I wish to share with you all, my experience of appearing in a placement drive conducted by ACCENTURE. The experience was remarkable at each and every step throughout the entire process. ACCENTURE is a dream company not only for every budding engineer but for grown-up engineers as well. So reading this experience of mine can be of some help to all those who wish to be a part of ACCENTURE and for all those who are searching for some crisp tips to appear in interviews.

First of all, an APTITUDE test was conducted. This test comprised of ENGLISH section, QUANTITATIVE section and LOGICAL & ANALYTICAL REASONING section. In all, there were about 20 questions in each section, hence 60 questions in all. We were supposed to attempt all these questions within an hour (60mins). This, of course, doesn’t mean 1 minute/ question, rather I devoted more time to the questions in the MATHS section because that demanded lengthy calculations. Next, I shifted to the LOGICAL section. Within half an hour, I had completed my MATHS section and LOGICAL section. I was just left with the ENGLISH section and 30 more minutes at my disposal. I finished the English section in the next 15 minutes. Still I was left with 15 last minutes. In this time duration, I revised all the questions for once, and tried to solve those questions, from various sections which I was unable to solve earlier. Some of them I could manage to solve but some were still left unsolved. However, out of 60 questions, I could manage to attempt 49 questions and had no clue about the solutions to the remaining 11 questions. The results were declared the same day and I was amongst the selected few. I used the word ‘FEW’ because out of hundreds of students, just 73 students were selected for further proceedings. The rest of the students were told to leave.

Then was the time to appear for a TECHNICAL interview. I was ready for the interview with all the required documents of mine, neatly tucked up in a professional file. On being called for the interview as per my turn, I entered into the room. I wished the interviewer to which, he gently replied. I, then, occupied the seat on being offered the same. The interviewer started the interview by asking questions related to the programming language C. After a brief questioning on C, he shifted towards C++. I was being asked questions regarding syntax, commands and features of C++ language. I, however, answered almost all the queries with great confidence. Later the interviewer started asking questions regarding JAVA. I handled his queries with utmost confidence because I had gained proficiency in JAVA during my Industrial Training period. In the last phase of this interview I was asked a wide variety of questions regarding the project which I had worked upon, as my Major Project. Following is the list of questions being asked to me during this interview.

1. Commands used to accept and print a string in C. How is C different from C++?
2. What are objects, classes, methods?
3. Which is fully object oriented language………….JAVA or C++…………….Justify.
4. What is Object oriented Programming?
5. What is Data Abstraction, Data Encapsulation and Data Hiding?
6. How would you rate yourself in JAVA on the scale of 1 to 10? (Be careful while rating yourself. Be genuine because ultimately, you are expected to justify the same. Avoid too high or too low ratings.)
7. What all problems did you face while working on your Major Training Project? How did you manage to solve all those problems? (I explained all the problems I faced and all the strategies I had used to solve those problems. I could easily manage to explain because it was all real. Never try to bluff or bake stories because the interviewers are seasoned professionals and can easily make out the difference between the reality and the fiction.)
8. How did the people of the Organization, for whom you were making the project, projected their requirements in front of you?
9. State an incident when you had suggested incorporating a feature in your Major Project, much to the liking of the organization, for which you made the Major Project. Elaborate.
10. State SDLC in detail.

I answered all the above stated questions in a manner so that I could make the interviewer feel that I have a sound technical background. Needless to say, that I used English as a medium to answer all his queries and hence my communication skills came to my rescue in addition to the domain expertise that I had developed since the time I had entered the Engineering College. The interviewer was really courteous throughout the process. Overall, it was a pleasant experience for me to be a part of this interview and a great learning experience, indeed. The results were announced and I was again selected for the next interview round.

The next interview was specifically HR interview. On being called for the same, as per my turn, I entered the room. I gently wished the interviewer, to which he replied. He offered me the seat and I occupied the same. He initiated by asking me to introduce myself. Later the conversation between me and the interviewer took various turns and gave various opportunities to the interviewer to explore my mindset. Following are the questions that I was asked during the HR interview.

• Introduce yourself.

(Always start with “I am………..”   or   “My name is……………..”. Avoid talking about your family background until and unless being specifically asked about the same.)

• What is your biggest achievement in life? Justify.

(I said that I don’t believe in big achievements, rather I believe in small term goals. To this he raised an eyebrow, signaling that he did not agree to what I said. But with proper examples from my real life, I justified my opinion to the interviewer in a gentle manner. I managed to convince him…..!!!)

• Name any 3 cities of India where you would wish to work. Why?
• State an incident from your life where you emerged as a good leader. Justify.
• State an incident from your life when you had acted as a good team player. Justify.
• How did you manage to work on your Major project……the difficulties that youI faced………the strategies that you used to sort those problems out…?
• What do you know about ACCENTURE.

(Be true at this step. I confessed that I did not know much about the organization but shared all that I had learnt during the pre-placement talk. It was absolutely okay with him because, I guess, what mattered more to him was the truth rather than fake and ornamental answers.)

• Are you a slow/average/quick learner? Justify with an incident from your life.

(Again be very careful while answering such a query as it needs a proper justification. I stated that I am a quick learner and justified the same much to the satisfaction of the interviewer.)

• Would you like to ask anything?

(Be prepared with a genuine and an impressive question beforehand. Your question would indicate the extent of interest you vest in that organization.)

The HR interview revolved around the experiences that I had gained throughout in my life, as a student. I draw the following conclusions from all the above statements.

• Be whatever you actually are. Never pretend or try to bluff because it would go futile sooner or later when you would be caught.
• Communication skills play a very important role in making our ideas presentable during the interview. So due importance has to be given to those skills.
• Dare to give challenging answers only if you are confident enough to justify them. At times one has to present one’s viewpoint blended in the manner expected by the interviewer. This art is at times misinterpreted as DIPLOMACY. But I am actually talking about WISDOM.
• Skills required to crack an interview cannot be mastered overnight. So grab all the opportunities and try to extract the maximum experience out of each. Your each small achievement will add up to a big achievement.
• The only instrument in this world to measure your sincerity level is your MIND. Keep measuring the level of sincerity by using your mind.

I hope that this mammoth experience of mine would of great assistance to you. Anyhow, even if you still have any query, feel free to ask the same.

Best wishes….!!

Poojanpreet Singh

Note from winnerscience: You can also read TCS, Aon hewitt, Goldman sachs and other companies experience here.