ZS BTSA Interview Prep
Hello there, First of all, congratulations on getting an interview email from ZS. And you might be worried about what all rounds you have to go through, how you should prepare for them, and so many questions that come to mind right away. But no worries, here I have compiled all the information that you will need to know about the different rounds of interviews, how you can prepare for them, and even answers to some of the questions that you might be facing (as I did face them).
First of all, as you get an email regarding your application moving ahead, it would consist of 2 online interview links. They are an online hackerrank assessment and Hirevue round with behavioral questions about you and your experience.
Hirevue round:
The questions can be of the type:
1. Like conflict in a team — Here, the main thing is to see how you react in terms of conflict with a teammate.
2. Situation in leadership — Any behavioral question regarding whether you have been in a leadership role, managed a project, etc.
3. Why ZS? — Here, you can mention why you are interested in joining ZS and what all aspects of joining ZS excite you the most.
4. Tell me a time about a successful project of yours where you can explain a project that you worked on in your past work experience (full time, or intern) or even talk about a project that you accomplished during your bachelor’s or master’s.
Hackerrank test:
The test can consist of several questions on SQL (where they can see your database and querying skills) and then some logical coding questions in Python. There can be additional questions regarding your technical skills. But do prepare for this round.
Screening call with a recruiter:
Here the recruiter will arrange an audio call with you to get to know you and why you would be a right fit for the role you have applied for. They can check if your background and skillsets match the position they are hiring for. The questions can here be of the type:
1. Tell me about yourself and your experiences
2. Why do you want to join ZS?
3. Do you have any previous experience working in consulting or working with a client? And why do you want to join consulting?
4. A question regarding a recent project.
5. And maybe behavioral questions include situations like a conflict with a teammate, offshore team management, etc.
6. And then the recruiter would ask you if you have any questions. In this step, many candidates make the mistake of not asking any questions. But what I would recommend is to be confident and genuinely ask the questions you are facing regarding the company, like the work culture, what the future rounds would look like, what the day-to-day life of an employee at your level looks like, etc.
Interview Day:
Once you are done past the above round, you will have the final interview day. There would be multiple rounds on the final day. For the one-day final round, you will have like 4 rounds in total with different people.
1. Behavioral round with Principal — He/She will ask you about your experiences in projects, work experience, and leadership questions. He/She will get to know more about you through these questions and are meant to see the real you. So make sure to be genuine and honest in your answers.
2. Demonstration round — (This is not an interview but more like a get to know the day-to-day life of a ZSer better) Here, you will meet an Associate or Associate consultant to learn more about the company and the role. The primary purpose of this is to ask all the questions you have regarding the position and the company.
3. Case Interview — Here, they will give you a scenario through hackerrank or on email and then give you 30 mins to prepare a case out of it. Then a consultant will discuss the case with you for about 45 mins and ask questions regarding how you answered specific questions in the case.
For Case study preparation, I used the below material, which helped me a lot:
Video series for case study prep — https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8b_fmdDHHyCznYmSeWJrdrJN4UJhUrsh.
4. Technical interview — About 60 mins of an interview with a technical person. Be up to mark for everything mentioned in your resume, including in-depth knowledge of your projects and work exp. Then things to take care of are SQL, Python, AWS, Tableau, etc. And apart from that, you would be expected to know your projects thoroughly as they can go to ultimate depth for any of them. And for SQL, you can prep from w3schools.
After that day, you can spend the rest of the day relaxing because you worked hard and gave your best. If selected, you might get a call in a few days from ZSer regarding the offer and then from the recruiter to discuss the details of your offer.
All the best for your preparation :)
Trust the Process!
