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.

It is actually perceived as a very easy question to answer because it is typically considered as a routine question - like a warm up! However in reality it is actually a leading question that often gives the interviewer a chance to start forming opinions about the candidate and the drift of the interview right away.

From a candidate's perspective this can become a difficult question if you have not prepared well for it, in advance. Actually this question is a wonderful opportunity for the candidate to showcase his strengths and veer the conversation towards his areas of expertise. 

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

This is not just the starter of the conversation, but the main course too. The flavor of the interview depends on the ingredients you have mixed in this dish. You speak about a unique hobby, and it adds a certain flavor; you speak about a certain characteristic, and the flavor changes.

In a comparison between all kinds of HR questions that are prepared by the candidate, this is the most important one.

I remember how tensed I used to get hearing the same while preparing my SOP. Bringing a blend of good writing, clarity, crispness, differentiation along with playing all safe, the SOP had become a tumultuous task. The fear to sit and start the big task (as in my head), prevented me taking the first step itself. Most of the times, I was writing and removing the words the entire time.

However If given a thought it actually is a very interesting thing to do. A chance given to speak the most important things about own life and thus shape the direction of the interview any way you want.

Most of the candidates try writing a safe SOP. By safe I mean , writing in a traditional flow as: Name > Academics (University, Stream and percentage) > Professional Work(Years of experience, Firm name and job profile ) > Hobbies. Repeating a lot of stuff already mentioned in the CV, they try to limit the number and variety of questions raised to them. However, if you sit and think from the interviewer’s perspective, who takes hundreds of interviews in a day, the generic and boring SOP may make you a part of the big crowd they had assessed.

You want to make a mark. You want to direct the interview the way you want. You want the interviewer to enter your arena and prevent yourself from entering his.

Hence put some good stuff, something which is unique to you, specific to your personality.

How can you do this? Here are some pointers on what to include in the SOP:

1. Mention the most special characteristic of your personality. This could be anything: love for travelling or arts, being a dancer/singer, social work you have been doing, being a fantastic cook, or anything else under the sun.
2. Trace backwards, begin with work ex followed by UG and then schooling. Write about responsibilities and learnings you had during this time. Unless there is something substantial, skip very generic things about your schooling.
3. Talk about your personal life a bit (keep it precise): family background; learnings from the family.
4. Hobbies (Very important): Speak at length, mention achievements if any,
5. Strengths and weaknesses.
6. Why MBA?

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.