INTERVIEWEE’S (CANDIDATE’S) PREPARATION FOR AN INTERVIEW

Preparation for an interview can be divided into three stages:

A)Preparation Stage/ Before the Interview/ Pre-interview

B)Performance Stage/ During the Interview/ Execution Stage

C)Review or Evaluation Stage/ Closing the Interview/ Post-interview

A) PREPARATION STAGE/ BEFORE THE INTERVIEW/ PRE-INTERVIEW: Following aspects should be considered while preparing for an interview:

1) Self Assessment- The preparation for an interview begins with self-assessment. Unless candidate is aware of his skills, achievements, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, hobbies, expectations, aims and work value, he cannot succeed in an interview.

2) Update Resume- Resume is a document that speaks first to the interviewer than the interviewee. The interviewer forms an opinion about the candidate from the resume. Resume should be carefully updated. All necessary information related to the candidate, educational and other achievements should be properly incorporated in the resume.

3) Review of Job Details- A candidate should know the details about available position- the duties, responsibilities, work pressure, nature of job, etc. and must review how his own skills relate to the post.

4) Collect Information about the Company- A candidate should collect information about the company such as its goals and targets, its business and services and other details. It will prove beneficial during the interview.

5) Think about the Possible Questions- A candidate should think about the possible questions that might be asked during the interview. Those questions might be related with job experience, need and requirement of the job, skills, readiness to work with others, expectations, salary, etc. Thinking about such questions before hand will save the candidate from confusion during interview.  

6) Carrying Documents- A chronologically arranged file with all relevant documents, extra copies of resume, copies of articles and papers published should be placed in a folder. The things claimed in resume should have documentary evidences.

7) Physical Preparation- Physical appearance is also important. Dress should be appropriate, formal and not too colourful. Shoes should be clean and well polished. Hairstyle should be suitable and too much make-up should be avoided.

8) Psychological Preparation- Psychological and mental preparation plays an important role in an interview. A positive attitude and self-confidence is must for an interview. A candidate should always think about his strengths and how they can be focused. He must have courage and frankness to admit that he is unable to answer a particular question. He should be mentally prepared to discuss delicate and tricky issues such as negotiating salary.  

B) PERFORMANCE STAGE/ DURING THE INTERVIEW/ EXECUTION STAGE:

After preparing for the interview then comes the actual execution of interview. Following points should be kept in mind while facing the interview:

#The candidate should reach the interview venue at least 15 minutes before, so that he can settle down and be comfortable.

#The candidate should report at the reception or to the interviewer’s assistant.

#He should observe the organisational environment and try to adjust with it.

#He should treat everyone with courtesy.

#After entering the interview room, the candidate should greet the interviewers politely.

#He should wait unless the interviewers ask to take seat. He should sit in a relaxed manner, straight and lean a bit forward.

#He should have a cheerful face with pleasant and comfortable look.

#Style of entering, closing the door, walking, greeting and taking the chair give an idea about candidate’s manners, confidence and attitude.

#He should maintain eye-contact with the interviewers and should not fiddle with objects.

#He should show eagerness to listen to the interviewers.

#He should not interrupt the interviewers unless they finish question.

#He should handover the file gently if asked to do so.

#He should respond and give answers relevantly.

#If he doesn’t know answer, he should say so politely.

#He should have control over temper, body language, paralanguage and gestures.

#He should avoid criticism and negative remarks about others or previous employer.

#If the candidate has any question, doubt, clarification, he should ask politely.

#He should be alert and attentive during the interview.

#He should not leave seat unless interview finishes.

C) REVIEW OR EVALUATION STAGE/ CLOSING THE INTERVIEW/ POST-INTERVIEW:

#He should thank and wish the interviewers at the end of the interview.

#He should leave the room genteelly.

‘WASP’ Technique of Conducting an Interview

An interview is usually conducted in four phases which can be easily remembered by the word ‘WASP’.

W for Welcoming the candidate

A for Acquiring Information of the candidate

S for Supplying Information to the candidate

P for Parting

1)     Welcoming the candidate: The interviewer should welcome the candidate with smile and talk to the candidate in a friendly tone to make him free from nervousness. He cannot expect the candidates to reveal their best unless they have overcome their nervousness.

2)  Acquiring Information: After welcoming the candidate with a few introductory and friendly remarks, the interviewer should set about acquiring information from the candidate. The interviewer may ask about previous experience, duties, likes and dislikes, achievements, salary and reason for changing job. The interviewer may acquire information about qualifications, extracurricular activities, home background, occupation of parents and family finances, social approach and general attitude towards family and children.

3)   Supplying Information: Interview is a two way communication. So, the interviewer should also supply information to the candidate. The interviewer should supply information about the history of the organisation and its objectives and the nature of work, salary etc. the candidate may be encouraged to ask questions to clear any doubts that he may have in mind.

4)   Parting: Parting is as important as welcoming the candidate. The interviewer should thank the candidate for having come for the interview and tell him that he would be informed of the result of the interview. The parting should be smooth and friendly so that the candidate, though not selected, will carry a positive picture of the organisation and will have a favourable impression about the organisation.

INTERVIEWER’S PREPARATION FOR AN INTERVIEW

Interviewer should prepare a plan for the interview. Interviewer should do preparation for interview on the following grounds:

1)      Purpose of Interview: An interview is conducted for a specific purpose. So the interviewer should have a clear idea of the objective. He should know all relevant details about the company, the nature of the job, its duties, responsibilities, requirements, other details like salary, privileges, stress level etc. If the interview is for the purpose of selection, the interviewer should know the qualifications, background, experience, salary, etc. related to the post. Keeping the objectives of the interview in mind, the interviewer should prepare a set of questions to be asked.

2)      Date and Time:  The interviewer should look into the physical arrangement for the interview. After the received applications are sorted and scrutinised, qualified candidates are selected for interview calls. The interview call letters should be sent well in advance, mentioning the date, time and place of interview. They should clearly specify what documents the candidate has to bring along with him.

3)      Seating Arrangement: The interviewer should choose a suitable, comfortable and interruption free place. The room should be well ventilated with proper positioning of furniture. Seating arrangement should be proper so that the candidate can have eye contact with every member and vice versa.

4)      Conducting of Interview: The candidate is strange to the place and he may be nervous. He has to be properly welcomed. When the interview starts, questions are asked to gather information about the candidate. His academic qualification, experience and capacity are judged. The personality of candidate is also studied. The interviewer should inform the candidate about the organisation, its aims and objectives and future plans. If the candidate has doubts, they must be clarified.

5)      Studying the Capabilities of the Candidates: After the interview is over, the interviewer or the panel of interviewers have to consider the plus and minus points of the candidates. A candidate may have the professional qualification and necessary experience. But still he may not be capable of shouldering the responsibilities of the job. If there are many deserving candidates, the best among them has to be selected.

6)      Selection of the Candidate: When the interviewers have finally selected the candidate to be appointed, the candidate has to be informed about his selection.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWS

The word ‘Interview’ is derived from the French word ‘intervue’ which means ‘view between’ or ‘to see each other’. It is a formal meeting or interaction between two or more persons for specific purposes. It is a purposeful face to face oral interpersonal communication between two or more persons. According to Murphy and Peck, “An interview is a conversation with a purpose. It aims at getting truthful responses from the candidate”.

A)SELECTION INTERVIEW:  Selection interview is also known as ‘Employment’ or ‘Job’ interview. Selection interview is conducted to select the most suitable candidate for the post or job. Selection interview is one of the oral evaluation and assessment methods for a candidate.

The following are the objectives behind conducting selection interview-

1)To determine the most suitable candidate: In an interview when the interviewer and the interviewee meet face-to-face, it is possible to assess the personality of each candidate and to evaluate as to who will be able to do the job best.

2)To give the candidate information about the job and the company: Another objective of selection interview is to provide details to candidate about the nature of work, duration and working timings, opportunities for promotion, service benefits, other facilities and company policies, etc. This enables the candidate to decide whether or not he should accept the job and work for the company.

3)To motivate the candidate to accept the job: The interviewer motivates the candidate to accept the job and instill in him a feeling of mutual understanding and confidence. If a candidate is found to be the most suitable, the interviewer can convince him to have good career prospects with the company.

4)To promote good will towards the company: When a candidate is not selected, it is ensured that he is treated with courtesy and without hurting his self respect.  It is necessary to treat him properly and to present the good qualities of the company so that he carries a good impression of the company.

B)APPRAISAL INTERVIEW:  Appraisal interview is also known as ‘Assessment’ interview. An appraisal interview is a formal, scheduled meeting between an employee and the direct supervisor. It is held once or twice a year. The purpose is to review the performance of the employee, to see if past targets have been completed, to set new targets, to clear doubts and misunderstanding and to consider employee’s promotion prospects.

Appraisal interview is conducted for the following purposes:

1)Review past performance: Appraisal interview is conducted to review the past performance of the employee, to see if he has completed the targets or not.

2)Set new targets: Having looked backwards, it is now time to set new targets for the next year.

3)Discuss problems: The interview is also conducted to discuss the problems, issues if employee faces any.

4)Finding training needs:  The interviewer should find out through discussion whether on/off job training is required for better performance.

5)Agree action and follow up plans: The interview should end with a summary of discussion, dates agreed for follow up.

6)Consider promotion prospects: Appraisal interview is conducted to review and consider promotion prospects of the employee.

