My First Interview Experience
Today, I will share my first interview experience with you. It was an on-campus opportunity for a small start-up based in Bengaluru. It all started with an aptitude assessment consisting of around 50 questions — though I don’t remember the exact number. It was done virtually from our homes, so it was easy to solve. You all know how that goes. About 10 students were shortlisted for the next round. The next round was the technical round, and I was expecting it to be difficult. So, I went through all the important coding questions and CS subjects.
Get Vishalkoul’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The next day, my interview was scheduled in the afternoon, so I asked the other candidates about their interview experiences, those who had their sessions in the morning. There were two interview panelists. They asked me a simple coding question — I don’t exactly remember it, but it was related to palindrome checks. Then they asked me about OOPS concepts, CN topics, time complexity and that was it. It went well, and I thought it might take few days to hear back, but just 10 minutes later, I received an email for the HR round. I was on cloud nine and assumed I am selected, and I don’t have to think much about other companies after that.
However, the HR round was more challenging. They asked me questions about my past, particularly during the COVID time, and how I spent my time — like what hobbies I pursued. I mentioned reading, and in response, she asked me about a book I had read. I went silent, unsure of what to say. I remembered one book, and she asked me to summarize it. Once again, I found myself in complete silence. They asked more questions, like why I wanted to pursue engineering and how I would react in certain situations. They also asked whether I preferred working in a team or individually. You’ll probably laugh when you hear my answer — I said I wanted to have the power to choose my own team members. Did you laugh or not?
Finally, she asked me some questions about their company, and that was it. My roommate told me that if I got selected in this round, he would believe that there is no kind of HR round in tech, and ultimately, his line came true. Ultimately, though, I wasn’t selected. I felt pretty bad about it, and it taught me some valuable lessons about interviews — how and why all about HR interviews. This taught me that we should not take the HR round lightly. I’ll share another experience next time.
