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2. Components of a CV
Contact Details
Personal Statement/ Objectives
Academics
Projects
Work Experience
Skills/ Languages Spoken
Extra-curricular Achievements
Interests/ Hobbies/ Passions
References/ Declarations
Recruiters consider it fair game to ask questions related to anything on your Resume.
1. Use your CV to guide the course of the interview towards your strengths.
2. Avoid mentioning projects/ skills related to a domain if you are uncomfortable
fielding questions related to that domain.
3. Commonly asked questions on Career Objectives
Why do you want to work as a Content Writer <or any other role>? 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.
4. 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 you’re
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.
5. 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.?
“I’ve 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.
6. 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 <or any extracurricular activity>.
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.
7. Questions on Skills/ Languages/ Software Tools
How does the JAVA Compiler ensure platform
independence?
Why don’t 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.
8. Commonly asked questions on Academic/ Extra-
Curricular Projects
Explain this project in very simple terms as though you’re talking to a seven-
year old./ What are the potential real-world applications of this project?
“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.”
“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.”
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.
9. Commonly asked questions on Academic/ Extra-
Curricular Projects
What are your key learnings from this project? What were your
contributions?
“Primarily, I would say that I
learnt using MATLAB for this
project and I have become quite
proficient at it.”
“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.”
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.
10. 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.
11. 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 didn’t 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.
12. 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?
“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!”
“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…”
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.”
13. 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?
“I was the Treasurer of Puzzles, a
student organized Club. We’ve
conducted 8 contests on Campus
with a total of 2500+ participants.
Our brain teasers were the talk of
the Campus.”
“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.”
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 you’ve organized.
14. About Us
LearningPundits helps Job Seekers make great CVs,
master English Grammar and Vocabulary , ace
Aptitude Tests , speak fluently in a Group Discussion
and perform well in Interviews.
We also conduct weekly online contests on
Aptitude and English. Job Seekers can also apply for
jobs on LearningPundits.
You can read more about Tips on Answering CV
Based Interview questions.