UpGrad

upGrad hires across the year through its careers page, job portals such as Jobaaj, employee referrals and campus tie-ups. The process is short and fast-moving for sales roles and longer for product, engineering and academic positions.

1. Application and recruiter screen

After you apply, a recruiter calls to confirm your background, communication skills, notice period and interest in the role. For admissions counsellor roles this call is itself an assessment of how clearly and confidently you speak.

2. Online assessment or assignment

Sales candidates may get a short aptitude and situational judgement test. Product, marketing and content roles often receive a take-home assignment, such as analysing a funnel, writing a short lesson plan or proposing a feature. Engineering candidates get a coding test on a standard platform.

3. Functional interview

A team lead or manager interviews you on the specifics of the role. For sales this is a mock pitch: you are asked to sell a programme to the interviewer, who plays a hesitant learner. For product and engineering it is a problem-solving or technical discussion.

4. Manager or leadership round

A senior manager or head of department checks depth, motivation and fit. Expect questions on how you handle targets, rejection and ambiguity, and what you know about upGrad's programmes and competitors.

5. HR discussion and offer

HR closes on compensation, incentive structure, joining date and work location, and shares the offer letter. Background verification and document collection happen before joining.

Admissions counsellor and inside-sales roles form the bulk of upGrad's hiring, so the rounds below follow that track first, with notes for product, academic and engineering roles.

Round 1: Telephonic screening

A 10 to 15 minute call with a recruiter. It is mainly about communication and intent, so speak clearly, keep answers crisp and show genuine interest in education and sales.

• Walk me through your background
• Why sales and why edtech
• Comfort with targets and a six-day or rotational schedule

Round 2: Online test or assignment

Sales: a short online test of basic aptitude, English and situational questions. Product and marketing: a take-home case with a two to three day deadline. Engineering: one to two coding problems in about 60 minutes.

• Situational judgement on handling an angry learner
• Funnel analysis: where are leads dropping and what would you change
• Data structures and SQL basics for engineering roles

Round 3: Mock pitch or technical interview

The decisive round for sales. The interviewer plays a prospective learner with objections about fees, time and relevance. You are judged on discovery questions, structure, objection handling and closing.

• Pitch a data science or MBA programme to a working professional
• Handle the objection that the course is too expensive
• For engineers: system design at a basic level and code review discussion

Round 4: Manager or leadership interview

A 30 minute conversation with a sales head, product head or academic director on your resilience, learning attitude and understanding of the business.

• Tell me about a time you missed a target and what you did next
• What do you know about upGrad's competitors
• How would you prioritise 50 leads with different intent levels

Round 5: HR round

Compensation, incentives, location and joining formalities, plus a final check on expectations about the role.

• Fixed versus incentive split and how incentives are calculated
• Notice period and joining date
• Work-from-office expectations