Cracking an Interview …..
Irrespective of having higher qualifications, experience & profound knowledge of their subject many candidates often fail to crack the interviews. And then starts wondering, I have answered every single question asked by the interviewer to the best of my knowledge and still, I failed. where did I make a mistake? Let’s evaluate the scenario…
Why Interviews?
For any employer or hiring authorities, it is very much important to assess the professional capability, skills, persona & ambitions of the candidate before hiring them. It is a very tricky and important task to appoint a perfect suitable person for the position he has applied for. It’s not just about academic qualifications, experience, or personality. Everything, such as the candidate's family background, his mentality, his nature, his thinking style, attitude, his readiness to accept & tackle challenges, his behavior while working with a team also plays an important part. These things must be considered and checked to evaluate whether the candidate is a perfect fit for the company & position that he has applied for.
What should be your preparation?
It starts with your CV. Your Resume is the most effective and important weapon which helps you win half the battle. Make a note that The reverse-chronological format is the most popular and familiar CV format in HR Managers & Hiring staff currently. The reverse chronological resume format includes employment history beginning with the most recent and then going backward. It mentions dates, as well as employers and educational institutions, strengths, certifications, skills, and Personal details at the end. Please make sure to keep the resume as short as possible. Be brief but do not create chaos. A CV with a maximum of 2 to 3 pages is best. I would recommend a ‘2 Page CV’. Please study the JD deeply and try to use some specific keywords from JD in your Resume. It helps the hiring people to locate you easily.
In every interview, there are a few common basic questions like tell me about you, your strengths, weaknesses. Questions like why should we hire you? Why are you leaving your current job? What are your current responsibilities? What is your current salary & your expectation from us? When can you join? Most of us usually prepare for these questions along with professional work experience. But, do we ever try to evaluate the effectiveness of our answers?
We often start from our qualifications, family background and end up with work experience while answering ‘Tell me about you.’
Well, that's not the way. The question is about you and not your family background or qualification. Be specific and to the point. Talk about your skills, nature, hobbies, passions. Tell some stories of the difficult & tricky situations you handled successfully. Never forget to give due credit to your friends, family, or your team members while mentioning your achievements. You can also add your strengths and weaknesses to this answer before they ask about it. It makes a great impact.
There are questions like where do you see yourself in the next five years? What will be your strategies to give justice to your job in the first year? What value additions you can make to the current policies and standards maintained by the company?
Do not answer in a single line. Be descriptive. You can divide your answers to such questions into two to three steps. For example, you can divide five years into three steps such as “For the first year keep a low profile, understand and try to cope up your profile requirements & with the team and to learn, studdy the company business, values, portfolios, standards, policies. Next two years, could be for giving justice to your role. You can discuss your strategies, techniques. Add some stories of your successful dealings in past career during some critical and similar situations. Last two years can be kept for your value additions, your contribution towards personal & organizational growth and business expansion. While answering these questions NEVER EVER MENTION ANY SPECIFIC POSITION OR DESIGNATION. It makes a wrong impression.
Make sure not to mention anything negative about your current or past employers. Never ever blame anybody for the wrongs that happened to you during your past jobs. The interviewer should always experience your optimism, your readiness to accept new challenges, willingness to work & share your experience, your knowledge with your team & other company colleagues.
Wearing a Suit, Blazer can always add some value to your persona, but do not wear them if you are not comfortable with. That may spoil your body language and confidence.
Instead ….
“Always wear A SMILE, CONFIDENCE & OPTIMISM on your face. It would definitely help you win half the battle at the time of your entry in the interview room only. All the best!
