This document provides information about an upcoming placement training session being conducted by Arjun R Pillai. It introduces the speaker and establishes some ground rules for an interactive discussion. It then poses some questions to gauge participants' strengths, weaknesses, goals and expectations. The document provides examples of successful people who overcame failures, and encourages participants to prepare a SWOT analysis. It also provides tips on resume writing and covers common aspects evaluated in aptitude tests, group discussions and interviews. The overall purpose is to help participants prepare for campus placements.

1. PLACEMENT TRAINING
Arjun R Pillai

2. ABOUT ME
 Working with Infosys Ltd. as an SAP Consultant in BI/BOBJ
 6 Years of IEEE volunteering at various offices at national and
international levels
 International Speaker for IEEE – Handled a number of sessions
inside and outside India
 Currently working in the Asia Pacific Committees for Student
Activities and Humanitarian technology
 Winner of IEEE Asia Pacific Larr y K Wilson award
2010, Outstanding volunteer award of IEEE Kerala Section 2009
and appreciation certificates from IEEE HQ

3. GROUND RULES BETWEEN US.. 
 The session will be an interactive one. So please feel free to
talk.
 Ask questions whenever you feel like. Please stop me
whenever you have a question/query/argument etc.
 You are here with a purpose. So am I. Get maximum out of
me. Ask more and you will get more.
 I might not be able to switch to Tamil.
 There are information being passed to you. So please take
note of them.

4. HEAR FROM YOU!!!
 How many of you are very clear about your strengths?
 What about your weakness?
 How many of you are very serious about Job, higher
studies, Entrepreneurs?
 How many of you are very sure to clear the placement drives?
 What are your expectations from this session?

5. THIS WAS A MAN WHO
failed in business at the age of 21 ;
was defeated in a legislative race at age 22;
failed again in business at age 24;
overcame the death of his sweethear t at age 26;
 had a ner vous breakdown at age 27;
lost a congressional race at age 34;
lost a senatorial race at age 45;
failed in an effor t to become vice -president at age 47;
lost a senatorial race at age 49; and
was elected president of the United States at age 52.
This man was Abraham Lincoln

6. EVERY SUCCESS STORY IS A STORY OF
GREAT FAILURE
 One day a par tially deaf four year old kid came home with a
note in his pocket from his teacher, "Your Tommy is too
stupid to learn, get him out of the school." His mother read
the note and answered, "My Tommy is not stupid to learn, I
will teach him myself." And that Tommy grew up to be the
great Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison had only three months
of formal schooling and he was par tially deaf.
 In 1914, Thomas Edison, at age 67, lost his factor y, which
was wor th a few million dollars, to fire. It had ver y little
insurance. No longer a young man, Edison watched his
lifetime effor t go up in smoke and said, "There is great value
in disaster. All our mistakes are burnt up. Thank God we can
star t anew." In spite of disaster, three weeks later, he
invented the phonograph.
What an attitude!

7. SWOT
 You must identify and keep
up to date a detailed listing
of your:
 S trengths
 W eaknesses
 O pportunities
 T hreats
 Keep this list confidential
even secret
 But, be sure to write it on
the back of your eyelids!
Update it regularly

8. ACTIVIT Y – PREPARE YOUR SWOT
 Take 5 Minutes for each.
 Form a Table and note down your points.
 After writing Read through them for 5 Minutes
 Some Hints:
 Strengths and Weaknesses tend to describe the
PRESENT situation
 Strengths and Weaknesses are typically INTERNAL to
you.
 Opportunities and Threats tend to describe the
immediate FUTURE
 Opportunities and Threats typically EXTERNAL to you
 Strengths and Opportunities are POSITIVE Factors
 Weakness and Threats are NEGATIVE Factors

9. •Committed •Website designs
•Compulsive •Good Documentation
•Strong follow-through •IEEE
•Articulate
•Writes well
•Balanced work-life perspective
•Multi-interested
•Ambitious
Opportunitie
Strengths
s
Threats Weaknesses
•Lack of Job opportunities • Lack on Interpersonal
•Time pressure skills
•The multitude of everyday •Can be impatient
demands •Time pressure
•Do not handle multiple

10. RESUME WRITING

11. A RESUME
 is the first meeting between you and the employer.
 tells a great deal about you.
 gets you the interview.
 is your calling card, so remember that “First impressions are
lasting ones.”
 Convince employer that you are worth an interview
 Keep as brief as possible without sacrificing essential
qualifications (Less than 2)
 Balance in Information and presentation
 You achieve the greatest possible positive ef fect when you
share the right information in an easy -to-read format that
looks professional!
 The resumes for professional should be mostly of
Chronological type

12. RESUME DO’S
 Target your qualifications for a specific job
 Keep it to two pages or less
 Label your second page
 E-mail – keep it professional
 No errors
 Pleasing layout
 List relevant education/work history
 include some “attitude” in your resume –
 Team Player
 Involved with -
 Contributed to –
 Served on –
 Volunteered to –

13. RESUME DON’TS
 Avoid abbreviations and acronyms
 Never use pronouns such as: “I”, “me”, “my”, “our”
 Never type - use a laser jet printer
 No fancy fonts, binders, layouts
 Avoid lists of boring sentences, Photographs, detailed
Personal, family or health information
 Folded resume

14. SECTIONS OF A RESUME
 Header – Name, Address, mail id and phone number
 Objective –
 company’s perspective
 “To attain a web application programming position where knowledge of Java and the
Struts framework will add value the overall development process.”
 Education
 Your education details in the latest first order
 Honor s/Activiti es
 This section should scream “I am a leader”
 Awards, leadership positions, volunteer activities, NSS etc
 Work Experience
 In case you have some.
 Relevant Cour ses
 Don’t include everything. Include the relevant ones only
 Skills
 Technical skills: Embedded system programming, Micro processor
programming, Windows, Linux, Oracle, Java etc. etc
 Projects
 Explain the projects you did during your academic days.

