Cognizant Interview Experience

I got an opportunity to seat for Cognizant off-campus drive through Amcat. The first round was an online test on Quants, logical, English and Coding(Debugging) which was to be given from home on Amcat portal. Shortlisted candidates of the first round were called on CTS office for further rounds(Technical and HR Interview).

Technical Interview :
My Technical Interview was easy, Interviewer started with basic HR type questions like tell me something about Yourself which is not mentioned in your cv, following which were few technical questions on pointers, linked list, and sorting. The interviewer asked me to write a code I am most comfortable in, so I wrote a function which takes 2 pointers as input and swaps the value in-place, He asked me to rewrite the code without using the third variable, then he asked me to modify the code in such a way that it includes the concept of pointer to pointer. Tasks given by him were easy enough so I was completing it in no time, then he asked me linked list and then asked to explain circular linked list and how can we achieve it, I explained everything, he also tried to confuse me but I was confident about my answers. Then he gave me 6 integer values and asked me how will you sort them, as the data ranged within 30 I told I will use counting sort and explained the approach, he got extremely happy with the approach and this was the point he shortlisted me.

Hr Interview
The very first question from the HR came as a Trap, following is the complete conversation

Hr: what according to you can be a reason for which you might get rejected today?
I: Maam the only reason coming to my mind is my luck, rest I am through to everything (I showed that I am confident)
Hr: So you have written Teaching as your hobby.
I: yes mam, then I explained how I help my juniors and I like the kind of respect I get back from them and I told in my school days I used to do art and craft works.
Hr: What kind of art and craft?
I: I used to make things like wallets and all using paper. then she gave an A4 sheet and told to make one, and she asked me to answer her questions while making the craft.
Hr: Ok, so why CTS?
I: Maam because CTS is a big name and is one of the globally recognized MNC.
Hr: No, there are companies bigger than us as well
I: Yes mam, but I got the opportunity for CTS.
Hr: So, what is the research that you have done about CTS.
I: Maam to be honest enough I have not done a lot of research …(Hr stopped me here and told)
Hr: So can this be a probable reason for your rejection today?
I: No Mam, I think my next statement will validate my answer
Hr: ok, go ahead
I: Maam if I was to be interviewed for any unknown or startup company then I would have done a lot of research but Cognizant the name is sufficient and kind of trust it has developed I need not think twice before joining it.
Hr: No, my question is not why you should join CTS my question is why should we higher you?
I: Maam because I will be profitable for your organization, the kind of skills I have will add a lot to companies profit.
Hr: So you think the rest of 150 candidates won’t do that?
I: Maam I am not telling that anyone is lower to me but I am equivalent to all other candidates and can compete to any other candidate(I showed my confidence)
Hr: ok, good. So is this your first Interview?
I: No ma’am, at the beginning of my 4th year I was interviewed by a sales company and was selected and for the same reason, I am allowed to seat for any other on-campus company. (I lied a bit, I already had an offer from TCS but while talking to HR I replaced TCS with a sales company xyz, and then I told I don’t want to join a sales company as I don’t like the job profile)
Hr: Which is your preferred job location?
I: Maam I am comfortable at any location.
then she informed about normal norms of the company and asked me to read a paragraph and sign if I agree to it, I did the same.
then I was asked to wait for some time and was informed that I am shortlisted.

Your Interview in any MNC purely depends on the kind of interviewer you will get.