As already stated, interview continues to be an inescapable part of job securing process. In any selection process, substantial weight age is given to performance of a candidate in interview.
Various types of interviews, the candidates may have to face are :
(i) One-to-one interview: In such interview, the candidate is interviewed by a single individual, and it is usually the case in small sized private companies. Such an interview can be easily arranged and carried out. The candidate can feel more relaxed and express more openly. Usually the interviewer being a person with whom candidate has to work, such interview can yield fruitful outcome. However, the interviewer must know the art of interviewing and should not have any bias, to be able to select the most suitable candidate.
(ii) Panel interview: A panel interview is well suited for government organisation or autonomous body. This type of interview, also called board interview, enables selection of suitable candidate in just one interview. The board usually consists of four to six members headed by a chairman. The panelists may be nominees of the board of governors and finance committee, invited experts, senior executives, of the company picked up from specialized areas of work, management, finance etc. Such interview process is fast and fair. The candidate is not subjected to strong likes and dislikes of one individual interviewer. Each interviewer acts as a check on the judgement of the other. The chairman plays a key role. He does the job of coordinating the interview and invites the experts one by one to examine the candidate. He makes the candidates get settled down by asking questions related to his background. Chairman may also ask some supplementary questions at the end of interview.
The instructions and suggestions given by chairman initially should be given full attention. While a candidate is being interviewed by a member, and if chairman interrupts, then candidate must pay immediate attention to chairman. The chairman takes decision after listening to the impression of all the board members, their comments about the candidate and finally on his own impression. The candidate gets interviewed on a variety of subjects related to his field, because each expert covers different areas.
Usually the interview panel is not aware of the scores of a candidate in written test. Accordingly the candidate, irrespective of performance in written test, can perform better in interview, if he/she has positive mental attitude, strong willpower, is active and ambitious.
(iii) Screening Interviews: Due to large scale unemployment, usually thousands of applications are, received for one post. It thus, becomes essential to scan the applicants and to reject those who do not meet the minimum prescribed criteria. Screening process could be conducted on telephone or by inviting candidates in person. In such interviews candidate should take it easy, need not be too formal, be polite and never express annoyance on any matter. The basic aim of such interviews is to screen out candidates on the basis of lack of qualification and experience, irrelevance to job, general behavior and nature, physique, expression, etc. The task before screening committee is to select ten candidates for a post, and all the ten should be worthy of being interviewed by the specialists and top executives.
Screening interview could be conducted sequentially, one following another by screening candidates every time. This is usually done when number of candidates are large so that only selected candidates after screening are to be interviewed by a panel of experts.
(iv) Structured Interviews: Same set of questions are asked to all the candidates with a view to compare the candidate more reliably and accurately. Sometimes same questions are repeated in different words to different candidates. Usually a large number of questions are posed to make the structured interviews more comprehensive. Usually computers are used to store, retrieve and compare the data of all the candidates. Such interviews are time consuming and dull.
(v) Situational Interviews: In such interviews the idea is to judge the responses of candidate under the real job conditions. Thus a situation of job is hypothetically created and relevant questions in form of 'if and 'when' concerning the job environment are, asked to judge the skills and traits of the candidate. Candidate need to react immediately, but can take time to think, analyse logically and then he can reply providing demonstration of his skills and resourcefulness in handling the situation. If situation is not clear, one may express his inability and request for another question instead of guessing about unknown area. Such frankness often pays as interviewers understand that no one is expert to handle all types of situations.
(vi) Stress interviews: Such interviews are conducted for jobs which are very demanding and the candidate is required to maintain his calm under difficult situations. A candidate is subjected to stress by a panelist by asking more than one question at a time, asking unrelated questions one after other without giving adequate time to respond to earlier question, using interrogatory tone and voice, provoking the feelings of the candidate, sometimes even using unpleasant words, etc. A candidate need not get worked up under such conditions, keep pitch of voice under control, need not retaliate. Instead he can pass smile, start answering various questions in a pleasant mood and tone. Candidate may like to answer last question first or in any sequence so as to maintain a logic and coherency.
(vii) Walk-in-Interview: Such interviews are conducted when companies are in immediate need of middle level managers/officers. Three to five days notice is given by inserting advertisements in leading newspapers and candidates are requested to contact the interviewee on particular days between specified hour. On reaching the office, candidate instead of peeping straight in the office of interviewee-may contact the personal secretary first who would arrange interview at the earlier opportunity. Other way could be to fix up the time on telephone in advance. The candidate may reveal his name on telephone while fixing up the time. The prescribed time may be strictly adhered to. This itself will leave a good impression about the candidate.
(viii) Group discussion: It is a good method of screening unwanted candidates and picking up prospective candidates who can subsequently be interviewed. Group discussions are held with 5 to-8 candidates who are asked to interact on a given topic. The topic for discussions can be a problem stated inadequately. Alternately it could be based upon a set of data, graphs, facts and figures. The basic theme behind it is to judge the ability of candidates to formulate the problem, analyse their depth of understanding of a situation, to judge their ability to intercept given information. The performance of all the candidates is carefully observed by two or three judges. The initiative, problem solving skills, clarity of thought, presentation and communication skills, team skills of candidates are observed.
