Interview for Jobs

Interview is not a one-way communication process. This blog post tells you how to win over the Interviewers.

An Interview is a two-way communication process between the Interviewer and the candidate. In a recruitment process, an interview is often the last stage of selection, held after Written Test, Group Discussions etc.
But there are also situations, when only Interview is conducted, when hiring managers believes with your resume content that you can be a good match for the job they are offering e.g. in Walk-in Interview.
Also there are interviews in which Interviewer and the candidate do not sits in front of one another across a table but conducts the interview over phone – in Telephonic Interview. But for a fresher a Telephonic Interview is rare.

An Interview is conducted by the Interviewer so as to fill their need of the right employee – so when you are called for an interview, Interviewer is not doing you exactly a favour – just as you need the job, they also needs you, provided you can satisfy their requirement.

What are these requirements?
An honest, intelligent, hardworking and loyal individual, who has the knowledge (or have the aptitude to acquire the knowledge) for the job on offer and who would love to work with the existing employees of the organization as a team for the growth of the organization.

As summarized above therefore, it is not very difficult for you to satisfy the requirements of the Interviewer, provided you prepare for the interview: know about the organization by visiting their website or through other sources, try as much as possible to find the job content of the job on offer and try to match that with your knowledge and experience.

You must also display your honesty, intelligence, loyalty and hardworking capacity when Interviewer poses questions to you. There are some questions, which are almost always asked, list of which you can find at the end of this article. To prepare for the interview, it would be a god idea if 3 to 4 of your friend’s get-together and conduct mock interviews with the questions in this list.

In one of the interactive sessions with students, the VP of a very reputed company remarked: “What hiring manager’s loves to see is hunger in your eyes to get the job on offer”. You should take note of this very good piece of advice and use it when a chance is presented before you.

If you are a fresher and have never faced an interview before, may be you would love this post of mine on Job interview preparation materials - Interview Tips, which is a collection of youtube videos on Interview Preparedness by "Denham Resources".

Following Video by Frank Furness - international speaker and trainer gives you an interesting way to look at interview: He divides types of interviewer into four different categories as below and tells you what short of questions you can expect from them:
1). Gut Instinct Interviewers.
2). Personal and Feeling Interviewers.
3). Conversational Interviewers.
4). Behavious based Interviewers.
Naturally if you can satisfy what they are looking for, you get the job… simple, is not it

Have you ever conducted any mock-Interview among your friends in your institute? If yes, I would love to know about it : How it was conducted, how many people participated and what were the reactions. Mail me about it (photographs/video would be nice) at careerquips@gmail.com. I would love to feature your mock-Interview in this blog.

List of Questions for mock-Interviews:1).Tell me about yourself.
2).Have you brought your resume?
3).What do you know about our organization?
4).What experience do you have?
5).According to your definition of success, how successful have you been so far?
6).What are your most significant accomplishments in your life so far?
7).Would you describe a few situations in which your work was criticized?
8).How would you describe your personality?
9).What are your strong points?
10).What are your weak points?
11).How did you do in school?
12).What do you look for in a job?
13).How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our firm?
14).How long would you stay with us?
15).Describe what would be an ideal working environment?
16).Do you prefer working with figures, or with words?
17).What kinds of people do you find difficult to work with?
18).If you had your choice of jobs and companies, where would you go?
19).Why do you want to work for us?
20).What was the last book you read? Movie you saw? Sporting event you attended?
21).What are you doing, or what have you done to reach your career objectives?
22).What kind of hours are you used to working?
23).What would you do for us?
24).Describe some situations in which you have worked under pressure or met deadlines?
25).How do you handle rejection?
26).Give an example of your creativity.
27).Give examples of your leadership abilities.
28).What are your career goals?
29).What position do you expect to have in two years?
30).What are your objectives?
31).Why should we hire you?
32).You may be over-qualified or too experienced for the position we have to offer.
33).Why haven’t you found a new position before now?
34).If you could start again, what would you do differently?
35).Describe your ideal career?
36).How did you apply for the job?
37).Why do you want to work here?
38).Don't you think that you are over qualified for this job?
39).What competition do you see if you take up this job?
40).What would you do if our competitor offer you a job?
41).What salary do you expect?
42).What interests you most about the job?
43).What is your dream job?
44).Why should we take you?
45).How is your experience relevant to this job?
46).How do you manage stress in your daily work?
47).Describe a professional skill you have developed in you?
48).How do you manage your work to meet dead lines
49).What can motivate you?
50).Whom do you choose as your reference and why?
51).Can we call all your references?
52).Do you have any questions?
53).How do you handle criticism
54).How do you handle tension?
55).Describe a typical work week.
56).How many hours do you normally work?
57).How would you describe the pace at which you work?
58).What motivates you?
59).What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make?
60).If the people who know you were asked why you should be hired, what would they say?
61).Do you prefer to work independently or on a team?
62).Give some examples of team work
63).What type of work environment do you prefer?
64).Describe a difficult work situation / project and how you overcame it.
65).How do you evaluate success?
66).What interests you about this job?
67).Why do you want this job?
68).What applicable attributes / experience do you have?
69).Are you overqualified for this job?
70).What can you do for this company?
71).Why should we hire you?
72).Why are you the best person for the job?
73).Why do you want to work for this organization?
74).What challenges are you looking for in a position?
75).What can you contribute to this company?
76).Are you willing to travel?
77).Is there anything I haven't told you about the job or company that you would like to know?
78).Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way
79).Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills
80).Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem
81).Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to meet or achieve it
82).Tell me about a time when you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone's opinion
83).Give me a specific example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree
84).Please discuss an important written document you were required to complete
85).Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done
86).Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and you were required to prioritize your tasks
87).Give me an example of a time when you had to make a split second decision
88).What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example
89).Tell me about a time you were able to successfully deal with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa)
90).Tell me about a difficult decision you've made in the last year
91).Give me an example of a time when something you tried to accomplish and failed
92).Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead
93).Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker
94).Give me an example of a time when you motivated others
95).Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively
96).Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem
97).Tell me about a time when you missed an obvious solution to a problem
98).Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures
99).Tell me about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision.