Campus Placements : Ensure You Don't Remain Unplaced

How to Crack a Job Interview Successfully? 133

the embarrassment of reaching late. However, if due to some

exigency you are not able to reach on time, inform the com-

pany ocials well in time and apologize for the inconvenience.

You should also make sure that all required documents for the

interview are collated and arranged in a presentable folder, at

least, a day before the interview. Some of the documents that you

might be required to carry are your résumé, interview call let-

ter, certificates, a professional looking pen, and a small notepad.

Carrying these items exhibits your organized and professional

demeanor to the interviewer.

Candidates’ Common Concerns

Related to Interviews

3

2

The questions generally asked by the participants in various interview

workshops that we have conducted are given below along with our

suggestions.

1. “If I know the culture of an organization is informal, and the

company prefers its employees dressing casually, can I dress

up for the interview in a similar fashion?”

An interview is a formal discussion and dressing up casually for

this forum would be the biggest mistake you can ever make! Even

if the company you are applying to encourages its employees to

dress up casually, you need to be formally attired for your first for-

mal interaction. We would suggest that err on the formal side when

it comes to dressing, and you will never regret (see Exhibit 5.4)!

Exhibit 5.4 In your research

about the company, include

researching the dress code.

3

“What should I wear to the Interview?, Bull Persona GD/PI; Retrieved on December 30, 2015,

from http://gdpi.hitbullseye.com/personal_interview_faqs.php.

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134 CAMPUS PLACEMENTS: Ensure You Don’t Remain Unplaced

2. “How do I greet interviewer(s)? Should I oer a handshake

to the panelists? If I am not asked to sit, what should I do?”

You should take permission

while entering the room and

close the door softly. You

should greet all the inter-

viewers courteously with a

smile while maintaining eye

contact. Avoid oering hand-

shakes, however, you should

confidently shake hands if

it is initiated by to the inter-

viewers. Wait till you are

asked to sit down, and if the

interviewers do not ask you to

be seated (which they might

sometimes do deliberately),

you may politely ask if you

could.

Exhibit 5.5 Greeting at an inter-

view makes or breaks the deal!

Real-life Case Situation

A boy appeared for an interview on 14 February (which hap-

pens to be the Valentine’s Day). To stand out from the crowd, he

thought that if there were a lady in the interview panel, he would

wish her on the occasion. When he entered the room, he saw a

woman sitting there. He immediately reached to the lady and

pulled out his hand close to her for a handshake and said, “Happy

Valentine’s Day.” The lady was taken aback with this intruding

gesture. After the interview got over, the boy said to the lady,

“Can I recite few lines of a poem for you?” The lady was amused

but allowed the candidate to go ahead. He recited a couple of

lines on the occasion and then again shook hands only with the

lady and left.

(Continued)

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How to Crack a Job Interview Successfully? 135

3. “While handling domain-specific questions, if I do not

know the answer to a particular question or if I am not

sure of the answer, what should I do? Would my inabil-

ity to answer one or two questions lead to rejection in the

interview?”

Interviewers ask domain-specific questions to analyze your

understanding of the subject, academic rigor, and overall knowl-

edge. It is important to answer the questions with integrity and

sincerity; display of superficial behavior or shallowness would

be gauged by the interviewers. Therefore, if you do not know the

answer to a particular question, it is better to admit rather than

try to play around the question and prove your point. If you are

not sure of the answer, you may mention that though you are not

Exhibit 5.6 Don’t get too personal in interviews.

Happy

Valentine’s day

14

Feb

The interviewer was stunned and confused at the candi-

date’s behavior. Shaking hands inappropriately, wishing her

on Valentine’s Day, and reciting poem did not exhibit pro-

fessional behavior for an interview. The candidate, for sure,

managed to stand out from the crowd, but for all the wrong

reasons!

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