BePrepared

FMCG | P&G
Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Name: Mrinal Kumar Jain

Department: Mechanical Engineering (DualDegree)
FINAL JOB OFFERED: Procter & Gamble

How did you prepare your resume? Any help/material you took/read?

I took help from my friends to prepare my resume. Also inputs from my seniors were very fruitful.
Did you attend Pre-Placement talks? Did you gain anything out of them? Did you talk to anyone else about choosing
between jobs/companies?

Yes, I attended all the Pre-Placement talks. I think these PPT’s are very important as they give the insight of the
company and help you set your priorities.
Any website/material you read/used for preparation of Case-Studies/HR Questions/Puzzles/Technical/GDs? (Your
sending across links/documents would help us compile a single point resource)
Firstly this BePrepared is very useful for various interview experiences. In order to prepare for HR Questions I took help
from my friends. For GD’s the workshop conducted by IMS was very helpful. Also various other useful sites are
listed below:
http://hrinterviews.blogspot.com/
http://www.techinterview.org/index.html
For interview/GD/Test preparation did you prepare in groups or individually? Which one do you think helps the most?
Any details you provide will be of great help.
I prepared in groups and I believe preparing this way is very helpful.
The Company in which you got recruited
What was the procedure of selection?\ Roughly how many people were short listed at each level? And how many were
made final offers?
The selection procedure for P&G includes one written test and then 2 rounds of HR interviews. After the test around 40
candidates were shortlisted and at the end 6 were made final offers.
Walk us through the GDs/Interviews of this company. The questions that you were asked and other details that you
may remember would be of great help. (You may not write the answers you gave)

Questions asked in the Interviews

• Tell me about yourself, your family background.
• Describe a time when you were leading and influencing the direction of a project or task to deliver significant
results
• Describe a situation when you faced a difficult problem and you were able to solve it.( details of the context, the
action you took and the results that were achieved)
• Provide an example when you approached your work with a mindset of having limited resources or time. ( details
of the context, the action you took and the results that were achieved)
• Describe a situation when you changed your decision after being influenced by others.
• Describe any innovative idea given by you and to what extent has it been implemented.
• Do you have any teaching experience, if yes then describe it.
• Describe a situation where you have carry forwarded the work of your predecessor and to what extent have you
been successful in completing it.
Above questions were asked in a repetitive manner so one is expected to be consistent in answering the questions.
If someone wants to appear for this company, what all should he/she ideally prepare?
First and foremost go through the site of the company. One should prepare thoroughly the for the HR interview. Also
one should be consistent right from the beginning of the Selection procedure of the i.e written test, questionnaire and
both round of interviews.
Other Companies in which you were shortlisted
P&G was the first company I got short listed and was made final offer.
What was the procedure of selection? What all happened in your GD/Interviews? Anything you remember can be of
great help.
Your key learning from these experiences? What mistakes did you commit?
General Tips
Overall, any particular mistake that you committed during the whole process?
I didn’t prepare for the thoroughly for the written test during the whole process. The CAT material of any
coaching institute is very helpful for the written test of various companies.
Any key tips for interview-day, viz. dressing, etiquette… ?
Regarding dress you are expected to be in formals. Don’t get nervous during the interview. Take your time to
think and then answer the questions.
Did you apply off-campus? Where? What was the procedure? Any memories?
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 BePrepared

No I didn’t apply off-campus.

