Ritesh Burde

Profile at a Glance

I was shortlisted for Vedanta Oil and Gas (Cairn India) on day 1. They usually hire people for 3 profiles which are people from Earth Sciences and App Geophysics (not sure about the profile), Operations profile for Chemical, Petroleum Engineer profile for Civil and Mechanical.

Placement Experience

Technical Test-
The test was conducted by Cairn India one day before Day 1. Most of the questions in the test were technical but not related to Civil Engineering as the test for petroleum engineer profile and operations profile was the same. CPI cut-off of 8 was imposed to come out with a shortlist for the test. Being a joint paper for Chemical, Mechanical and Civil; questions were mainly from topics like Electricity and magnetism, Chemical compounds, some aptitude questions basically JEE questions.
Group Discussion-
All the students who appeared for the test had been called for Group discussion round. All the shortlisted Civil Engineering students were made to sit in a single group for the GD process which made it clear that they wanted to select at least 1 person having Civil Engineering background. Our topic for the discussion was ‘Is Management Art or Science.’ People who had put in genuine points and had good conversational skills were sought for.
Interview-
Shortlist for the interviews were out by taking into consideration both the GD and Technical test. I personally think more emphasis was given for Group Discussion. Interviews consisted of 2 rounds namely technical and HR but both the interviews for me were mostly HR
Interview Round-1
The Interviewers were testing me on real-life situations that I would face in the organisation and asking me to cite an example if I have faced such situations in my life. Although the people taking the interview did not seem to be from HR but they knew I wouldn’t have much knowledge about the petroleum industry and maybe that is why technical questions weren’t asked.
Questions like

1. If you are hired as a PE Engineer you would be in a team who would have greater knowledge than you about the petroleum industry, so how would you cope up with it and cite an example wherein you have thrived in such a situation?
2. Also, one more example being a PE engineer you would at times have to handle people or say labourers who wouldn’t have much experience into the job. So how would you work with such a group?
   This round lasted for about 40 minutes.

Interview Round-2
Coming into the second interview which was HR round, I think the company had almost had their selections. There was a panel of 4 people out of which 2 were the same from my previous interview while 2 were from HR. Questions were mainly focussed as to know me better as a person and about my family background. But the main thing which I noticed is that they were grilling me through each question and negating each and every answer. Typical questions like who is your idol, what is your family background, why don’t you opt for civil services were asked. This round lasted for about 15 minutes.

General Fundae

1. Start preparing for aptitude and resume as early as possible (Have these things in mind right from your 3rd year Summers.) These two are the most important things which would help your name be in most of the shortlists.
2. Don’t get sad and reduce your efforts if you do not see your name in the shortlist released by the companies. Remember Vedanta Oil and Gas came on 31st December to take their test.
3. Have a group of friends who are utmost serious about their placements. Remember having a good group of friends (not necessarily wing mates) is an important factor. Plan well ahead of time by forming case groups even if you are not shortlisted into day 1 consult firms because many other companies do take case interviews too.
4. Lastly, have a friend (preferably who hasn’t registered for placements) with you all the time during your interviews just in case if there is any need.