WE HAVE MADE IT: A Cognizant Technology Solutions employee chats up with Sharmila Nanduri (left) and Cirisha Narayanan (middle) at the job fair in Hyderabad on Saturday. Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: They walked in with a resume and walked out with a job.

That's exactly what happened to Sharmila Nanduri and her friend Cirisha Narayanan, fresh MBA candidates who went to explore HR jobs at The Hindu Opportunities Fair 2005, at the Hitex Grounds on Saturday.

Pleasant surprise

A pleasant surprise lay in wait, as they were the first two lucky ones to make it to Cognizant Technology Solutions.

"It was completely unexpected," says a surprised Cirisha. "I feel good," adds her friend.

"We were just passing by and we asked for HR openings," explains Cirisha.

Three rounds of interviews later, they were sitting on a beanbag in the Cognizant stall, savouring the experience of triumph of landing their first job.

What matter

Cognizant was looking for people with a can-do attitude, someone who brought an empathy to work with candidates during recruitments, who could display good logical bent of mind and adapt into the multicultural environment.

Their positive attitude played a major role in selection.

"They are bubbly in their outlook, exude an effervescence and are optimistic," says Venkatesan Seshadri, Head of Global Resourcing at Cognizant.

He adds that the interviews examined the personality and soft skills of the candidates, found "clarity of thought, comprehension and communication," in these 23 year olds.

Summer projects

"Very good logical thinking abilities, good academics, and people skills," he says were other reasons that tipped in their favour. Cirisha and Sharmila say they were asked to introduce themselves, followed by questions on their hobbies and interests, and loads of questions on summer projects.

Experience counts

"I had done my summer project in training and development in ITC Grand Kakatiya and was asked about my findings and experience," says Cirisha, who has finished her MBA from Bhavans College, Hyderabad.

And Sharmila, a commerce graduate from Bangalore University and an MBA-Human Resources from Manipal University, feels communication skills and her part-time work experience during her graduation days worked in her favour.

Sharmila worked for a recruitment consultancy during her graduation.

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