On-Campus Placement Experience: Rweetam Bhattarachya
The BITS Hyderabad Consulting Group interviewed Rweetam Bhattacharya, a 2020 graduate of MSc. Biology+ B.E Civil from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad.
Rweetam got placed on-campus at Indus Insights. In this interview, he speaks about his journey towards non-tech, the interview process of Indus & some valuable advice for juniors.
Interview by: Satwik Arindam & Akarshit Mohapatra
When did you realize you wanted to get into non-tech roles? Why precisely did you follow a non-tech path?
As such, I was never that into coding, so I tried exploring every other option that seemed feasible on the campus and ended up in non-tech. I was in my 3–1 when I decided to pursue non-tech as my preference.
Why did you choose consulting among other non-tech profiles?
Among all the options available in non-tech, I was more inclined towards product and consulting. When I deep dived into consulting as a career option and the work that a consultant does, I realized that it interested me greatly.
How will you rank each of these, and why, in decreasing order of importance vis a vis your interview process and non-tech roles? a) Overall CGPA, b) Internships and Work Experience, c) Extra-curriculars, d) PoRs?
I am someone who had a below-par CG in my first year. However, I soon realized the significance of CGPA in any interview or shortlisting process and could bring my CG past 7.5. Though it is always suggested to make CG your priority, I would also rank internships, and work experience at the same level as CGPA, be it for any sector.
It provides you an excellent opportunity to showcase your relevant skills and experiences and always provides you with a good talking point in an interview. Coming to extracurriculars and PoRs, one can always have a good balance between his/her academics and extracurriculars by joining multiple clubs or departments as long as you pursue your passion or interest by working in that club. In my case, I was into comedy and was the co-founder of Comedy Club.
PoRs are always a plus as they give you an acknowledgment of your leadership and coordination skills. However, they will not give you an edge as such in your interviews.
What importance do you think CGPA plays for campus placements in non-tech.? What would you rate as being a good CGPA vis placements?
I was never one of the top scorers in academics, and being a seven-pointer, I would say I was not particularly grilled on it, but if you could maintain 8+ CG, that is good from the perspective of placements. However, I would say 7+ is safe.
What were your internship experiences (PS-1 and PS-2)? How did your internships shape your profile?
PS-1 did not contribute much to my finance profile as it was related to Biology. However, it helped in shaping my thoughts as to what more to explore. Right after my 3–2, I was able to grab an internship opportunity at one of the BITSian startups named Stockroom, where I was a Business Development intern, and it was my first non-tech internship.
Then I grabbed SI in Futures First, one of the very few non-tech companies visiting our campus for SI. I did my 5–2 PS-2 in JP Morgan, which I would rate highest among all of my internships in terms of the company’s brand value. Both of these gave me immense work experience in the finance sector and are invaluable additions to my resume.
How did your finance minor help in building your profile? How important is a finance minor?
It is an excellent place to start to know more about the world you are getting yourself into, and it certainly helps to add value to your resume, but if you are mainly looking to get into consulting or product, it does not matter that much. Many people are there whom I know who could make their way into consulting/product without a minor in finance.
How would you weigh the importance of projects for consulting/finance profile?
I completed projects in Biological Sciences and Civil, but they did not impact my consulting profile as such. As for finance projects, they give you some exposure to the finance world but are not valued that much from consulting’s perspective. However, if you are also interested in finance, it is preferred to do one or two finance projects on-campus if possible.
What other off-campus/on-campus companies did you interview for the placement cycle?
As for on-campus opportunities, I got shortlisted for Dalberg but could not make it through further rounds. I also applied for Flipkart ABA but did not get shortlisted. Indus was the only company after that, and fortunately, I received the offer. I sent my resume to a few firms for off-campus, but that has not worked out for me yet.
Can you walk us through the selection process and interview rounds of Indus Insights briefly?
The first round comprised the initial aptitude test and a written guesstimate where you were given a digital notepad to write your approach and calculations.
It was followed by another guesstimate round and then a case-study round by two interviewers. It was more like a conversation that saw the interviewers continually asking me questions about the case rather than allowing me to structure the case and formulate the solution.
The final round was just the resume around asking you about your strengths and weaknesses and a few basic HR questions.
How did you go about preparing for your interviews, especially the case study components?
I was prepared in various groups of friends who were equally motivated in cracking case studies and product cases. Preparing new people of the same batch also helped me gain an honest review of my case solutions. The resources provided by Placement Division would be enough for both aptitude tests and case study/guesstimate rounds. It contains many quality casebooks like Case Interviews Cracked, Case In Point, etc., which should suffice for your preparations.
How did you go about building your profile and your résumé for non-tech roles? What skills do you feel are required for non-tech roles, and what roadmap do you suggest for them?
As for my resume, I was not grilled about making one entirely out of this world. Your resume represents your ability to showcase your overall development and show the interviewer all the crucial things you have done in your career.
As for work-ex, my PS II station and third-year SI ensured that my resume looked quite decent not to get rejected in the first round itself. As for skills, try to do as many case studies as possible with a group of motivated people. That should be good enough for you to crack any product or consulting firm.
Could you give us a guide for cracking non-tech/finance internships? The appropriate time to start applying & skill set to be developed?
For finance/consulting internships particularly, I would say you will not have too many good opportunities. It is easier to find internships in startups than it is for big firms. Search for opportunities on LinkedIn and mail your resume if you find those suitable for you.
As far as big firms are concerned, you can always get an excellent PS-2 station if you have a decent CGPA and offshoot. Converting it into a PPO entirely depends on your learning curve and the project you get over there. If you are looking for internships before PS-2, try your hand in SIs, or you can also find one in your first/2nd year.
How much tech skills are required for a consulting role?
I have not started working as a consultant. As a consultant, you might be having to work with some data analysis, but that would be less in quantity. Excel skills and a basic of SQL would do for non-tech roles in general. You will also gain proficiency in these once you join your PS-2 station. So nothing much to worry about that.
If you had to give some words of advice to your juniors — what would it be?
Study hard, try to give your best to get a good CG, and consulting if you could practice case studies in a group of people who have the same ambition to get into product or consulting. That is important because consulting is not about just going through frameworks and case examples from some case books or about self-study; it is a lot more conversational.
