The key strategy is to research the types of
qualities and skills set required for the position you have applied.
a.
Do all the homework (talk to seniors from your
college who gave interview / working in the company about their interview
experience) you can before the interview to uncover this position's wants and
needs (not the generalized needs of the industry or company)
b.
As early as you can in the interview, ask for a more
complete description of what the position entails. You might say: "I have
a number of accomplishments I'd like to tell you about, but I want to make the
best use of our time together and talk directly to your needs. To help me do,
that, could you tell me more about the most important priorities of this position?
All I know is what I (heard from the recruiter, read in the job description /
classified ad, etc. )"
Tell me
about yourself?
Don'ts:
Don't
ask the interviewer What should I tell? or What do you want to know?
Don't take more than a minute or two to complete
your answer.
Don't ramble, recap your life story, talking
about your ancient history or personal matters.
Do:
Start with the present. Cover your educational
background and your family background in brief. One should also include qualities,
skills and interests/hobbies relevant to the position you have applied for.
Talk about things that you want him to ask further about in any of the above
areas.
What are
your greatest strengths?
Don'ts:
Don't fool yourself and them. Be honest. Speak
what you FEEL is your greatest strength and be ready with an example to prove
your strength. Skills like confidence etc can easily be seen.
Do:
As a general guideline, some of the most
desirable traits that all employers want to see in their employees are:
1.
A proven track record as an
achiever, especially if your achievements match up with the employer's
greatest wants and needs.
2.
A team player who puts his interests
behind the team
3.
Dedication - willingness to walk the
extra mile to achieve excellence.
4.
Definiteness of purpose - clear
goals.
5.
Enthusiasm - high level of
motivation.
6.
Good communication skills.
7.
Leadership
Be
ready with an example to support each of them.
What are
your greatest weaknesses?
Don'ts:
Don't say that I am slow or undecisive or
anything which will be clearly unwanted for person in that role. Any admission
of a weakness or fault will earn you an award for honesty but you will not get
the job.
Do:
Disguise strength as a weakness!
For eg. "I sometimes push my people too
hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the
same wavelength. " or I sometimes tend to accommodate a little buffer in
the deadlines and hence my deadlines are not very aggressive because I like to
spend some time and have a close to perfect quality in my work.
Why
should I hire you?
Don't:
Don't come across as an arrogant and
over-confident person.
Do:
Walk through each of the position's requirements
as you understand them, and follow each with a reason why you meet that
requirement so well. Example: "As I understand your needs, you are first
and foremost looking for someone who can manage the sales and marketing of your
book publishing division. As you've said you need someone with a strong
background in trade book sales. This is where I've focussed during my
education. I believe that I know the right methods, principles, and successful
management techniques. "
"You also need someone who can expand your
book distribution channels. In my organizational experience of events at my
college, my innovative promotional ideas doubled the sponsorship for the fest
compared to the previous year. I'm confident I can do the same for you. "
Why do
you think you should be taken for this job in comparison to your college
friends who have applied for the same position?
Don't:
Don't go on to talk about your friends in any
manner which could be offensive about your friends because this is precisely
what the employer wants to check.
Do:
Go on to talk about yourself, your achievements
and qualities. Finally put the ball in the employer's court by saying that he
is the better person to decide who is to be chosen for the job.
Where do
you see yourself five years from now?
Don't:
Don't sound like you're settling for this
position, using it merely as a stopover until something better comes
along.
Don't say that you do not have a job and you
have to compromise.
Do:
Reassure your interviewer that you're looking to
a bright -future in the company in the coming 4-5 years and the position
entails what you're looking to do and what you do well. As for your future, you
believe that if you perform each job at hand with excellence, future
opportunities will take care of themselves.
Example: "I am definitely interested in
growing personally with the company in the coming years. Judging by what you've
told me about this position, it's what I'm looking for and what I am well
qualified to do. In terms of my future career path, I'm confident that if I do
my work with excellence, opportunities will surely open up for me. It's always
been that way in my career, and I'm confident I'll have similar opportunities
here. "
Describe
your ideal company and job.
Don't:
Don't name a company or show that you are
compromising in taking up this opportunity even if that is the case.
Do:
The only right answer is to describe something
similar to what this company is offering, being sure to make your answer
believable with specific reasons, stated with sincerity, why each quality
represented by this opportunity is attractive to you. You may say that you
would like to work in any company which is growing and which can provide you
also the opportunity to grow in the role.
Why do
you want to work at our company?
Don't:
Don't say, I don't have a job and if you provide
me the job I would be willing to work at your company.
Do:
You should reiterate on all the good attributes
about the company in terms of your role offered, what you may have heard about
the culture in the company, its name, its growth and how it all fits your
expectations
Tell me
about something you tried and failed to do?
Don't:
Don't talk about your guilt from personal life or
career or regrets regarding a parent, spouse, child etc. All such answers can
be disastrous. DO NOT express regret.
Do:
Talk about something you tried and failed to do.
Do talk about what you learnt from it. You can say that you never regret
because every failure makes you a better person if we make sure we don't repeat
the mistake.
The
"Silent Treatment"
Don't:
When you get this silent treatment after
answering, a particularly difficult question, such as "tell me about your
weaknesses", its intimidating effect can be most disquieting, even to
polished job hunters.
