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Interview Tips for Freshers: How to Ace Your Interview While Switching a Job

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Don’t you wish someone would tell you how to nail the job interview you are appearing for? How easy would it be if someone told you clearly, how to easily nail your job interview? Well, now there is. With over a 100 job interviews that I have reviewed and about a 30 interviews that I have appeared for myself, it is safe to say to that I can clearly help you with how you can make sure you nail the job interview.

Making a great impression on your interviewer will be a cakewalk with these FIVE steps. Understanding the art of nailing an interview is the surety of landing every job you set your eyes on. I understand that in most cases, just reaching the PI level can be tough. While the initial steps of an application process involve the requirement of skills deeply related to the job role you are appearing for, such as the Aptitude test and the Group Discussion round, most people who reach a PI fail at the final step. This is both heart-breaking and negative for your career.

Well, there is no need to worry. Here are the most basic yet often ignored FIVE steps to nailing your job interview.

  1. Know the organization you’re interviewing for.

A huge number of interviewees often forget or ignore this step. Making sure that you get selected for an organization is way more than just acquiring the skills. In a world where everything is interconnected, one can never neglect the fact that a backend job like tele-calling or database management can also require top of the notch communication skills.

The organization has only one way of knowing that you are devoted to them and care about what the organizational needs are, and that is through finding out whether or not you understand what the nature of the organization is. How they can ensure that you are a good fit for them is through questioning whether you know them or not.

There is no need to freak out at this point though. They do not expect you to understand the inner workings of the organization or the work culture. The basic requirement on their minds is that you understand or are at least familiar with what the basic product or service of the organization is, you know what their website looks like and understand what the organization needs from you when you become a part of their community.

  • Stand apart from your resume.

The first question that a PI interviewer usually proceeds with is to understand whether the candidate knows so much as themselves. It’s a reliable saying, that one who can’t sell themselves has no business selling anything else. You are a product by yourself whilst in a job interview. The product being you and the seller being you, this should come off as a cakewalk. Yet, many fail because they simply do not know themselves. Worse yet, they do not understand how to portray themselves. Well, no more.

Here I am, telling you that selling yourself is by far the easiest tasks to do. The most common mistake that a candidate would make is letting their resume reek of their personality. Resumes are like advertisement slogans. They do let the viewer know what they are looking at but not understand it fully. After all, if the slogan gives everything away, why would a viewer sit through the whole commercial anyway.

You need to let the interviewer get to know you beyond your resume. My advice? Always answer that question with the statement “Apart from my resume….” Highlighting the core characteristics of your personality such as the things you define yourself with, whether it is that you love coffee or are a vegan.

Your hobbies play a huge role in letting the interviewer know whether you are serious about growth or not, too.

  • Give examples and increase your credibility.

It is the interviewer’s job to interview people day in and day out. Would it come as a surprise to you if they were able to tell your lies apart from the truth? Not at all. They are well accustomed to reading faces as much as they can read your resume. The first question as soon as you say ‘Yes’ to something is going to be requesting for an incident to support your affirmation.

Let’s say that I let my interviewer know that I am a traveller while the last time I travelled was back in my sixth grade, would you even trust me? I wouldn’t trust myself with that my friend, let along my interviewer.

All he or she cares about is if they will be able to get the work done by me or not. These questions about you are not for them to dwell into a chit chat with you. Neither do they have any interest in going out for a walk with you. All they care for is understanding the type of person you are, professionally.

Now, in the same example, if I was to say that I am a traveller and am able to support the statement with more than five trips that I took in the previous year itself, that makes me a reliable individual.

The bottom line is, make yourself reliable and your statements trustworthy with incidents to support them.

Don’t be afraid to say no when that answer is negative. All they would appreciate in that case is your honesty. Your lack of ability for one particular thing is of no concern to them. They would honour your acceptance of yourself than focus on the qualities you don’t possess.

  • Eye contact with your interviewer goes a long way.

Once you reach the personal interview round, you are no more just a candidate out of a hundred or thousand. You are now a potential member of their community. Today, the communication skills are not limited to the way you speak. Your body language plays a huge role in your interview. While it is important to make eye contact, it is equally important not to forget the rest of the panellists.

It is natural to get dwelled into a conversation with the one person on the panel who is speaking to you at the moment, while it is crucial that you remember the others. This portrays how serious you are about the job and the company more than ever.

It is important you make each of the panellists feel important, just the way you would want to feel important amongst each of them. Imagine if one of the panellists only cared about demoralising you, wouldn’t you develop a disliking towards them? This works vice versa too. Unlike your opinion however, their opinion about you matters. So, make sure you help each of the panellists feel heard and answer the questions to the point. Don’t beat around the bush. Don’t simply fall prey to the confusing points of the interview they may create for you.

Making an eye contact develops a brief relationship with your interviewer. Help your interviewer feel significant as you would wish for yourself.

  • FINALLY, BE A CLOSER!

Have you ever felt like once you are done, you don’t know how to let the listener know that you are done speaking? Well, that is one skill highly crucial for the interview sessions. You know how the person who knows how to end a conversation can actually lead the conversation? When I let my listener know that I am done speaking, they are not confused anymore and are completely satisfied. Sticking to the topic and being a closer, helps you not over-share.

Sharing too much in fact, can actually land you into trouble at times. When you share too much, you leave room for more questioning. However, when you are a closer, you know when to end and the interviewer knows that you have mental clarity about yourself and your ambitions.

Being a closer can help you dictate your own interview instead of leaving that up to the interviewer.

Picture this that when you ask me how my weekend went; I tell you that it was good. It leaves room for you to ask me what I did, who I met, what I ate, which club I went to, what kind of friends I have, if I have a boyfriend/girlfriend and so on. While it comes off as a great gesture that you would want to know more about me, it might leave me in an uncomfortable position. Instead if I simply told you that I had a great weekend, I spent it with a bunch of friends hanging out at my apartment watching movies of Drew Barrymore and having pizza; it provides the basic yet detailed information which leaves you either saying that’s great or sharing your own weekend events. This way I could simply dictate how much I wanted to share and closed my end of the conversation.

I hope you can remember to make the best impression the next time you walk in for a job interview and wish you all the very best to leave them astounded!