How to face an interview?

How to face an interview:

To be successful in interviews, please follow below suggestions:

Reach interview location on time:  Travelling to interview location can be stressful especially, if the distance to the location is long and traffic/weather conditions are not favorable. Plan to reach the interview venue at least 30mins before the actual scheduled time so that enough time will be there to relax before interview. Many candidates start late and rush to the venue just before interview or after the scheduled time. This leads to extra mental pressure on the candidate as he/she won’t have time to settle down. If venue is not familiar, it would be good idea to do a trail run a day in advance so that you know how long it takes to reach venue and you can plan properly to reach venue on the interview day

Sleep Well: Before the interview day, good night’s sleep is essential to stay fresh in body and mind. If we don’t have proper sleep, it will result in tiredness, lack of concentration and dizziness which results in negative impact on your performance

Dress Professionally: Many companies/jobs require employees to demonstrate professionalism while dealing with clients/customers. So, to make a good impression always dress professionally while attending an interview. Groom well and pay attention to your hygiene.

Be thorough with the resume/CV: Need to be familiar with whatever mentioned in the CV. Important to remember details about education and past experience if any. Please make sure to mention correct details in the CV. Please don’t mention any skills in CV which you don’t possess. Only mention skills on which you really have knowledge or expertise.

Body language: Most of the communication that we do in face to face interview is non-verbal. You have only one chance to make a positive first impression, so make the most out of it

a.    Walk into the interview room with confidence

b.    Stand straight

c.    Wear a smile

d.    Give firm & confident handshake

e.    Don’t get tense or overwhelmed

f.     Be cool and patient

g.    Avoid wandering your eyes (in the room or looking outside)

h.    Pay attention to the interviewer or panel. Maintain eye contact

i.      Thank interviewer, if offered to take seat

j.     Sit up straight

k.    Don’t shake legs or tap your feet with nervousness

l.      Don’t fiddle with your hair or rub your hands

m.  Demonstrate enthusiasm & self confidence

n.    Keep all required documents well organized in a folder

o.    Introduce yourself with confidence

Do’s and Don’ts :

a)    Don’t criticize your previous employers

b)    Be honest

c)    Do homework on the company and nature of its business before attending interview

d)    Be polite

e)    Keep your mobile in silent mode or switch if off before interview to avoid distractions

f)    Speak clearly so that interviewer can understand easily

g)    Don’t interrupt interviewer while he is talking. Let him complete his question and then only respond to him.

h)    If you don’t know answer for any question, admit it. Don’t give vague answers. If you are not strong in any technical area, please notify interviewer that, you don’t have exposure to that area, so that he can question in another area. Few people, in spite of not having idea, they try answering those questions and land into more problems.

i)     Never argue with interviewer or panel under any circumstance

j)     Thank interviewer or panel after completion of the interview

Communication Skills:

Please note that in addition to technical skills, interviewers will also focus on communication skills of candidates being interviewed. These days, employees should possess strong communication skills for interacting with clients/customers. So, we need to improve them. Please follow below suggestions:

1.    Read English newspapers / articles

2.    Listen to English news channels (News / Celebrity Interviews / Debates)

3.    Learn new words and their usage regularly

Interview Preparation:

 Proper preparation prior to the interview will give confidence to face it

1.    Make sure to brush up fundamentals and technical skills

2.    Prepare notes for the frequently asked common questions and go through them thoroughly prior to interview so that you can answer confidently

Few common questions listed below:

a)    Tell me about yourself

b)    What are your strengths or weaknesses?

c)    Why do you want to work for this company?

d)    What do you know about our company?

e)    Why did you leave your last job?

f)    What are your long term goals?

g)    Why do you want this job?

h)    How would you describe yourself?

i)     Tell me few critical issues you have resolved in last 3 months?

j)     Are you willing to work in night shift? If not, why?

k)    Are you interested in relocation? If not, why?

l)     What are your earlier achievements?

m)  Do you have any questions?

3.    Find out frequently asked technical questions and prepare notes and go through that so that you can answer confidently when asked

4.    If you are rejected in an interview, please don’t feel dejected. After every interview, please make a practice of noting down questions asked. Later prepare notes for those questions, so that you can answer them confidently in next interview

5.    Listen carefully, while a question is being asked by the interviewer. It won’t be good, if we ask him to repeat question multiple times. However, if the question is not clear to you, please feel free to ask him to repeat or clarify. Don’t assume something and give irrelevant answer

6.    Be thorough with the CV so that you can answer confidently about your education, previous work experience, technical skills etc.

Please note, ideally it is not possible to answer 100% questions correctly. If you can answer 70% of questions, you will have good chance of clearing interview. 60% of question will be repetitive in many interviews.  If we can handle frequently asked questions confidently and answer 10% more questions correctly, you would be able to clear interview comfortably.

So, please follow above suggestions and clear interview comfortably and confidently….

ALL THE BEST J