15. Prepare a
ACTIVITY: resume for
yourself

16. GOOD EXAMPLES

17. BAD EXAMPLES (1)

18. BAD EXAMPLES (2)

19. APTITUDE & VERBAL
TEST

20. ABOUT THE TEST
 Usually the first level
 More of common sense questions and 10+2 mathematics
 Some type of questions:
 Aptitude questions – Simple interest, profit and loss, time and
work, probability etc
 Data interpretation – Table, bar, pie charts
 Verbal Ability – Comprehensions, ordering of words, Sentence
correction, spellings, Selecting words etc
 Logical Reasoning – Number and pattern series, Logical problems
(A is taller than B, B than C etc)
 R S Agarwal – Quantitative Reasoning
 R S Agarwal – Verbal Reasoning
 Further reference – Sakuntala Devi

21. GROUP DISCUSSION

22. WHAT IS A GD
 The term suggests a discussion among a group of persons.
 The group will have 8 & 12 members who will express their
views freely, frankly in a friendly manner, on a topic of current
issue.
 Within a time limit of 10 to 20 minutes, the abilities of the
members of the group is measured.
 Usually the second level
 Used for mass elimination
 Communication and Group Discussion skill are two relevant
soft skills that are must for software testers.
 Communication with dif ferent people like team
members, managers and customers – very important these
days

23. WHAT SKILLS ARE JUDGED IN GROUP
DISCUSSION?
 How good you are at communication with others.
 How you behave and interact with group.
 How open minded are you.
 Your listening skill.
 How you put forward your views.
 Your leadership and decision making skills.
 Your analysis skill and subject knowledge.
 Problem solving and critical thinking skill.
 Your attitude and confidence.

24. DO’S AND DON’TS OF A GD
 Keep eye contact while speaking
 Initiate the GD
 Allow others to speak: - identify who is supporting your views
 Speak clearly
 Stick to one particular opinion
 Make sure to bring the discussion on track:
 Give a dif ferent dimension to the discussion
 Positive attitude:
 Speak sensibly – Less time doesn’t matter
 Listen carefully to others – Critical listening
 Formal dressing:
 Be accurate as much possible and do not bluf f
 Summarize

25. EXAMPLE TOPICS
 Is Indian cricket Shining
 Mobile phones / Internet – a boon or nuisance
 Students focusing on software industry -good or bad
 Need to change our education system
 Child marriage
 India 2020
 Daughters are more caring than sons
 Influence of western culture in Indian Universities

26. Let’s do a
ACTIVITY: mock GD

27. INTERVIEW

28. ABOUT AN INTERVIEW
 Interview = A meeting with an objective
 Employer’s objective is to find the best person for
the job
 Employer: reviews candidate’s experience and abilities
 Can you do the job? (skills, abilities, qualifications)
 Will you do the job? (interest, attitude & motivation)
 How will you fit into the organisation? (personality)
 You: impress employer and assess position on offer
 What does this position offer me?
 How does it fit with my career plans?
 Congratulations - you have passed the first hurdle
 You must prove that you are the most suitable
candidate for this position

29. PREPARATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
 Review own skills, experiences and qualities
 Check CV
 Anticipate questions and identify relevant examples
 Prepare key selling points
 Research organisation
 Websites, reports, articles, company literature, etc
 Contacts with knowledge of organisation or sector
 Relevant articles in the press
 Personal visit or telephone call
 Research job and occupational area
 Job description – or similar
 Current issues
 Prepare your questions
 Practice

30. WATCH THE BODY LANGUAGE
First impressions very powerful
Allow time to relax
Dress appropriately
Entrance, introductions & handshake
Smile and make eye contact
Be aware of own movements
Watch body language of interviewer

31. TYPICAL QUESTIONS
 About you
 Tell me about yourself - Bring me up to date with your CV?
 Why did you choose that particular degree programme?
 What experience have you had that is relevant to this post?
 What would you consider your major achievements to date?
 About the job
 What interests you about this job?
 What do you know about this organisation?
 What other options are you considering?
 How do you see your career developing – 5 years?
 If you were Head of Department, what would be your priorities?
 General knowledge
 What do you think of the Government’s policy on college fees?
 What’s your opinion of the Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus?

32. YOUR ANSWERS
 Listen carefully, seek clarification
 Illustrate answers with real examples and evidence
 Be positive – constructive criticism
 Keep answers specific and succinct
 Take time to respond
 Be alert to interviewer ’s body language
 Speak clearly, smile and show enthusiasm
 Know what you want to say, and find the opportunity

33. INTERVIEW MARKING SHEET
Name Mark-max 100
Communication Skills Max 30
Problem Solving Max 20
Team Fit Max 20
Relevant Experience Max 20
Project Management Max 10
Total Marks

34. WHAT CREATES A BAD IMPRESSION
 Poor personal appearance
 Negative attitude – evasive, using excuses
 Lack of interest and enthusiasm
 Lack of preparation
 Poor knowledge of role
 Failure to give concrete examples of skills
 Over emphasis on money/rewards
 Lack of career plan

35. Mock
ACTIVITY: Interviews

36. THANK YOU  Any
rarjunpillai@gmail.com questions?
+91 -8754 483436