Most unprepared candidates rush in to fill the
silence, viewing prolonged, uncomfortable silences as an invitation to clear up
the previous answer which has probably caused the interviewer to think.
Do:
If your interviewer is silent for quite sometime,
keep quiet yourself for a while, do not disturb if he is writing something and
ask after sometime, with sincere politeness and not a trace of sarcasm,
"Is there anything else I can fill in on that point?" Just wait
calmly for him to talk after that.
Who has
inspired you in your life and why?
Don't:
sonalities that could create a problem even from
a distance unless you can justify it well. Also take care to choose the best of
the lot.
You may mention anyone from your life who's been
there as a protangonist or perhaps someone of a higher genre from a public profile.
You also need to mention as to what are the qualities that you like in that
person and how have those things influenced your personality.
What are
your outside interests or extra curricular activities that you have been
engaged in apart from study?
Don't:
you hobby is sleeping and that is what you
are best at. This kind of humor will not be taken in a positive light.
You are going to be hired for what you can do
for the company and not for yourself and family, hence a long list would only
make him disinterested. Mentioning cooking, gardening, listening to music also
are not good examples as they do not put you across as an active person.
When you quote an activity as your hobby, you
are likely to be asked another question like When was the last time you
painted/played ? . So don't quote anything that you haven't done for a long
time. If you like something, you better be doing it at a reasonable frequency.
Do:
Mention things which may relate to the employer
or perhaps the profile you're appearing for. Telling him about the desire to
read or indulging in sports on weekends so that so that the employer is
comfortable in having you in his company. You should talk about interests which
are oriented towards something which makes you active and participatory.
Tell me
about a situation when your work was criticized
Don't:
Don't say that you were criticized at some point
and those who did it were stupid and you were not at fault.
This question is also intended to probe how well
you accept criticism.
Do:
You may say that no one is perfect and you always
welcome suggestions on how to improve your performance. Then, give an example
of a not-too-damaging experience of criticism from your college life and relate
the way you accepted your fault and how it has helped you. This demonstrates
that you learned from the experience. Of course, the example has to be related
to your studies or related activity and not your personal life.
Give me
an example of your creativity (analytical skills, managing ability, etc. )
Don't:
Don't mention things from the distant past as
that will only make the employer think that you've havent employed your recent
time well.
Do:
Give creative examples of how you put in your
efforts to some project or with peers to bring out something substantial. You
can quote examples where you took a new approach to solve any problem in your
academic life preferably.
What was
the toughest challenge you have ever faced?
Don't:
Don't include your personal or family issue
coming along since this is the last thing recruiter wants.
Avoid being emotional in such a situation and be
confident to answer it well.
Do:
You may mention a situation where you found
yourself alone yet you took it as a challenge to yield out the results. Such a
situation could be in the form of academics or some event organization or
perhaps any of your real life situations. But maintain decorum to avoid
mentioning personal issues.
What do
you like most and hate most?
Don't:
Abstain from making any judgements about someone
in particular but you could express your feelings of hate about a methodology.
For eg you could mention that you hate dishonesty but not that you hate your
xyz friend because he lied the other day.
Also try to keep the extent level to disliking
rather than hating as much as possible to avoid giving a provocative image.
Do:
Mention things which may relate to your domain or
perhaps the profile you're appearing for, along with other things you find your
interest into. Mentioning things which are subtle would be better. You can also
mention some qualities like dishonesty or compromise on quality of job. Say
what you mean.
What do
you think will be the challenge in handling this job?
Don't:
Don't say that there is nothing that could prove
out to be challenge to you because if there isnt such a thing then it makes no
sense to take up the job.
Do:
Mention the challenges that you can visualize in
your domain, like for a researcher it is difficult to precisely search for
certain content on the internet but he still wants to do it. Just as
importantly also mention your capabilities to cope up with such a challenge.
Describe
one situtation where you have demonstrated being a teamplayer.
Don't:
Don't sound like a hero but like a modest person,
who put's team's interest before himself
Do:
Demonstrate your presence as a team player both
where what you suggested something was taken up by the team and also where you
didn't quite agree with an idea. Even If the decision was not what you
expected, you still came out and supported your team members to meet the
objectives. You can also mention an incident when you compromised your
interests or activities to support your team.
Describe
one situation where you have demonstrated leadership.
Don't:
Avoid
mentioning any incidence where you came out as a leader and you thought that
your idea was right but could never be proved. It may happen that you end up
spending the next hour convincing the interviewer that you were right when he's
already convinced that you weren't.
Do:
To come
up with a situation where you were against the odds but proved your point to
the extent of convincing others, would definitely work in your favour. Try to
come up with recent events that you may have shown your skills at instead of
ones in distant past.
Why is
you CPI/GPA/performance so low? Why do you think we should still take you?
Don't:
Don't come across as an arrogant person to
mention that you didn't really care about the exams at the first place. Simply
quoting your irrelevant extracurricular activities without any achievement/experience
will not help.
Do:
You may just mention honestly that you've been an
average student but at this point mention to the interviewer about your other
skills which may make him think you're eligible for the job. This showcases the
need to be good at extracurricular activities besides scoring good at studies.
A possible answer - I have a keen interest in computers and programming. Having
spent a significant time in these interests, I have become good at many
programming languages. I have also been the System administrator of my hostel,
which has given me a good experience in computer networks, server maintenance
etc.
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