Hello people! This is Ann and Im a Chartered Accountant and also a qualified Company Secretary and this is my first blog ever. Never thought I’ll be writing one but then, here I am. So in this blog I want to share my experience of attending the ICAI’s Campus Placement Program in Bangalore. And I hope my experience will benefit future CA’s who plan to attend the Campus Placement Program.

Before the Interview process.

So by GOD’s grace, I cleared CA final in the November 2019 attempt and right away I registered for the Placement Program by logging into ICAI Placement Portal (https://cmib.icai.org) and chose Bangalore as my first choice, other than it being the beautiful garden city, the shopping haven and some good friends settled, no biases there on the choice of city.

Based on the details I filled up in this portal, I received the invitation to attend the interview process from 4 different companies in Bangalore. And straight away I gave the consent to these 4 companies for interview, and now the wait begins for ‘The Day’: 4th March 2020.

In the next blog, I will detail about how and what was my preparations like. Stay tuned!

ICAI Orientation

There was a mandatory Orientation program organized by ICAI prior to the start of the interview which gave me a good idea about the interview process and on what to expect. Don’t miss this program! I would have roughly seen around 1000 candidates and 25+ companies over the period of 4 days. It was a big event and ICAI did an amazing job in pulling off such a biggie.

Destination: Hotel Gokulam Grand, Bangalore: Interview Day

I reached the hotel at 8.30 am and started locating the rooms where my interviews were scheduled. Though I was tensed inside, but I guess I did a good job holding my nerves and staying cool. So, each company had separate rooms and a set of protocols that should be followed and I submitted my CV to the HR personnel of these companies and waited for my turn of interview.

Teaser Alert: I got placed in one of the Big 4 Companies that day. So, let me steer to the events and rounds of this particular company where I got placed.

There were 3 rounds: HR round, Technical Round & Partner Round. Different companies have different approaches for interview rounds, some had Psychometric Test, others had Group Discussion etc.

First Round: HR Interview.

This was more of ‘get-to-know’ the candidate type of round and the HR person asked me few questions like family background, future plans etc. I believe the HR person was testing me on communication skills, attitude and presentability etc. This round took around 5 -7 minutes. And after waiting for 15 minutes outside, I got the news that I was selected for the second round of interview which was a technical round.

Second Round: Technical Interview

This round took around 15 mins of Q&A’s based mostly on the articleship work experience and subject knowledge. So, a good understanding of latest notifications and amendments will come handy. Reading financial newspapers/magazines are very helpful in preparing for such interviews. And fortunately,  I was selected for the final round. Yay!

Final Round: Partner Meet.

After waiting for few minutes, I was called to meet the Partner of the firm. And the Partner asked few behavioral type questions. He also presented few scenarios and asked how I would manage those situations. The talk was friendly. And later I was notified that I was selected to join the firm. Yay!!

I cannot describe how happy I felt when I heard that I was selected. Years of hard work was paid off and finally I’m on the path to life’s next adventure! GOD is good!

Wish you the very best if you prepping for your Campus Interview.

And thank you if you read it all. And I will be back!