C)GRIEVANCE INTERVIEW: A grievance is resentment or complaint against some injustice which may be real or imagined. When human beings interact and work together, there are bound to be grievances and complaints. A worker may have a grievance against his fellow workers or superiors. A superior may have a grievance against his subordinates.  The primary aim of the grievance interview is to seek clarification regarding the problems faced by the employees. It also provides workers with an opportunity to give vent to their pent-up feelings by talking about them in this interview.

The interviewer, in the grievance interview, should listen very attentively to and, if possible, convince the interviewee that steps will be taken to redress his grievances. This will help enhance the self-respect of the employee because he will realise that his employer is prepared to hear him and try to redress his complaints. Whether grievances are real or imaginary, justified or unjustified, it is important that managerial response to grievances should be rational.

D)EXIT INTERVIEW: Exit interview as the name indicates, takes place when an employee leaves the company. It is very important interview for the employer. As an employee leaves the job, he is likely to speak freely and frankly about the company. So, exit interview enables the management to get proper information of the real working of the company.  The aim of the exit interview is to collect useful feedback. The employee’s decision to leave the job may be voluntary or involuntary. If an undesirable employee is dismissed, it is an involuntary exit and the exit interview does not usually take place. If the employee resigns, it is a voluntary exit; he is given an interview before his exit. Exit interview of voluntary leaving employee is important because management can find out the reasons for the employee’s decision to leave and can clear up misunderstandings that might have been created. Through exit interview the management tries to know the other reasons like poor pay, poor working environment, no challenge in the job, no future prospects, no reward for achievement, etc.

E)ONLINE INTERVIEW: An online interview is a job interview conducted over the internet using a web camera, a computer microphone and in some cases a live chat feature like Skype. Online interview is similar to a face-to-face interview and interview success needs an attitude of professionalism. Different companies conduct online interviews in different ways. Some want candidates to use their webcam to answer the interview questions while others use online web-based systems like Spark Hire for interviewing, thereby providing options for recorded interviews via webcam and for in-depth live interviewing through split screen online interviews with candidates. Still other employers prefer to email a list of interview questions to the candidates with the instruction that they must film themselves answering them.

Like face-to-face interview, online interview also needs formalities on the candidates’ side. Candidate must smile and maintain friendly eye contact with the camera. He must wear professional dress and shoes. He must select a comfortable non-noisy environment where he can concentrate easily while attempting the questions. He should keep his pen, paper ready for use. The webcam may reveal more than the face. So, the desk or computer table in use must be kept clean and mess free. Webcam and other tools should be tested in advance and candidate should rehearse with it to ensure that there are no problems in their usage.

Advantages of online interview: # It provides to the entire population, with no bias for the geographic location of the candidate or for their ability to be mobile.

# Candidates feel free from the stress of new setting as they can face interview from home.

# It is time and money saving for both the interviewer and the interviewee.

# It allows for easy data recording and hence allows interviewers to revisit the interview in case of doubt.

Disadvantages of online interview: # Candidates may lack technical knowledge needed for the process.

# There may be physical or technological barriers at either end.

#For online interview, finding timings suitable to both the interviewer and the interviewee is difficult.

GROUP DISCUSSION & ROLE OF LEADER IN GROUP DISCUSSION

Group Discussion, popularly known as GD, is an important tool used today for selection, elimination, placement of a right person for a job. A group of 10-12 candidates is formed. The group is given a topic or a situation, given a few minutes to think about, and then asked to discuss the topic among themselves for 20-30 minutes. Its evaluation is done by the subject experts based on the discussions. 

Following things are evaluated in Group Discussion:

#Communication Skills

#Content Knowledge

#Interpersonal Skills

#Team Building Skills

#Leadership Skills

#Analytical/Logical Skills

#Self-confidence and Assertiveness

#Different Thinking

#Initiative

#Group Behaviour and Coordination Skills

#Time Management

Role of Leader/Leadership in Group Discussion:

1)Initiator of Discussion: Leader is one who initiates the discussion. He puts forward the agenda of discussion before the group members. Accordingly, the group members discuss the topic.

2)Maintains Discipline: Some times, some members behave unruly during discussion. The leader plays an important role in maintaining discipline at such moment.

3)Motivates the Group Members: The leader motivates the group members to participate in discussion. He guides and encourages the members. He is a driving force behind the ideas and solutions generated during group discussion.

4)Develops Rapport: The leader develops a good rapport with the group members. He uses initiative and tact to get the group discussion moving forward. Due to good rapport, the problem of ego clashes gets minimised to a great extent, and the discussion takes place fruitfully.

5)Time Management: The leader allocates time for discussion. He checks out irrelevant discussion. Time management is an important aspect of leadership. If the leader is unable to do time management, the discussion will not lead to fruitful results.

6)Coordination: The group leader coordinates the discussion. He allows every member to take part in the discussion. He tries to sort out irrelevant arguments among the members during the discussion. He manages the disputed view points between two or more members of the group to the satisfaction of all. Through effective coordination, he develops team spirit among the members of the group.