Resume making tips

Make your Resume as Simple and Unpredictable as you can. I have uploaded a sample resume for you to follow.

Try to make your resume within one page. The font size should be upto 11. The font style should be always in Times New Roman.

Please use stuffs in your resume, of which you are very sure about. If you are asked something from your Resume and you cannot answer satisfactorily, it may lead to a negative impression on the interviewer.

For example, If you give your hobby as playing football, then you should be knowing everything about football, including recent Euro Cup winner, World Cup winner etc..

Now JAVA is a huge field. Guys who have done only a one month certification course in JAVA, I would recommend them to write as "one month certification course in JAVA". Otherwise, if you write simple "JAVA", then you may fall into a chance of getting asked about some hard stuffs in JAVA, for which you may not know the answer.

Guys dealing with Robotics shall be required to know everything about robotics including manual and autonomous. If you write Robotics as your hobby, or say if you write that you have been champion in a robotics competition in some college, you may be expected to answer some typical questions from robotics such as from XIGBEE, RASBERRY PI, etc.. even if you are simply from the manual robotics field. So, I would advice them to be 100 percent sure about whatever you write.

If you have any experience in other extra curricular activities or events or have dealt with any kind of projects in those, such as Social Service, NSS, Enactus etc then it will be add a positive point to your Resume.
Remember:  Your resume can become  a vital part for getting selected in the company.

STAGE III: Personal Interview

TECHNICAL INTERVIEW (TI)

• Have a clear concept on your domain knowledge before appearing in the TI round. You should be fully acquainted with whatever domain knowledge you have, no matter whatever branch you are from.
• TIs are generally like Grand Viva that you have faced in your college. In fact I must say, that it is much easier than Grand Viva. You will never be asked to derive anything or to prove any theorem. You will be asked simple straight questions and if required some tricky questions, just to test whether you have a clear concept on that subject or not.
• It is not necessary to remember everything from your branch subject. If a point comes where you don't know even 1 % percent of that question that you are asked, do not give up. At least try. The interviewer mainly checks whether you have the willingness to try new challenges or not that are beyond your knowledge. At least try to catch from the English meaning of the term that you are asked.
• Do not panic at all. Be confident to whatever you answer.
• Regarding programming stuffs, you need not be an expert programmer if you belong from a non CS branch. Your knowledge in C and C++ and some basic programs like Fibonacci series, palindrome number, prime number, hcf lcm etc.. are enough to pass through the round. If you are having knowledge in JAVA, then it will be a butter to a bread condition, otherwise it won't matter a lot if you don't have the knowledge in that topic. However, expectations are more from a CS and IT student and for them I would recommend to have a full clear concept in RDBMS, Data Structures and Algorithms, SQL, Operating Systems etc..
• Never give a bookish answer. Always try to give your answers in your own words and in a well described manner.

HR Round

Now comes the final and the most important round. For the HR Round, I will advice you to kindly follow the steps seriously as these are the only things that are observed during your HR round of interview.

• For boys, I would advice them to wear light coloured formal shirt with full sleeves buttoned. For girls, I would advice them to wear either formal salwar suits or formal shirts.
  
• You should carry your folder or file in your left hand and do not forget to carry a pen. Asking a pen from the interviewer will create a bad impression. Boys should carry the pen in their shirt's pocket in one extreme corner preferably near the tie. Girls on the other hand should attach their pen within the folder.
  
• Please make your Resume ready before hand so that you won't have to take it out from the file in front of the interviewer.
  
• Make your Resume a very simple and a decent one. Do not add colours. Adding colours or highlights and boxes may lead to a negative impression. However you may add some decent corporate colours only for the Headings. For eg: Greenish Blue
  
• Keep your font size within 11.
  
• Do not write too much in your Resume. You should not brag about yourself through that Resume. Do not write fake stuffs. If you are caught, it can be a serious problem.
  
• Always try to be as less predictable as you can. Remember that you are appearing for an On-Campus Recruitment Drive. So as much as you are less predictable, the more you are safe.
  
