Interview and Group Discussion Tips for Civil Engineers

सर्वप्रथम नाम निकाल्न सफल हुनु भएकोमा GhokSewa परिवारको तर्फबाट हार्दिक बधाई दिन चाहन्छौँ ।

Group Discussion (10 marks: 30 minutes)

Civil Engineering संघको group discussion Leaderless हुन्छ । There is no leader to facilitate and individuals are required to discuss and present one by one by sitting around a table. “निर्दिष्ट समय भित्र समूह वीच छलफल गर्दै प्रत्येक उम्मेदवारले व्यक्तिगत प्रस्तुति (Individual Presentation) गर्नु पर्नेछ ।”   Three officials from the Public Service are there to evaluate your presentation.  Some of the past topics that were given for discussions are as follow:

1. Current Periodic Plan (चालु आवधिक योजना) (We have a very brief coverage of the 16th plan, you can have a look at it inside our app course.)
2. Sustainable Peace (दिगो शान्ति)
3. Public Land Protection (सार्वजनिक जग्गाको संरक्षण)
4. Health Insurance (स्वास्थ्य बिमा)
5. खाद्य सुरक्षा (Food Security)
6. जैविक विविधता (Bio-diversity)
7. सार्वजनिक सम्पतिको व्यवस्थापन (Public Property Management)
8. Sustainable Development (दिगो विकास)
9. Climate Change (जलवायु परिवर्तन) and Nepal
10. सामाजिक न्याय (Social Justice)

Topics mentioned in the syllabus:

1. Energy Crisis (उर्जा संकट)
2.  Poverty Alleviation (गरिबी निवारण)
3. स्वास्थ्य बिमा (Health Insurance)
4. खाद्य सुरक्षा (Food Security)
5. प्रतिभा पलायन (Brain Drain)

Tips for Group Discussion:

1. As there is no leader make a consensus among the members on how to take turns. How many minutes will one guy speak? ,etc. What if one person stumbles (pauses for a while)? ,etc.
2. Present critical aspects on the topic given to you backed up by important data. Do not overload it with just data. गफ मात्रै पनि नदिनु , आफ्नो तर्कलाई मुख्य तथ्यहरूले backup गर्नु । Example: If brain drain is the topic: present the pros and cons of it. State about the remittance it brings to the country in data. How much that contributes to the national economy, etc. How many people are leaving the country? Which country mostly? What age group mostly? Why do you think they are leaving? What can be done to bring them back or retain people in the country? ,etc.
3. Remember it is a discussion you can ask questions, ask someone else’s opinion, present something to analyze/think to the group as well

Consider covering contemporary issues of the section officer administration syllabus. (Paper III part only).
Click to download.

Interview:

• What to prepare for the interview?
  Technical basic core concepts of the major subjects.
  Current Affairs
  Relevant rules, regulations and laws
• Dress tidy and formal. Eg: Boys can wear a formal shirt-pant and dhaka topi.
• Enter and greet everyone in the room.
• Do not sit without permission or the offer to get seated.
• Sit upright.
• Introduce yourself in short.
• They will start asking you questions about you like: where are you from?, are you currently working or? If yes, where? ,etc.
• Questions by the interviewer are mostly related to what you say. Example: you might say I am from Bardiya. The question that follows might be:
  Do you know of some of the national pride projects or important or civil engineering related projects in your district?
  Do you know of the Bardiya National Park?
  How many tigers are there?
  What do you think about human wildlife interaction and what you can do about it?
  So you must have a thorough understanding of your own place.
• About your workplace and the field you are currently working in? Eg: if you have been working on building designs. Expect some basic and core engineering concepts related to it. Beams, columns, stress, strain, software and so on.
• What is your interest? Have a good technical knowledge on what your interest is? For example: Fluid and water resource interested folks were asked about: Froude Number, Reynold’s Number, Hydraulic Jump, etc. Have sound technical knowledge on the core concept of your interest and important topics such as Structure, Transport, etc.
• So, in general question usually follows on what you say?
• Have a thorough knowledge on the Constitution of Nepal, Acts and Rules related to procurement and civil engineering, EIA’s, etc.
• Do not spit out random stuffs on matters you do not know. Admit it in an elegant way that you are not acquainted with the topic and apologize.
• You do not need to dive deep into the technical parts of the civil engineering subjects. Remember you have already passed the written examinations. Just cover the core concepts while preparing for the interview. Example: if highway: super-elevation, geometric design. if irrigation: Chandra canal , formulaes used in designing major irrigation structures.
• Cover the topics that are of importance, especially recent affairs such as wars, budget, national pride projects, climate change, earthquakes, mcc, hydro, etc.