When you eat a Sandwich in HR interview

I woke up two hours early from my usual time which was quite unusual. Though, I was supposed to be woken up by my alarm but that day i.e. 4th march 2010 I was woken up by mother nature. Sun rays from a window falling straight onto my face as if asking me to get out of bed. While brushing my teeth I looked outside the window and realized that the ambiance outside looks exhilarating 1 hour after dawn.

The reason why I got up so early is because Accenture wanted to recruit students from our college. I had as usual no hope at all because as told by some friends they want only hardcore programmers. Which was a myth(Thank-God), which I later came to know. So with no hopes of being recruited, I neither shaved my beard nor wore formal shoes.

When I finally reached PICT(where the recruitment took place), I saw many,many unusual faces. I thought they might be of PICT but later came to know it was not only PVG(my college) and PICT but also Cummins and PCCOE. Summation of all students added up to 500+. Which made me even more disheartened. Then I managed to find some of my college friends and I observed nobody was tensed on seeing so many students. On inquiring why no one was nervous, it was thanks to Cummins girls. I literally could see all the heads(especially PVG's) were turned towards the assembly of 100 girls from Cummins.

Round-1 Aptitude test.
Was 100% sure this will be my first and last round. I started to make plans of things to do when I immediately get out of this round. But as politicians say "never say never", a friend(well wisher) came and told me that questions will be easy. Which gave me immense confidence to crack this test.

As test got over I was confident that I will make it to next round but still had butterflies in my stomach. I got back with friends who were still busy with "bird-watching". Even I joined with them with their pass-time,which made me realize that I was actually getting less and less worried about the test results.(That's the beauty of girls they actually get rid of all the stress of a man.I then understood why people say, behind every successful man there is a woman).Suddenly results were out and selected names were called out loud. My name was also called but it was pronounced weirdly,anyways I did not mind it.

Round-2 Group Discussion(GD)

I was sitting quietly with my friends in a room waiting for someone to come and conduct our GD. After sometime, a ma'am(name undisclosed) entered the room. Ma'am
was wearing formals of natural fabric,cut to perfection which reminded me of the film Corporate. My first reactions was that this GD will be the toughest I will ever give. But everything went very smoothly and I managed to get through to next round.

Round-3 HR interview

I have to admit that this was the best interview I have ever given and will ever give. GD got over at 4 in the evening and I was called for my HR interview almost after 4 hours. These 4 hours were like 4 years for me, I could not go out to have tea not even allowed to go out of our classrooms.I did all possible things I could do to pass this time. Finally It was time for my interview.

As I entered the room I saw it was the same ma'am who took my GD. So got even more nervous,but all my preconceived notions,assumptions were vaporised in a jiffy when she offered me a grilled sandwich. First,I refused to take it but because I was hungry I took a bite. I was then asked the orthodox questions like 'tell me something about yourself', 'why this company' and I pretty much managed to answer it correctly. Ma'am also asked about my blogging and I instantly asked for her e-mail address and also promised to write a blog on this HR interview experience.
Next couple of questions which I answered should never be tried by anyone in their HR interview.

1) you have consistently got less marks, any reasons??
a) Ma'am my marks don't reflect my knowledge**.

2) Do you have anymore questions to ask me??
a) May I take some ketchup(for sandwich)????

Finally I came out and was little satisfied with what I answered. But then my friend said Satisfaction lies in efforts, not in success.

After the technical round(Final round) I was disheartened as I was not able to answer 2 questions.

But as they say when everything goes right and right and right. I was finally recruited in my dream company Accenture. Now I can really say High Performance. Delivered.