Name: Rohitashwa Choudhary

Department: Chemical Engg.
FINAL JOB OFFERED: P&G
How did you prepare your resume? Any help/material you took/read?
I started with resumes of my seniors ( try having a look at seniors having a similar profile as yours, that helps),
generally looking for a good format and how to put my points across. I noticed that the general pattern of all the good
resumes was three fold: 1. Identifying the problem and defining it well. 2. What measures were taken.. 3. What results
were obtained. Try to model all your subpoints in such a pattern. Using the list of adjectives and verbs given at
MIT’s website ( google for MIT Resume writing tips) helps quite a lot.
After prep of 1st draft, getting it edited by friends and seniors/elders is one of the most important steps. Don’t be
shy about it, its better if your mistakes are pointed out by them rather then the interviewer ?.
Did you attend Pre-Placement talks? Did you gain anything out of them? Did you talk to anyone else about choosing
between jobs/companies?
Not many PPT’s attended, due to diff reasons.
Any website/material you read/used for preparation of Case-Studies/HR Questions/Puzzles/Technical/GDs? (Your
sending across links/documents would help us compile a single point resource)
There is a folder of case questions and a HLPQ(huge list of personality questions) floating around in the institute. Try
getting hold of it. It is more then sufficient
For interview/GD/Test preparation did you prepare in groups or individually? Which one do you think helps the most?
Any details you provide will be of great help
Prepare for CAT seriously, even if you don’t intend to do an MBA. It helps brush up your quantitative and
analytical skills, which is the test basis for many a companies. In my case( in my group of friends), I found that whoever
dint try giving CAT, eventually ended up suffering because of bad quantitative and DI skills. Everyone thinks that they will
practice DI, but nobody does it finally :P
For interviews, write down the answers to questions in HLPQ in a similar threefold format, wherever possible : 1.
problem faced. 2. Actions taken. 3. results. Don’t learn the answers ( esp. language) by heart, doesn’t help
you in any way. Ask our friends to question you and practice.
For interview, there is an approach saying that you should prepare a timeline…of what happened in your life(
major incidents) and then try to pick out some major incidents. Didn’t follow that approach myself, so cant say
how much effective it is.
GD’s : No point doing it individually. Pick up a topic and do a GD. Haven’t faced one till now.
The Company in which you got recruited
What was the procedure of selection?\ Roughly how many people were short listed at each level? And how many were
made final offers?
Shortlist was based on an aptitude test followed by resume and a particular Q and A section asked by P&G online.
Around 20 people were shortlisted for interviews out of which final offer was made to 5 people.
Walk us through the GDs/Interviews of this company. The questions that you were asked and other details that you
may remember would be of great help. (You may not write the answers you gave)
There were no GDs. I faced three rounds of interviews, all three of which were HR. All began with the question “
Tell me about yourself”. I firmly believe that you should prepare your answer to this question well, for this is the
question which directs your interview further. If you are able to bring out your best qualities, it’ll lead to a good
interview, with the focus in interview being on the points which YOU have stressed in the 1st place.
In my case, with a very low cpi, I focused on my organization skills in my 1st answer, which led to a discussion on
Techfest. We had a good three quarters of an hour of discussion on the same point. When the issue of my low CPI
arose, I simply said that I focused on overall personality development, which was evident from my work at Techfest and
as a Soc secy.
One of the questions which took me by total surprise was : “ Who is your role model?”
I hadn’t given a serious thought to this question before. I tried to think of a big name, none came to my mind.
Not even Sachin Tendulkar. I bought time by drinking water. Even after that I was silent for full 10-15 seconds. Eventually
I came up with a name of senior, Amit Ghorawat, whom I was very impressed with, due to his management skills and his
way of handling people. The interviewer was very very impressed with the honest answer, asked me the reason and
even said “ Yeah, it doesn’t have to be a larger than life figure. The reasoning is quite impressive”.
The important thing is to keep calm in such situation and not to freak out, which in case, I had done, would have screwed
up my chances totally.
If someone wants to appear for this company, what all should he/she ideally prepare?
One should be good in quantitative skills and a bit of English so as to be able to clear the aptitude test. Also the answer
to the questions put on site should be well researched and well thought upon, as these are the questions that guide the
interview further. A major focus is given to the answers to those questions.
Be prepared for 1.5-2 hrs of questioning. You will have to maintain your calm the whole time. ?
Other Companies in which you were shortlisted
What was the procedure of selection? What all happened in your GD/Interviews? Anything you remember can be of
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 BePrepared

great help.
Company 1: DB
Shortlist based on resume and test.
Screwed up the interview major time. Didn’t go right from the beginning. Started with acads, ended with acads.
Tried to discuss finance with those people.

Your key learning from these experiences? What mistakes did you commit?
You should try to focus on your strengths. I committed the mistake of starting with acads, which I wasn’t good
at. My initial thought process was that eventually as they move on to 2nd page of resume, which was focused on my
extra – currics , I’ll fare well. But as it turned out, we never reached the 2nd page. One of the gravest
mistake I committed during the entire placement season. Though I corrected it the very next day, finally getting placed in
P&G. ?
General Tips
Overall, any particular mistake that you committed during the whole process?
The only mistake was not focusing on my strengths in DB interview, which could have resulted in a job earlier.
Any key tips for interview-day, viz. dressing, etiquette… ?

Dressing: Be neat, clean and impressive. Walk firmly. Use powder if your hands are sweating too much. Keep extra
copies of your resume. Be sure to take a bath, it really helps ?
Don’t hesitate to extend your hand first to shake it, it displays assertiveness and confidence. Keep a smiling
face, even if the interviewer is going harsh on you.
Be sure to talk to your seniors who have been in the company and have cleared interviews he previous year for tips.
Did you apply off-campus? Where? What was the procedure? Any memories?
No.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: SACHIN SHARMA
Departmen: MECHANICAL
FINAL JOB OFFERED: PROCTAR AND GAMBLE, ITC ltd.
1. How did you prepare your resume? Any help/material you took/read?

