My Placement Diary: Chapter II

Now that all the jollification for Deloitte was over, we all (the unplaced ones of course) headed back to preparing for our next test which was for MuSigma. Now that I couldn’t get Deloitte, I really thought I should make it to MuSigma because these were the two companies whose work profile befitted me. The written test went well and I somehow was very sure that this time I’m surely getting it. In the evening came our results, and I got a text from my friend, “Tera ho gaya!!”  I was so happy that moment as my self-confidence had gone so down because of the previous two rejections. Howbeit, I knew there were around 3-4 more rounds so I should better keep calm and not let my parents be conscious about this. So, we came back to our hostel and everyone started preparing for it as much as one could. I never believe that I can read it all or mug it all in just a day. So, I never really go that way. I leave it on fate, I’ve studied enough for the 3 years and now that I want to get into a company, it’d be by how much I could retain from my studies and not by some one-night mugging. So, all I did was read about MuSigma, what kind of work do they do, what’s the job profile, previous interview experiences of students and I really liked it. Since the company dealt with Big Data and much of mathematics was involved, I started to gain interest in it. The fact that it made you work in such a work environment that’d leave you a prominent experience for management studies added curves to my smile. “I really want it now!!”

The very next day was our next round which was a video synthesis round where you’ve to ‘synthesize and not summarize’ the video. It went well as I could easily extract three different points out of that. Followed by that was a coding puzzle round having three questions. Pretty easy ones with a little calculation and logic needed. After submitting the same, I and my friend Atul went for lunch. Meanwhile, I don’t know what took me back and I went to the nearby temple. “Oh God, please help me get through this one!”

We were supposed to be back after lunch for our results. The whole auditorium was filled by this air of tension.

“..Bharat Goyal, Frank Sandhu, Divya Varghese, Doki Atul, Ishita..”, and I jumped from my seat and joined the ones waiting for the next round which was a case study round. Since we were the group-22, we could easily get to know as to what problem statement were they giving us. So, we had a rough idea as to what we’ve to speak in there. Moreover, I’d say luckily I had a squeaky-clean group as all of us were quite calm and like-minded. When we went inside the seminar hall, I was pretty nervous. As we started the discussion, it went on really smooth and well and I had no clue when did we get done!

When we came out, I was a little nervous if I’ll be able to make it. One of their panel members called our group and started taking names of those who’d made it. And I was selected again. It was 2:00 am and we’d been sitting since 10:00 am last day. But as soon as I got to know that I was selected for the interview, I was so chuffed and full of beans. At that very moment, few of them who’d been interviewed told us that all they were asking was HR questions. I thought that’d be too easy for me so I was pretty sure that I’m getting it today. I had not called home yet, thought I’d just call them and let them know that I’m placed.

The panel was randomly calling out names for the interview. Divya, my group mate got a call and as she went inside, I thought I might be called next so I was there with my fingers crossed. After about 20 minutes when she came back, she’s one skittish girl I know, so she was all nervous and told us that he didn’t ask her much. All he asked her were 3 HR questions. And as she was narrating all this, the panel member called out her name, “DIVYA VARGHESE”. S-h-e  g-o-t  t-h-e  o-f-f-e-r. That moment, was nonpareil. I had seen the anxiety on her face and that moment when she came and hugged me so tight that I got tears of joy. “Ishita, I’m so happy, I’m done with this stupid formals.” I was so happy for her.

