ZS Associates Interview Experience (Business Technology Analyst – On Campus)

ZS Associates was 6th company on our campus visited in the month of July for the recruitment of two profiles:
BTA (business technology analyst)
BOA (business operations associate)
We were asked to select the profiles before the actual drive and I opted for the role of BTA.

Round 1 & 2: (Aptitude and video interview round)
First-round was aptitude test including questions on
1) Quantitative Analysis
2) Verbal Ability
3) Data Interpretation Questions with 3 sub-questions in each
4) Logical Reasoning
5) Computer fundaments
A total of 60 questions were there for 50 mins and a test conducted on the Talview platform.
Round 2 was a video interview round having 8 questions. Each question was given 3 min. to answer and there was a time gap of 1 min. in between each question to think for the answer.
Both the rounds were conducted on the same day and a shortlist of the selected candidates was released after a week.
So here is my entire day of interview:

Round 3: (Case study round)
It started around morning 7:30 am and since then we were ready with our resumes and folder including documents of results and certifications. We were given a case study of 12-15 pages long having a business problem with almost 7 databases and there were three to four questions on the same. We were given 30 minutes to think and figure out. Now it’s not possible for anyone to solve the entire case study in just 30 minutes. (Tip: Just go through all the case once and understand the problem given. Think of each question and prepare a short approach on each one of them so that it will help you out during an interview to answer.)
For more info:

Round 4: (Technical Interview)
I was asked to wait for 10 min. before the interview panelist is getting over with his snacks and I was bit conscious and nervous though. Finally, I was called by the interviewer and I went inside and with permission. I greeted him well maintaining a good smile and asked permission to sit and thanked him after that. (Tip: Please be humble throughout the interview and it matters a lot when you are waiting there for your dream job for the first time in your life.) Finally, we started with the discussion as:
Interviewer: are you nervous?
Me: yes (Tip: Be honest to yourself throughout the interview as it helps to tackles further questions.)
Interviewer: why?
Me: this might be just because I am hoping a lot today.
Interviewer: (smiled and made me comfortable and he went through resume…..) So tell me about yourself?
Me: Gave a brief intro about me mentioning all my achievements, certifications, strengths, proficiencies in fundamentals, projects, and hobbies.
Interviewer: (Going through my solved case study….) what you understood from the case?
Me: Summarized the case in short.
Interviewer: you have mentioned the DBMS in your resume? Do you know it really or just for the sake of writing? (he was knowing that we had no such subject in our syllabus as I am from ENTC)
Me: Said yes to him that I know DBMS well.
Interviewer: (Went through a series of 10-15 basics questions including normalization and few questions from advance DBMS concepts.)
Me: I answered almost all of them.
Interviewer: How do you know all this even if you don’t have this subject in your academics?
Me: I explained to him the need for my study with the references to my project work. I too mentioned my interest in other domains of web development.
Interviewer: (being curious……) why do you think studying things beyond your syllabus is important? as you could have taken help from your friends from Comp departments for your project.
Me: answered quiet well and told him the benefits of self-study and how it helped me in figuring out the problems I faced in my project and how I solved them successfully. I too mentioned that it’s better if you know things on your own than relying on someone else for help. (Tip: These questions actually reveals the person you are so never let these opportunities to showcase yourself. It definitely puts you different than others.)
Interviewer: He was quite impressed with my previous answer and started discussing the case study and went through my analysis (This discussion went for almost for half an hour. This is the important discussion in consulting firms like ZS Associates as they are really eager to know you well how you went through each part.)
Skills focused:
1) Analytical reasoning
2) Quant
3) Concepts of DBMS and SQL.
Few questions were as
1) Draw ER for given databases
2) Write a query for……….
3) What you think in………….situation and how will you handle the business………
4) Business strategies to be followed in ……. Situation.
Me: answer most of the questions.
Interviewer: asked me the guesstimate on estimating the cost of paint form an aircraft?
Me: figure out well and he was agreed on my approach.
Interviewer: draw the ER diagram of your project and explain the whole project.
Interviewer: asked a couple of codes and algorithms for searching and sorting techniques.
Interviewer: asked me to define the strategy for one business problem on marketing.
Interviewer: (few puzzles)
1) You are given 12 identical looking balls. One of them is fake (could be heavier or lighter) than the rest of the 11 (all the other weight exactly the same). You a provided with a simple mechanical balance. What is the minimum no. of attempts to find a fake ball?
2) Given two hourglass of 4 minutes and 7 minutes, the task is to measure 10 minutes.
Interviewer: Asked me about my certifications, workshops and team activities and my experiences of handling IITB activities (Ref.: I being involved in K-yantra lab setup initiative of IITB) and few HR questions.
This round was quite exhaustive and lasted for almost one and half hour. The interviewers might put you in some testing situations and but never panic, remaining calm and conveying your thought process helps a lot after all they are too ready to help you out. I am very thankful to the interviewer as he has given ample amount of time to think and help me throughout the interview.

Round 5: (Fit/HR round)
The interviewer went through a few HR questions. Also went through asking puzzle and code snippet. He asked me about my interest in ZS and I answered very thoroughly as I had already gone through the company’s website and market understanding. This helped me to showcase my interest quite well and he was too impressed. Asked me about my qualities there while mentioning I suddenly spoke a word “Multitasking” on which he stopped me and asked me to do WhatsApp my friend and discuss with him simultaneously and that too looking at his face! I was shocked and realized my mistake but then I changed the way of my explanation and remain calm and confident. He went through my resume and got impressed upon my CGPA and asked me the reason how I maintained it high. He asked about my previous interviews and reason for rejections. I too convey him all the genuine reasons as its better not to lie in front of them. He answered a few questions of mine and final goodbye to me with said: “We will not consider you as a topper when will you join us”. I too thanked him with a smile and with confident shake hands I left out. That was his remarkable statement which let me into goosebumps and wait for the results eagerly.
(Tip:
1) Remaining calm in stressful situations lets the interviewer understand your behavior in a stressful environment …perhaps they do create such situations just to understand you well. So never be afraid of all this.
2) A good CGPA definitely helps. At least in my case, it saved me through the last scenario which I had never thought of.
)

And Finally……..
Around 7:30 pm one of them from the recruitment team came to call us for the surprise round.
We were already tired as the whole day was so exhaustive and don’t want to face any round more. Finally, they gathered all of us and voice came out “You all have exceeded our expectations and very happy to announce that you all are being recruited as new ZSers!” We all are stunned and very happy that finally we made it and I am glad to be among those 19 candidates recruited.