Mahantesh: Tell us in brief about how you prepared for summer placement interviews?
Gazal: I referred to the placement material provided by the college and also brushed through the basic concepts of ob taught in class. In addition to this, I read in-depth about the company, vision, values, the latest achievements, acquisitions and its prominent competitors. Also, magazines like people matter helped me to stay updated with the latest developments and trends in HR
M: What is the summer internship process like for EY?
G: 1. Aptitude test: The test had questions on Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation, MS Excel, Email writing and few general aptitude questions with the specific cutoff for each section.
2. PI shortlist came based on Aptitude test scores
3. Personal Interview: The interview was a two-step process.
a. Functional Interview: The candidates were assessed on their technical knowledge and analytical skills.
b. HR Interview: A senior HR leader interviewed to evaluate the candidates on their behaviour and consulting skills such as communication, problem-solving etc
M: What are the reasons you think you cracked the interview?
G: I think answering confidently helps a lot. The material provided by college gave me the required confidence and my research about the company helped me ask relevant questions to the panel. In addition to this, paying attention in the pre-placement talk also helps a great deal
M: Tell us about your day to day work as an intern at EY
G: A typical day at EY started with me discussing my progress on various deliverables with my mentor, clarifying my queries and seeking his suggestions where needed. This was followed by a training session on some latest tool or technology being used in the industry. Post lunch I would start working on my internship project which continued till late evening. Post that, if I had time I would interact with my colleagues know about their projects and volunteered to assist if I could.
M: What did you do right to achieve the PPO from EY?
G: I think keeping my mentor and team lead updated with my progress helped me bridge any expectation gap that could have proved detrimental to my feedback helped me a great deal. Apart from this, seeking suggestions from more experienced colleagues also proved beneficial. Moreover, volunteering for any additional work that popped also helped.
M: What are the most cherishable moments of your internship?
G: The best part of my internship was that I got to learn a lot from the sessions that happened as well as from my colleagues and interns of other colleges which broadened my knowledge of the industry to a great extent. The beauty of a consulting organization is that I could gain insight into a plethora of HR problems in a short span of just two months. Apart from this, we were fortunate to be given an opportunity to interact with the Leaders and Partners of EY that nit only helped me connect more with the organization but also pick their brains on some hot issues of the HR domain. All the interns also got to play cricket with them which we all enjoyed a lot