It was with the help of seniors. Its always better to go through some seniors’ resumes before writing one. I also
sent my resume to some seniors so as to get a feedback and to make the appropriate changes.
Resume should not be taken as a 1 day job. Every point in the resume should be clear and should reflect the intended
qualities.
Also the proof reading task to identify small mistakes can be given to juniors.
Did you attend Pre-Placement talks? Did you gain anything out of them? Did you talk to anyone else about choosing
between jobs/companies?
Yes , in the starting session of the placements I used to attend the ppts as they started in the last semester only. They
help a lot in deciding about the companies but if one is not writing anything down then its very difficult to recall the points
from a ppt that one has attended 2 months back.
Its always better to have a conversation with seniors in different jobs so as to have an idea about the job profiles and
work conditions so that a clear decision can be made.
Any website/material you read/used for preparation of Case-Studies/HR Questions/Puzzles/Technical/GDs? (Your
sending across links/documents would help us compile a single point resource)
At the time of placements only a doc file with some standard HR questions was circulated within the batch. I went
through it and prepared the HR questions once. I also gained some insight into case studies by the documents circulated
by the batch mates.
I didn’t think that solving puzzles beforehand helps in an interview as if you already know them then its very
difficult to hide it from the interviewer.
For interview/GD/Test preparation did you prepare in groups or individually? Which one do you think helps the most?
Any details you provide will be of great help.
I just took basic GD fundaes that are available on google and from some of the friends who had attended some TIME
and IMS GD sessions.
Since I was preparing for CAT to some extent and used to appear for MOCK CATS. So it helped a lot in the tests as
most of the tests are CAT based. So it’s better to go through some CAT practice books to prepare for the tests.
The Company in which you got recruited
What was the procedure of selection?\ Roughly how many people were short listed at each level? And how many were
made final offers?
In P and G the selection procedure consists of the following:
A test and resume shortlisting - shortlisted around 45 students.
2 rounds of HR interviews - shortlisted around 15
Final round of HR interview – made offers to 5 people
In ITC ltd. The selection procedure consisted of the following
resume short listing – shortlisted around 100 people.
Group discussion - shortlisted around 20 people
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 BePrepared

