How To Face An Interview Effectively?

Sakshi Education

For promotions and recruitments a candidate's performance at the interview is the deciding factor. An interview is not only an academic test, but also a psychological test. One must prepare well and be in the best frame of mind to face the interview successfully. Many a candidate with excellent academic and scholastic record fails to make the mark on account of their inability to face the interview successfully. The reason seems to be that they appear before the selection commi- ttee untrained and unprepared on the right lines. In this regard the follow-ing guidelines may help the candi- dates to train themselves and be able to offer an effective account of their talents and accomplishments.

Pre-Planning

Personal Information
The candidate must post himself with all the information relating to his family background, his own scholastic and academic achie- vements, the nature of his present employment, if any, present emoluments, his extra-curricular activities and other interests in the professional, research, and other fields. Whatever question is asked about these things, the candidate must readily answer them.
Preparing a career statement
The members of the selection committee may put a number of questions on the candidates career interests, such as,
i) Why do you want to join this particular organization?
ii) What is it that you have in your
mind once you join this organization?
iii) What scopes does your discipline or faculty have in this organi- zation?
iv) How do you plot your career graph in this organization?
These are rather searching questions and the candidate may not have imagined them. He is literally caught unawares. Now he has no time to ponder over these questions and come up with his own responses. Of course, he will mumble some answers and these answers may not be able to withstand a cross-examination. Therefore the wisest thing is to prepare a list of questions of this type and work out coherent and convincing answers to them. The following rough answers to the questions asked, may help you think of your own answers.
i) I want to join this organization since it is a growing concern established and is managed by reputed industrialists who care for the welfare of their staff.
ii) Well, this is certainly a delicate question. But the fact is that as a hard-working man by nature, I would like to contribute my best to the organization, and in turn, expect some encouragement from the management either in the form of increments or in the form of promotion as and when it is due.
iii) Sir, I'm a graduate engineer with a first class and distinction. As aptly observed by Mrs.Indira Gandhi, an engineer is one who learns by doing and does by learning. I believe in learning and doing. In this huge ele- ctronics organization, with consi derable knowledge of electronics and communication engineering, I have no doubt, whatsoever, that my discipline of electrical and electronics engineering, will have its own key role to play, so as to help the organization grow further and further.
iv) Well, I'm twenty-four years old now. My sincere ambition is that I must get a promotion once in five years, so that by the time of my retirement, that is, when I am about sixty, I must be a general manager. I don't think it is mis- placed or undeserved ambition. Well, I work strenuously for the growth of the organization in all respects and expect something in return.
Dress Code
The candidate must be clean and tidy, and neatly dressed. However, for men candidates dark and light combination with a suitable tie and polished shoe, would be impressive. In the case of women candidates saree, blouse and sandals seem to be a dignified dress. They must avoid gaudy colours and fancy-type dresses. High heeled shoe may be avoided, because they produce distracting tapping sounds, and the candidates look extraordinary tall.