For success in group discussions it is important that candidates are able to rephrase the question in quantitative terms, make best use of basic laws, principles, rules and regulations, persuade others to follow his/her line of thought and action, think creatively and hit upon ideas and newer solution, liaise with others in getting information and exchange thoughts, display qualities of leadership, optimize the solutions, show patience in listening to others and hitting and pouncing on getting a chance, summarize the discussions. One can perform well in group discussions if he/she is attentive, has learnt well to express clearly and communicate freely, does not feel shy and is bold, tactful and confident, disciplined. All these qualities need to be developed and practiced. Before starting to speak out in group discussions, one should for a while concentrate on the problem, take brief notes and keep a record of events in mind. On getting a chance one should get started and demonstrate his/her abilities by expressing the viewpoints clearly and logically. To appear dumb is. most harmful. One has to control his/her tone in communicating and never get emotional or excited. If one can remember the names of other candidates in groups, it is better to address them with their names to draw their attention towards you. In such discussions one should not interrupt others and should never mumble. In case discussions are deviating from the theme, you can remind speaker politely about the objectives of discussions. If one can take role of leader, that is excellent and should summarize the discussions highlighting the key points and the outcome. Every effort needs to be made to leave an impression of your qualities among the group members and the observers.
(ix) Using Resume to Screen Applicants for Interviews: Interviewers form some opinion about candidate on the basis of bio-data like qualification, experience, achievements in previous career, personal interests, etc. A resume [or bio-data, or (CV) Curriculum Vitae)] is very important document since it forms the starting point to judge a candidate. The CV should be concise, well written and professional looking. Presentation of CV matters a lot. A CV should be prepared in professional way to reflect the achievements, strength, attitudes and skills of the candidate. Presentation of information about education, experience and qualities deserves serious attention. Many times resume forms basis for interviewing and thus it should highlight the strong points so that questions are based on these points. In these days, writing CV is an art which every one should learn. CV should create an impression, be typed out neatly and legibly on white paper. There should be no grammar errors, and spelling mistakes, or typographical errors. Short and simple words should be used which make easier reading. It should be properly organised, covering all aspects in a professional way. Overwriting should be avoided. The accomplishments should be highlighted, avoiding irrelevant details. It should be prepared on a separate sheet with photo pasted on top right and attached with a well drafted covering letter. Remember your resume represents you before the screening authority. Neat, well presented, easy to read, to the point information about achievements without any irrelevant details would present an excellent visual aspect, reflect your personality on paper and help in being picked up.
Various types of interviews, the candidates may have to face are :
(i) One-to-one interview: In such interview, the candidate is interviewed by a single individual, and it is usually the case in small sized private companies. Such an interview can be easily arranged and carried out. The candidate can feel more relaxed and express more openly. Usually the interviewer being a person with whom candidate has to work, such interview can yield fruitful outcome. However, the interviewer must know the art of interviewing and should not have any bias, to be able to select the most suitable candidate.
(ii) Panel interview: A panel interview is well suited for government organisation or autonomous body. This type of interview, also called board interview, enables selection of suitable candidate in just one interview. The board usually consists of four to six members headed by a chairman. The panelists may be nominees of the board of governors and finance committee, invited experts, senior executives, of the company picked up from specialized areas of work, management, finance etc. Such interview process is fast and fair. The candidate is not subjected to strong likes and dislikes of one individual interviewer. Each interviewer acts as a check on the judgement of the other. The chairman plays a key role. He does the job of coordinating the interview and invites the experts one by one to examine the candidate. He makes the candidates get settled down by asking questions related to his background. Chairman may also ask some supplementary questions at the end of interview.
The instructions and suggestions given by chairman initially should be given full attention. While a candidate is being interviewed by a member, and if chairman interrupts, then candidate must pay immediate attention to chairman. The chairman takes decision after listening to the impression of all the board members, their comments about the candidate and finally on his own impression. The candidate gets interviewed on a variety of subjects related to his field, because each expert covers different areas.
Usually the interview panel is not aware of the scores of a candidate in written test. Accordingly the candidate, irrespective of performance in written test, can perform better in interview, if he/she has positive mental attitude, strong willpower, is active and ambitious.
(iii) Screening Interviews: Due to large scale unemployment, usually thousands of applications are, received for one post. It thus, becomes essential to scan the applicants and to reject those who do not meet the minimum prescribed criteria. Screening process could be conducted on telephone or by inviting candidates in person. In such interviews candidate should take it easy, need not be too formal, be polite and never express annoyance on any matter. The basic aim of such interviews is to screen out candidates on the basis of lack of qualification and experience, irrelevance to job, general behavior and nature, physique, expression, etc. The task before screening committee is to select ten candidates for a post, and all the ten should be worthy of being interviewed by the specialists and top executives.
Screening interview could be conducted sequentially, one following another by screening candidates every time. This is usually done when number of candidates are large so that only selected candidates after screening are to be interviewed by a panel of experts.
