted to NC131. 

GDs of all companies was about to start by 23:00. ITC, HUL etc. So everybody was gathered there.

A few Placement Committee members were also present. They were announcing the names of the group members for the GD. Now whether they were making the groups or just announcing the names from an already made list, I am not sure.

So I waited there for quite sometime. My second round exam for Microsoft was from 00:00 midnight. I hoped the GD would be over by then. 

However, my GD did not start on Friday. So, I couldn't take the Microsoft test as well.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, my name was called along with six others. Yes, they were creating groups of 7 for ITC.

We were asked to go to room NC231, where the GD "setup" was ready. I was nervous obviously. Didn't know what was going to happen. Never had I practiced GD before. I liked public speaking though. That was the only source of confidence.

So, Saturday it was, just past midnight.

Anxiously, we waited.

Stay tuned for the next post!