How To Master The Most Common Interview Questions

In order to excel in an interview with the top employers, the job seekers need to anticipate the probable questions that might be asked by the hiring manager during the interview process. Sometimes the interviewers do challenge the interviewee with questions that require lots of thought or sometimes just common sense work well to come up with the most appealing responses.

 

The interviewee should not only focus on the conventional questions that are generally asked in most of the interviews rather they should also prepare for and expect some challenging questions since this questions gives them an opportunity to reveal their thought process, their knowledge and skills and help them communicate their abilities to tackle any challenging situations and convince the employer that if given a chance, they can perform well in the job.

 

One has to be very alert while giving answers to the queries asked by the interviewer and should ensure that the answers are to the point and satisfying. Many hiring managers today are complaining that the candidates posses a very little knowledge about the company they are interviewing for. Hence it is very essential for the candidates to have some preparation prior to the interview by preparing a set of questions that are commonly asked, this not only helps them to answer the questions well but also creates good impression in the mind of the interviewer and shows your willingness to work in the organization.

 

The first and foremost step for getting yourself prepared for an interview is going through the company website and doing certain amount of research to find out from the available data, some important facts about the company like, their management structure, their offerings, competitors etc. Before attending the interview the interviewee should be well aware of the job description, the position for which interview is held, determine company's expectations from the candidate for the particular role. One should prepare by identifying skillset that the employers are looking for. The most successful interview responses focus on the hiring manager’s requirements and framing answers to meet their expectations.

While preparing for an interview it is also very important to highlight the key factors that you want people to know about you. The interviewer gives priority to those candidates who are positive and one who are able to hold confidence even while answering the most tricky questions. Hence in order to stay positive and to hold confidence throughout the on-going process the candidate need to stay calm and avoid getting edgy. Most of the interviewers give the candidates an opportunity to express themselves so it is very essential for the candidate to understand this fact and take some clues while interacting with the employer and give response in an effective manner.
 

Before facing the real interview one should never try to memorize the answers to the anticipated questions rather they should be honest and take some time and find out their strengths, weaknesses, special achievements, success stories, failures, etc. then ask some questions to themselves like:

• Why am I suitable for this position?
• What are my expectations from this job?
• What is special about me or what differentiates me from others?  
• Have I ever volunteered to solve a problem?

Finding answer to such questions helps to get a better understanding of yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, goals, etc. which helps you to articulate your response in an impressive manner and rank high than many other qualified candidates appearing for the interview.

Following are some of the common interview questions that are faced by the candidates all over the world:

1. Describe yourself?

2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

3. Why do you want to work in our company?

4. What is your dream job?

5. What was your biggest failure yet?

6. Where do you see yourself 5/10 years from now?

7. Why should I hire you?

8. What are your salary expectations?

9. What are your career goals?

10.What are your hobbies?

11.Do you have any questions for us?

12.Who is your role model?

13.What would you do if you get a more lucrative job offer while working with us?

14.What are your expectations from this job?

15.Tell something about our company?

16.What motivates you?

17.Will you work in holidays or weekends?

18.What are your biggest accomplishments?

19.What makes you unique from other candidates?

20.What elements of your job interest you the most and least?

 

Let us discuss few of them.

 

''Tell me about yourself?''

 

Most of the candidate might have faced this question in almost every interview that they have attended. It gives the candidate a good opportunity to communicate their strong points to the employer and change course of the interview to their favour. The best way to answer to this question is to discuss your interests, strengths, academic and professional background and relate them to the job and convince them that how your background can prove beneficial for the position. One should understand that the interviewer is least bothered about your life events and stories that are not related to the job. Hence, avoid describing in detail about any life event be it personal or professional, unless asked rather it is better to be precise and quote only those important aspects that are relevant to the job and which showcase your knowledge and skills in an effective manner to the employer.

 

"What are your strengths and weaknesses?"

 

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses helps you to make important decisions in both personal as well as professional life. The interviewer asks this question to get a better understanding of you. When it comes to talking about your strengths it is quite easy and the list might be lengthy but when it comes to weaknesses it becomes quite challenging and the candidates tries to make them as less as possible. One needs to be honest while answering to this question especially when it comes to discussing about strengths and also have some preparation prior to the interview by listing of your strengths and of course the weaknesses too. While discussing about your weaknesses never try to be too tricky by using the responses which are overused or quite commonly used. For example:

• "I care too much about my work"
• "I work very hard sometimes"

This approach only makes them think that you might be hiding something! Hence the best way to discuss about your weakness is just say about those which you have worked upon and improved over a period.

 

"Where do you see yourself 5/10 years from now?"

 

It is not possible for any candidate to give a perfect answer to this question. Even the hiring manager knows this fact then what makes them ask this question? The reason is, the hiring manager wants to asses you better by finding answers to their questions like: 'Is this job close to your career goal? Will you stay in this company for a long duration? What is your long-term career plan? Why do you want this job?'

