UNIT IV

CHAPTER 8

INTERVIEW SKILLS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Objectives of this chapter are:

8.1 PURPOSE OF AN INTERVIEW

Generally candidates are afraid of interviews as they think it to be a live ghost came to be faced. Remember that interview is nothing but a conversation, dialogue between two individuals who are at equal stature. In other words it is a method of getting an internal view of a candidate. So never think you are begging for a position, you are applying for it. Always feel relaxed while facing an interview as you need a job in the same way companies also need you. Always remember, first deserve then desire. Main purpose of the interview should be to attract and hire the best people available, not just hire the best people who apply. Before jumping ship to a new company, you inevitably need to test the waters during the job interview. The purpose of a job interview is twofold: It offers the employer valuable insight into your personality and abilities, and it allows you the chance to discern whether your credentials and career goals match up with what the company seeks. Job interviews can be quick -- sometimes lasting as little as a half hour -- or long, if you meet separately with two or more people from the company. When both parties listen intently and speak accurately, there is much to gain from the job-interview process.

Lets analyze candidates and employer’s purposes separately.

The Employer’s Purpose: Employers need to know three things about you:

  • Can you do the work? Do you possess the skills and qualifications as reflected in your experience and education.
  • Will you do the work? They need to know, based upon your interests and goals at this stage of your career, if you are motivated.
  • Will you fit in? They want to determine if you are a good fit with co-workers and if your values are in line with the company’s culture and mission. All other factors being equal, many hiring managers base their decisions on likeability and fit.

The Candidate’s Purpose: As a candidate, you need to:

  • Describe your skills and abilities to show that you can do the work.
  • Describe your interests and goals at this stage of your career to demonstrate that you are motivated and will do the work.
  • Learn as much as possible about the position and employer to determine if the job and the company’s culture are a good fit with your skills, values, interests, and goals.

The four big purposes of a professional employment interview are: Accurately assess competency, fit and motivation; prevent good candidates from being improperly assessed. If you’re a recruiter you’ve experienced this problem first hand many times. It happens whenever a fully-vetted candidate you've worked hard to find gets blown out because the hiring manager conducted a superficial or flawed assessment. If you’ve ever been on the interviewing team, you've experienced the problem second hand. This happens whenever there is wide disagreement about candidate competency among the members of the interviewing team. It means most of the interviewers are using either emotion, intuition, or some narrow range of factors to determine competency, fit and motivation to do the work. One countermeasure for this type of incorrect assessment is specific evidence disproving the false conclusion. For example, assuming that a soft-spoken person lacks team skills can be disproved by describing the big, multi-functional teams the person has been assigned to and asked to lead. Third purpose of interview is to clarify real job needs, demonstrate to the candidate that the assessment is professional, and that the company has extremely high hiring standards. Candidates – especially those with multiple opportunities – react negatively to box-checking, overt selling, superficial assessments and interviewers who are clueless when asked, “What’s the focus of the job, and what are some of the challenges the person hired will face right away?” Conducting an in-depth performance-based interview using the Most Significant Accomplishment question eliminates these concerns. This structured approach not only clarifies real job expectations (the #1 driver of performance and job satisfaction), but also ensures the candidate fully appreciates the importance of the job, that he or she was properly evaluated, and that the company has high hiring standards. Fourth purpose is to shift the decision to career growth rather than compensation maximization. If this “career gap” (e.g., bigger team, bigger budget, better projects, more impact and exposure, faster growth, etc.) is big enough, compensation becomes less important. If the gap is too wide the candidate is too light for the job, and if the gap is too small, or non-existent, the job isn’t big enough.

8.2 STEPS BEFORE GOING TO AN INTERVIEW

8.3 DO’S AND DON’TS FOR INTERVIEW

Attire (Dressing)

Dressing sense is the index of one’s personality. What type of attire does a person like to wear depends largely upon his own personality. In interviews also the dressing sense matters a lot. So your dress and grooming send out powerful message to a prospective employer. The dressing as we notice is different in boys and girls. Here are some tips…

Attire for Men

Attire for Women

What to Carry

Your interview invitation should detail everything that you need, but generally you should take:

Steps During Interviews

The interview room appears to be a ghost for most of the candidates. But by following and practicing some simple tips, one can bring success to himself.

Body Language During Interview:

Do’s

Don’ts

Tips For Controlling Your Nerves

It is but natural that a candidate going to face an interview is a little bit nervous. But nervousness may cause a hurdle in his success and selection. Nerves can make you forget to do things as simple as listening. This can result in you being thought of as unfriendly or inattentive. So here are some tips to overcome nervousness. Though it is not possible to master this in one day, a regular practice before some days from the interview will help a lot. Here are some ideas for combating nerves include:

Some Common Questions Asked During Interviews:

8.4 TELEPHONIC INTERVIEWS

These are usually used for cost-efficient preliminary screening before the first one-to-one interview. They're often recorded and vary in length, but average around 20-30 minutes. You should prepare for a phone interview just as you would for a regular interview and generally should:

Video interviews are increasingly common, especially if you're applying for overseas jobs. Remember to dress as you would for a face-to-face interview, and check your background before the interview begins. Finally, ensure that your body language is positive; look directly into the camera and make eye contact, as this'll make you appear calm and confident.

EXERCISE

  1. What is an interview?
  2. What is the purpose of conducting an interview?
  3. What are common points to be kept in mind while appearing in an interview?
  4. “Body language plays very crucial role during interview”, discuss this with valid examples.
  5. What may be appropriate answer of the question ‘Describe yourself’, asked during an interview?
  6. How to answer different questions asked during an interview?

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