Interview Skills Updates

These Interview questions are frequently asked by the Hiring Managers:

1) Tell me something about yourself/ Introduce yourself.

This question seems simple. Still, so many people fail to prepare for it, but it's very crucial.

Ans.)

Hello,

Thanks for giving me this excellent opportunity to introduce myself. I'm Virat Kohli from Bengaluru, and I completed my B-Tech in GMR Institute of Technology with a CGPA of 7.0.

My family consists of 4 members, My father is a Landlord, and my mother is a homemaker, and I have one sibling who is studying his 12th in Bengaluru.

My strengths are that I'm a Fast learner, Hardworking with a positive attitude.

My hobbies are Listening to Music and Watching Cricket.

As a Fresher I don't have any experience, but If any organisation gives me an opportunity, I will show my skills for the growth of the organisation.

Thank you.

Studies show that interviewer forms judgement within 4 minutes of Meeting of candidate.

Greet the interviewer with the pleasant smile and then enter the room.

Allow the interviewer to indicate where to sit.

Have documents in order in a file or folder, if you cant handle carry just a copy of your freshly printed resume.

Verbal and Non-verbal communication is very important.

Keep your introduction short and crisp.

Stick to the RULE(EES).

•     Education
•     Employment
•     Skills

How to answer. "Tell me about yourself" ?

There are some job interview questions that are guaranteed to come up in most (if not all) of your job interviews, regardless of your industry, your experience level, and job type. 

Hi Guys,

Follow below while attending interview

• Keep eye contact with interviewer
• Sit straight and all ways be formal dressing.
• You should know every line of your resume.
• Don't argue and don't sit silent.
• Take permission while entering in to the room and while sitting in the chair.
• Keep  your mobile in silent mode.
• Don't hesitate to request for water, pen, paper.
• Visitor tag should be on your neck, don't keep in your pocket, if provided.
• Never read at interview location. Be cool.

I was wondering if I am to give only 3 tips for your next interview, what would be those? After thinking for a while, I could understand that the 3 most common mistakes are the 3 biggest lessons. So what are the 3 most common mistakes that can convert into an insight for your next interview?

1. Be on time: We all know it, reaching on time is the most important part of any meeting/interview. The message that we give when we reach late is we don't respect the time of that individual further we exhibit a behavior/habit. Which can cause a bigger damage to company reputation/culture? Hence you by default go under the category of the rejected candidate.

2. Informational Interview: Never ask for job's, conduct informational interview. What do we do in here is we try to understand the organization, culture and working environment a little better. We also ask few questions around how can I get in here? By doing so, you follow a professional approach and also have an insightful conversation with the person (working at your dream industry/organization).

3. Prepare your resume: Majority of the time we have observed candidates just make a copy of an existing resume and do not invest much time preparing it. You only have 6-13 seconds of time to get shortlisted. That's the time interviewer skim resume for. They don't read they skim your resume. What message do you want to convey in that time? Are you able to do that with the format you already have? If the answer is yes you have the right resume.

How do you answer any situational or behavioral question asked during your interview? Normally, we use random ways to answer these questions. What if we follow an approach to answering these questions? This approach is called SAR (Situation, Action, and Results) approach.

Situation: Spend 15-18 seconds to explain the situation not exactly but the objective is to spend less time in explaining the situation (problem) and focus more towards results. While narrating situation you might want to briefly explain the exact scenario and not opening the talk to blame game.

Action: What actions did you take post you have understood the situation, were you the spectator or you took a leadership role in the situation and designed an action plan? Also, try and explain the details of what actions did you take and what challenges did you face while taking action. It could be resistance from other stakeholder or lack of resources and how you overcome those challenges?

Results: What was the outcome? How was it accepted and appreciated? Try to show few numbers % growth, % ROI etc. This representation will help articulate your story in a better way.

I usually recommend people to have an inventory of different SAR covering different situational questions. It helps in many ways. Hope this helps you better prepare for next interview.

1. Conduct research on the employer, hiring manager, and job opportunity.

2. Review common interview questions and prepare your responses.

3. Dress for success.

4. Arrive on time, relaxed and prepared for the interview.

5. Make a strong first impression by dressing well, arriving early, and when greeting your interviewer, stand, smile, make eye contact, and offer a firm but not bone-crushing handshake. Remember that having a positive attitude and expressing enthusiasm for the job and employer are vital in the initial stages of the interview.

6. Be authentic, upbeat, focused, confident, candid, and concise.

7. Remember the importance of body language.

8. Sell yourself and then close the deal.

Maintaining eye contact when addressing a large gathering or facing an Interview. 

When you are speaking to a large audience, it may not be possible for you to establish eye contact with everyone in the room. So, how do you give the perception to everyone in the room that you are talking to them?

You can divide the audience into logical sections/groups. When delivering your speech, look at one person in each section/group. The others who are sitting around that person would also get the feeling that you are talking to them. You can even pick a person who gives you more comfort feeling, in a group. Make sure to give each section of the room, equal time and energy. Also, do not neglect the people in the back!

1. Any company that makes you wait for more than 15 minutes (after you report on time for an interview) is first sign that you are not a priority for them.

2. Whilst waiting look at the energy level, vibe and most importantly faces of the people working there as that will tell you a lot about the actual environment that exists in there.

3. Look at the dates on the magazines lying on the table in the waiting area. Anything that is over a month old and is still there says a lot.

4. If the first point of interviewing contact is a person with considerably less experience than you and he/she takes longer than half an hour with you, this is an indication and a classic case of a company and its HR not having spent enough time going through your profile and knowing the level of experience you have.

5. Most Important, always believe in your first instinct. What you felt about the company in first five minute at the reception area is exactly what is true.