One needs the right mix of skill and attitude to get through a tough personal interview
Nowadays, interviews have become the biggest hurdle for freshers seeking new careers but this doesn’t have to be the case. One usually associates the term ‘Abracadabra' with magicians but few know what it actually means. It is a Hebrew phrase that means, “I create what I speak”. And in this case, ‘Abracadabra' can help interviews from being a hurdle in one's career to bridge that jumpstarts one to the future.
An interview is all about answering the questions to solve the ‘purpose' of the interview. The candidate's answers must address the needs of the interview. It must be logical and reveal his level of commitment to the job at hand.
Remember, this is a personality assessment round and the interviewers are there to select, not reject, the candidate. Therefore, the candidate's answers should reveal important personal characteristics such as his ability to reason and his high degree of commitment.
When it comes to advocating for oneself, it is important that the candidate be prepared with all the weapons in his basket. Generally, interviewers hope to evaluate a certain set of skills of the interviewee. This includes the latter's ability to plan, organise, control, direct, be self-reliant, work with a team, bounce back after failure, make adjustments, create a conducive work environment, handle pressure, manage time, go into the root-cause of the problems, provide multiple solutions and persevere in difficult situations.
Hence, it is important for an interviewee to understand that he should formulate his answers in such a manner that they contain the necessary information in a subtle manner. This ensures maximum natural and realistic appeal. The candidate must be ready with examples providing evidence of these characteristics.
The first step in this direction is to draw up a list of strengths. While preparing this list, the candidate needs to keep in mind that it must be based on aspects he want to be questioned about and vice versa. The second step is to prepare a similar list of weaknesses. The basic idea here is that the candidate needs to know his comfort as well as his discomfort zones. This exercise also equips the candidate with answers on a wide range of questions.
During the interview, the candidate needs to incorporate the data and much information into his answers. This will enable him to reveal the extent of knowledge as well as the gravity of his personality. The candidate must also bring in date from various fields, so that it portrays him as an individual with a multi-dimensional personality.
The canidate’s words have to be concrete and from different fields of study. His sentences must be concise. He needs to speak clearly and highlight words which he feels are important and must be understood. He may rehearse these lines beforehand without any assistance by recording mock interviews. His message should be clear, audible and well-communicated.
The ability to effectively frame answers, irrespective of the question, is something which enables an interviewee to safeguard himself and remain confident. For example, let us look at how to present evidence of self-reliance. The candidate can narrate a incident of this sort: “Once we had to organise an event in our college. There were five members in our organising cell. On the day of the event, the chief of the cell fell sick. Therefore, the rest of us discussed the strategies for the event and re-divided the work among ourselves. I was responsible for cleaning up the auditorium without any assistance. Initially, I was hesitant and took time to begin my task. But once I took up the broom and started dusting, I quickly completed my work. There was a sense of achievement.”
This example reveals a sense of duty, a sense of responsibility and the ability to finish a task within a stimulated timeframe. One can use it in response to many different questions.
During the interview, it is also crucial to bring a differentiating factor into the picture. In order to be slightly different from others, the candidate needs to research the institution for which he interviewing. He should be well-versed with the job requirements, the work-culture of the firm, its training process, functioning and strategies. He should also prepare an analysis of its competitors and their past and future ventures.
Also, the candidate should make it a point to talk to some employees of that institution and exhibit more than just a passing interest in the place. This will enable him to show a sense of ownership towards what could possibly be his future workplace.
Apart from these magical tricks, it is the candidate's listening skills, his ability to respond, be judicious in his answers and anticipate questions along with his general behaviour and etiquettes that are of prime importance. Significantly, a fox can change its skin but not its attitude. The candidate needs to have the right attitude to crack interviews.