Final interview (technical + HR) - made final offers to 6

Got recruited in both of them as they both were on the same day and as per my preference form that I had filled in the
morning of the same day, I was given P and G India.
Walk us through the GDs/Interviews of this company. The questions that you were asked and other details that you
may remember would be of great help. (You may not write the answers you gave)
I had both the companies (P and G and ITC) on the same day. The shortlist came on the last night. So there was not
much time to prepare. I went through basic HR questions and noted some important points for some of the HR questions
like describe yourself, qualities, weakness and also future goals. Also went through the sites of both the companies
which really helped to know what they look for while recruiting.
P and G India and ITC ltd.(both on the same day)
I had my first interview of P and G in the afternoon. There was only 1 interviewer in the room. He asked me the basic
HR questions. Normally P and G has a set of HR questions which are asked from every interviewee. They include:
Tell us about youself.
tell us an incident when you worked as a leader.
when you worked as a team member.
when you worked in a time constraint.
when you solved a difficult problem.
tell us about the organizations for which you worked and your contributions towards them.
These were the questions that were asked in the interview and these questions are also there in the form of the
company that needs to be filled at the time of signing for the company.
First interview went really well, may be I can call it the best interview I have given so far. Though it is very difficult to
make out in an HR interview that it was bad or good but by the end of the interview the conversation became very lively
and it seemed that the interviewer became very much involved.
After this first interview the guy was so impressed that he arranged for my second interview within 5 minutes. Normally
after 1 interview 2nd interview takes around an hour. In the second interview there were 2 interviewers, senior than the
first one. They asked the same set of questions. This interview also went terrific. I was quite sure about the selection, but
situations turned hostile and the excitement continued. Actually after these 2 interviews they put me and 1 other guy on
hold and their person in charge told us not to keep our hopes high as they were going to interview other 13 people short
listed after these 2 rounds. But in the night I came to know that we 2 had already been selected and the on hold thing
was conveyed in a wrong way.
Somewhat depressed with P and G I went for Group discussion of ITC ltd. I didn’t have much hopes with ITC as
they don’t have any history of selecting anybody with a CPI of 7.1. I also didn’t have any acquaintance
with GD’s as it was my first time in a GD. I had acquired some tips from some of my friends who had attended
TIME and IMS GD sessions and even from google.
I had learnt that only speaking doesn’t count, following things should be kept in mind:
Putting up a new point has some points.
Extending someone’s point and adding to it also gets some points.
One should be humble during the discussion(don’t be aggressive)
Quoting some facts from newspapers, magazine adds to your score.
Arguments should be sensible and to the point, never talk non sense as it creates a bad impression on the group and
they will try to neglect you.
if you don’t have any knowledge on the topic , first listen for 2-3 minutes, grasp the matter, build your points and
then speak.
One should neither be too loud as it may sound aggressive nor too low as it might make him less audible.
GD went good, but even then I didn’t have much hope due to my low CPI and also there were around 110 short
listed people.
After some time I received a call from P and G recruiting guy, and they told me that all the places for P and G India
have almost been filled , so would I like to join P and G Japan in R and D. I didn’t have any interest in Research
and development and I was a bit not ready for Japan. So I said no. They again called me and asked that I had problem
with R and D or with Japan as they could also offer me ‘product supply’ in there. I told them that I had
problem with Japan. Then they told me to wait for the final result.
By then the shortlist of 20 people from the GD of ITC had been announced and surprisingly I was there with other 9
and 8 pointers.
I had concentrated on my course projects and other summer projects and as such I was takin it lightly. I went for the
technical interview of ITC. There was a panel of 5 persons. They asked me a number of technical questions, most of
which I coudn’t answer. I told them that I had fine basics but when they grilled me on basics I was taken over in
basics too. But I showed them very high confidence and they were really impressed by my answers. They really liked my
attitude as I was able to justify my low CPI though they tried to rag me on the CPI point which ITC normally does even in
case of 8 and 9 pointers.
The interview of ITC went nice but I couldn’t make out as it was a technical + stress interview. But when I
narrated the whole interview to my friends they felt it was a nice interview.
P and G results were announced a bit earlier but I was restlessly waiting for ITC result as I never thought I could clear a
technical interview and that too ITC one, but In the night the results came and my name was there in the final list of both
the companies.
If someone wants to appear for this company, what all should he/she ideally prepare?
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 BePrepared

P and G India:
Prepare their set of HR questions well and to the point.
Think of all the instances they ask but it shouldn’t seem that you have memorized all of them.
Go through the company site well and find out what they look for while recruiting.
Be calm and cool in the interview and try to make your conversation lively and not like a speech.
ITC India:
Get some practice of GDs with your friends , if possible.
Have a clear idea about the GD’s as in what counts in a GD.
In the interview be confident, but not overconfident.
Try to justify your confidence with your work and projects.
Don’t try to manipulate your answers in any interview, if you don’t know then tell them clearly, because
trust me, they are very smart people.
Don’t hesitate to ask them to repeat the question because its better to ask then to answer a wrong question.
Other Companies in which you were shortlisted
What was the procedure of selection? What all happened in your GD/Interviews? Anything you remember can be of
great help.
Company 1:
Deutsche Bank, India
I was short listed for the interview based on the aptitude test.
In my first interview I started with the question’ describe yourself’ and I made a mistake of telling them
that I am very good at mathematics like an honest IITian. Then they started grilling me on mathematics and finally I had
to give up. The interview was very short of around 10 mins and I couldn’t move to the second round. I even felt
the lack of preparation.
Your key learning from these experiences? What mistakes did you commit?
1) Always go through the company site and gather as much information as you can.(it shows your interest)
2) Don’t make any statement that you can’t back up with any instances.
3) Always be prepared with basic HR questions.
4) Be confident.
5) Try to make a HR interview a very lively conversation. It counts.
6) Don’t hesitate to ask anything from the interviewer. They are eager to help you out. They want to check your
aptitude not your memory.
7) Your resume speaks a lot so take good care of it. Always fill the forms of companies like ITC and P and G after
giving a considerable thought to the questions.
General Tips
Overall, any particular mistake that you committed during the whole process?
1 mistake that I mentioned above at the time of Deutsche Bank, India, that is telling them I am good at mathematics.
Any key tips for interview-day, viz. dressing, etiquette… ?
Be properly dressed in an interview. Suit is not necessary but do get nice formals and a tie. It always helps to create a
good impression as it tells them that you are interested in the company.
Don’t get too excited nor get too low in the interview. Try to maintain a consistent energy in yourself.
Did you apply off-campus? Where? What was the procedure? Any memories?

No I didn’t

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