Interview for PSUs: What the interviewers expect from you?

IIT Kanpur released the GATE 2023 examination results a month back and most successful candidates are occupied creating and implementing a plan for a fruitful engineering career ahead. If you are one of them, you must utilize time and resources wisely to make the best decision to achieve the desired career success via the GATE exam. We already know that the GATE preparation requires a lot of studying, clarity in concepts, lots of practice, and revision until the exam day. If you think that securing the desired results in the GATE exam will fetch you the desired PSU job, then you need to pause your thoughts and read ahead. For all of you who are aiming for top jobs in PSUs, it is also of utmost necessity that you keep in mind that the next round of ‘Interview’ is the main deciding factor that influences your career path vastly.

We all are well aware of the GATE exam pattern and syllabus for the year 2023. If you want to have a look at the pattern of the GATE exam, you can check out the GATE Exam Pattern: A Detailed Analysis. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering exam offers a lot of career paths to engineering students which include – Higher studies, Fellowships, and jobs in PSUs. Candidates who qualify in this exam choose one of these options as per their preference and professional goals. Out of these post-GATE exam options, securing a government job in PSU through GATE exam is one of the most in-demand career options in the present times. To simplify your post-GATE exam journey, we have simplified the critical aspects and insights to yield the desired results in the PSUs interviews.

Brief understanding of recruitment in PSU through GATE

1. Successful recruitment at PSU through GATE consists of mainly three stages: GATE exam score, Group discussion, and Interview round. However, the stages can vary based on the PSU from where you have received the interview call letter.
2. Different PSUs have different requirements criteria, related to the subjects, selection format, and the weightage given to the GATE score with the Interview round performance.
3. Most PSUs give higher weightage to the GATE score (nearly 85%). Apart from this, PSUs provide a certain weightage to the Group discussions and Interview rounds.
4. The number of candidates called for the interview is almost 4-5 times that of the number of actual vacancies. This ensures that the competition for jobs in PSUs is high with the recruitment of the best candidates in each PSU.
5. To crack the PSU interview, it is extremely necessary that you possess an optimum confidence level and believe in your talent and abilities, which makes you stand out of the crowd.
6. A PSU interview panel usually comprises 4-6 members and every member tests the candidate for a certain set of skills and knowledge from the candidates.

Factors that determine success in the PSUs interview:  

Good Resume:

A good resume is not one with fancy fonts, which are multi-coloured or look extravagant. While preparing your resume make sure that you mention the most relevant points that associate well with the PSU. The interview panel at every PSU looks for certain key skills and talents that will suffice the requirements at the PSU. Mentioning points such as AIEEE rank or NSTSE exam in class 5 might not be relevant when you are applying for PSU jobs. Therefore, it is important to choose the points wisely while creating your resume to appear in a PSU Interview to secure the best government jobs in PSUs. Some such points include the following:

1. You must mention your relevant achievements in college with later details in a proper timeline starting with the latest ones and going back to the initial ones (especially one that relates to the GATE exam and PSUs).
2. If you have a blog, website, or any other special art form that you follow passionately then make sure to mention it as that creates a good impression on the interview panel about fruitful and impactful extracurricular activities.
3. If you feel that you can explain certain points well during the interview, you can skip adding them in detail within the resume. Once asked during the interview, you can explain them in detail to the interview panel and create a decent impact on the experts.
4. Put your effort to make your resume looks simple and sophisticated with the required details. Therefore, make it a priority to prepare a formal and easy-to-scan resume.
5. Read your resume twice after creating it from scratch and remove bizarre topics such as sleeping, bathroom singing, etc.

Learn about the company:

When you plan to go for any PSU interview, make sure you have performed thorough research about the respective PSU in different crucial aspects. You do not have to spend days reading and memorizing information about your target PSU. However, you must know about certain basic areas critical from the General Knowledge point of view. An interviewer would expect the candidate to know nearly all the important aspects of the organization. You must have decent knowledge about the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU):

1. About the PSU, its recent achievements, leadership area, contributing sectors, ongoing and upcoming projects, and social activities.
2. You must also research and gain knowledge about the job profile offered to you, pay scale, and service bond (if any).
3. Go through the respective website’s PSU and read all the recent archives present in their portal.

While answering the questions asked in the PSUs interview, you must understand the fact that the experts who are part of the interview panel know the answer of the same. Therefore, prevent yourself from acting over smart or clever during the Q&A session in the PSUs Interview. If you know the answer, then answer the question confidently. If not, you must tell them honestly, instead of speaking anything wrong about the topic. This will significantly influence your chances of landing one of the promising PSU jobs in the recruitment round.

Get clarity of subjects:

The candidates who have cleared the GATE 2023 examination with the cut-off scores will receive the call for the interview round. Therefore, the examiner will expect the candidates to know the basics of the subjects well. While you cannot be a master of all subjects to perform the best in the PSUs interview, especially when you are preparing for a specific PSUs interview round, choose at least 2 to 4 favourite subjects from the syllabus and make sure to know the basics of these subjects inside out. Apart from this, you must also know about industrial training, college final year project(s), and your job profile (in case of the presence of prior job experience). These segments might seem quite basic or unnecessary but several PSUs interview experts choose to ask basic profile-based questions. Therefore, you need to be ready to face such types of questions in the interview rounds.

Apart from your clarity of the respective subjects, a test of your general knowledge is a critical part of testing candidates. In almost all PSUs interviews, experts ask questions regarding any recent activities, new scientific discoveries, and national or international news. One need not be meticulous about the daily newspaper edition but you must know the latest happenings in different fields that will benefit you in your personal and professional development.