Interviewer always gives preference to those candidates who have done some self-assessment and can define their career goal and long-term planning. Candidates whose career objective show a sense of commitment towards the job and their readiness to take more challenging tasks with progression in time are preferred over other candidates.

 

"What was your biggest failure yet?"

Most candidates hates this question in an interview as this demands a discussion about negative experiences. Most companies now-a-days are asking these type of questions as behavioural questions gives a better picture about the candidate's work ethics, future performance and their ability to deal with challenging situations in professional life ahead. The best way to answer this question is to discuss about a life event that was really challenging and would be very difficult for anyone to handle and also make sure that you talk about your learning from that failure and how you improved thereafter. For experienced professionals it would be better to talk about an event related to their professional career that they have faced in their past rather than personal.

 

This question reveals a lot about the candidate to the employer and it also gives employer a good chance to extract evidence of a flaw and reject you. On the other hand if handled with care this question can prove to be an advantage to the candidate and result in selection for the position since through these questions employer want to learn, how you handle complex situations? What have you learnt from the particular failure? Are you self-aware of the failure?

 

"Why should I hire you"

 

This question can have many forms such as :

• Why do you think you are fit for this position?
• Why do you want to work in this organisation?

By asking this question the hiring manager gives the candidate an open invitation to sell themselves, their worth and showcase the skills and knowledge that they posses. The employer just wants to know if given a chance to work in the company, how you would justify their decision. Hence in order to make an impressive attempt make sure that you have done your homework well in advance by going through the company website, detail job description, the company's expectation from the candidate for this particular role, the skills those are required for the position, etc.

 

 

 

 

Whom to select as the best job references

If you are a  job-seeker than it is very likely that many a times either in the interview or during the process of filling the online application forms for applying to the desired jobs you have faced this question where you have to name a couple of references either professional or sometimes personal to the prospective employers. References are mostly asked during the final stages of an interview and if you want to maximise your chances of getting hired then you need to put some thought and select your professional references carefully.

Applying to a job is not an easy process whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional, it demands lot of time and attention be it writing resume, polishing up the cover letter, attending interviews, etc. and sometimes we are so much indulged in this process that we take no notice of a very prominent area that is choosing the right persons as references for our jobs.

 

Not many employers ask about personal references. Potential employers might request you two or more references either personal or professional or sometimes both! Generally personal references are asked to candidates who have low work experience or are university pass-outs and have not yet held any sort of paid position. Personal references may include professors, academic counsellors and advisors, university guides, tutors etc. but avoid mentioning parents, relatives or friends as personal references. It is quite easy to pick some of the persons as personal references but when we are asked about professional references it becomes a bit difficult particularly when we are not prepared to answer those questions. The best professional references you can have are those people who are interested in you and your career developments. They can be your current or previous company bosses or some renowned personalities whom you have come in contact with and served in your career for a certain period and the ones who have appreciated you for your performance in the job and admired you for your effort in one or the other way.

 

It is generally considered as an advantage if you are asked about job references by the hiring manager especially during the personal interview round since many a times it means that you are already finalised for the position. It is also advantageous if it is asked by the company during preliminary stages like filling the job application forms through portals or via telephone, email, etc. but usually the hiring manager get to this phase only after reviewing your profile thoroughly, getting a brief idea about how you would perform at the particular job and once it is found that your credentials are suitable for the position they may ask you to name some of the references and interact with them so as to develop a better understanding of you. One should understand that if right persons are chosen as references by the job seeker than it can not only guarantee you the desired job but also help you create good impression in the mind of the employer.

Most of the prospective employer, not very often bother about the references whom you have named or mentioned in the resume rather they already take it in a positive manner, that means naming alone can sometime be fruitful. But one should also be careful in choosing the right person as the reference since, the employer may contact them before offering you the job.

Always choose references who can assure your strong points, confirm the positions that suits you the most, say something good about your skills, etc.

 

References are mostly used by the top employers to judge the candidates better by knowing their strengths, work ethics, crisis handling and also their relations with the references by the way they answer to the questions asked. Hence it is very important to name the right persons before the employers as references and is also essential to keep good relations with them by staying in touch via meetings (professional or personal), occasional emails or phone calls, social media and updating them about your current career and life events.

 

 

 

 

Does Traditional Recruiting Methods really work?

Employers all over the world are facing a common overarching problem that is talent shortage and are not able to find an ideal solution for it. Most of the companies still are practising the age old traditional recruiting methods which have had helped them once upon a time to pick the right manpower for their vacant positions.

 

In today's competitive job market it would be very difficult for the companies to find the right manpower for various positions held if they stick to the traditional recruiting methods alone.

 

The amount of time, effort and cost involved when a company go through the process of selecting the right manpower who are, technically sound, skilled and at the same time reliable, are just enormous. In spite of spending so many resources in the recruitment processes the companies still end up making the wrong hiring decisions, resulting in substantial financial and productivity losses of the firm.

