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Thread: How to crack interviews/written ?

  1. #1

    How to crack interviews/written ?

    Hi All,

    Many a times i see some freshers are confused and ask for interview tips and related stuff. So, i thought what if we start a thread where the experienced ppl can share their views and knowledge with the youngsters ? There must be many guys who conduct interviews( i mean as interviewer) so they know well what they are looking for and hence what industry is looking for. It will be great if we all share such requirements and criterion of seletion.

    Although, there is no short cut in such race. Hard and smart work is the only solution but we may help them to become smarter and guide to take a right path and not to repeat the mistakes what we did. I request elders and experienced ones to show an active participation and contribute a little bit for the community/society/country.

    Freshers/Youngsters,

    Ask questions and doubts here so that others can also see the solution at common place without wasting time in searching threads.

    All the best to all.


    Regards,
    Devender Kumar
    Last edited by dkumars; August 21st, 2008 at 05:28 PM.

  2. #2

    Let me start .... Communication Skills

    Here starting with the first reply. Below is the copy of one of my posts on the same subject on some other thread. I paste it here also coz its relevant to the subject.

    Dear Freashers,

    I get calls from many of u guys/other juniors/few friends regarding interviews and placement. Let me tell u there is no shortcut and no tip for that. As i have written above i again say work on ur communication skills. This is the first criteria for ur selection. Technology they will teach u if u r hired, if u r familiar with the basic knowledge. But they cant teach u English and other skills(Although they run programmes to polish them). So, consider communication the most imp part.

    There are many examples where communication is not much gud and technically strong and got an offer. I am not talking abt them and there count is also much small than the guys with good communication and techinically just OK.

    I remember in my college time the head HR sounth India, TCS was addressing us. And he started with communication. He gave 60:40 ratio to communication and Technical stuff. He told industry needs good communicators and rest we will take care of. He said all that very frankly. And after that i have also experienced same what he told.

    So, again i say take communication more seriously than anything else.
    This is the first and last tip from my side

    All The Very Best Guys

  3. #3
    Hmmmm Communication is always a prime factor in an interview and apart from that for a fresher they must have do home work before coming for an interview. Some common questions like Let me some negative things which u have found in yourself. Don't utter anything which will be considered as a harmfull factor for that job like u r going marketing job never say that u don't like travelling because its must to travel for the marketing people.
    And try to make ur interview more intresting like if u have been asked to tell something about you say someting intresting in hobbies. Ans always be prepared to answer the questions related to your past study.And your dressing style, way of sitting that all maters.
    Last edited by Nishantrathi82; August 21st, 2008 at 06:10 PM.
    Plant one tree atleast
    and pls save water and electricity

  4. #4
    Dear Jatlanders,

    Please come forward and share your experience with the juniors. It may help them out in many ways.

    Dev

  5. #5

    Smile Just give a try.....experience will teach u more

    Though i've a little experience of the interviews, but would like to share some of my experienced understanding here regarding the same.....in any interview, pivotal is the communication skills and alongwith that the knowledge and analytical bent of mind is also tested

    as said by Nishant, one should be well prepared with the past study of himself/herself is also acknowledgeable.....if a person knows himself/herself better can easily define about his/her own personality....rest its just a part of the conversation to check how much a person is fluent and feel ease talking about himself/herself.....lot many things are analysed through this process like attitude, way of socialising, authenticity of the facts mentioned in the profile, etc. etc.

    Dressing style, how u make an entry, how u greet/address people. etc. are the other things which are observed silently

    Confidence level is another major consideration.....be confident but don't try to be superfluous.....being simple and clear is appreciable rather than to become vague and lose the influence

    one very important thing to notice.....good communication is not just confined with high vocab. but its a smooth flow of thoughts/ideas/opinions....if u have good vocab. then that's like an added grace to ur communication

    last but not the least, be relaxed and tension free....as every person has some or the other influencing factor with him....so never compare urself with others.....know ur capabilities, ur potentials, ur interest area and just make urself committed to the environment

    how much u r desperate for the job is also calculated by the way of communication

    CONCLUSION: Communication is the basic tool for convincing an interviewer

  6. #6

    For written....

    Here u require immense knowledge of ur chosen option/field.....books are the best source.....intelligence quotient also plays its important role

    Wish u all the good luck!!

