Wondering what to prepare for upcoming interviews.....

In our earlier two posts, we discussed about Resume and Cover letters which form the base of your job hunt. The final and the decisive step however is cracking the interview. Any job in today’s scenario expects a well settled interview session. The more the job standard the more rigid and demanding the interview becomes.

It has been seen that regardless of how good you perform in written exams, you still need to prepare your best for interview session. Most of us tend to be well enough in exams but cannot make it through the interview rounds resulting in all the more frustration and substantial decrease in our confidence level.

Over the years, it has been seen that the Interview panel instead of focussing on the technical aspects tends to focus on the personal and behavioural aspects. It is well justified also, as you have already cleared the technical, test you of course are technically sound and so they can rely on you for that. All that needs to be examined in interview is your communication and inter personal skills.

What is required out of you :

• In business terms they say ‘Show it, to sell it’. This seems to fit perfectly for interview. In order to sell yourself you need to know what is expected out of you. Every industry expects few basic qualities in all its employees and you need to reflect these through what you talk to your interviewer.
• Flexibility of an employee is must. You must show that you are flexible with firm’s working conditions.
• Show that you will be interested to work in any of the company’s location.
• Show that you are work friendly and enjoy working in groups. Mention that you previously have worked in a group and how successful and helpful was your experience.
• Rigidity is one thing that every employer hates. Try not to have any constraints with terms and conditions or minimum if at all.
• Honesty is another important quality required. Be honest in whatever you say, remember that they have interviewed lot many like you and they can easily judge your statements. Any negative impression can ruin your chances.
• Show that you really are in a need of job and that the job really matters to you at this point of time. If you tend to show a casual response your chances diminishes exponentially.

How to answer the interviewer :

• Usually the questions in interviews are concepts based. You need not to know the entire solution but still you should be able to convey the idea across.
• At times when you don’t have the exact answer to the question, don’t try to bluff instead you can very well say that you are unable to recall the answer at the moment.
• Mention a straight posture. Keep a gentle smile. Try to be calm and compose and try to answer slowly instead of blabbering.

What should you prepare:

• The biggest question is what you should prepare before attending the session. Consider below points and be prepared with the answers to avoid embarrassment in the interview hall.
• Every interviewer asks you the question regarding their company. Be prepared with the basic profile of the company. Try reading out the Wikipedia page of the company to gather information regarding foundation, revenue, products, market areas, CEO, strength and other key details.
• Be clear as to what your strong subjects are and which subjects you want to avoid. Often it is seen that interviewee is asked to talk on his subject of interest and most of us can’t decide it on the spot. So it’s better if you go with a clear picture already.
• Spend some time to figure out what your strong and weak points are. Most probably you will be asked to mention each of these so why not to go prepared for this as well. For example while quick learning, hard working and good communication skills can be some strong points at the same time mood swings, low temper can be termed as weak points.
• Hobbies are next important thing that defines our personality. Be prepared with a list of thing you like and things that you have done as a part of your hobbies. For example, it’s not enough to just say that exploring new places is your hobby; you also must be ready with a list of places you have explored.
• An important question which usually is asked in all the interviews is ‘Why do you want to join our company?’ It’s up to you how you prepare the answer to the question but keep in mind that avoid flattering and your answer must be genuine and should reflect originality.

With all these points covered in your home work your interview session will surely be better one. For any queries please feel free to comment below. We would be happy to reply to your queries. Soon we will be posting more on interview preparation. Keep reading for more...

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