Persistent Systems

Persistent runs a largely virtual, assessment-led process for freshers and a shorter, interview-led process for experienced hires. Most candidates go through the steps below.

1. Application or campus registration

Freshers register through their college placement cell, the Semester-6 programme or an off-campus drive announced on the careers site and job portals such as Jobaaj. Laterals apply directly against an open requisition or are contacted by a recruiter. Eligibility filters, typically 60 percent throughout and no active backlogs for freshers, are applied at this stage.

2. Online assessment

Shortlisted candidates receive a link for a proctored online test. It usually has aptitude and logical reasoning sections, a computer-fundamentals section covering data structures, operating systems and DBMS, and two or three coding problems in a language of your choice. Some drives add a short English communication section.

3. Advanced coding round

Candidates who clear the first test are sometimes given a longer coding round with harder problems. This is where most of the shortlist happens, so practise medium-level problems on arrays, strings, hashing and recursion.

4. Technical interview

A 30 to 45 minute video or in-person interview with a senior engineer. Expect questions on your projects, the code you wrote in the test, core programming concepts, SQL and object-oriented design. Laterals are interviewed on their specific stack and may be asked to code live.

5. Managerial or second technical round

For laterals and some fresher drives, a delivery manager checks how you approach ambiguity, estimate work and handle client conversations.

6. HR discussion and offer

A short conversation on location preference, joining timelines, salary and the service agreement that applies to fresher hires. Selected candidates then receive an offer letter and a joining date, often a few months later for campus hires.

The rounds below describe the fresher and early-career loop; laterals usually skip the online test and get two technical rounds instead.

Round 1: Online aptitude and coding test

Roughly 90 to 120 minutes, proctored through the webcam. Sections are timed separately, so you cannot borrow minutes from an easy section for a hard one. The coding problems are auto-graded against hidden test cases.

• Quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning and basic English
• Computer fundamentals: DBMS, OS, networks, OOP
• Two or three coding problems on arrays, strings and simple algorithms

Round 2: Technical interview

Thirty to 45 minutes with an engineer or team lead. The interviewer usually opens with your final-year project and then moves to fundamentals. You may be asked to write short programs in a shared editor.

• Explain your project architecture and the part you built
• Difference between an interface and an abstract class, and when to use each
• Write a SQL query with a join and a group by
• Reverse a linked list or find duplicates in an array

Round 3: Managerial round

Not every drive includes this. When it does, a delivery or engineering manager spends 20 to 30 minutes on how you work: handling a slipping deadline, learning a new technology, working in a client-facing team.

• A time you had to learn something quickly
• How you would prioritise three tasks due the same day
• Why Persistent over other IT companies

Round 4: HR interview

A 15 to 20 minute discussion on your background, willingness to relocate across Persistent's Indian locations, shift flexibility for client time zones, and the terms of the fresher service agreement. Be honest about constraints; they are recorded.

• Tell me about yourself and your strengths
• Are you comfortable relocating to Pune or Nagpur
• Career goals over the next three years