What is a Job Interview?
Job interview is a process which arranges for a meeting between an interviewer or interviewers (job offering client) and an interviewee (job aspirant).
Objective or Purpose
The objective or the purpose of this meeting can be seen from two different perspectives. They are:
Interviewer– desires to find an able candidate who matches all the requirements of the job role and thereby be an asset to the company.
Interviewee – wants to find an opportunity where he can invest his potential and be able to gain professional growth in the respective industry.
Types of Job Interview
There are various ways in which an interviewer tries to assess candidate’s abilities and virtue. These ways and techniques have led to different types of interview today in the job market. Some of them are:
1 - Stress Interview
Stress interviews are conducted to evaluate a candidate’s ability to handle pressure in the job environment. In this kind of an interview a candidate is faced with intimidating, aggressive or unpleasant questions which often provokes the candidate to react in an unacceptable manner. Thus it is very essential for the candidate to understand the real objective of interviewer’s behaviour and be prepared in advance to take former’s action with a calm state of mind and deal with the situation in a best possible manner. This will help you in getting closer to your dream job.
Some of the stress interview questions are:
- Do you really think you are qualified enough for this job?
- Your works and projects have no match to our company standard.
- Why were you fired from your past job?
Tip: Always remember this is just a technique of an employer to bring your true self out. Do not lose your calm and always answer the questions in a positive manner and also show them that you are enthusiast to learn and also oblige by their company norms.
2 - Panel interview
An interview may be conducted by one or more interviewers such an interview is called as panel interview. The reason behind this could be to prevent incorrect decisions on the part of an individual member from the recruiting team or to avoid multiple rounds of interviews. Here it is very important for the candidate to interact with all the participants involved with eye contact and appropriate body language towards all the interviewers.
3 - Group Interviews
When the company or the organisation is looking for more candidates to be employed then this technique of group interview is made use of. Here, all the candidates are addressed and interviewed as one whole group and then the screening is done on the basis of individual’s participation in the group discussion activity and then maybe he has to also face final round of interview which can be one-on-one.
4 - Phone Interview
This kind of interview is quite common these days and is conducted as a provisional round of interview to filter the best candidates and organize for the final round of interview. The most important component in this interview is to follow some of the basic telephone etiquettes. Some of the etiquettes are mentioned as below:
- When a telephonic interview is scheduled and is informed kindly attend the call without fail.
- Kindly find for yourself a quiet place where you can peacefully interact with your interviewer.
- A good speaker is only when he is a good listener. So actively listen and make notes.
- Speak Clearly.
- Do not interrupt. That is, wait for the person on other end to finish his dialogue and then you can speak.
- Use professional language. That is, avoid using slangs or simply to say, casual language as you talk to your friends.
- Sound energetic and interested in the call.
- Do not unnecessarily place the call on hold.
- Maintain a polite and pleasant tone on call.
- Wrap the call when all the people involved are in agreement to end the call and also make sure it ends on a positive note.
Keeping all these points in mind be prepared for all the above said types of interview, as who knows what is in store for you!?
Small Talk
Small talk as name suggests, are small and quick conversations yet which tries to capture very important information about the candidate. So this is one of the strategies to know about a candidate and his behaviour towards common scenarios of life.
Some of the casual or small talks that you can expect with your future employer:
- Hi and how are you doing?
- How was your weekend?
- How do you find watching a cricket match?
- The weather today is too boring, isn’t it?
- Did you check today’s news headlines?
Tip: Sound cheerful and energetic while interacting. Answer positively throughout the conversation.