• For students who have dealt with Robotics in their college life, please make sure that you know everything in this world about Robots and Technologies before adding them as your hobbies or achievements in your Resume. Again I am repeating the same thing, BE AS MUCH LESS PREDICTABLE AS YOU CAN.
  
• For students who have plans for higher studies, do not say that you are interested for the same, even you are asked by the interviewer. The main reason behind this is, if you say that you want to do higher studies in the future, the interviewer may think that "this boy or girl can anytime leave my company in the future, so there is no use of taking him or her in my company".
  
• If you are asked about your hobbies, please do not say "Surfing net" or "Watching TV Serials". Try to say some productive hobby, such as singing, dancing, reading novels, playing football, reading magazines etc.. Make sure that whatever you say as your hobby, you must have a complete knowledge on that sort of thing.
  
• As soon as your name is called in the interview panel, just open the door and ask, "May I come in Sir?" After he gives you the permission, just walk on to his table and stop right behind the char and do not cross it.
  
• Take your right hand out and approach for a firm handshake with a decent smile, "Good Morning Sir. Very Nice to meet you."
  
• After he tells you to sit, say "Thank you" and gently take your seat. Keep your body posture straight.
  
• DO NOT keep your hands on the table. Remember that the entire table is his property and not yours. So you have no right in touching the table until you are said so.
  
• Look straight to his eyes and answer each and every question confidently with a decent smile. Do not act like a robot. Be normal and cool.
  
• When he asks you to tell him about yourself, remember that he wants to know about how the person you are, what are your strengths and weaknesses etc.. He doesn't want to know about which school you have studied in or where you are studying now.  A simple example is given below:
  "My name is XY. I am from Karachi, Pakistan. Being the eldest son/daughter of my family, I had learned how to handle big and huge responsibilities. I am a person who likes to explore the world and know about various things in various sorts of field. I like new challenges. Apart from these, I am a very passionate singer/dancer, so in the free time, I keep myself busy exploring the world of music. Last but not the least, I am a person who believes in simple living and high thinking."
  It should be simple and short.
  
• Your communication skills should be good enough to impress the interviewer, It is not necessary for you to speak like a foreigner, but you should speak clearly and your pronunciation should be very specific. And try to avoid grammatical mistakes as much as possible.
  
• Do not ask about your salary. Even if he asks you that what will you do if you are paid with a less amount of salary, answer him in a way like
  "Sir, Salary is not at all a big factor for me. What matters and excites me the most is the amount of knowledge and experience that I will gain while working in your company. And I believe that one day, with my technical skills I will impress you so much that you will be bound to increase my salary to double. "
  
• If you are a student from a core branch and you are asked that why do want to join an IT company in spite of being a student from a Core branch, your answer should be quite similar to the above one. Also add one thing like, "If I had the opportunity to study with all the branches, I would have happily done the same. So definitely, I would say that I am a person who doesn't want to get confined in one location with one branch and one set of subjects. I want to explore. I want to face new challenges."
  
• If you are asked a question like "Do you have a dream company?"
  
  Answer it like, "I don't have a dream company,but I have a dream in working as a Project Manager in a well reputed company. And in your company, I have the faith that I can achieve that with all my knowledge and learning attitude."
  
• If you are asked a question like, "What will you do, when you somehow came to know one day that a colleague in your office is spreading false rumors about you? Will you go and fight with him/her?"
  Your answer to this question should be like, "No sir, definitely I won't put up a fight with that person. However, if I any day find that person doing all those stuffs in front of me, I will  straightaway go and talk to him/her about the matter. I will convince him/her not to do that again with my calm and gentle attitude and will somehow come to a friendly conclusion."
  
• If you are asked a question like, " What  will you do if you find one day that one of your old school or college friends, desperately needs a job as his family is suffering through a critical period? Will you leave the job for him?"
  
  Your answer should be like, " No Sir, I will definitely won't leave the job, as my job comes first of anything and leaving the job may lead to losing a well efficient employee for the company. However, I will also help my friend and will try my level best to get him a job as soon as possible be it in our company or in any other company. "
  
• After the interviewer is done with you, he may ask you that whether you are having any questions for him or the company or not. To that, ask him about the various projects that are going within the company. Show him that you really have interest in the company.
  