 

Another big mistake that companies make is focussing more on cost rather than on the process of selecting the right talent. Of course recruitment process involves huge cost whether the process is carried by the company itself or external agencies are involved in the process thus before taking a step further the company should develop a suitable framework to bring a solution to the multiple problems that arise during the process of hiring and managing staff. In order to achieve the best hiring results the company should first determine their purpose for hiring and find answers to the questions like: Are you properly utilizing the skills and talents of your current employees? Do you know what needs to be done right now? Can your business growth support a new talent? After finding proper answer to these questions the company can then proceed further with their recruitment process which would be far more effective and will ensure better utilization of resources like time, cost etc.

Another big question is: How to get the right manpower from the large pool available? Although there is no perfect answer to this question but the recruitment process can be a great help if it is designed in a proper manner. Thus the organisations should make innovative strategies to optimise the recruitment model which can be done by involving an expert team, redesigning the existing framework based on the parameters like current market dynamics, company's current position, budget, etc. and the result of primary research work conducted by the company on a regular basis.

 

The new model build should not only be helpful in attracting new talents but also it should be efficient enough in identifying the existing talent in the organisation, utilize the available workforce in a better way by providing them with new responsibilities based on their performance history, providing training from time to time, evaluating their performance and giving rewards based on the performance. It should ensure that the workforce whether existing or new should be able to grow with the organization, serve the organization in a better way and bring long term value to it.

 

Personal Branding

Why personal branding?

Many of us already have the answer for this question and know how important it is to build a personal brand and how it helps us to advance in our career. People take numerous measures to build their brand in minds of people by taking active participation in digital world such as social media, personal websites etc. but unfortunately many of us end up believing that social media alone can build our personal brand successfully among the mass and deliver the right information to the audience.

 

Whether you are a student, a young professional, an entrepreneur, a successful employee or a businessman, personal branding is very important for everyone to help create the right impression in minds of people and ensures a steady growth in our career and emerge as a leader.

One should always remember while in a process of creating a brand that it is a never-ending process which once started continues and demands more attention. Personal branding is a top-down approach which starts with identifying one's qualities, strengths, needs etc. It is a a creative process by which one can effectively present their offerings to the selected audience who shall also be benefited and help people to locate the major facts and details about you. Thus it is a self-positioning approach which, not only helps people to understand us better but also creates new opportunities in our career.

Now-a-days even the hiring managers do check the social media and try to find answers to the questions like who you are, what you have to offer etc. So before creating an account in social media like Facebook, LinkedIn etc. one should be clear about the intension, purpose, objective, the audience whom they want to serve or share information with etc. 

A personal brand is an on-going process which needs active participation and constant learning and updating knowledge and sharing the same with others especially if you have an active online presence. It is an asset which not only help us grow as a person and excel in our career but also helping others draw benefits while establishing relationship with you both personally and professionally. It is what you want people to associate with you whenever they think about you.

Personal branding is just like a trademark which associates your name with certain distinguishing qualities which you posses and which differentiates you with the rest.

Developing a personal brand is not an easy process but with advancement in time one gets accustomed to it and the process becomes much more easy. It requires hard work and noble intensions to help people around us grow with our initiatives and efforts, especially if you are working or leading a team, it is very essential to communicate the right things to the team since communication plays a vital role in team management and overall development. Once you have successfully established your personal brand people start recognising you, appreciate your ideas and decisions and in a span of time even accept you as a leader.

 

Current job scenario in India

As per general survey conducted, the current unemployment rate in India has been reduced slightly as compared to previous years and is around 4.8 percent, which states that recruitment activities across various sectors in our economy are gradually picking up and is also expected to rise further in the upcoming years for various reasons.

The general economic slowdown that existed for a certain span was caused due to number of reasons mainly, the US recession that existed between end of 2007 to mid of 2009 have shown its impact in various sectors such as banking, finance, real estate, etc. which were affected badly in US and soon the impact was felt in other parts of the world too which resulted in global crisis and affected the job market in a severe manner such as reduction in manpower, reduction in salary structure and employee benefits etc.

The job market then experienced an oversupply of skilled manpower causing increase in unemployment in various part of India and other nations.

At present, the job market in India as a whole is showing improvement and the new Government is focused towards various ways to enhance the development process and is taking measures to promote growth in various sectors such as manufacturing, IT, construction, automobiles, aviation, etc. People are looking forward towards development and implementation of new policies and reforms which shall boost the economic condition, improve the living standard of people, create new employment opportunities by bringing new projects and encouraging foreign investments in various sectors.

Another important initiative taken by the Government is PM's Make in India campaign which is designed to transform India into a global manufacturing hub and base of economic growth in Asia and the world will not only encourage production and new investments but also will increase demand in the job market and hence create new job opportunities for a huge mass in various sectors in India.

Apart from this there is also a rising concern among the employers for skill gap since positions are left vacant in top companies due to lack of skilled manpower, therefore the Companies / Government should also focus on skill development of manpower by investing more on training programs and hence increase productivity.