Hello
geeks,
I’m
excited to share my first job interview journey from my final year of college.
A well-known company, Deloitte, visited our campus for a recruitment
drive. It felt like a big chance for students like us to show our skills and
earn a place in their team.
During
the last year of college, we all know that interview preparation becomes a
major part of life. I still remember how I prepared day and night, and
honestly, I found online platforms extremely helpful. On 23rd
December 2020, I got an email saying “your interview is scheduled”
for the coding round, and that moment felt both exciting and scary.
At first,
I was extremely nervous because it was going to be my first-ever interview.
Everywhere I heard the phrase “first impression is the last impression,”
and that kept stressing me out. The interview was scheduled for the next day,
and I had no idea how everything would go.
To calm
myself down, I started watching videos, reading articles, and collecting
anything that could help boost my confidence. I revised everything I had
learned—
• theory concepts
• class lessons
• online course notes
• coding practice
I solved
multiple coding questions on searching, sorting, arrays, strings,
linked lists, and many other topics. Apart from coding, I also practised
basic questions like "Tell me about yourself" and "Why
do you want to join this company?" Slowly, this gave me a little
confidence.
The
interview day finally arrived, and I gathered all the courage I had.
Since the
interview was online, the interviewer asked me to check my internet and system
setup before starting. I tested everything twice and then confirmed that I was
ready.
As
expected, the interaction began with simple greetings. After a few minutes, the
interviewer said, “Alright, let’s begin.”
The first
question was something unexpected:
“Tell me something about yourself that you haven’t mentioned in your
resume.”
This
question usually surprises candidates, but I was prepared. A simple way to
answer is by mentioning small but meaningful details about your achievements,
hobbies, or activities not included in the resume. For example, instead of just
saying you were a top ranker, you can add that the achievement helped you take
part in special groups or events.
Another
helpful approach is to talk about:
• social work experience
• extracurricular activities
• sports involvement
Next
question was:
“Why this company and why this role?”
For this,
it’s important to study the company’s background and understand the
responsibilities of the role. My answer was something like this:
“I came
across Deloitte a few months ago and started learning about your
projects. Your work genuinely inspired me, and that’s why I applied for the Junior
Developer role. I believe this position allows fresh talent to grow, learn,
and contribute meaningfully to real projects. I also know that your team
supports skill development, and I truly want to learn and grow under
experienced mentors.”
After the
conversation, the coding round began. I received three questions and had 30
minutes to finish them.
• The
first question was based on Fibonacci Search. Thanks to the basics I
practised earlier, I solved it within 4–5 minutes.
• The second question was Selection Sort. This took around 9–10 minutes
because I got confused between selection and insertion sort for a moment.
• The third question was a star pattern, and it took about 7 minutes as
it was of medium difficulty.
Overall,
I completed all three within 20–25 minutes.
After
that, the interviewer asked me to dry-run every code. That took nearly 10
minutes.
Once the
coding round ended, I got a 5-minute break. Like every student, I started
searching online to check whether my answers were correct. Five minutes flew by
quickly, and I rejoined the call.
Then I
faced a few more questions related to Data Structures and Eclipse IDE.
At the
end of the process, the interviewer asked,
“Do you have any questions for me?”
A very
important tip: never say “No.”
Always say “Yes, I do have a question.”
You can
ask things like:
• “Can you please tell me more about the responsibilities of this role?”
• “Is there any particular concept or skill I should focus on before
joining?”
• “If selected, how soon will I be able to join the team?”
These
questions create a good impression and show genuine interest.
As a
fresher, salary discussions rarely come up. But if they do, avoid saying things
like “I expect 10 LPA.”
A better reply is:
“I believe your company values hard work and offers fair compensation. I
trust your decision regarding the salary.”
After a
few minutes of general conversation, the interview ended. The entire process
took almost two hours. I felt both confident and nervous while waiting for the
result.
A few
days later, I received a confirmation email with the offer letter attached. I
can’t explain how happy I felt reading that email. It was a moment I’ll always
remember.
This was
my small story.
Keep learning, geeks, and never stop growing!
