Placement Papers - Reliance Industries

Hello, I am Monojit from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. I grew up as a Chemical Engineer in my college days resting my hope on the triumphs of an Indian company embarking on massive expansion of the refineries. Reliance is well known to each and every chemical engineering campus for its mass recruitment. The years spent in reliance are also accounted well for extensive industrial exposure by the technical personnel in chemical engineering field.

The complete recruitment process continued for 2 days. The first day commenced with a presentation from the HR personnel. The one hour long aptitude was divided into 2 separate papers general aptitude and technical aptitude.

1. The general aptitude had questions (35 questions in 30 minutes).
A. Time and distance.
B. Time and work.
C. Complete the series (easy one).
D. Blood relation.
E. Arrangements (seating and occupation).
F. Profit and loss.
G. Inequality (simple linear ones but a bit tricky).
H. English (meanings: of abeyance, of idioms).
I. Connecting phrase (though. Yet, not only. But also and many more). No passage was given.

The standard of this paper was a bit higher than normal aptitude paper but not as difficult as CAT.

2. The technical aptitude paper had questions (50 questions in 30 minutes).
A. non-newtonian fluid (identify fluids from the graph of viscosity and time).
B. Effect of various parameters on friction factor.
C. Pumps (pump used for slurry, NPSH calculation, effect of impeller diameter and speed on the head).
D. Heat exchangers (effect of no. Of passes on pressure drop, orifice baffle, simple limited calculation).
E. Distillation (rectification line, q line slope, reboiler load due to reflux, reflux ratio).
F. Reaction engg (conversion after cstr in series, cstr and pfr in series).
G. Process dynamics (feed-forward feed).
H. Chemical tech (matching polymers with raw materials).
I. Example of solution (+ve deviation, -ve deviation and ideal solution).

All the questions from the above topics are asked from gate previous question papers (mostly from 2012, 2013, 2014 for my paper). The questions in the interview round hugely varied from one candidate to another. After aptitude, selected candidates are given a form to fill up. The form had columns for.

1. Area of interest (technical with your ratings (from 1-5) asked).
2. Internships and projects undertaken.
3. Long term and short term career vision.
4. Reason for joining reliance.
5. Academic and extracurricular achievements.
6. Your strengths and weaknesses.

Basically, the interview panellists were inquisitive about the information one provided them in the form.

I was quizzed about my project conducted in IISc Bangalore during my summer internship as that was unique among the candidates shortlisted for the interview. It was based on kinetics of pore forming toxins and thus subsequent questions were asked on the reaction kinetics of refinery process. Suddenly one of the panellists wanted me to compare my experience of a refinery in the UK and India (as I had mentioned about my student exchange programme in the UK and my winter internship in IOCL). This was a sudden shock to me but I explained them about the difference in several units due to changed demand patterns (absence of hydrocracker due to low demand of middle distillates, diversion of feed to chemicals for better profitability and many more). Later I had to collect all my technical knowledge to answer questions on pumps (NPSH, characteristic curve).

At the end, the interviewers came up with the most well-known question, "Do you have any questions for us?" I had asked them about the crude procurement for Reliance refineries and discussed a bit on the types of crude and sources. By then I was at my wit's end and sincerely asked "Sir, do you have any off-campusing openings?".

Both of them laughed at my question and pulled my leg. Simple discussions free from jargon can keep trouble at bay. Many of my friends with high CGPA was asked to design Heat exchangers and pipelines. One of them was asked about chemical bondings and volatility, azeotropic distillation and mass transfer process utilized in preparation of tea (leaching).

Next, I received the call for HR interview where I was asked why did I make scribbles in the form given and further added that if the flow of my thoughts were constricted. I tried convincing that I wanted to present my best from my CV to them and such attempts had yielded me the disaster present before them. I didn't have any questions for HR and left the room soon.

Finally, I found my name in the final list of selected candidates. We were gifted with a pen drive and our offer letters. It was the most welcomed relief in my life.