"The attempt, while writing case studies (which are prepared in-house), is to make them as real as possible" Jagjit Singh, Head (Human Resource), Ernst & Young

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This is just another indication of the extent to which India Inc. has professionalised its act. Time was, not so long ago, when job interviews meant answering a few general questions about oneself and carefully navigating one's way around a few trick questions-designed to test a candidate's wits and presence of mind. A few good answers, a bit of luck, a well-written resume and, in many cases, a good recommendation, were all it took to land a good job. All of these still play important roles in the executive search process, but only up to a point. A candidate's suitability and aptitude for the job at hand-easily the most important parameter that the above criteria did not even begin to address-are now increasingly becoming the most important, even decisive, factors.

For senior positions, especially, interviews are structured to test a candidate's leadership qualities, the ability to handle teams and conflict resolution skills. Many companies tweak their own internal transactions and present them to candidates for analysis. "Case studies are prepared in-house with the help of team members who have lived the experience. The attempt, while writing case studies, is to make them as real as possible, with the objective of bringing out in the discussion or presentation traits, behaviours and information which indicate the presence or absence of a defined competency set," says Jagjit Singh, Head (Human Resource), Ernst & Young.

In January this year, Debashish Ganguly, an engineer-MBA, who had applied for the position of General Manager (Corporate Resource Coordination Committee) in Satyam Computer Services' hr department, had to undergo a similar test. He was asked to solve the riddle of how to utilise Satyam's 30,000 employees optimally such that benching was minimised while simultaneously ensuring that staffing was in place when business opportunities emerged. "The model involved combining resource optimisation and market growth prediction tools," says Ganguly.

The selection process involved five levels of interviews and two levels of assessment-including psychometric and IQ tests and a series of exercises to assess one's ability to take on stress. "What I found unique was the round we had after the selection," says Ganguly. He and some other new recruits were divided into teams and each member had to go beyond his or her domain and make a pitch for the company (Satyam) to a potential client. "We had to sell a sap solution to a major retail client in the us. This meant we needed to have a cross-functional grasp of the subject," he says. Ganguly's domain is corporate strategy, but he needed to quickly grasp the technology aspect of the business, get a clear understanding of Satyam's sap capability and form an idea of how it could help the client solve its problem. The simulated exercise was treated as a real boardroom presentation; a senior team from Satyam "played" the client and everyone had to dress formally for the occasion. The entire selection process was spread over a month. Ganguly, who got the job, has since moved up the ladder and is now an Assistant Vice President in the same department.

"All these parameters are doubtless very important, but situational tests are what we use to make the final selection page" Anand Talwar, Head (HR), ITC Infotech

"We had to sell a SAP solution to a major retail client in the US. This meant we needed to have a cross-functional grasp of the subject" Debashish Ganguly, Assistant Vice President, Satyam Computer Services (L), with Hari T., Director and Senior VP (HR), Satyam Computer Services

Says Mohan Bharati, Deputy General Manager (Treasury) and Company Secretary, Ingram Micro, who recently joined the technology solutions vendor from Federal Express: "At the interview, I was asked to describe an incident where an unanticipated event had disrupted the workflow and explain how I handled it." In effect, he was being asked to describe a live case study and analyse it. He narrated an incident where he had sorted out an unforeseen procedural problem that threatened a new flight his previous employer was planning into India. "When I put this question to Mohan, I was looking at his competence and motivational fit. We have to work under tight deadlines and pressures. His answer satisfied me that he would fit in culturally into our organisation," says Alex Augustine, Director (HR), Ingram Micro.

"Situational case studies help us understand how a person thinks and reacts in an ambiguous situation (as most real life situations are wont to be)," says Sujit Baksi, President (Corporate Affairs), Tech Mahindra, who looks for both quantitative and cognitive abilities in candidates. "For example, when we are looking for someone with great persuasive ability, we throw a live situation-based question and ask the candidate to react to that; this is more effective than simply asking how persuasive he/she is," says Augustine. The weightages allotted to each function also vary from case to case. "There could be cases where a particular candidate is not so good at analysing a case study but is very good at execution. So, the interviewer takes a call on the weightage," explains Hari T., Director and Senior VP (HR), Satyam Computer Services. The idea, says E&Y's Singh, is to test a candidate's ability to lead and handle teams, plan and organise projects and resolve conflicts-all very crucial functions for any senior executive.

"Situational case studies help us understand how a person thinks and reacts in an ambiguous situation" Sujit Baksi, President (Corporate Affairs), Tech Mahindra

But, this is not to say that the traditional parameters are not considered at all. It's just that issues like past experience, qualifications and references are now used in the initial stages of screening; these are taken as givens in the case of candidates shortlisted for the next stage of the selection process. "All these parameters are doubtless very important, but situational tests are what we use to make the final selection," says Anand Talwar, Head (HR), ITC Infotech. He, however, declines to share live examples of actual tests that candidates at his company have had to undergo. Where do companies source their case studies? Says T. Sreedhar, Managing Director, TMI Network, a head hunting firm: "Most companies have their own learning and training centres, and, so, are able to generate case studies in-house."

"Today, we are moving away from one-on-one interviews and increasingly focussing on the competency model," says Arun Das Mahapatra, Managing Partner (India), Heidrick & Struggles, a recruitment firm, adding that 30-40 per cent of large recruiters now use such Criterion Based Interviewing (CBI) techniques to fill up senior-level vacancies.

So, the next time you go for a job interview, you should be prepared for a long haul and also expect the unexpected.

-additional reporting by Shaleen Agrawal & Ritwik Mukherjee

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Q: I am a 23-year-old commerce graduate with an MBA (HR), working as a recruitment and training executive in a private insurance firm for two years. My true interest lies in HR and I always wanted to shift to development and training in the domain of Six Sigma. Please advise.

Since you already have an MBA, look for a job (either within your company or outside) that has a management development angle to it. But with your limited experience, you will have to start at the entry level. Also while Six Sigma is great, you need to figure out whether in the long term you want to be a specialist in it or a generalist. Select your future employer and career path carefully to meet this ambition.

Q: I am a 23-year-old working in a bank. I've done MCom and am currently pursuing a part-time MBA. I'm quite unhappy with my present job as it doesn't pay well. Now, I want to switch to marketing. I live in a small town where there aren't very many educational institutes. Please help.

You could get into sales of financial services. Unless yours is a very small town, you will have firms selling insurance, loans, etc. Or apply for jobs in towns with better prospects. A part-time MBA from a little-known institute will not catapult you into something big overnight. You will have to work your way through it.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055..

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There are thousands of good jobs being created in the real estate sector.

The continuing real estate boom, and the increasing corporatisation of the sector, has thrown up huge job opportunities for professionals. Today, multi-hundred crore and even thousand-crore projects are pretty much par for the course. Naturally, the industry is increasingly turning to specialist professionals to plan and manage these projects. In demand are architects, civil engineers, site supervisors, quality supervisors, interior designers, project managers and even environment engineers. This apart, the emergence of a buyer's market means promoters need savvy marketing personnel to sell their projects. "The need for specialised manpower is unavoidable and they account for nearly 10 per cent of the total cost of a project," says Surya Vir Singh, Assistant Chief General Manager, Sahara Infrastructure & Housing.

-Amit Mukherjee