Lister Technologies: First Interview Experience!

We have reached the final year of engineering, already! It’s placement time at college. There were many start-ups coming in, but like many I was waiting for the biggies to come. :-)

Lister Technologies. Lister was posted as the next company to visit us on the notice board. I was rather reluctant but finally decided to give it a shot, thanks to my friend’s persistence. There were some prerequisites, those above 8.5 CGPA (85%) could only apply. I attended the pre-placement talk; it is basically an e-billing company, located only in Chennai and believe me, it was addressed by the CEO of the company himself! 

Round 1: Aptitude test. It is the most scary part for all those easy goers, who qualify for the direct interview round of TCS (above 75%). The test was scheduled at 9 in the morning, but commenced at say 9:30. When I received my Question paper, the numerical section had no options to gamble. But then, as I started solving, it was fine. I could say, 'try' was much better option than well-practiced gamble.

The results were scheduled at noon and I didn't even bother to show up. I was convinced that, some real hard-worked or over-cooked geeks would have done much better than me and why waste my energy walking all the way to next adjacent building to know the results! Nah! I was chatting with my friend [Yes, the same one who got me to apply]. 

I received a message saying 'Hey, U got selected!’ from an acquaintance. Though, I was surprised initially, I didn't really like the '!' in the message, nor the message as such. I was shortlisted for next round, one among the 36 students selected from entire set of college folks who applied.  

Round 2: Group Discussion. I had to report post lunch at 2:30, between which my mind went round and round. Believe me, I had nothing- no resume, no file, no certificates. I could see, all the guys in well trimmed outfits [Were those brand new shirts or good Ad products for Surf excel], girls in neat cotton dresses, and I was wearing a dead-simple chiffon dress with crushed up shawl [What the hell was that, I asked myself?]. 

There was confidence to do well, but then my mind still couldn't accept the fact that, those geeks did worse than me [after all, its relative ranking]. 

Well, 36 of us were divided into 6 groups and our group topic was: Academic Excellence leads to Professional Excellence, your thoughts.

Guess what, I spoke against, saying 'No, I believe Academic Qualifications are only a criteria for entry into any profession, but one needs interest, passion to be successful in any profession one chooses’. Citing examples from- 1.Abdul Kalam, who was a simple engineer from MIT Chennai and not from the so-called elite institutions Harvard or Cambridge, but was the architect of the missiles like Agni, today the entire nation is proud of, to 2. Current placements where in all above 85% are given equal preference and it all depends on how one performs at each step'

I knew I nailed it. I was one among them the 19 shortlisted for Round 3 

Round 3: Interview, the big Interview! We were asked to assemble the next day morning, and interview process was on. Each one was screwed for about 45 mins-1 hour! I was called with some six still left waiting. Even, as I was called in, I was with a confused mind- ''Should I go for this!? Really!? Will a brand name like TATA, IBM or other biggies be a better choice to start the work life!? No, Yes, Confused!"

We were not given an option of dual-placements in case of Lister. So, once Lister comes your way, no other company. No TCS! No IBM! No Accenture! No other company!

Interview was conducted via 'Video Conference'. Technology, huh! Okay I went in, before I could complete 'Tell me about yourself', that man caught the word 'READING' from my hobbies and asked if it were fiction or non-fiction. I said BOTH. Then, series of questions on maths, situation based, web-design, programming, databases and what not. I couldn't hear him clearly on most of the questions, thanks to poor WIFI services, huh! However, I did fine answering good number of questions. [It reminded me of T20 Cricket; where, a batsman tries to hit every ball to the boundary, but does miss out on some. So, I could call myself a good batsman but a practical one]

Results were to be announced at 7, but declared much after that. I was tired, and all I wanted- was to get back home, than even getting placed! Well, results were declared, five selected. No 'I' here. I was initially dejected, or wait; is it too big a word to use for the way I felt?? I got over it pretty soon, the moment I left the hall. [May be I couldn't fake the last question well on why I wanted to join their company! ;)]

Surprising, but YES! [I’m happy waiting for Biggies to visit us 'TCS', 'IBM', 'Accenture', 'HCL', ‘BOSCH’ and...many other!]

 Well, that was my first interview experience!