Lesson11

Interview skills

Interview skills are action candidates take during job interviewed that make their stand. These
skills include proper presentation of himself, interview behavior, controlling nervousness or asking
intelligent questions, convenience interviewer about right candidature and so on. The best way to
acquire interviewing skills is through practice. An interview is a conversation, where questions are asked
and answers are given. Interview refers to one on conversation with one person acting in the role of
interview. The interviewer asks questions and the interviewer responds, the information transfer occurs
and it is a bidirectional communication. The following are the general rules to follow while attending
and interview.

 The proper behavior during interview is expected. Hence maintain eye contact good poster and
neat dignified dress
 Control early guttering by taking deep breaths
 Speak appropriately clearly not too fast or too slow
 Be confident
 Prepare 3 or 4 questions regarding projects or organization
 Practice to answer questions positively
 Use STAR (Situation, task , action and result)method to describe the experience

The purpose of Interview:

Before jumping ship to a new company, you inevitably need to test the waters during the job
interview. The purpose of job interview is two fords.

 It offers the employer valuable insight into your personality and abilities and it allows you the
chance to describe whether your child credentials and career goal match up with what the
company seeks. Job interviews can be quick or long

Hence, the interviewer should sell himself and make them to know the benefits of hiring him to
their company demonstrate your communication skills and show them how you are motivated and
career driven to the interviewer. Make appropriate amount of eye contact without staring to convey
your honesty, trust, intent and likability during the interview.
Pre Interview Preparation:

 The preparation is needed for the interview to be successful in the interview know clearly where
you are going and be present 30 minutes before the time. Dress neatly, comb your hair, keep
your finger nails clean. Try to exhibit good posture body language.
 Learn as much as possible about the company. Review the employer’s website, annual reports,
magazines, newsletters and etc to understand the strengths as well as weakness of the
company. Gather back ground information.
 Envision yourself in the role
 Practice potential interview questions
 Use your networking contacts
 Read and analyze the job description
 Reread your resume and cover letter
 While interview, be alert and think before you speak
 Practice clear, coherent and calm communication
 Speak confidently but not arrogant
 Listen the interviewer clearly
 Express optimism with your words and body language
 Express interest without desperation
 Express your strengths and weakness, best qualities and great skills
 Express gratitude
 Highlight your qualification, demonstrate your confidence, reinforce, your commitment
understand the employers challenges make yourself accountable and advance your candidate
 Types of Interview
Beside the traditional one on one interview format there is a variety of other styles and formats
when it comes to interviewing. There are many types of interviews followed by different employers and
organizations based on their need, time and financial constraints.

1. Informational Interviews: The basic objective of informational interview is to access the knowledge
component of the interview by asking knowledge related questions.

2. Telephone Interview: Phone interviews are commonly used to screen candidates in order to narrow
the pool of applications who will be invited for in person interviews. Since the employer will not be able
to see your visual and body language cues, telephone interviews orally heavily on the content in your
answers and your ability to project enthusiasm and interest in your voice. Even though you aren’t being
seen it can help to smile and dress up you well feel more professional and prepared, and this will reflect
in your voice.

3. Group Interviews: This style of interviewing has become increasingly common. The format typically
includes a company and position presentation to multiply candidates simultaneously as well as group
interactions such as work or project simulation exercises. Employers used this type of interview to
assess things like communication interpersonal team and leadership skills as well as how you handle
stress. Introduce yourself to the other candidates before the interview begins. Actively participate
during the interview. Be sure to practice active listening and to avoid interrupting others or dominating
the conversation pay attention to your non verbal communication cues and remain professional and
courteous in everyone.

4. Panel Interview: Various representatives who are involved in the hiring process meet with a
candidate at the same time. Building rapport is incredibly important in an interview; but rapport is
extremely difficult to establish with each person on a large panel. Be sure to take the opportunity when
you are introduced to look each person in the eye; great them using their name and shake hands.

During the interview, respond to questions by making eye contact and using the name of the
person who asked the question, then include the rest of the panel in your answer and be sure to look
around the room. When preparing questions for the panel, be sure to include questions that are
relevant to each person’s role within the organization.

5. Stress Interview: In this situation the interview will intentionally try to lyset the applicant to see how
they react under pressure. Uncomfortable questions may be asked or the applicant may be interrupted
while speaking. The entire interview is generally conducted in the format; it is normally incorporated
into one of the other categories. This type of interview may be used more commonly in high stress jobs.
In a stress interview in interviewer is cold and abrupt, being asked very challenging questions and
sometimes impossible questions.
6. Behavior Interviews: The assumption of the behavior interview is that the past behavior is the best
predictor of future behavior. The traditional interview process mainly focuses on the abilities,
knowledge and personality characteristics of the interviewer. Through questioning where as in the
behavior interview process is focused to find the behavior pattern skills and abilities of the interviewer
through his past behaviors; and this behavior are taken as future behavior predictors.