• After that, stand up gently,shake hands with the interviewer saying " Thank you for your valuable time sir, it was really wonderful meeting you. "
  
• Remember one more thing, DO NOT ask for the Resume back from the interviewer. If you need your Resume, take another printout from the shop, as it will only cost 2 to 5 rupees, so you can take as much printouts as you want but I repeat, DO NOT ask for the Resume back from the interviewer. He/ She will keep the same for recruitment and selection purposes.
  
• Take one step backward. Push the chair to its original position. Turn backwards and leave. And do not forget to close the door with your hands.
  
  

--Written and developed by

Souvik Majumder

STAGE II: Group Discussion (GD)

Group Discussion is a stage which is performed by some of the DAY 0 recruiting companies apart from the mass recruiting companies which directly move on to the Interview round after the Written round.

Remember friends, this stage is the main elimination round in Campus Placement Drives.
The selection ratio in this stage is almost 4:10. The total number of students shortlisted from the written round, will be divided into groups and each group will be given a topic to discuss.

I strongly advice you to go through the following key points if you seriously want to crack the GD round:

• Never argue. The most common mistake that people often do is that they often confuse GDs with Debates. Remember friends, you are here to calmly discuss about a topic and that too in a decent manner. The moment you start arguing, you will be immediately caught in the judge's eyes and may be immediately disqualified.
• Never look at the judge while discussing about the topic or even if you are silent. Remember that in that panel only you and your group members exist and no one else. So, you should not look at the judge in order to check what is his reaction.
• Never use words like 'but'. Instead of that, use 'however'. For example, "I understand what you intend to say, however I would like to add some point ........." 
• Never call anyone by name. Use 'Sir' or 'Mam'. 
• Never use the line "According to me" or "According to my point of view"  or " I think". Instead of those lines, use "I suggest".
• If you disagree with someone's point, Don't say " I strongly disagree with you".  Proceed by saying like "I understand what you mean to say, however I suggest that if it is done in that way then it will be more better than what you say." 
• For topics needed for practice, I will recommend you to keep an eye on whatever current events occuring in the world. For example, India's involvement in rescuing Nepal earthquake's victims. 
• You should also go through some general topics like Misuse of Dowry Act by modern women etc..
• Always stick to the topic. Do not go out of track. This may lead you to disqualification. 
• If someone goes out of the track, it is the responsibility of the rest of the group members to bring him or her back to the track, This can fetch you some positive points.
• If someone doesn't speak a single word during the whole discussion, anyone in the group can fetch him the opportunity to speak something. This should be like, "Alright friends, We all had our own respective views. Now let us switch over to Mr X, and see what he thinks." The one who does this, can get extra points.
• The one who starts and concludes the discussion, gets extra points. If anyone in the group doesn't get the opportunity to speak, I will advise him to conclude with some new innovative points in order to survive within the competition. 
• For a list of probable topics for  GD, you can always search for the same in the Internet.

--Written and developed by

Souvik Majumder

STAGE I: Written Examination

Almost every company that comes to the colleges, holds a written examination which you can say as the preliminary stage for selecting a handful of students and proceed them to the next stage.

To all the students, I will recommend you to start preparing for your written examination before hand, to avoid getting frustrated during the period of the placement drives. Start preparing according to the following steps:

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE

STEP 1) Complete RS AGARWAL for Aptitude. The main chapters that usually come in the written examination of almost every company are:

• Time and Work
• Pipes and Cistern
• Permutations and Combinations
• Probability
• Profit and Loss
• Compound Interest
• Average
• Problems on Ages
• Set Theory (Usually problems with Venn Diagrams)
• Time and Distance (Usually problems with relative speed. For example, problems like two trains moving in the same direction with different speeds, cross a car moving at a speed of X kmph , etc...)

STEP 2) After finishing almost every sum from every topic in RS AGARWAL, go for Quantitative Aptitude by Arun Sharma or Arihant Publications (Yellow Book).

