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Appearing for an interview

The document provides guidance on preparing for and succeeding in job interviews, emphasizing the importance of researching the company, self-assessment, and appropriate appearance. It outlines key strategies such as planning your time, handling common interview questions, discussing salary, and closing the interview effectively. Additionally, it encourages practice through mock interviews to build confidence and improve performance.

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utkarsh.781950
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3 views

Appearing for an interview

The document provides guidance on preparing for and succeeding in job interviews, emphasizing the importance of researching the company, self-assessment, and appropriate appearance. It outlines key strategies such as planning your time, handling common interview questions, discussing salary, and closing the interview effectively. Additionally, it encourages practice through mock interviews to build confidence and improve performance.

Uploaded by

utkarsh.781950
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 13

APPEARING FOR

AN INTERVIEW
• Interviews have become an
important part of our lives.
From early childhood we face
interviews. When you are
young your parents are eager
that you perform well. As you
grow older, you yourself wish
to do well at interviews. In this
lesson you will be given some
guidance in facing interviews.
PREPARING FOR
AN INTERVIEW
• To prepare to perform well, you
must engage in some pre-
interview activities. Pre-interview
planning involves learning
something about the
company/organisation, analysing
your strengths and weaknesses
and making sure your appearance
and behaviour create the right
impression. Given below are some
of the ways in which you can
prepare yourself for an interview.
(a) Studying the Company
You must gather information about the company. This will convince the interviewer about
your sincerity. The interviewer will not waste precious interview time providing you with
information that you should have gathered. Your sources of information are:- i) the
advertisement ii) employees of the company iii) other candidates who have been
interviewed iv) newspaper and journals v) Internet

(b) Study yourself


After you have gathered information about the company the next step is to assess your
own abilities. Do I like to work with people or do I prefer to work on my own? Do I like
detailed work? Can I develop a career plan that I can achieve with the company? The
answers to these questions about yourself can provide you with lots of material to use
during the interview. If you can’t see a relationship between yourself and the job or
company, you won’t be able to demonstrate the interest or enthusiasm necessary to
market your self. A good method is to list the company and job characteristics in one
column and attempt to place your qualifications in a corresponding column as in the
following illustration:
(c) Plan your appearance
You should dress in such a way that you do not create a negative impression. For example your
finger nails must be neat and clean, your shoes well polished and your hair well groomed. Avoid
gaudy, casual or party wear. Find out the company’s dress code. If you dress and look like the
people who already work at the company, the interviewer will find it easier to see you working
there.
(d) Plan Your Time
One of the worst things you can do is be late for an interview. Plan your time so that you arrive
early. This planning allows you to unwind and prepare yourself for the interview. At the same
time, don’t sit just making yourself nervous. Move around a little and talk to the other
candidates. Should something prevent you from reaching on time, do telephone your apology
MEETING FACE TO FACE-THE INTERCHANGE
Now that you have gone through the planning stages, you are ready for the interview. Your job is to
sell yourself so successfully, that you are selected at the interview
Given below are some points to remember while facing an interview.
(a) Opening Formalities
When you meet the interviewer, greet him/her and address him/her as ‘Sir/madam’. If the interviewer
initiates the handshake wait for the interviewer to invite you to sit down. Carry your certificates in a file
and place them on the table.
(b) Interviewing guidelines
Much of the information about you will appear on your resume or company application
form, already available to the interviewer. Thus, the interviewer willmost likely seek to
assess your attitudes towards work and the probability of fitting you successfully into
the organization. The best way to prepare for the interview is to answer such questions
as these

1. Why do you want to work for us?


2. 2. Why should we hire you?
3. 3. What are your greatest strengths?
4. 4. What is important to you in a job?
Your answers to these and other variations of the same questions can help you proceed to the next
step. First of all, your education is your foremost attribute if you are a student. You should point out its
relationship to the job for which you are being considered. Even more important, the fact that you have
succeeded in school indicates that you have the ability to learn, because most companies expect you to
learn something on the job. So your most important response to the interviewer’s questions may be
about your ability to learn. Even no experience may be an asset. Second, a degree of humility is
important in all interviews. You should not make tall claims about your previous job or what you will do
if you get the present one. Anyone who says he will turn the company around in six months, proves his
lack of experience. Make realistic and achievable claims,

“ Why do you want to work for us?” is really not a difficult question. While answering this question
refer to information you have gathered from the literature of the company or speaking to someone
who works for the company or the information you have gathered while visiting one of their offices.
This will convince the interviewer that you are strongly interested in the company and not just taking
an interview for practice. Note, the interviewer not only attempts to develop an impression of you, he
or she also evaluates you in comparison with others being interviewed for the position.
Why should the company hire you? You have the proper education, you have proved that you
have the ability to learn, and you are enthusiastic about working for the company. Relate your
skills and knowledge to the job. When asked about your greatest strengths, your study of
yourself will help. Your greatest strengths probably are easy to identify: (1) the ability to learn
(2) the ability to work with others and to assume leadership roles, (3) skill in problem solving.
Finally, what is important to you in a job? While we are all interested in a good salary that
should not be your primary concern. Rewards such as personal job satisfaction, the feeling of
accomplishment, and making a contribution to society are things you should discuss in an
interview. You should look forward to a challenge. A job that will satisfy these needs is
important to almost everyone
(c) Handling Salary discussion
For most entry-level positions the beginning salary is fixed. However, if you have work experience, excellent
scholarship records, or added maturity, you may be able to obtain a larger salary. The interviewer should
initiate the salary topic. What you should know is the general range for candidates with your qualifications
so that your response to a question about how much you would expect is reasonable. If your qualifications
are about average for the job, you can indicate that you would expect to be paid the going rate or within the
normal range. If you have added qualification, you might say, “With my years of work experience, I would
expect to start at the upper end of the normal salary range.” If you have other job offers, you are in position
to compare salaries, jobs, and companies. In this case, you may suggest to the interviewer that you would
expect a competitive salary and that you have been offered X rupees by another firm. If salary hasn’t been
mentioned, and you really want to know about it, simply ask courteously how much the salary would be for
someone with your qualifications. In any case though, don’t attempt to make salary a major issue.

(d) Closing the interview


The interviewer will provide the cues indicating that the interview is completed by rising from the chair or
making a comment about the next step to be taken. At that point, don’t prolong the interview needlessly.
Simply rise, thank the interviewer for the opportunity to meet, and close by saying you look forward to
hearing from the company. The neatness with which you close the interview maybe almost as important as
the first impression you made.
(e) Practising for Interviews
Although most of us tend to be nervous during our first interview, we gain confidence with experience.
Therefore, practice and rehearse. Work with someone else in mock interviews, alternating roles as
interviewer and interviewee. Then follow each practice interview with a constructive critique of each
other’s performance. A few such mock interviews will give you some experience and will make the first
real interview more effective.

The job interview maybe the important face-to face interaction you will have. You will be selling
yourself in competition with others. How you listen and how you talk will be measured by the
interviewer. Since practice leads to perfection, you will never regret the time you spend rehearsing
your interview.

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