Face it right

Interview is inevitable in securing a good job. Good preparation backed by a positive frame of mind can make it an enjoyable experience.

AP

Putting one's best foot forward may make the difference between scoring or missing the mark in the extremely competitive job market. Here's how to approach interviews the right way.

First, the basics. Even the best candidate who has made the finest of preparations for an interview is nervous during the crucial moments. Sir Winston Churchill, one of the greatest communicators of the 20th century, once confessed that he did experience nervousness before interviews. Katherine Hepburn, world-famous Hollywood star, could never face an interview without nervousness.

If this is the story of such stalwarts, what about ordinary people like us? It is only natural then that we are jittery when our speech and movements are under the scrutiny of discerning experts.

A blessing

A bit of tension and nervousness is a blessing since it would prompt us to take the interview seriously and thereby force us to prepare well. We would try to prove our capabilities, gain acceptance and live up to the claims in our curriculum vitae before the interview board.

Our performance will improve if we approach the interview with a positive frame of mind. The interview has become inevitable in securing any good job. If we prepare well, we can easily make it an enjoyable experience.

Negative views

There may be some people around you, who may tell that interviews are a farce arranged by the employer and that candidates have already been selected.

Turn a deaf ear to such negative views. Any good organisation requires the service of competent employees. No board worth its name can reject a competent candidate or select a worthless one. The interview is only a mechanism for identifying the best talent to meet the challenges of the organisation. Let us not behave like a thoughtless general who runs away from the battle scene even before the first bullet is fired. Get ready and face the test.

No to tension

Many candidates who excel in the written tests approach the interview with a sense of anxiety and fear. It must be remembered that when we are anxious and worried, we may fail in making the best presentation. Boundless anxiety will impede logical thinking and retrieval of information from our memory. We should dispel unwanted tension from the mind and apply simple common sense.

We should face the interview with confidence and try to give it our best shot.

We must tell ourselves repeatedly that we do have the skills and abilities, which other candidates may possess, and that we are well prepared to face the interview.

The intention of an interview board is not to frighten any candidate, but to identify the most suitable one who meets the job demands. The board will, therefore, help bring out the best in the candidates.

Spotting talent

Just as the candidates desire selection, the board wants to spot the best talent. We must consider the members of the interview board not as opponents, but as sympathetic seniors.

Some may ask whether an interview for a few minutes can help identify the qualities and skills of a candidate. The answer is an emphatic `yes'.

It can effectively judge qualities such as balance of mind, clarity of expression, comprehension, confidence, diction, pronunciation and other language skills, love for meeting people, pleasantness/getting along with others/thinking well of others, polite speech, prioritising, willingness to take responsibility, problem-solving ability, reasoning and knack for keeping secrets. Such judgment will go a long way in selection of the most suitable candidate for any given job.

Assessing ability

An interviewer can assess the depth of knowledge of the candidate in a given subject through a few properly planned questions. Ability for quick comprehension and talent for problem solving can be evaluated objectively through graded questions.

Originality and innovative skills can also be judged. No interview is a farce, but a valuable management tool for effective recruitment of personnel.

The emergence of globalisation and the presence of several multinationals have spawned international styles and approaches in the conduct of job interviews in India. There are new approaches and types of questions. If we delude ourselves into believing that we can face any interview effectively without special preparation, we may be in for disappointment.

Overconfidence

Of course, we should have confidence, but not overconfidence. Appropriate learning, preparation, and training should support our confidence.

Never be under the impression that wearing a charming suit, or sticking a never-ending smile on your lips can take you to success. The interview board will have discerning members experienced in the art of assessing persons.

Be prudent

Our responses during the interview should be wise; we cannot just leave everything to our natural instinct. This needs some clarification. One's assessment of his/her movements or behaviour is never objective. All of us, in a way, wear masks. There is a lot of difference between our persona and our personality. My persona represents my character that I show to others; this would be different from my real character. It is rather impossible to wear the mask of another person for a long time before the interview board. Our reactions and responses in this two-way communication experiment should, therefore, be cautious and prudent.

The interviewer attempts something more than getting a few answers from candidates. As an illustration, see what the Union Public Service Commission states about the interview in the Civil Services Examination:

The candidate will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a board of competent and unbiased observers.

The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgment, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.

The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation, which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate.

The interview is not intended to test either specialised knowledge or general knowledge of candidates that has been already tested through written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them, both within and outside their own State or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth.

By B.S. Warrier