STEP 3) Start practicing sums from websites like m4maths.com, indiabix.com, freshersworld.com.
   
Remember, Practicing sums only from RS AGARWAL is not at all ENOUGH. You can only use that book for brushing up your knowledge that you gained from school.

STEP 4) After practising sums from the above mentioned websites, start giving online tests in indiabix.com and other websites if you can find. Attend as much as online tests as you can, especially the ones with time limits. This will help you in further brushing up your quantitative skills and will thereby increase your speed. 

STEP 5) Return to RS AGARWAL again. Keep your watch on the desk. Set a timer, say 45 mins for 30 sums initially and then gradually decrease the time limit upto 1 minute per sum, when you get well aquianted with your speed. Start solving the sums from a chapter, within the stipulated time that you had set for yourself.

N.B.: Please be strict with yourself. If the timer buzzes after the time is over, immediately put the pen down no matter how much problems are still left to do. 

Take a red pen and mark the correct answers. After calculating the same, write the marks that you have obtained out of the total sums. This will help you to analyze your current progress in that particular chapter.

Repeat the same for all the chapters.

ENGLISH

STEP 1) Start reading and solving problems from the book Objective English by Edgar Thorpe and S. Thorpe, from Pearson Publications (Black Cover). Friends, please believe me, it is really an awesome book. The speciality of this book is that it is a book for all kinds of students, right from a person who doesn't know even the 'E' of English to the person who is a Shakespeare in English.

Start brushing up your grammatical skills at first before moving on to the vocabulary part. The most common mistake made by the students is that they straight away jump to memorize the vocabulary part before checking on their grammatical skills.

The main chapters that you should focus on at first are:

• Preposition
• Tense
• Active Voice and Passive Voice
• Direct and Indirect Speech
• Conjunctions

STEP 2) Now the main part comes i.e, Vocabulary. It is generally required for solving the questions related to antonyms and synonyms. Now the matter of truth is that, no person in this world can memorize the whole vocabulary within two or three months. I shall therefore advise you to start reading newspapers, magazines, novels (specially written by foreign authors), watch hollywood movies and listen to the dialogues carefully and the new words that the actors use. Not only you should listen to the dialogues, but also carefully observe how they pronounce each and every word in their dialogues. 

STEP 3) Start going through the book, Word Power Made Easy( Red thick book). You can also find a good set of vocabulary in Objective English, that I have mentioned in the previous step.

Make a separate notebook which will consist of only set of new words and their meaning that you have learned.

STEP 4) After getting well acquianted with your vocabulary skills, start with Reading Comprehension (RC). Remember, this is the most important section next to Vocabulary and it is time consuming too. So you need to complete the rest of the questions at first quickly in order to save time for RCs during online written exams.
Practice as much as RCs as you can. This will help you in gaining your reading speed.

Remember: Never make extra assumptions on your own in case of RCs. Always try to stick to whatever given in the passage. 

STEP 5) Start giving online tests on various websites like indiabix.com etc...

LOGICAL REASONING(LR) AND DATA INTERPRETATION(DI)

STEP 1) For DI part, I shall recommend you to start from Arun Sharma instead of RS Agarwal. The techniques used in that book is extremely useful and understandable.

DI is generally the easiest topic yet it has very length calculations. So, to get rid of that, use tutorials from the YouTube, where many shortcuts method for DI have been shown. 

In written exams, the topics that mainly come from DI are the Bar Charts and the Pie Charts.

Please do not forget to solve sums having mixed charts, or data within data. 

STEP 2) Start solving DI Problems from online websites like indiabix.com etc...

STEP 3) For the LR part, start solving problems from Verbal Reasoning by RS Agarwal. Observe each and every technique used to solve problems from various sub topics in every chapter and make notes of them in a separate notebook.

After you finish off with that try solving problems from Arun Sharma. 

For details of how to solve some of the problems from LR and various other chapters including english and quants, kindly wait for the next post. I will be discussing there some short cut tricks for the same.
--Written and Developed by   Souvik Majumder