Recruitment @ Thapar

Last Monday (September 5, 2011), I went to Thapar University from my office, for campus placements. There were 10 of us, and except for me and another Analyst (who is an alumnus of the college), the rest all were Senior Managers, Managers, and Assistant Managers. In other words, the other eight people constituted the "higher management" of the firm. Initially, I was quite apprehensive of going and wanted to back out. But, in the end I thought, "what the hell! Let's go and have some fun."

To say the least, it was a really awesome experience, and as the time approached I became quite excited. Firstly, we were going out of Delhi, because Thapar University is in Patiala (Punjab). This meant no office for two whole days but with attendance on both days :-) :-) Secondly, I was going for recruitment to a college, other than NSIT, for the first time, and that also with high profile people (my unit head was one of them). Last but definitely not the least, we were going to PUNJAB!!! One of my most favorite places in India. Well, we started from Delhi via train (Shatabadi Express) at 7.40 AM on Monday, and reached Ambala (where we were supposed to get down) at about 10.30 AM. From there, Patiala was a one-hour drive and the college authorities had sent in cars for us. We reached the campus by 12 PM and were straight away taken to the guest house. There we freshened up a bit and then immediately went to the main auditorium to start with the process.

There were around 370-380 students sitting for placement in The Smart Cube, the highest I had ever seen (in NSIT and DCE there are generally only 150 to 200 students sitting for a company). The first half of the process went out normally. There was the pre-placement presentation, after which we had the aptitude test. Then we went for lunch, and after that spent around 2 hours in correcting the answer sheets. By 5 PM we had shortlisted the candidates for the next round, which was the Group Discussion (GD) and had divided them into different panels. From the GD round, started, what I call the downfall of Thapar students. Now, let me divert a little and tell you something, so that you understand why I wrote the last sentence. Being an engineer myself, I have considerable knowledge about quite a few engineering colleges in India (thanks to all the research I had done when I was giving my entrance examinations in 2005). So, I have always thought that Thapar is one of the best private engineering colleges in the country. Also, two of my relatives are Thapar pass-outs and are quite intelligent, and are doing very well for themselves. Thus, I had very high expectations from the students. But, what I saw there was very disappointing. The students were so very cut-off from the real world, and lived in their own sweet world, which was limited to their campus. Also, their knowledge was completely bookish. Divert a little from the theory to practical application of a concept, and they got stumped and confused. Another thing which was surprising for me as well as the others was the lack of general knowledge in the students (This was true for even NSIT students). I remember when I was studying, I religiously used to read the newspaper, and there were many a times when me and my group of friends used to discuss the various articles we had read. Hence, I could not understand what really changed in the last two years that engineers completely stopped reading or watching news.

Anyway, after 12 GDs, and three rounds of very intense interviews, we somehow managed to give offers to four students. GDs and the interviews were really funny, to say the least. Some of the answers were so hilarious that I and my panel partner (a really cool manager) burst out laughing right there and then. Also, for some interviews, I got so engrossed in watching the by-play of questions and answers between the manager and the candidate, that I didn't ask a single question. Not surprisingly, we rejected all the students. Well, I won't go into too much details here and just like to share some of the funniest answers with you all. So, here goes:

GD Topic: Pink is the new blue

Point made by a student: Women are the overpowering and dominating the men. The Sonia Gandhi is plotting against the Anna Hajare (he actually said Hajare and not Hazare). But, Sushmita Sen is the defending the Anna Hajare in the parliament!!

Point made by another student: Girls like wearing pink clothes. Boys like wearing blue clothes. Now girls are also wearing blue clothes, and boys also wear pink shirts. So, pink is the new blue!

Interviewer: Do you read newspapers?

Interviewee: No

Interviewer: Then how do you keep in touch with the happenings in the outside world?

Interviewee: I read news on the internet, I read Yahoo News.

Interviewer: Oh..how often is that?

Interviewee: Whenever I log-in to check my e-mail, I read the news given on the Yahoo homepage. Also, I check my mail around thrice a week, so I read the news three times a week.

Interviewer: Who is the Vice President of India?

Interviewee: No, I don't know.

Interviewer: Who is the Vice President of the US?

Interviewee: Sorry, I don't know this also.

Interviewer: Who is the President of France?

Interviewee: I don't know this as well.

Interviewer: Who is the CEO of Infosys?

Interviewee: Sorry, I don't know this one either. (Laughs in a funny way at this point)

Interviewer: Can you name some competitors of Facebook?

Interviewee: Ummm..aahhhh.. (she takes 5 minutes to think)

Interviewer: Do you know what's Facebook?

Interviewee: Yes Yes. Ummm..I think one competitor is Gmail. (Let me tell you, this female is a student of Computer Science engineering)

Interviewer: Do you know actually know what's Facebook? Do you have an account?

Interviewee: Yes, I have an account. I made it a few days back only, because we get all our placement updates through that only.

Interviewer: Right. So I'll just tell you that Facebook is a social networking site. Now can you tell me the competitors?

Interviewee: I know Facebook is social networking, so even Gmail is social networking.

Interviewee: But Gmail is web-based email. There is a difference between the two.

Interviewee: Keeps shut and gives a weird and irritating smile.

Interviewer (to the same Computer Science female): Have you studied computer networking?

Interviewee: Oh..so now you'll ask me technical questions?

Interviewer: Errr..Yes. Any problem?

Interviewee: He he (again the irritating smile) Not at all.

Interviewer: So, can you tell me the difference between a circuit switch and a packet switch?

Interviewee: Ummm..(thinks for two minutes and then gives some hopelessly wrong answer).

Interviewer: Are you sure?

Interviewee: Sorry, I don't know this (The frigging smile is back!! Grr..)

Interviewer: Which is the one sector in India wherein you would want to invest, and why?

Interviewee (answers immediately): Automobile vendors'/suppliers' sector.

Interviewer: Why is that?

Interviewee: There is a shortage of automobile parts in India. When recession came in 2008, automobile suppliers stopped producing the parts. Now also, when automobile manufacturers are asking for parts, the suppliers are not manufacturing enough, due to fear. So, I will invest and make the parts available to the manufacturers.

Interviewer: But, we have been hearing that the recession might come back. So, don't you think that it is a risky investments?

Interviewee: No no. As I said, there is shortage. So, it will be very profitable business.

Interviewer: Can you estimate the number of females in all the beauty parlours in Patiala on a Wednesday afternoon, between 3 and 4 PM?

Interviewee: There are 5 good parlours in Patiala. They are - Lakme, Habibs, etc. (gives five names). So, once I went to Habibs on a Wednesday, between 3 and 4 PM. There were eight girls in the parlour before me, I was the ninth, and there was one female after me. Thus, we were a total of 10 females. Now, 10 in one parlour, total five parlours, make it 50 females in all parlours in Patiala on a Wednesday afternoon between 3 and 4 PM.

Last but not the least, there was one guy who had actually done his SWOT (Strength - Weakness - Opportunity - Threat) Analysis, and had got a print-out of it to give to the interviewers. Super cool, isn't it?

Well, we also had a lot of fun in eating out and shopping in Patiala. But that requires another post altogether. That's it for now.

Signing Out,

Punjabi by Nature!!