So, it was 20th December , I was'nt much involved in the office tasks..not because I did'nt have any, but because a more massive thing was over occupying my senses. Yes, you guessed it right, it was a trip ( official :) trip) to my Alma Mater. As usual, I could't sleep that whole night, it has been 4 years that I keep loosing my sleep on the eve of home-going.
It was nearing 0630AM.. that a wild thought of taking a small nap grabbed my mind and suddenly it was 930 AM!!! Just 45 minutes before the departure. I cant recall the pace at which I did my final packing and reached the security check. It was after reaching Delhi that I realized not having taken my jacket and the box of choclates I had specially procurred for younger beings at home.
Being on Airport is always fun, hide and seek on the baggage counter and clamoring Taxi-walas make it a nice musical parady. I took a pre-paid Taxi to I.S.B.T ( I guess, Inter State Bust Terminal) . From ther I took the long-missed rickety-Uttaranchal-tourism Bus for Roorkee ( it takes 7 Hrs for coveing just 180 Km). The whole trip from Delhi to Roorkee was fun-filled, credited to my invisible jacket and an old man who had non-conventional opinions on almost every thing happening on earth. At around 8:30 PM, I landed on Roorkee. It was hard to believe that I am not going to have to attend any lectures the next morning.
Used my contacts in Placement Cell at Roorkee and got myself a extravagant suite at Faculty guest house. On the same night the news of Pankaj and my arrival had spread like fire. So, we had visitors to entertain till 3 AM. The following morning we met the rest of oracle-folks ( Sunil Prakash, Feroz Khan, Anurag Singh, Ms. Anshul Sharma ) on the breakfast table, made the strategy and POA ( plan of action) . Anshul had brought the coveted Oracle shirts for all of us, but to the bad luck of Indian Tech-Startups , these were half-sleeved. But still we Pankaj an I went ahead and put them on( we were brand ambassadors afterall ).
At around 10 AM we reached the L1 lecture of theMBA department, where the written test had to be conducted. Owing to decreasing interest in core-CS-studies and increasing CGPA criteria put up by Oracle, only 20 people could actually take up the test. There was a huge effort from M.C.A. students at Roorkee, for allowing them to appear for the test...but stringent policies left us with no choice. The test, as all of us present there felt, was a bit too easy; most of the stress was created by the programming problem which we instantly decided to give. The test lasted for 45 minutes.
Pankaj and I , joined Sunil ( who is also a Roorkee Alum) on his walk back to Guest house. Involved in discussion ranging from "Moral Crisis in America" to "BJP agenda for next loksabha elections" , we kept waiting for Anurag, Anshul and Feroz, while they all were already started with evaluation of answer-scripts. We managed to teleport ourselves just before the last 6 copies were left. We decided the list to be interviewd and scheduled candidates among ourselves. The interviews were to start at 2 PM. It was exactly 56 minutes for Pankaj and me, to review some top FAQs, and go thru some mock-"interviewrs'-interview".
It was 1:59:59 PM. I was sitting inside a huge room, on a comfortable couch, with a stack of plain sheets.. ready for my first ever candidate. It was Anshul who said: "Lalit, Are you ready? ...lights.. camera... ACTION!"
Candidate 1 entered the room and surprised to see no-one who looks like an interviewer inside the room... he went outside, and then came back in. This time I got up from my seat and extended my hand to greet him.
Me: "Hi, I am Lalit Mangal from Oracle Server Technologies and I would be interviewing for your possible association with Oracle. Please have a seat and be comfortable." ( I was having flashes from from my interview with Rahul ( my manager at oracle, when he interviewd me on this very campus).
I had planned to give all of my candidates a programming problem, for the time I go through their Resumes. I deliberately chose toughest of the problems which came to my mind.. in order to have good buffer time for myself. After the problem I would start with the projects... trying to take the candidate to the very basics, just to ensure his clarity of concepts and my knowledge acquisition. Most of them were able to explain it well, but none of them could crack the problem I gave them at the first place :)
Interviewing for the first time is truly a transforming experience. To become aware of the world from the other side of Table, what to look for in a person, what to do and what not to, how does it look when one is nervous.... All those thoughts which once visited your mind become "open source" in front of you, making you able to identify the thought running in your interviewee's mind. All this leads you to a superior perspective of your own behaviour and circumstances.
Apart from the aforesaid transformation, you gain a positive image of the company too. A lot of candidates asked me about the work culture and type of projects present in Oracle. While answering these questions, I realized the flexibility, opportunity, ownership and challenge which oracle offers, and all of which I had lost notice of amid the fast bangalore life.
We closed the deal with 9 people, 4 BTechs and 5 Mtechs. We ordered a cake to celebrate with the selected candiates. After roorkee .... I went to delhi to miss my train. Had to stay with relatives... made myself burn some cash on useless malls... and took a train the next evening for home-sweet-home.
