Achievers’ Archive (Anupama Vinayak)
Interviewee: Anupama Vinayak, B.Tech Production Engineering, 2017–2021
Placed at Jindal Steel, Intern at Dr Reddy’s Laboratory
SIME: Our first question is in which company have you been placed or pursuing your internship and could you give us a brief job description?
Anupama: So recently through BIT campus placement I have been hired as a Manufacturing Intern at Dr Reddy’s Lab, called DRL in short. As a production engineering student, it gives me the joy to be placed in a line of work which aligns with my 4 years of study and knowledge. Our working hours are from 9 am — 6 pm every day with holidays on weekends. The work atmosphere is really good and so far I have been enjoying it very much.
SIME: Congratulations on that. How has the transition been for you into the job and how are you managing the workload?
Anupama: It has definitely been a good transition wherein I moved from the academic line and am slowly getting exposed to the industry. We at BIT Mesra got a lot of exposure into the industrial world through conferences and mainly the ‘Industry-Academia Symposium’ but there is always a difference in being a part of it firsthand. I am currently also a part of a ‘Live Project’ at DRL.
SIME: Could you elaborate a bit on what the live project part is?
Anupama: Mostly in companies projects are of two nature, Live and Dummy. Dummy projects are the projects which are passive in nature and still not ready to be implemented as compared to the live projects which are an active model and play an important role in the company’s business or economic model. Live projects are usually the projects which are in a company’s daily schedule of work and assignment.
SIME: So, since you appeared for an online interview and the entire recruitment process was online how would you say the entire process was and how different was it from the traditional offline recruitment?
Anupama: An interview consists of two parts, The technical exam and then the interview. Since the technical exam is mostly held via an online platform wherein the user has to log in and appear for the questions, it wasn’t much of a difference. However, the major part was the online interview. Personally, for me, the online interview was good and less hectic than an in-person interview. In a traditional interview, the entire appearance of the Interviewee makes a psychological impact on the interview panel like his dress, facial expressions and gestures. In an online interview, a lot of those factors are eliminated and also due to the comfort of being able to give the interview from your own house or known surroundings the interviewee is less nervous and can answer the questions more convincingly. So I feel the pros of the online interview are significantly higher and personally my online interview was also quite good.
SIME: That is very insightful. However are there any cons or drawbacks of the online interview which you would like to point out?
Anupama: Yes of course there is one major drawback of the online interview and that is the technical glitches or network problems which might occur during the course of an interview. In my case, I personally didn’t face any such issues but to my knowledge, there was another very deserving candidate who faced multiple such network lags during his interview which had a negative effect on his recruitment process. In the end, his interview only lasted for 2 mins because of a totally external issue and wasn’t reflective of his true potential or capabilities.
SIME: Coming to the next question. What role do you think an internship plays in the process of placement or recruitment?
Anupama: This is a very important question. Having an internship or any accomplished project on your resume creates a different kind of an impact on the recruitment panel. In my case, the interviewers asked me a couple of normal questions and then moved on to my internships and project work. They were very interested in my previous internships and my work experience from there. Unfortunately, I was not associated with any project work at college so I was very honest and upfront about it. Whatever internship, project or work experience you mention in our resume make sure that it is honest because you will be asked about it. Any kind of work that you accomplish in college whether it is with an NGO, technical or cultural club all of them are important and are given weightage if you can present them properly. Try to accomplish goals or certain achievements through projects and if possible improve your technical knowledge as it always comes in handy. Try to stay updated and focused.
SIME: Could you shed some light on the projects that you were involved in back in college?
Anupama: As I previously mentioned I was not part of any projects back in college. However, I was a part of Dristi, an NGO and a social club of our college and I can quite confidently say that I have devoted a sincere amount of my time and devotion to that. Even during this lockdown, I was part of many of the social works relating to Dristi. I have done an Internship at Chaibasa which was a part of the District Administration Internship. This happened through the T&P cell only where the Deputy Development Commissioner, an IAS and an alumnus of BIT Mesra himself came for the recruitment process. I have also been part of a committee and teams that guide the Anganwadi Workers.
SIME: Moving to the next question could you tell us a bit about the selection process of your Company?
Anupama: As I have already mentioned I got into my company through the training and placement cell of BIT Mesra as part of the campus placement drive. The first round for my recruitment was a Technical Test round of 30 mins and consisted of 30 questions. The level of the test was very good and comprised of questions from the concepts and understanding of mechanical fundamentals and also from Chemistry topics which we go through in the first year. The students who qualified for this round moved to the next round, The technical Interview followed by HR interview and was finally placed into the company based on their performance in the interview. In the interview, they were mostly concerned about projects and our implementation skills. In my case, I had to explain and give a brief idea of how I was going to implement my 4 years of Production Engineering course and its topics or concepts in my company.
SIME: Other than CGPA can you state some other criteria or features which a student must focus on to boost his/her resume or CV?
Anupama: Take part in competitions. You should try to participate and do well in competitions that are hosted by some very renowned companies. To name a few they are, ‘Mind Over Matter’ by Tata Steel, MindRover by Tata Motors, ZS Beats by ZS Associates and many more. These competitions are very good and you get to learn a lot through them. Sharing the experience of such competitions also has a positive impact on the course of the interview. And also please avoid blind Internships especially through Internshala. There is no point in blindly chasing for internships. The internships through that portal are mostly for business development and unless you really have an affinity in that field there’s no point in pursuing that. This is my personal experience saying this to you, try to look for internships relating to your field of work or something you want to learn. A wrong internship is much much worse than no internship. It is far better to gain knowledge or gather some technical or software skills instead of just trying for the sake of an internship.
SIME: So right now do you have any plans for future studies or giving any sort of competitive exams?
Anupama: Well currently I don’t have any such plans for future studies or competitive exams. I believe that after the ending of this internship at DRL I will have a sufficient idea of the industry, market and whether this is a field I can and want to continue or not. So depending on that and the requirement of the industry in general and not just my company I will decide if I want to go for further studies. Right now I haven’t given it that much of a serious thought but well let’s see what happens.
SIME: Okay so a final question…. one general advice you would like to give to all your juniors and in general people reading this?
Anupama: Well it’s tough to say or give advice like this (laughs). I would just say that focus on your work and don’t worry about the results. Work hard and the results will follow. There is no use in trying to impress anyone with your work as long as you are confident. Don’t worry about the outcome, worrying only adds to your worries. Be confident in what you do, good results will definitely come.
SIME: Alright then. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We look forward to talking to you again.
Anupama: Yes yes sure. It was great talking to you and sharing my journey with you people and even more juniors who are gonna read this. Take care and Goodbye!
