Standard Chartered Gbs Interviews

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Standard Chartered GBS Apprentice Hiring drive for the Technology 2025 Batch in India - a highly competitive selection process.

Program Highlights: Duration: 12 Months Apprenticeship Stipend: ₹40,000/month Locations: Chennai & Bangalore Expected Joining: July-Sep 2025 Eligibility: 2024 & 2025 grads from CSE, IT, ECE, EE with CGPA ≥ 6

This apprenticeship offers exposure to real-world projects, tech training, workshops, and potential conversion to a full-time role based on performance. A great opportunity for freshers to grow and explore!

Selection Process: Around 220 students were shortlisted after clearing online assessments and behavioural rounds.

On the big day, ~180 students appeared for in-person interviews (Tech + HR).

Post technical interviews, ~150 students were shortlisted for the HR round - and yes, I was one of them! The interviewers shared that they were impressed with the students overall performance and mentioned they’d be taking a good number of us forward. But… we weren’t quite sure if their definition of a “good number” matched ours.😅

However, things took a surprising turn. It was already 8 PM (the process started at 9 AM), and only one HR person was available to interview everyone.

So what happened?

A Group HR round was conducted in a conference room with 15 students at once. Each of us was asked any two of the following questions:

1. Why apprenticeship and not a full-time role?

2. Why Standard Chartered?

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

4. What did you learn in the last 3 months (non-technical)?

Some found it tough to express themselves in this setting and felt they'd have done better in a 1-on-1 HR round. Still, 68 students were finally shortlisted - and I’m grateful to be among them!

Thoughts? Have you ever experienced a Group HR round? Do you think it’s an effective way to evaluate candidates? Would love to hear your experiences or opinions in the comments 👇