From our research
What this interview looks like
A salary negotiation in an Indian company is usually two short conversations: HR states the offer and asks for an expectation, then the hiring manager, who owns the budget, negotiates fixed pay against variable, joining bonus, notice buy-out, title and review timing, within a band they will not reveal, and raises objections such as internal parity or a budget freeze.
A performance review follows the company's cycle, mid-year and annual, with a goal sheet, a self-rating, the manager's feedback on results and behaviours, and a rating conversation that maps to hikes and promotions through calibration. A PIP is the same conversation with documented expectations over sixty to ninety days.
A system design round is forty-five to sixty minutes with a staff or principal engineer: an open prompt, requirements and scale estimation, a high-level design, a deep dive on the hardest component, and trade-offs on failure, consistency and growth. ExamPilot compresses each into twelve to sixteen minutes with the same structure and the same rubric a real interviewer uses.
How it is weighted
Ratings in Indian companies are set in calibration against a bell curve, so the review conversation is where you make your evidence visible and show how you take feedback. Here each stage is scored on evidence and ownership 30, reflection and growth 25, communication 25 and attitude 20, with a pass mark of 65.
Who this is for
Pick the conversation you are heading into: a mid-year check-in, the annual appraisal, a performance improvement plan discussion, or the meeting where you make your promotion case. Bring your real goals and results; the manager will ask for numbers.
The panel focuses on
- Walking through goals with outcomes, numbers and your own contribution separated from the team's
- Owning misses with the honest cause and what you changed since
- Receiving developmental and behavioural feedback without defensiveness, and turning it into a measurable plan
- Understanding how ratings, calibration, hikes and promotions actually work, and what is fair to ask
- Handling a PIP conversation with composure, clarity on expectations and a visible progress plan
Step 1
Pick your domain
The expert on the panel probes these areas at the level of this role. Optional here; you can choose during setup.
Step 2
Choose how you want to be interviewed
1:1 interview
One interviewer runs every round and adapts the focus as you go. Lower pressure; ideal for a first attempt.
Ms. Tanvi Bhatia
Hiring manager
What to expect
4 rounds · 12 minutes
The appraisal or check-in conversation as it runs in Indian companies on a mid-year or annual cycle: the manager opens with the purpose and the rating framework, asks the employee to walk through their goals and evidence, probes the gap between self-rating and what the manager saw, gives direct feedback including on behaviours, agrees goals and a development plan, and closes with the rating conversation and next steps.
For a performance improvement plan the same conversation is harder and more structured. The manager is fair, specific and direct, listens before judging, never humiliates, and never promises a rating or promotion they cannot deliver. Scored on evidence and ownership, reflection and growth, communication, and attitude.
- Round 1
Purpose and framework
· 2:00Open the review as the employee's manager: set the purpose and tone, remind them of the rating framework and the cycle, and ask how they feel the period went overall so the self-assessment has a starting point.
Ms. Tanvi Bhatia1–2 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Goals, evidence and the gaps
· 4:00Walk through the goals the way a manager does with the goal sheet open: ask for results and evidence, test the employee's own contribution, raise the misses, and compare their self-rating with what you observed.
Ms. Tanvi Bhatia2–3 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Feedback, development and next goals
· 4:00Give direct, specific feedback including on behaviours, see how the employee receives it, and agree concrete goals and a development plan for the next period.
Ms. Tanvi Bhatia2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 4
Rating and next steps
· 2:00Close as a manager does: state where the rating is likely to land in one honest sentence without a guaranteed number, confirm the agreed goals and the next check-in, and ask whether anything is left unsaid.
Ms. Tanvi Bhatia1–2 questions
Meet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this role.
Ms. Tanvi Bhatia
ChairHiring manager
Vice President — skip-level manager on promotion and leadership panels
Senior, listens more than she speaks, tests judgement.
Female voice · 3 languages
Languages
Answer in the language you think in
The panel asks in your chosen language. Switch mid-answer if you like.
- English
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
- ਪੰਜਾਬੀPunjabi
How scoring works
A report you can act on
Every round is scored on the rubric
Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
Pass mark, then a plan
You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.
Scored on
- Evidence and ownership30%
Does the employee back claims with outcomes and own the gaps? Reward goals stated as they were set, results quoted with numbers and dates, the employee's own contribution separated from the team's, misses named before the manager raises them, and the real reasons for a miss given without blaming others.
Penalise vague claims of hard work, listing activities instead of results, taking credit for team outcomes, explaining every miss by someone else's failure, and discovering a missed goal only when the manager points to it.
- Reflection and growth25%
How well does the employee take feedback and turn it into a plan? Reward asking for specifics, paraphrasing the feedback before responding, acknowledging the valid part even when disagreeing with the rest, proposing concrete next steps with a timeline and a way to measure them, and asking what great would look like at the next level.
Penalise defensiveness, arguing with every example, agreeing with everything without engaging, generic plans such as I will work harder, and an inability to name one thing they would do differently.
- Communication25%
Structured, calm and specific. Reward a short headline per goal followed by evidence, numbers and names used precisely, steady tone when the rating is lower than hoped, and asking for clarity rather than assuming. Penalise rambling, emotional escalation, interrupting the manager, speaking in generalities, and tone that becomes sarcastic or resigned.
- Attitude20%
Would the manager want this person on the team next year? Reward professionalism when disappointed, curiosity about how to improve, respect for colleagues named in the conversation, honesty about what the employee wants next, and a constructive close.
Penalise threats to resign, comparisons that run down peers, sulking, blaming the process, and treating the review as a negotiation only about money.
Pass mark 65 / 100 · Performance review — appraisal conversation with your manager
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