It was almost 5:00 am and I wasn’t called yet, so I was so edgy and vexed. Suddenly the guy calling out names says, “Now let’s have one on one interviews.” I did not get it, we were anyway having one on one interviews. But now that I know what happened next, I’m sure it was a satire. And he called my name. I jumped from my seat. I had been desperately waiting for the interview. I went inside and my interviewer seemed all good and nice to me. (Please note that I stress on the word SEEMED). He asked me to take a seat and that he’ll be back in 2 minutes. I still kept standing out of courtesy. When he returned he asked me if I’d like to have a cup of coffee or something as a refreshment as it’d been a long day. I said I was good and that we can start with the process. There was one more guy who was sitting just in front of me such that he could examine my body language from head to toe and my interviewer was diagonally sitting with my resume in his hands. The interview started well, with casual interview questions. Within seconds, I don’t know what happened that the whole thing flipped upside down. “Give me a real world example of the left join and relate it to how you used it in your project.” At that very moment, I completely lost track of my body language and my smile was all gone. “What on earth was a left join!!”, I had no clue and so all I could explain him was something related to Cartesian product. (Though now I’ve brushed up my DBMS a lot, specially the JOINs) Following that, he started shooting all the DBMS questions completely wrapped in some material I couldn’t unwrap. I was not getting any of his questions, leave answering them. And however good I tried understanding and portraying my sugar-coated answers in front him, all he did was shrugged with a disapproving smile. I took him to Android which was my strong point. He dragged me back to DBMS. I took him to my project, and he again dragged me back to DBMS. At that point, I realized my legs were shaking and I was almost on the verge to cry. Out of nowhere he said ‘something something, RMI model’!! At that time I thought I should just nod along and was literally begging to God that please not let him ask me what an RMI model is. I nodded and shoot, “So, Ishita what is an RMI model?” You should NEVER act smart in an interview. See the results. But for an interview like mine, what could’ve been worse. All I could say was, “Sorry Sir, I didn’t get you, RMI model!?” He was anyway hating me for all my answers, this one added to the lot. He turned the pages of my resume and went on to my “EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES”. Out of all the points that I’d mentioned, he could just read one. “Workshop on PHP, MySQL.” That was a mere one-day workshop which we attend for the sake of certificates. “So, tell me what all do you know about PHP.” I told him all I could recall from that one-day-half-asleep workshop. The next question and the only question that I could answer confidently and the one he agreed to, with a smile was “Tell me a website developed in PHP.” “FACEBOOK”, no wonder I love you. Dragging that interview somehow, he asked me to wait outside for my second round of HR interview. After waiting since so long and almost getting sure that I’ll be getting it, moving out of the interview room all I could think of was how I won’t be able to call back home and let them know that I got it. All these thoughts and the fact that no one was being asked technical questions before, disgusted me and as I entered the room where all were sitting, I smashed the door and shouted “They raped me in my technical.” I couldn’t realize that one of their panel member was sitting there and as I did I immediately left the room to where my HR was to be taken. I couldn’t control myself and broke into tears. Somehow, I managed to go for the HR round and it went well. But of course I did not get the offer.

I knew what I was capable of, I still do. Placements are a 90% of your luck and I realized the same, that day. I came out and Himanshu was standing there. I went upto him and said, “I could not make it.” And after that when I started crying, I cannot recall crying that bad ever in my life. The fact that I deserved it completely and that how very badly they grilled me in my technical round was all hitting my head so bad. I cried like a baby that day. When I came back to my hostel, my room mates had stayed up all night waiting for the results. They were one of those reasons that kept me strong throughout the placement drive. I came back hugged Durga and cried. I was a loser again.

MuSigma was one company which I never looked up to as my dream company but which broke me from within just because of its tedious and inhuman process of recruitment. Moreover, it’s not just the rejection you face from the company but also from the people around. The reaction I gave after my technical round, got me so many preaches and taunts. Everywhere I was pictured as that “Arrogant girl” who SCREWED her own interview. No one on this earth would realize what it meant to me. The fact that I in some way again had let my parents down was killing me. And all this added up to how I reacted badly. I know that wasn’t the right way to behave but then I can hardly pen down what this meant to me.  Walking with a feeling of rejection from the interview room to the hall was so painful. Even today when I look back to that day, it makes me feel like I’m a nobody. Rejections are increasingly onerous to take and especially when you get two smashing ones in a row.

That would be all for now. I still think MuSigma is a great company and I’m so happy for all those who got placed there. You guys totally deserved it. As for me, keep reading, I’ve happy stories coming up too.