Deal with tricky questions with ease:

As a PSU aspirant, one must be prepared to answer the above types of questions confidently. You must be aware of the fact that interview panel experts can ask tricky questions during the interviews conducted for jobs in PSUs. Therefore, you must prepare yourself mentally to handle and answer the tricky questions smartly. Deal with such situations calmly. During such interviews, the most commonly asked questions include ‘why our company’, ‘biggest life lesson’, ‘biggest learning in life’, and comparison between two specified PSUs.

Although you will be excited to answer the questions correctly at a fast speed and secure your chance to join a top PSU, you must answer each question calmly. Think before you speak at the interview, or else your fast answering speed will backfire until the end of the interview. While most candidates are not sure how to answer such questions, taking PSUs interview guidance from experts will prove highly beneficial for result-oriented exam preparation. The consistent and quality guidance at a top institute will help you answer the questions wisely, thus creating an impact on the overall performance in the interviews for jobs in PSUs. The institutes can help you and guide you to create a perfect on-the-spot answer to the interviewer’s questions and prepare you to face and deal with any such difficult situation. One such resource that will help you to save time, prepare, and answer the interview questions like a topper is MADE EASY Interview Guidance Programme for PSUs.

Special Guidelines:

The above-mentioned guidelines are regarding the questions, interview panel’s expectations w.r.t. resume, and other crucial segments. However, most aspirants tend to forget that ‘Your first impression is your last impression’. Therefore, a significant part of the interviewers’ expectation fulfillment depends on several factors. This includes your entry style in the interview room, greeting interviewers, professional attire, eye contact, and body language.

Therefore, you need to ensure that you keep the following points in mind and implement the same throughout your study routine:

1. Make sure to dress up formally and wear neat, pressed, and clean clothes.
2. Make sure to calm your mind and not panic when sitting outside or inside the interview room. When you are in panic mode, you may start moving your feet, chewing your nails, or playing with your pen. It creates a negative impact on the interviewer and this is the last thing you would ever want in the last recruitment round.
3. Knock the door before you enter the room and greet everyone with a smile on your face. This will reflect the positivity within you and reflect your strong personality in front of the experts in the PSUs interview panel.
4. While answering, make sure you are smiling and looking at each expert in the room. You must make it a point to hold eye contact with the experts to reflect your self-confidence.
5. When the experts ask you to speak about yourself, try to mention points that are not present in the resume. Choose the points, which have certain sections/series. This way, the interviewer will not have to put effort to begin the interview.
6. Stay direct during the interview. If you do not know about any answer, inform the experts about the same and move ahead with the next question. Most experts appreciate such honesty.
7. In case of disagreement, you must disagree politely without offending the interview panel experts.

Therefore, you must remember the above-discussed points to excel in the final interview round and receive successful recruitment at PSUs through GATE in the best possible manner.

Now, let us walk through the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) associated with the PSUs Interview and jobs in PSUs.

FAQs:

1. What are the essential parameters to secure jobs in PSUs?

Ans. The essential parameters to secure PSU jobs include GATE scores (as per cut-off), group discussions, and interview round. You need to perform as per the set guidelines to reach the list of shortlisted candidates for recruitment at PSUs.

2. What are the different types of PSUs?

Ans. Different types of PSUs offer jobs in PSUs through the GATE exam. The concerned authorities have classified Public Sector Undertakings present in India as Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna-1, and Miniratna-2 firms.

3. What languages are accepted at PSU interviews?

Ans. If you are planning to apply for jobs in PSUs, you must keep in mind that the languages accepted at PSU interviews include English, Hindi, or any regional language depending on the official guidelines and choice of the respective candidates.

4. How much time do I need to dedicate to complete preparation for PSUs through GATE exam?

Ans. If you are serious to crack the GATE exam and land one of the promising jobs in one of the top PSUs in India, you must first sit and find out your preparation level at that point in time. Based on this, you can decide on the PSU interview preparation time. On average, one must dedicate at least 6 months to prepare and revise for the PSU interview round.

5. Is there any dedicated course to prepare for the PSU interview?

Ans. Yes. Several courses are available to prepare and crack interviews of PSUs through GATE exam. One such course is the Interview Guidance Programme for PSUs, where you will receive timely guidance and training to face the Interview, Group Discussion, Experts-led performance analysis, and Mock Interviews, to name a few.

6. What is the average duration of a PSU Interview?

Ans. The average duration of a PSU Interview is 15 to 20 minutes, which varies with the candidate’s ongoing interview performance and the interview panel’s opinions and feedback.

7. Which type of PSUs are present in most numbers in India?

Ans. As per the latest records, the Miniratna Category – I is the type of PSUs that comprises the most number of Public Sector Undertakings in the country.

8. Which type of PSU holds the most authority among all PSU categories in India?

Ans. Maharatna PSUs hold the most authority among all PSU categories in India. Some popular Maharatna PSUs include Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Steel Authority of India Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, NTPC Limited, and GAIL India Limited, to name a few.

9. Is the cut-off score same for every PSU?

Ans. No. The cut-off score varies from one PSU to another. Therefore, you need to ensure that you check the official guidelines before applying for the next rounds at the respective PSU.

10. Is the cut-off for PSU through GATE different for each engineering stream?

Ans. Yes. The cut-off for PSU through GATE is different for each engineering stream. You can find the details on the official website and decide to apply for the respective PSU accordingly.

Thus, if you have attempted and scored well in the GATE 2023 exam after investing your best effort in the GATE preparation journey, you must revise the subjects present in the syllabus to answer correctly and promptly in the PSUs interview. If you want to excel in your interview round, you must put effort to prepare the resume, achievements, and related aspects. Focus on developing your communication skills, and stay away from negative talks and people. You must be your own motivator to perform like a topper in the PSUs interview rounds.

Hope you found the blog post useful!

All the best for your PSUs Interviews!

Dear Aspirants,

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