I along with my colleagues, who had also cleared both the TNQT exams arrived at the venue excitedly much before the actual reporting time. But what happened next actually dumbstruck us! Coming across from over various regions of Delhi NCR, there was a crowd of around 250-300 candidates who had cleared for the interview round. There were people from different locations like Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Agra, Mathura, Greater Noida, etc. waiting around to get interviewed. But it wasn't the number of people that shocked us, it was the management at the interview center. We were made to wait in an unventilated room without any AC or cooler and where the fan was just swinging enough to not to be categorized as dead. If we tried getting out of the room in search of fresh air, the management threatened us from kicking us out without even taking the interview. After waiting for about an hour & a half, the actual process began. The documents were verified by a TCS employee and we were allotted numbers in order of which the interview will happen.
Soon we realized nothing was going on as instructed. The numbers didn't matter. People were randomly called for interview and pace of every process that was conducted there was too slow to be done right. After a long wait from 9:00 am in the morning to 3:00 pm in the afternoon, my name was finally called. On reaching the interview room I realized there was another waiting list before the actual interview. Huhhhh !!! Wasn't that wait long enough??? Anyway, what could one do other than wait? So I again sat and now finally my wait got over at 5:30 pm...
I entered the interview panel and what a mess !!! It looked more like a call center with people answering queries rather than an interview panel. The candidates were seated in front of a desktop, one beside the other and the interview was going on via Skype. In fact, the system I was allotted didn't even have a working webcam. So I was asked to continue my interview process without the video feed. The network quality was poor. The voice was iffy, I couldn't make the most of what they were asking and neither could they get what I was answering. They were just nodding their heads. I could not even show my resume to the panel as the camera wasn't functional and there was no option to send a soft copy to the other side. The disturbance due to the other parallel interviews that were going on, the non-functional webcam, the low-quality sound signal, along with an uninterested interviewer on the other side, surely made me realize that it wasn't my day. Due to the overwhelmingly unmanaged crowd, in the end, the interviews seemed merely like a burdened task that they were just rushing through just for the sake of completion. As soon as the clock struck 6:00 pm, the HR panel left the venue saying that their working hours were over. It wasn't their fault nor was it mine. But we surely were on the subservient side to raise any voice.
My interview hardly lasted for 10-15 minutes. It didn't even involve the basic questions to judge someone. After the interview got over, I explained to the management team about the technical issues so I was asked to wait for another hour, after which I was again called for an interview. When I sat for the next interview I was told that I already had the Technical round and my name was already marked for successful completion so I couldn't be interviewed again. I was then asked to just sit back a while for the HR round. Once again I was called in for the HR round. This time the PC I was allotted had some technical problem and I could not connect to the other side. The TAG team tried resolving the issue but was unsuccessful and so they again sent me back in the waiting state and told me I'll be called back in a while. So I was utterly shocked when out of the blue they told me that I was done for the day. Like a few minutes ago I was asked to wait for the HR round and now I was being asked to be sent back without even the next round. It was unbelievable.
Despite my resilient slog for the interview preparation, I couldn't make it through the interview. All because of the mismanaged hiring process. In my honest opinion, TCS interview process is just a proverbial coin toss. It all depends on your luck. The overall management was awful and the procedure of hiring wasn't justified at all. When a candidate comes in looking for a job he expects a proper interview. If someone feels justified getting rejected, at least he'd know that he isn't good enough and would work twice as hard for self-improvement. But to not even have to get a proper chance to showcase oneself in an interview is the worst feeling ever. The whole day was a total waste. Even a government job has a better hiring process than this !!! While writing this article the results are still not out. But even if I get selected, the hiring process still needs a huge improvement.