Humayra Irfan figured it out. She’s a former Director of Branding at BUBEF, a Hult Prize winner, and someone who methodically worked her way through every stage of Syngenta’s selection process to land a spot in their Aspire Internship programme.

On the other side of the table sits Sharifur Rahman, Assistant Manager of Talent at Syngenta, who has watched hundreds of candidates come through the door and can tell you exactly where most of them go wrong.

Together, their perspectives paint a complete picture of what this programme actually demands.

What the Aspire Programme is — and why it’s different

Before getting into strategy, it helps to understand what you are applying for. Syngenta’s Aspire Internship is designed specifically for fresh graduates. It is not a background role where interns sit in on meetings and make photocopies. It is a structured programme built around learning agility and real contribution, and the people running it take the selection seriously because of it.

Sharifur Rahman said, “Beyond technical knowledge, we look for qualities such as communication skills, adaptability, and learning agility, which are essential in the company’s dynamic environment. The programme seeks individuals who take initiative and can demonstrate tangible outcomes from their efforts.”

That framing matters. It means that from the very first stage, Syngenta is trying to figure out whether you are someone who creates outcomes, not just someone who shows up.

Your CV is not a list

Picture a recruiter sitting at a desk with a stack of CVs in front of them. They spend, on average, less than a minute on each one. Yours lands on top. What do they see?

For most applicants, the answer is: everything. Every club, every event, every committee they were ever nominally part of. Pages that say a lot without actually saying anything. Sharifur Rahman has seen this pattern repeat itself year after year.

He said, “Many applicants submit CVs that are unclear or incomplete. Since the CV is often the first impression, it should be concise, well-structured, and highlight key achievements to quickly capture a recruiter’s attention.”

Humayra’s CV did not look like that. Instead of listing everything, she built a thread: former Director of Branding at BUBEF, two-time Hult Prize competitor, first finishing as runners-up, then returning years later to win the On-Campus Championship. Sub-lead at the Vitalizers case competition, then growing into the lead role the following season.

Each entry was not just a credential. It was evidence that she could own responsibility at an organisational level, that she was persistent enough to come back after a near miss and win, and that people trusted her with more over time. When Syngenta read that CV, they were not just seeing a list of activities. They were seeing a pattern.

“Don’t just list activities,” she says. “Make sure your profile tells a coherent story.”

The thread in her case, branding, competition strategy, leadership under pressure, happened to align closely with the sales and channel-facing role she was eventually placed in. That alignment was not accidental. When you are building your CV, ask yourself: if someone read only this document, what would they conclude about who I am and what I am good at? If the answer is unclear, keep editing.

Mistakes

There is a second mistake that Sharifur Rahman sees just as often, and it is one that no amount of a polished CV can save you from.

He said, “Another frequent mistake is failing to research the company. Applying without understanding its values, culture, or business model can lead to generic responses. Students should study the organisation and tailor their applications to show genuine alignment with its goals.”

Because here is the thing, Syngenta is not just a pesticide brand. It is a global agribusiness operating across crop protection, seeds, and sustainable agriculture, with a distinct presence in Bangladesh and a global sustainability mission that shapes everything they do locally. A candidate who knows that and can connect it to their own goals has already separated themselves from the majority.

Humayra did not make that mistake. She researched their product lines, their positioning in the Bangladesh market, their global commitments, and how those connected to the role she was applying for. When the questions came in the interview, she was ready. And more importantly, she was able to speak about Syngenta in a way that showed she actually wanted to be there.

The selection process

The path from application to offer has a clear structure, and understanding it helps you prepare for the right thing at the right time.

It starts with CV screening. This is the first and often most brutal filter. Your CV either makes the cut or it does not, and there is no chance to explain yourself if it does not. Everything discussed in the previous section applies here: coherence, specificity, visible outcomes.

After that comes the Google Form, which functions as a written screening round. Think of it as a chance for Syngenta to hear your voice before they see your face. The questions are designed to assess how you think, how you communicate in writing, and whether your motivations are genuine or generic. Take it as seriously as you would a face-to-face conversation.

The final stage is the main interview. This is where everything comes together. It is behavioural and personal. The interviewers want to understand how you operate under pressure, how you handle criticism, and how you navigate difficult situations. They are not looking for someone who has the perfect answer. They are looking for someone who has a real one.

“They are not looking for someone who claims to be perfect,” Humayra says. “They want someone who can reflect honestly and show they have learned from hard moments.”

Inside the interview room

The main interview is the stage most candidates prepare least specifically for, and it shows.

The questions are behavioural, which means they are designed to surface how you have actually behaved in the past, not how you would theoretically behave in a hypothetical situation. How do you handle criticism? How do you manage pressure? What do you do when things go wrong or when you are working with a difficult team?

The instinct, when faced with these questions, is to give a polished answer. Something like: “I always take feedback constructively and look for ways to improve immediately.” It sounds good. It means nothing. It is the answer everyone gives, and it tells the interviewer very little about who you actually are.

What they are looking for is a real moment. A specific situation where feedback stung, where you did not immediately agree with it, or where things genuinely fell apart for a while. They want to know how you actually reacted, not how you wish you had. And they want to see that you reflected on it and did something with it afterwards.

Humayra prepared by going back through her own experiences before walking in, specific instances of receiving harsh feedback, working under tight deadlines, and navigating team conflict. She used the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) not as a script to memorise, but as a structure to make sure her stories had a clear shape. “I did not memorise scripts,” she says. “But I had clear stories ready so I was not fumbling for examples mid-interview.”