(iv) Structured Interviews: Same set of questions are asked to all the candidates with a view to compare the candidate more reliably and accurately. Sometimes same questions are repeated in different words to different candidates. Usually a large number of questions are posed to make the structured interviews more comprehensive. Usually computers are used to store, retrieve and compare the data of all the candidates. Such interviews are time consuming and dull.
(v) Situational Interviews: In such interviews the idea is to judge the responses of candidate under the real job conditions. Thus a situation of job is hypothetically created and relevant questions in form of 'if and 'when' concerning the job environment are, asked to judge the skills and traits of the candidate. Candidate need to react immediately, but can take time to think, analyse logically and then he can reply providing demonstration of his skills and resourcefulness in handling the situation. If situation is not clear, one may express his inability and request for another question instead of guessing about unknown area. Such frankness often pays as interviewers understand that no one is expert to handle all types of situations.
(vi) Stress interviews: Such interviews are conducted for jobs which are very demanding and the candidate is required to maintain his calm under difficult situations. A candidate is subjected to stress by a panelist by asking more than one question at a time, asking unrelated questions one after other without giving adequate time to respond to earlier question, using interrogatory tone and voice, provoking the feelings of the candidate, sometimes even using unpleasant words, etc. A candidate need not get worked up under such conditions, keep pitch of voice under control, need not retaliate. Instead he can pass smile, start answering various questions in a pleasant mood and tone. Candidate may like to answer last question first or in any sequence so as to maintain a logic and coherency.
(vii) Walk-in-Interview: Such interviews are conducted when companies are in immediate need of middle level managers/officers. Three to five days notice is given by inserting advertisements in leading newspapers and candidates are requested to contact the interviewee on particular days between specified hour. On reaching the office, candidate instead of peeping straight in the office of interviewee-may contact the personal secretary first who would arrange interview at the earlier opportunity. Other way could be to fix up the time on telephone in advance. The candidate may reveal his name on telephone while fixing up the time. The prescribed time may be strictly adhered to. This itself will leave a good impression about the candidate.
(viii) Group discussion: It is a good method of screening unwanted candidates and picking up prospective candidates who can subsequently be interviewed. Group discussions are held with 5 to-8 candidates who are asked to interact on a given topic. The topic for discussions can be a problem stated inadequately. Alternately it could be based upon a set of data, graphs, facts and figures. The basic theme behind it is to judge the ability of candidates to formulate the problem, analyse their depth of understanding of a situation, to judge their ability to intercept given information. The performance of all the candidates is carefully observed by two or three judges. The initiative, problem solving skills, clarity of thought, presentation and communication skills, team skills of candidates are observed.
For success in group discussions it is important that candidates are able to rephrase the question in quantitative terms, make best use of basic laws, principles, rules and regulations, persuade others to follow his/her line of thought and action, think creatively and hit upon ideas and newer solution, liaise with others in getting information and exchange thoughts, display qualities of leadership, optimize the solutions, show patience in listening to others and hitting and pouncing on getting a chance, summarize the discussions. One can perform well in group discussions if he/she is attentive, has learnt well to express clearly and communicate freely, does not feel shy and is bold, tactful and confident, disciplined. All these qualities need to be developed and practiced. Before starting to speak out in group discussions, one should for a while concentrate on the problem, take brief notes and keep a record of events in mind. On getting a chance one should get started and demonstrate his/her abilities by expressing the viewpoints clearly and logically. To appear dumb is. most harmful. One has to control his/her tone in communicating and never get emotional or excited. If one can remember the names of other candidates in groups, it is better to address them with their names to draw their attention towards you. In such discussions one should not interrupt others and should never mumble. In case discussions are deviating from the theme, you can remind speaker politely about the objectives of discussions. If one can take role of leader, that is excellent and should summarize the discussions highlighting the key points and the outcome. Every effort needs to be made to leave an impression of your qualities among the group members and the observers.
(ix) Using Resume to Screen Applicants for Interviews: Interviewers form some opinion about candidate on the basis of bio-data like qualification, experience, achievements in previous career, personal interests, etc. A resume [or bio-data, or (CV) Curriculum Vitae)] is very important document since it forms the starting point to judge a candidate. The CV should be concise, well written and professional looking. Presentation of CV matters a lot. A CV should be prepared in professional way to reflect the achievements, strength, attitudes and skills of the candidate. Presentation of information about education, experience and qualities deserves serious attention. Many times resume forms basis for interviewing and thus it should highlight the strong points so that questions are based on these points. In these days, writing CV is an art which every one should learn. CV should create an impression, be typed out neatly and legibly on white paper. There should be no grammar errors, and spelling mistakes, or typographical errors. Short and simple words should be used which make easier reading. It should be properly organised, covering all aspects in a professional way. Overwriting should be avoided. The accomplishments should be highlighted, avoiding irrelevant details. It should be prepared on a separate sheet with photo pasted on top right and attached with a well drafted covering letter. Remember your resume represents you before the screening authority. Neat, well presented, easy to read, to the point information about achievements without any irrelevant details would present an excellent visual aspect, reflect your personality on paper and help in being picked up.
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