Tips on Cracking CV Based Interview Questions

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CV based Interview Questions
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Components of a CV
Contact Details
Personal Statement/ Objectives
Academics
Skills/ Languages Spoken
Projects
Work Experience
Extra-curricular Achievements
Interests/ Hobbies/ Passions
References/ Declarations

• Recruiters consider it fair game to ask questions
  related to anything on your Resume.
• Use your CV to guide the course of the interview
  towards your strengths.
• Avoid mentioning projects/ skills related to a
  domain if you are uncomfortable fielding
  questions related to that domain.

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Commonly asked questions on Career Objectives
Why do you want to work as a Content Writer ltor
any other rolegt? Why do you want to work for us?
What do you know about our company?
Writing is my hobby. I have been writing blogs
for the past 3 years. You can go through some of
my posts at www.myblog.com. I intend to write a
book some day. This role is perfect for me!
I have been building software Apps as a hobby
for a while now. Some simple 2D games that I have
built are available on GitHub. With this job, I
would be paid to work on something that I have
already been pursuing as a hobby.
If you have included a Personal Statement or
Career Objectives statement, ensure that it
aligns with the role that you are applying for.
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Commonly asked questions on Career Objectives
Why do you want to work for us? What do you know
about our company?

• Do your home work. Go through the website of the
  company youre applying for. Understand its
  mission and values.
• Understand the customers of this company and how
  it delivers value to those customers.
• If possible, get introduced to an existing
  employee in that organization using your network
  of contacts / alums. Have a conversation about
  the company with your contact before the
  interview. Mention it during the interview to
  showcase your diligence.

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Commonly asked questions on Education/ Academics
with some suggested answers
Why did you decide to become an Engineer? / Why
did you decide to focus on English for your B.A.?
Ive always liked tinkering with electronic and
mechanical devices as a child. I like building
stuff, taking things apart and generally figuring
out how things work. Engineering was a natural
fit for me!
I have always been a voracious book worm. I
guess you could even say that I come from a
family of book worms because everyone in my
family reads a lot. English and Literature are my
passions.
Use this question as an opportunity to talk about
your passions in life and how they align with
your chosen education stream.
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Commonly asked questions on Education/ Academics
with some suggested answers
Why are your grades so poor?
I really felt free for the first time in my life
during my college years. I was used to being
motivated by parental pressure and struggled to
be disciplined without external motivation. But I
believe that I have now acquired the discipline
to become a self-motivated, responsible person.
I was nominated to be the Placement
Representative ltor any extracurricular activitygt.
I prioritized that role over my academics. I
think that I have learnt more through real world
organizational experience than through books.
Acknowledge your lack of focus and discipline.
Express your regret at the poor effort you have
put in academically and point out reasons why you
are on the mend.
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Questions on Skills/ Languages/ Software Tools
How does the JAVA Compiler ensure platform
independence? Why dont you introduce
yourself in French? What is a Pivot Table?
If you mention in your Resume that you are
proficient in a particular domain, you can
definitely expect questions in that domain. Be
prepared to field questions related to
fundamentals in that domain.
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Commonly asked questions on Academic/
Extra-Curricular Projects
Explain this project in very simple terms as
though youre talking to a seven-year old./ What
are the potential real-world applications of this
project?
My team analyzed all available data compression
techniques to identify the optimal compression
technique for specific scenarios streaming
videos, sending secure file attachments etc.
This graph explains our findings in detail.
I built an automated braking system that uses
Infrared sensors to detect if there are obstacles
ahead and automatically apply brakes. It could be
used in cars and trains to avoid collisions.
Avoid jargon. Explain everything in simple terms
while clearly conveying the idea. Focus on
real-world applications of your projects. Have a
few illustrations where the concepts are
applicable and explain those in
detail. Represent information visually. Bring a
folder with charts documenting key findings from
your project. Or you can always draw a quick
graph on paper or on whiteboard summarizing key
findings.
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Commonly asked questions on Academic/
Extra-Curricular Projects
What are your key learnings from this project?
What were your contributions?
I learnt the importance of early feedback. We
often interacted with our assigned Prof much
early during the project and hence we were able
to incorporate all his inputs so that we could
really make an impression.
Primarily, I would say that I learnt using
MATLAB for this project and I have become quite
proficient at it.
Have a list of bullet points on learnings
technical as well as non-technical. Be ready to
talk about them if asked. If this was a team
project, you should be prepared to answer when
asked about your specific contributions to the
project.
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Commonly asked questions on Work Experience
Full Time as well as Internships
What were your roles and responsibilities? / How
did you help the company and its customers?
I worked in Sales, specifically Tele-Calling. I
would call up leads and explain our value
proposition. I achieved 24 conversions totaling
5300 during my two month internship. When a
conversion happened, I was happy because I was
adding value to my company and to the customer
who made the purchase!
I built a free Mobile App for making
appointments with dentists online. Consumers
benefited by being able to find highly rated
dentists and book appointments. Dentists received
more patients. My proposal to remind users to
schedule a check-up if they had not visited a
dentist in 2 years was accepted and built into
the App.
Link your daily tasks to the value created for
the company as well as for its customers. Use
specific metrics to measure the impact of your
work. Highlight any process/ requirement change
proposed by you during your work.
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Commonly asked questions on Work Experience
Full Time as well as Internships
What were your learnings? / If you were to do
this job again from scratch, what would you do
differently?
I have learnt the importance of asking for
critical feedback from my managers and from my
peers. If I were to do it all again, I would
pro-actively schedule feedback sessions myself to
understand where I can improve myself.
The biggest learning was the importance of the
User Interface in driving engagement. Most users
would move on if they didnt find something
useful or interesting within the first 6 seconds.
A website has to make a fantastic first
impression to gain traction.

• Have a list of items that you have learnt from
  your job/ internship.
• It could be technical you have now become
  proficient in SQL.
• It could be process-oriented you have started
  tracking tasks in a dashboard and you regularly
  keep your manager updated on progress
• It could be at the business level you have
  learnt the importance of customer-centricity to
  organizational success.

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Commonly asked questions on Extra-Curricular
Activities, Interests and Passions
What have you learned from your hobbies? / How
did you benefit from attending this event? / What
paper did you present at this seminar?
We presented a paper on the impact of
segregating waste, so that food waste can be
easily converted to compost for manure. The
manure helps the growth of trees and waste
segregation reduces landfill utilization
Playing TT has taught me the importance of
practice. When I started playing first, I was
simply no good. Now, I am winning tournaments in
TT. Practice makes perfect!
Brush up on the events/ contests etc. that you
have participated in and presentations that you
have made at technical seminars etc. For all
hobbies, passions and interests that you have
mentioned in your CV, you should be able to
articulate the benefits that you derive out of
it, even if it is something as simple as Yoga
helps me relax and boosts my energy levels.
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Commonly asked questions on Extra-Curricular
Activities, Interests and Passions
How can you say that this event that you
organized was a success? / How did the students
at your Campus benefit from this Club?
We organized a photography contest for amateur
photographers. We got 800 submissions and the
top 3 were included in the College Gazette. It
was a fun, bonding exercise for all the students.
I was the Treasurer of Puzzles, a student
organized Club. Weve conducted 8 contests on
Campus with a total of 2500 participants. Our
brain teasers were the talk of the Campus.
Use specific numbers/ metrics when talking about
the Clubs, Events organized by you in
Campus. You must be ready to talk about how the
other students at your Campus benefited from
those events that youve organized.
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