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
In real negotiations the hiring manager's budget and the company's band decide most of the outcome. What you control is the basis of your ask, the trades you propose and the relationship you keep. Here each stage is scored on preparation and market knowledge 30, persuasion and strategy 30, communication 25 and professionalism 15, with a pass mark of 65.
Who this is for
Anyone with an offer, an appraisal letter or a client brief on the table. Pick the situation that matches yours: a first campus or fresher offer, a mid-career switch with or without a competing offer, an internal appraisal hike or promotion conversation, or a contract and freelance rate discussion.
The panel focuses on
- Stating a specific expectation with a basis: market range, competing offer, current break-up and the results you bring
- Understanding Indian CTC: fixed versus variable, in-hand, joining and retention bonuses, ESOPs, PF and gratuity
- Trading across components when the base is blocked, and asking for the constraint instead of repeating the demand
- Handling objections: budget freeze, internal parity, notice period, title, and the counter-offer from your current employer
- Closing with a decision or a firm timeline while keeping the manager on your side
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.
Mr. Siddharth Menon
Hiring manager
Panel interview · 2 members
Most realisticEach member leads their own round and hands over to the next. They hear each other, so a weak answer will be revisited.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni
HR member
Mr. Siddharth Menon
Hiring manager
What to expect
4 rounds · 12 minutes
The conversation that follows a job offer or an appraisal letter in an Indian company: HR opens with the offer or revision on the table and asks for the candidate's expectation.
The hiring manager then negotiates for real, defending the band, asking what the number is based on, trading fixed pay against variable, joining bonus, notice buy-out, title, remote days and review timelines, and raising the objections a real manager raises, from budget freeze to internal parity. The close asks for a decision or a timeline and leaves the relationship intact.
The interviewers are courteous, commercially minded and firm; they never promise what a company would not, never reveal the real band, and never coach. Scored on preparation and market knowledge, persuasion and strategy, communication, and professionalism.
- Round 1
The offer on the table
· 2:00Open as the HR partner who sent the offer or the revision letter: congratulate, restate what is on the table in one line, and ask for the candidate's expectation and its basis so the hiring manager can negotiate.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni1–2 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 2
Negotiating the number
· 4:00Negotiate like the manager who owns the budget: test the basis of the ask, defend the band without revealing it, explore what the candidate values, and move only in exchange for something concrete.
Mr. Siddharth Menon2–3 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Objections and trade-offs
· 4:00Put the real-world objections a manager raises and see how the candidate handles pressure, trades components and protects the relationship: budget freeze, parity with the team, a counter-offer from their current employer, a shorter notice period, or a lower title.
Mr. Siddharth Menon2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 4
Decision and next steps
· 2:00Close the negotiation the way a good manager does: state what you will take back to HR, ask for the candidate's decision or a firm timeline, and keep the door open.
Mr. Siddharth Menon1–2 questions
Meet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this role.
Ms. Neha Kulkarni
ChairHR member
HR business partner, IT services
Friendly, efficient, detail-checking.
Female voice · 4 languages
Mr. Siddharth Menon
Hiring manager
Head of Product & Business (hiring manager, non-tech roles)
Structured, numbers-first, quietly demanding.
Male 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
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
- Preparation and market knowledge30%
Does the candidate know their number and where it comes from?
Reward a specific expectation with a rationale: the market range for the role, city and experience, competing offers or the current CTC and its break-up, the value they bring quoted as results, and knowledge of how Indian CTC works, fixed versus variable, in-hand versus cost to company, ESOPs, gratuity and PF.
Reward a candidate who separates must-haves from nice-to-haves before the conversation starts. Penalise a number with no basis, confusing gross and in-hand, not knowing their own current break-up, quoting a competing offer they cannot describe, and asking for a figure then immediately dropping it when questioned.
- Persuasion and strategy30%
How well does the candidate move the number or the package without damaging the offer?
Reward anchoring with a range whose floor is their real target, justifying with results and market data rather than needs, trading across components when fixed pay is blocked, asking for the budget constraint and working around it, using silence and questions instead of repeating the demand, and knowing when to accept. Reward honesty about competing offers and timelines.
Penalise ultimatums the candidate cannot back, bluffing about offers, caving at the first objection, negotiating against themselves by lowering the ask twice in a row, pleading personal expenses, and reopening settled points.
- Communication25%
Clear, calm, specific. Reward short sentences with numbers, stating a position once and then listening, paraphrasing the manager's constraint back before responding, and keeping a warm tone while disagreeing. Reward the ability to say I understand the band, here is why I believe this role sits at the top of it.
Penalise rambling justifications, apologising for asking, interrupting, vague phrases such as a bit more or something better, and tone that turns defensive or entitled when challenged.
- Professionalism15%
Would the manager still want to hire this person after the negotiation? Reward gratitude for the offer, enthusiasm for the role kept visible, honesty about the decision timeline, respect for the company's constraints, and a graceful close whether or not the number moved.
Penalise threats to walk out that are not real, disparaging the company or the offer, badmouthing the current employer, inventing deadlines, agreeing and then hinting the search continues, and any suggestion of dishonesty about documents or past salary.
Pass mark 65 / 100 · Salary negotiation — offer discussion with HR and the hiring manager
Keep exploring
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