The Students Preparation for Behavior Interview:

(a) Listing strengths (identify among all the following)

 Cognitive strengths:- The intellectual abilities, reasoning, memory, learning, logical thinking and
problem solving abilities.
 Emotional strengths:- Having more positive emotions (Love, happiness), managing own negative
emotions (Anger, fear anxiety, aggression), managing other emotions.
 Interpersonal strengths:- Connecting and communicating.
 Civic strengths:- Healthy community life participation.
 Identify your positive personality traits among the given list

Responsibility, Respect, Integrity, Result, Orientedness, Stress Management, Resilience, Planning,

 The key issues the employer is interested

The identifying of the positive strengths of the students helps him to present himself better in the
behavior interview as well as other interviews.

The event selection for behavior Interviews: The student should prepare some successful or failed
events from his class room/school projects are activities.

Further chose some team participation activities, Hobbies work experiences or from general activities.
The Behavior Interview event presentation method

 STAR Model

S – Situation: 1. what made the situation difficult? 2. What are the challenges you faced

T – Situation: 1. what was the challenges you faced? 2. What did you do to achieve it

A – Action

R – Result – Result (What you achieved)

The competently questions to assess wide varieties of skills in behavior interviews:

 Can you tell me about a situation when you personally had to solve a problem at work.
 Could you tell me about a mistake you made in work and how you rectified the situation
 Tell me about a project you completed as part of a team
 What is the most difficult team you have worked with
 Tell me a time when you took a leadership role
 Tell me about a project where you had to delegate tasks effectively
 What do you do to refresh yourself after a tough day at office
 Are there any negatives at your current work place? How do you cope with them?
 Tell me about a time when you have gone about and beyond your job role
 Describe a situation when you had to adjust to the way someone else worked
 Give an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to achieve it
 Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and you are required to
prioritize you task
 Tell me about a difficult decision you made
 Give me an example of a time when you tried to accomplish and failed
7. Task Oriented Interviews: This type of interviews involves being asked to complete a task or problem
in order to assess your analytical, creative and problem solving abilities. This type of interview may
involve taking a written or computerized test to determine you technical knowledge and skills in various
fields. Try to relax and do the problem efficiently.

Common activities used in Interview assessments:

There are the common activities used in interviews for assessment.

Case Study:- Case study is a research method involving as in depth and detailed examination of a subject
of study (the case) as well as its related contextual conditions. Case study is an empirical enquiry that
investigates a phenomenon within its real life context. Hence, these case studies are presented and the
analysis of the case study may be taken as subject for interview.

Group Work:- In group interviews to assess some of the personality traits related to group activities like
team building, initiative participative, respecting others, team work are assessed by providing a group
work eg. Brain teasers, problem solving etc.

Activities:- The interviewer is asked to perform an activity (simulated) before the interview board.

Eg: sell the particular project; give a presentation on --------------- etc.

 Social event arrangement:- To assess the team work and the planning and organizing capacities
of the interview, a social event arrangement may be asked to exhibit. Eg: performance tests;
simulated tasks.
 Psychometric tests: Sometimes they may conduct some standard psychometric tests to assess
the personality traits or problem solving abilities of the interviewer.

Eg: Situational tests, TAT, Kolis Block design etc.

The employment scenario in the recent times is undergoing rapid changes in the society all over
the world. The rapid change occurring in the present economic policies, globalizations, social changes
and the increase in the rate of unemployment, and the increased number of professional graduates and
post graduates are the foot causes for the recruiter to assess the employability skills of applicant.
Further the structure and functionalities of every profession is undergoing many rapid changes as per
the needs of the society, hence the basic human skills have become important on par with the work
related skills. Hence, the consultants to assess the employability skills emerged. Many such tests are
available in India for the students to assess their employability skills and there on develop the skill
needed for employment. Some of the tests which are frequently used in India are given below.

1. AMCAT:- A widely used employability skill assessment test used by engineering graduates. It
consists of part-I assessing the quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning and communication related skills
(general aptitude) and the other section dealing with different engineering related skills various
branches. The score card in this test is being used as a first level employment eligibility test by nearly
500 companies in India.

2. E.SAT:- It is a general employability skill assessments test used by fresh graduates. This test
measures 15 skills namely Teamwork, problem solving, self managements, communication skills,
planning and organization, decision making, learning aptitude, leadership, logical thinking, creative
thinking, verbal reasoning, analytical reasoning, spelling and punctuation, vocabulary and synonyms and
ICT knowledge, The test is very useful hence, the student can find out where he is deficient and develop
the skill required.

The address:

IACM Smart learning Ltd.

Regd. Office:-H – 9,

South Extension – part – 1,

New Delhi – 110049, India.

3. E. Litmus

4. CEAT – Corporate Employability Assessment Test

5. Nass com.initiative

6. Co cubes.com – Connecting.colleges.companies.