    Regards
    Neelam

  7. #7
    I might be wrong but as per my experience technical is also very important or I can say the ratio should be 40 : 60 (Comm:Tech).

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Dush View Post
    I might be wrong but as per my experience technical is also very important or I can say the ratio should be 40 : 60 (Comm:Tech).

    Well no one can deny technicals. Here, brother what the expectations from the thread is to help others who are searching job. You can share ur experience and upload some gud stuff technical or non technical.
    But i try to refain form any kinda discussion wheter comm is more imp or technical. So, lets share things rather than debating which one is more important and superior.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Dush View Post
    I might be wrong but as per my experience technical is also very important or I can say the ratio should be 40 : 60 (Comm:Tech).
    not wrong exactly.....ur point is also right but it all depends on the type of job u are applying for and what's its requirement

    rest if a person is technically sound or say perfect, then communication is not such a big consideration and organisation itself look towards it

    but generally speaking, communication is the way to make a better influence

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dush View Post
    I might be wrong but as per my experience technical is also very important or I can say the ratio should be 40 : 60 (Comm:Tech).

    Well you have a valid point but these days lets imagine u have some experince and are looking for a hop , probably the tech skills means less ! the hirer is looking on how u can fit in!

    Again if u come from a good university , the hirer would be sure of ur tech skillss i believe and will eba ssessing ur personality.

    Anyways , lets not discuss on this. I guess Devender said about communication , I geenralise that to PErsonality as a whole.

    Pleasing personality is always good , dont fake , just bear a small smile on your face , it helps in any case , not just for the interview but otherwise as well in life .....


    Be confident , feel free to ask back questions , interview is not defined to be one side. But dont go on the extremes of keep asking the interviewer as well ( I did in Goldman Sachs HR round , could not help yaar , Gosh ! The interviewer was so gorgeous ! :p ).

    But surely u must ask questions like how does the employer see you in temrs of how u can fit in the requirements, The answer of the interviewer is of utmost important because that is the vision he has and u can replciate that in all your later answers!!!

    Ofcourse some knowledge about the company , possible questions is always beneficial.
    Try and fit in the shoes of the interviewer and think of questions and the answers that can lead to negative vibes , avoid them and you should be good to go.

  11. #11
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    As Nishant pointed out , look at the job profile very closely and try and aswer accordingly.

    I will give u a concrete example.

    Last month I took interview of a guy who had 11 years of development experience , I was asked not to ask any tech questions but to assess whether he will fit into our model.

    Now he was switching job from back office to front office and when i asked him about his knowledge of Microsoft Excel and VBA he said he does not know. Now that was very negative , For a person of 11 years of experience , if at all he is willing to move to front office , he should at least know what is used in front office.

    Excel and VBA are core , and probably for a person like him , it wont take more than a week to have mastery over this stuff.

    NExt , When he asked what kind of job he will be getting , I defined for him clearly that there will be a lot of interaction with the people and he has to collect requirements etc etc and then somewhere he made a blunder saying that he is more happy to have the requirements specifications and conduct the project rather than himself willing to interact with people.
    I mean he was surely under prepared in terms of really knowing that he wants to switch from back office to front office.


    Never do that.

  12. #12

    Smile keep stimulating

    i think, this time the tips started coming in the right direction and help

    hope...others also would contribute a little for unexperienced

  13. #13

    Some tips/observations

    It’s a very interesting topic. I have been interviewing people for my team and for my company for some time now. Some tips/observations from my side:


    Know your resume very well, an interviewer really expects you to know what you have written about yourself. You can’t fault him for that, as you made that CV. Its really an irritant when I ask a question from the CV and the interviewee looks perplexed as if I am asking something about rocket science or aliens. You will loose a lot of credibility if you can’t explain something from your own CV. So, the tip is even before you start interviews make a good CV and proof read it till the time you know it like back of your hand. Don’t add anything just to impress the interviewer, you never know when you could be caught with your pants down. Though, a CV is an ego statement so you are expected to inflate it, but be ready to defend whatever you write in there.

