BusinessObjects Board

Regarding Business Objects Interviews.........

Dear Friends,

I am going to Attend Inetrview for MNC company on Business objects with experience mode please help me how the interview will be there and provide me the interview questions …seeking your help on the same…


raju_souju1 (BOB member since 2008-09-23)

Are you having a good experience with BO? Check this topic.


Jansi :india: (BOB member since 2008-05-12)

Hey Friend i have seen the link hope i can attend that …please help me some more questions aprt from these


raju_souju1 (BOB member since 2008-09-23)

Well, do you actually have any experience… :?

How can we provide interview questions, how do I know what they will ask?

To be frank, either you have the experience and knowledge, in which case you will be able to answer the questions, or you don’t.

If you don’t, you shouldn’t be wasting your or the companies time… :roll_eyes: .


Mak 1 :uk: (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

I had 5 years exp in MNC company …i am asking so that i can know if anything new topics will be there anyways if u can not help leave it but please dont reply these kind of things


raju_souju1 (BOB member since 2008-09-23)

Mak’s right though.

I don’t have a standard set of interview questions that I ask to every candidate. I review their CVs and will base questions on their claimed areas of knowledge, setting scenario-based questions because there are too many questions of a “what does this button do?” sort of style.

The other big difference is whether it’s a permanent or contract role. If it’s a contract, I’m only worried about you being able to do the specific piece of work that I’m bringing you in for. If it’s permanent, I need to consider your potential, your fit with the team and our longer term team strategy as well as the short term requirements.

I don’t care if you know what a fan trap is, I want an example where you have encountered one. When you encounter it, how did you realise it existed and how did you go about resolving it. Your knowledge of how to do it as well as communicating that are both important to me. If you’re a contractor, I’d expect you to pass on knowledge to other members of staff to help improve them.

I’d also ask about current issues my company faced on the Business Objects front and see what you suggested and why you suggested them.

Above all, I’d want you to be honest about what you know because I’d be sure to get rid of you if you’d bluffed your way in and the agent who introduced you would be in hot water too. If you don’t know, say so, I’d rather know what I’m dealing with. If you’re not right, you’re not right, but if I’m fully aware of what I’m taking on based on your abilities and limits then you’re the correct fit.

Incidentally, that’s how I’ve been interviewed for my last two roles as well, seems that people have got wind of these “standard BO interview questions” :wink:

ok gr8


raju_souju1 (BOB member since 2008-09-23)

So, what experience of Business Objects have you had? Are you a reporter, a designer, an administrator? If you’ve done a bit of designer, think of your achievements. Be honest if you’ve never used your CMC, but I woudl suggest that you read a couple of FAQs on BOB about it so you can at least show that you have a passing interest in improving yourself by expanding your product knowledge.

I have worked on reports as well as designing universe …let me know some main topics for an interview point of view in Reporting as well as in Universe which will be help full to me


raju_souju1 (BOB member since 2008-09-23)

I thought I was being helpful :). As this is an open forum, I can reply to whatever I want.

As stated by Mark, honesty, in interviews, is the best policy.

You need to look at the description of the role and what parts of the product set will be used.

In your case are they asking for a developer of universes and reports or a more consultancy based role, I suspect you possibly have the experience for the former, but not the latter.

As stated by Mark, most of my interviews consist of a basic discussion, scenarios and experience, not how do you merge a data provider, for instance.
I don’t know the interview format, in India, so cannot help further.

We all have something new to learn, regardless of how experienced you are, I know I do :wink:.


Mak 1 :uk: (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

ok thank u so much


raju_souju1 (BOB member since 2008-09-23)

raju_souju1, please do not use Instant Message abbreviations on BOB. We want to keep BOB easy to understand for our International community. Thanks.


Jansi :india: (BOB member since 2008-05-12)

Reporting - have you worked on Deski or Webi?
What are the limitations of Webi compared to Deski?
Have you used XI3.0 yet? What features have already benefited you? What do you think will benefit you most?
How can I display all 12 months of the year in a crosstab if we’re only in month 4?
What process do you use for migrating reports from development to live? (There’s no hard and fast right answer on this, it’s more for the interviewer to understand what you do and why you do it so they can assess how quality-driven you are)

Designer -
How would you set about starting a universe design?
How would you test a universe that you have built?
How would you implement different aspects of security restrictions within your universe?

Questions these days focus more on how - they want to know what you’d do. A lot of it you probably do without thinking, but it’s seeing if you can communicate what you do and making sure that it’s correct.

I’m not going to give answers - it’s your interview and the answers are probably all on BOB somewhere so get SEARCH out and help yourself!

I think thats a very fair and a good set of questions, Mark :).

Luckily, I think I could answer all of them… :mrgreen:

Raju, I don’t think you could get better advice than Mark has given.

I must admit I have actually only interviewed one person, although I have sat in on a few.


Mak 1 :uk: (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

That’s without what’s on somebody’s cv - I’d be keen to add meat to the relevant experience that is on the cv to see if they could hit the ground running.

Dave points to the Sticky topic:

:wink:


Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

Dave,

Have thinks evolved in America from the stock questions and answers to more scenario-based quizzing yet?

At our company, we’ve been using behaviorial-based interviews for a long time. Scenarios (“Tell me about a time when you…”) rather than just quizzing on facts. The factual information should come out as a byproduct.


dnewton :us: (BOB member since 2004-01-30)

This is un-acceptable reply, Since you have 5+years of experience you should be in a position to know how the interview going to be and looks your going to take the interview first time.Its an international community and the people here are masters in Business Objects.

Its advisable not to use such kind of words. Finally, search on the Sticky topics, that will helps you to succeed in the interview and dont foget to post your interview feedback. :+1:


looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)