Its funny now if i have to recollect how i got into a job that i have now. My job as a Software engineer in the one-of-india's-top-five-IT-companies company.
I had one more exam in the final semester the following week that flagged an end to my engineering course and the weekend before that, the placement center in our college wanted all of the final years to attend a campus interview by this company. We were the first batch to pass out of the college and had really none of the leading companies visit our college to recruit.
I came to know of this interview through a class mate and i wasn't too confident of cracking the interview and wasn't interested in attending it.... But this guy insisted and for fun's sake he asked me to accompany him to the interview. I did. The rest is a comedy.
Saturday, 22 May 2004
8 AM
Reached college to find anxious boys and girls meticulously going through the aptitute test question banks and pondering over analytical & mathematical concepts and puzzles that involved them. It almost looked like a war zone with not one in the vicinity that was indifferent..... indifferent like i was. Beads of sweat sprouted out of my forehead and started their downward journey along my face..... I didn't know if it was the morning sun or because of the mere sight of devoted guys preparing as if this was their last chance of survival before they are to be buried 10000 feet under the earth's crust for eternity.
We were allocated different halls to write the aptitude test and i came out after finishing the test, feeling fairly satisfied about the performance, not worried about the results though. These guys were incredible again. Once again you have all these highly intelligent guys grouping up to discuss the questions and their answers. I felt i shouldn't have overheard them, for i heard them mention the answers, that were the exact opposite of what i had chosen.....with logical derivations to rub the salt in. I began to feel that i was right about not being able to beat these guys, in the first place. All the hope i had, burst like bubbles when they said only the top 10 percent of the total would qualify for the next level, Group discussion. My anguish and disappointment was shortlived......To my surprise and shock, I cleared the aptitude test and even more surprisingly found that the some of the guys who were discussing the answers earlier didn't make it. A shot in the arm indeed for the next level and i felt like shouting out "Bring it on, now".
2 PM - After lunch same day
Walked into a hall that we were asked to goto for the group discussion and there were a couple of students and a lady.This lady who was to coordinate the GD, briefed us what the topic is gonna be. She had barely finished and someone started off in a ziffy in a knee jerk reaction.... well, it was me !! Faces in the hall turned towards me. Not the one to be least bothered about what they thought, i went on talking and then the rest joined in to make it a discussion. After the discussion, when we were all waiting, the results came out. I couldn't believe i had cleared it yet again. This would qualify me and 100 others to attend a final tech/HR interview the next day, at the company premises.
Well i forgot to tell this. The guy who i said insisted that i accompany him for the campus interview, ironically, didn't clear the aptitude.
Sunday 23 may 2004
Went to the company's office and began waiting in the lobby like others were. My fellow college mates. After an hour or so, we were seated in a conference room and we all started talking, playing and having fun, as if we were at an amusement park. Luckily no one did anything attrocious enough to get caught !!
I went into the interview room when i was called in....It was all new to me and i had never been interviewed for a job before(obviously)......A male and a female were the interviewers and what caught my eye was a piece of cake on a small plate that was placed on a desk next to the female. Whatever they asked, i rolled my eyes away from them to think and the eyes kept catching the piece of cake. I was beginning to feel if they would notice this and think that i'm hungry, and might even ask me if its disturbing me. Certainly, it would have been embarassing. Fortunately they never did and i came out with a sense of completion. They'd yet to announce the results, but having completed the interview cooled me down. Then the announcement came. I was in the selected list, didn't know how to react......what started off as a casual saturday outing turned out to be a career-decider for one. It was indeed a great feeling to know that you don't have to worry about looking for a job anymore, neverthless having an exam to go. This feeling didn't sink for sometime and really don't know how i managed to write the last exam and clear it.
Life is not just beautiful, its crazy
Ta
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