    Communication has already been stressed upon by a few of the members. Communication does not mean being pseudo or a legacy of the British. Communication is always about two way interactions. Try to speak slowly and clearly. Take your moment before you start reply to anything, structure your thought before you start speaking. Its always better to ask for 30 secs to think about the question asked and then give it a shot than just rambling on and on without making any sense (to the interviewer at least). The interviewer always tries to gauge if you can express yourself clearly and have the ability to interact with colleagues, different stakeholder (e.g. clients) or senior management (depending on the job). This is very critical for any kind of job, if you can’t talk about yourself very well in the interview it gives very little confidence to the interviewer that you will be able to do justice to the work. One more point, do not interrupt the interviewer, let him finish speaking and then you go, remember it is his territory. It conveys impatience when you cant wait to speak. Bottom line in my opinion, more than 50% of average work nowadays is communication so you can’t get away from this one.

    Know the company and the job your are interviewing for. It is not a sin that the interviewer expects the applicant to know what he is interviewing for. I have seen applicants who came to interviews just because someone recommended the job to them, without any clue as what the job is all about. A preparation about the company and job not only gives you the ammunition to make the right choice but also the ability to ask good questions in the interview. Everyone likes smart questions more than dumb and obvious questions, its human nature .

    Dress well, try not to be jittery, have a smile on your face (everyone likes happy people), look interested in the job (if your are not, then get out of there), prepare a couple of questions to ask the interviewer (but remember you are the interviewee not the interviewer , so limit the number of questions to 2-3)

    More some other time.

    Cheers!!!
    Anuj

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by anujdahiya View Post
    Some tips/observations from my side:

    time.

    Cheers!!!
    Anuj
    Excellent points Anuj.

    for all the freshers , it is a must you know your resume well and also be ready to explain everything!

    While interviewing for PIMCo , the interviewers asked about one of my mini projects on Quantum Cryptography , ( Its a new field and I relaly did not expect any questions on that! However the project was fascinating and I did it out of my own interest and knew most of the things so I answered them all ( though always thinking in the back of my mind , that what these stupid finance people have got to do with Quantum Physics )).

    I realised how stupid I was only after a couple of minutes later at the end of interview where one of the interviewers said that he liked my answers and I knew the topic well and then another interviewere commented that "that" guy( the one who was asking Quantum Physics related questions ) is a PHD in nuclear physics from MIT. The shock increased by 100 % when this "that" guy replied that the guy who told me about this was himself a PHD from Caltech in Particle physics. :eek::eek: I felt like a fool talking of Qunatum Physics in front of two PHDs in the same field.:o

    so never underestimate the arena of questions that the interviewer can ask , anything on resume , u r responsible.

  15. #15
    Neelam, Anil, Anuj, Nishant, Dush really gud to see u guys sharing ur experience .. it may be a gr8 help for juniors ... i will upload some sample question and answrs soon...
    u guys keep on sharing ur views advices suggestion etc.


    Freshers, pour all ur questions here and make full use of the gr8 jat brains and their experience. Ask any doubts if u have. But always remember there is no shortcuts in such things so ultimately u r the one who has to put efforts. Others can just guide u and rest all on u guys.

    All the best

  16. #16

    Thumbs up

    Great informative tips & points suggested by Anuj & Anil !!
    Thanks guys for sharing ...
    .. " Until Lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter! " ..



  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by dkumars View Post
    Freshers, pour all ur questions here and make full use of the gr8 jat brains and their experience. Ask any doubts if u have. But always remember there is no shortcuts in such things so ultimately u r the one who has to put efforts. Others can just guide u and rest all on u guys.

    All the best


    Yes DK , absolutely right.

    Freshers please ak all possible questions and we will try and give sample answers to you. We have gone through this experience and can tell where people generally make mistakes.



  18. #18
    ok
    1st ques>> how wud we knw wat mistakes we made in d last interview?

  19. #19
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    Good Question Mansi....
    Thanks all for such a information, which is not available anywhere in such simple words and live examples.

    I have one more question, can somebody tell me when HR asks about weaknesses/strengths, what does he look in answers? What do HR guys expect in these answers?
    Should we tell frankly or just prepare something which HR people like to hear? If we should say what they like to hear, then what is that, which they want us to speak out?
    I never understood this question and I never replied in same manner in my short experience of 2-3 interviews till now.

    Regards,
    Manoj

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by mkm_jat View Post
    when HR asks about weaknesses/strengths, what does he look in answers? What do HR guys expect in these answers?
    same is the ques. arousing in my mind....i always remain trustworthy and frank while giving any reply to the interviewer

    though i was asked to step ahead(with confirmation of last success) for the next round of the interview, but i also wanna know the purpose behind such ques.

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