What Is a PPI (Pre-Placement Interview)? PPI vs PPO
A PPI, or pre-placement interview, is an interview a company offers some of its interns before or outside the campus placement drive. It is a chance at a job, not a job: you still have to clear it. A PPO, a pre-placement offer, is the job offer itself. Many students mix the two up, and the difference matters when you plan around your college's placement rules.
PPI and PPO side by side
| PPI (pre-placement interview) | PPO (pre-placement offer) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An invitation to a shortened interview | A full-time job offer |
| Do you have a job? | Not yet: you must clear the interview | Yes, once you have the offer letter |
| Who usually gets it | Interns whose work was good but who weren't given a direct offer, or interns at companies that always interview | Interns the team wants to hire straight away |
| What happens next | One or two rounds, often technical and HR | You accept or decline by a deadline |
What a PPI usually covers
- **Your internship work.** Expect to walk through what you built, why you made the choices you did and what you would change. This is the part you control most
- **Core subjects.** For ECE roles, the basics interviewers lean on: digital design, analog circuits, signals, communication and, for chip roles, CMOS and timing. For software roles, data structures and one language in depth
- **A problem or two.** Often fewer rounds than the campus process, but not easier ones
- **HR.** Location, joining date and whether you have other offers
How a PPI fits your college's placement rules
Placement cells set their own rules, and they differ. Some treat a PPI as an ordinary interview, so clearing it and accepting the offer counts as being placed; some let you sit for campus companies until the PPI result is out; a few bar students with a pending PPI from certain rounds. Read your placement cell's policy, or ask the coordinator, before the PPI, not after.
How to prepare in the week before
- Write one page on your internship: the problem, what you did, the result in numbers, and one thing you'd do differently
- Revise the two or three core subjects closest to the team's work, using past interview questions from seniors where you can
- Practise explaining your work aloud in five minutes, then in one
- Keep your resume consistent with what you say: every line on it is a question you can be asked
If you clear it
Clearing a PPI turns it into an offer, a PPO. Read the offer letter before you accept: role, location, the CTC breakdown and any bond. Our [guide to PPOs](/blog/pre-placement-offer-ppo-accept-or-not) covers deciding whether to take one, and [CTC vs in-hand salary](/blog/ctc-vs-in-hand-salary) shows what the offer pays each month.